Why do EAs think you will be impressed by excessive use of first names?

Phirefly

chappers wrote: »

Mr and Mrs Vick

most amusing

Nenen

chappers wrote: »

Nothing to do really with your post but my father-in-law is a retired solicitor and was always used to doing business on surname terms.
thirty odd years he moved into his house and within a couple of weeks met the guy who sort of lived next door. My FIL intorduced himself as LLewllyn-Jones and the neighbour himself as Vic. So for 30 odd years my FIL and MIL and the whole family have been calling them Mr and Mrs Vick including Christmas cards and addressing them as such when they bump into each other. It was only just before christmas when "Mrs Lynch" died that they found out they were Victor and Mary Lynch.
God knows what they thought about my wifes Paerents.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: thank you for making me see the funny side! Don't know why I let such silly things wind me up but your post really took the wind out of my rant!

slipp_digby

To answer your question, no its not you. Its them.

They think licking a*** will get a sale. Over familiarity is very common in a lot of (mainly) younger agents.

As is knowing nothing about the properties they are selling. I prefer accompanied viewings, but if they know anything more than the price and a made up reason for the vender selling I am generally surprised.

We had one agent who greeted us on an accompanied viewing with "glad you are viewing this, as its new to the market and I wanted to have a look around it myself!". A cat flap in a ****ing elephant house would have been more use.

I had my revenge though - spotting a fire with a back boiler, I posed the question "where is the boiler in this property?" which resulted in her embarking on quite an amusing search for about 15 minutes.

merlinthehappypig

If we are swapping agents stories........

I rang one a few weeks back and asked if the house was on a main road. After some discussion with colleagues I was told that it was 'main roadish'. When I asked what that meant they decided it was on a main A road, but had a big hedge.

Last week before viewings we rang the agent for some clarification. The details said that the main paddock was 'a short distance up the lane'. Asked to clarify a 'short distance' they didn't know. They said they would ring back and did eventually announcing that it was 'just under a mile'. I pointed out that that wasn't a short distance under normal circumstances and they clarified it by saying that it was an equestrian property and they assumed that any potential purchaser would be on a horse.

I still haven't decided if they were being stupid or had a sense of humour. I told them that my miniature Shetland pony had even shorter legs than I do anyway. When we did eventually view the property the field was about 150m from the house.

It's annoying because there are some truly excellent agents out there who are let down by the majority.

Suzy_M

Repeating names is an aide to memory. However, use of first names in a business, or other formal setting, has quite insidious beginnings - as explained to me by someone who was quite a business and marketing guru in his time.

1) The main theory is role-reversal.
People in authority are addressed by title and surname and subordinates are addressed by first names. So a salesperson, or whoever, uses someone’s first name immediately, before stating their own. This straightaway places the customer / client in the subordinate position and the sales person in the authority position. By the time the customer has corrected the status in their own mind the damage has been done.

2) I Want To Be Popular –
The use of a first name implies they are liked and they’ve made a new friend.

3) Friendship & Conflict -
The use of first names implies friendship and familiarity which makes it difficult to resolve problems. Any conflict implies a falling-out between friends and attempts to resolve issues are perceived as personal attacks. Therefore customers / clients are less likely to pursue complaints.

4) I’m Not Old -
Most people are used to their parent’s generation being addressed by title and surname but not their own. Use of first names implies youth - and again implies a subordinate position.

Unfortunately, many salespersons, or whoever, don’t know this and just think they are following their company’s “guidelines”, “establishing a rapport” or being genuinely friendly etc.

clutton_2

if i am asked my name by professionals i always reply "Miss xxxxx" if they then respond with "Mrs or Ms" i keep on saying Miss xxxx till they get it right -- i once corrected a person interviewing me for a job 6 times about my name - i didn't want to work for her anyway !!!!!!

merlinthehappypig

clutton wrote: »

if i am asked my name by professionals i always reply "Miss xxxxx" if they then respond with "Mrs or Ms" i keep on saying Miss xxxx till they get it right -- i once corrected a person interviewing me for a job 6 times about my name - i didn't want to work for her anyway !!!!!!

If we are talking about inferring things from the information to hand.........I've no idea why, but I'd always assumed that you were a gentleman, not a lady until this post.

Just shows that you can't assume anything.:o

christabell

I also prefer to be called Miss Xxxxxxx, I was always used to this in my professional life.

What does get on my t*ts is at the end of a telephone call, people (in England) like say CHEERS. Why can't call centre/business people not say thank you.

Cheers to me means good health, thank you to me means thank you.

These young people.........(!!!)

gingin_2

Was it Haart? (slimebags)

Nenen wrote: »

Is it me?

I rang an EA earlier today to arrange a viewing and when he asked my name I gave our surname 'Bloggs... Mr & Mrs Bloggs'. He immediately asked me what my first name was and proceeded to use it at least once in every sentence... something along the lines of... " Well Nenen, if I can just take a few details from you Nenen. Have you got a property to sell yourselves Nenen? Oh, already sold Nenen, that's good Nenen. I will try and arrange a viewing for you Nenen..... on and on he went ad nauseum! :mad:

Maybe it is a sign of me getting old but personally I find it rude for people to use my first name to conduct business unless either, we know each other very well or, I have expressly asked them to call me by my first name. I think this excessive use of first names (presumably many of them are trained to do this as he certainly isn't the first one) just sounds ingratiating and completely insincere. I don't find it professional and it certainly doesn't encourage me to buy anything they are trying to sell me!

To top it all, when I asked him if the property was made of traditional brick or concrete construction, he didn't have a clue (supposedly). When I asked him if the advertised 'offers in excess of' meant that the vendors wouldn't consider an offer below this he muttered about it being important to go and look first and then think about that afterwards. This is a property that until recently was marketed at 239,950 and has just dropped (afer several months) to 'offers in excess of 230,000' (wow-wee huge drop there then! :rolleyes: ).
I know that the job of an EA is to get someone through the door but is there really any point when I've told him that we wouldn't be interested if it was concrete construction and/or at that price?

Nenen

gingin wrote: »

Was it Haart? (slimebags)

Certainly was! Wonder if they'll read this and either:
1) realise how much they annoy potential [strike]mugs[/strike] purchasers and mend their wicked ways :rolleyes:
or
2) Blacklist me!