One of my oldest friends has an interesting job.  She works with a real estate answering service.  She says “works with” instead of “works for” because she says she feels like a valuable asset to the real estate profession and not merely an employee.  She is very proud of what she does.  It has made me think about the skills and talents needed to be a good representative for a realtor. She answers calls when the realtor is unavailable and she is qualified and knowledgeable enough to answer most questions.  She takes messages and notifies the realtor either by email or text messages and makes sure the message doesn’t get lost or forgotten.  She says she is part of team of customer service experts who maintain a level of professional courtesy and service that few companies offer. The service she works with provides the realtor with the ability to stay in touch with the client as much as possible.