The Importance Of Transparency And Integrity In The Property Business

Property Expert Alex Goldstein discusses the importance of transparency and integrity in business, and how accepting incentives from business acquaintances will hamper rather than enhance your reputation and the growth of genuine referrals.

The importance of transparency and integrity in the property business

Full transcript below:

This month it’s all about client service. Now something I value incredibly highly in business is integrity. The yardstick I use to measure this is the transparency with which people operate and I’ve long said that if you put your clients at the forefront of everything you do the clients are going to come your way.

Yet let’s face it client service can be used incessantly as one of those buzzwords on company websites and many claim to care for their clients but do they really? In my mind it’s a case of going back to basics, looking in a client’s best interests putting them at the absolute centre of everything. I ask myself most days, look if the client was a member of my family how would I advise them. I’m constantly amazed how many referral fees go on behind the scenes and this isn’t just in the property sector whilst our third company may be good at what they offer, soon as a monetary incentive is introduced into the mix you’ve instantly got a bias. I’m regularly approached by businesses offering some kind of incentive to gain access to my clients, but I always turn them to the emplacement I have to say of some of them.

Now I have been in the business for nearly 20 years building relationships with people I trust and yes, I’ve got a bank of solid dependable contacts. I suggest their products and services to my clients, however it’s safe in the knowledge that they’re the right one for each client and full confidence they’re going to do a good job. None of them ever ask for kickbacks when they send people my way and neither do I seek anything of them. We’re looking at the bigger picture you might say. So, to put this in context, for example, Robert the Decorator I suggest, he’s been in business for over 17 years and he’s of the old school. I say he’s the only decorator I know who listens to Classic FM while he works and that sums him up perfectly. He always does a great job at a fair price and sometimes even offers my clients a discount as he knows they come from me and they’re going to be easy to deal with because I’ve guided the client prior to his visit.

It’s a win-win situation for all involved. Robert gets a decoration job on the right basis, my client has a home presented to a great standard which in turn makes mine and the appointed agents job much easier. The property is then sold at the best price. The payback for me is way more valuable than any below the counter monetary backhander and that is word-of-mouth repeat business and I want people to talk about me to each other and that simply happened by putting them first and doing a great job. As I mentioned in my recent Yorkshire Post column, 92% of my business came from word-of-mouth recommendations last year and that probably tells you all you need to know.