Complaint Review: fitzgerald coaching - Internet

You didn't address any of my particular issues.  

Have you looked at my file? I never stopped sending you leads until you office stopped returning my calls.  I also gave you an account of the progress of the appointments that you sent. 

Why didn't you return any of my calls, emails or letters?

Why did you not acknowledge my requests when I asked to discuss a compromise? I am still willing to do that and would welcome a civil conversation for compromise with you or your team.

I've been in sales since 1995 and fully understand how prospecting and telemarketing work.  That is not the issue at hand.

Bottom line is we had a contract. That contract states, "If client is not satisfied within 6 months of this agreement, client is eligible for a refund." Once I expressed that I was not satisfied, you completely stopped all communication. (More detail in my previous post)

You have completely breached our contract with no explanation.

I too have 100's of satisfied clients that readily and willingly sing my praises.  I also have had clients that have not been completely satisfied with my services.  In those cases, I have made them whole immediately with no questions asked.  I never just shut down and close off all communication.

I live in an atypical market in the US, which I addressed in my previous post so your services were not as effective here as they are in other markets. No big deal, really.  Why can you not stand behind your service? Im not knocking your service, Im knocking the fact that you dont stand behind your contracts.

Again, I invite you to call me and talk about my refund or some sort of compromise.  If we can work something out, I will gladly report back here with the positive results.
 

FACT:  Prospecting isnt new nor is it complicated!

 FACT:  We have hundreds of clients that love the service that we provide.  Clients that love the tens of thousands of dollars that theyve made working with us!  Anyone who is interested in our service can talk to as many of these references as they need to so they dont lose out on taking listing after listings simply because a handful of agents out of hundreds choose to tell their one sided story on sites like this.

FACT:  As I type this, we have over 300 agents in our prospecting schedule and by comparison we have had very, very few
complaints.  

 FACT:  In todays day and age, most companies have people that complain on web sites like this.  The only reason I took the time to reply was so that a handful of people with a single sided story cant rob you of what others have called
the single best investment theyve ever made.

 FACT:  YOU ARE SMART!   Simply read my reply and ask yourself Does what I wrote make sense?   This is my side of the story.

 MY REPLY is very simple.  Just think for a moment about what we do.  We Call.  We are telemarketers
calling for sale by owners and expired listings.  Prospecting isnt complicated at all.  If youd like to see what our
prospecting looks like watch this video

 http://fitzgerald-coaching-prospecting.blogspot.com/http://fitzgerald-coaching-prospecting.blogspot.com/ 

 If you hired a telemarketer to work form your office, what would they do?  What would you do?  You would give them a list of people to call they would call and set appointments and youd make the presentation, handle the sellers objections and get the listing.  Right?  Prospecting isnt complicated.

 So why do some agents that have a problem with this?  We have set thousands of appointments for real estate agents
there are four mistakes that agents make which end up causing them complain on sites like this. Decide for yourself who is at fault. 
 
We do not want our telemarketers to be the real estate expert.  That is the job of the agent.  Our telemarketers do not discuss the current market conditions with a seller.  Our telemarkters do not discuss home prices with a seller.  Our telemarkters do not handle sellers objections or answers a sellers questions about the home selling process.  We let the agent be the agent and we simply make the appointment.

 This is an actual example of a typical appointment that was sent to one of our clients then listed and then sold!

 1. WHEN THE HOME SELLS, WHERE WILL YOU BE GOING?
Nana is already moved into her new home. She married her husband in August and they decided that he had the larger home, so they would move into his. Her home is now vacant, and she moved about a mile away.
 
2. IS YOUR HOME CURRENTLY LISTED WITH A REAL ESTATE AGENT?  No. The listing expired at the end of February, and Nana was very unhappy with the results from her realtor. She thought about leaving the home off of the market, but decided against that because she is extremely motivated to sell.
 
3. HOW SOON WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE THERE?
Nana is already in her new home, and she wants this home sold as soon as possible.
 
4. DO YOU HAVE AN ASKING PRICE IN MIND? $307,900.
She would like advice on her asking price though. She told me that she thinks she may have been overpriced because her agent started her at $316,000. She wants to make sure she is priced where she should be to get the home sold.
 
5. HOW MUCH DO YOU OWE ON THE PROPERTY?
As of October, Nana still owed $171,000. She has still been making payments on the home, so it is less than that now.
 
6. WHAT WILL YOU DO IF THE HOME DOESNT SELL?
She hasn't even thought about that option. Right now, she really just wants to get the home sold and be free from it.
 
7. ARE YOU INTERVIEWING ANY OTHER AGENTS?  Not at the moment. Jeremy will be the first since her listing expired.

8. IF WHAT (AGENT) SAYS MAKES SENSE ARE YOU PLANNING TO LIST THE HOME?
Yes. She is extremely motivated to get this home sold, so if she thinks that Jeremy will be more productive for her than her last agent, she will definitely re-list with them.

Again, prospecting isnt new nor is it complicated.  The four most common mistakes that an agent will make using
our service are

 The agent is too BUSY to actually do what it takes to follow up with a seller and convert the listing.  Expired listings and for sale by owners are being called by a lot of great agents every day.  It is very competitive and our telemarketers have had to stand out just to get the appointment for our clients.  We IMMEDIATELY send the appointment to the agent but if that agent doesnt follow up right away and confirm the appointment what do you think happens next?  If the agent doesnt call back for
days or in many cases even weeks then the seller doesnt even remember that we ever called or loses interest and cancels the appointment.  Without diligent follow up generating that appointment was a waste of time.  This is a challenge for some of our highest producers.  They may earn six and even seven figures selling real estate but if they are too busy to
follow up with our appointments then they are not going to get listings.  Most of our agents will follow up right away, solidify the appointment and take the listings.


The second challenge that can be a problem with some of the higher producers is that they are already buying leads from so many other sources.  Some have hundreds of leads from in their systems form lead generation services, web sites and services, marketing services, mailing services, call capture services etc.  The bottom line is that those top
agents have so many leads that they dont value nor follow up diligently with the expired listings and FSBO appointments that we set for them.   In most cases this type of agent couldnt even provide any feedback on an appointments that we set
for them because they NEVER even looked at the e-mail with the appointment to begin with..  I dont have
a problem with an agent having far more leads than they can handle but unlike these other sources of leads, my team may have spent 3 to 4 hours and invested hundreds of dials to finally set that appointment.  If they are too busy to open their
e-mail or follow up with the seller to confirm the appointment then they arent going to like that I hold them accountable for not doing their job.  This is a partnership and they arent holding up their end of the bargain.  Most of are clients understand
that it takes a lot of hours, dials and contacts to set these appointments and the value them as such and take listings.

The most common problem that Ive seen after setting thousands of appointments for real estate agents is that some simply dont have the skill it takes to convert a prospecting based lead.  The first question that we ask every potential client is have they worked with expired listings and for sale by owners in the past?   They are not come list me
referrals.  It is not difficult to handle basic objections about the sellers price expectations or the fact that the seller may have a friend in the business but an agent doesnt want to hear that other agents are listing the same type of
appointments day in and day out. 
It is easier to simply trash our appointments because the seller had some basic objections rather then educate the sellers and take listings.  Ive spent more than a decade coaching agents and the bottom line is that if they cant
help a seller see the benefit of listing with them then they are going to have to stick with working with buyers.  There was an agent that posted that we sent him 52 appointments and he didnt take a listing so the program is a scam.  Never once did it cross his mind that he only helped prove my point. 
We can set the appointments but we cant take the listings.  Most agents in our program would have listed at least a dozen of the exact same appointments.  Again, only a handful of the hundreds of clients we are prospecting for complain at all.

Finally, how about common sense!  If you hire a telemarketer youll need to provide them with phone numbers...  If you dont want an appointment in a particular area, dont put that seller on your list If you want to be in the call schedule this week, make sure we have your numbers in time We work on referrals so you will have to communicate when you take
listings or we will stop calling until you do  

 When an agent writes a post that says they only received a few appointments they never tell you that they havent sent in their prospect list in months and ignored every attempt to get feedback on any listings they have taken.  There is ALWAYS more to the story.  

 Imagine a site like this for your sellers.  The seller wants way more for the home than it is worth they refused
all the advice you gave them about the market and price reductions but they still went online to complain that you didnt do anything to sell their house and that people should beware of listings with you.  Youd simply direct them to sellers who took your advice and were thrilled with your service! 
If you are still unsure about our service, e-mail me and Ill arrange for you to talk to as many agents as it takes to see that they are making thousands and thousands of dollars with us and so can you!

 Bob Fitzgerald
[email protected]

This is a copy of a recent communication attempting to coach one of our clients: