Ever have one of those deals that when you add up all the time you spent on it, you know you are in the negative with the commission earned? Of course you have. We all have.
I just closed on such a deal. It was a nightmare, and I spent hours and hours and hours on it. But I got through it, and my seller was happy.
Why am I telling you this?
Because recently I was listening to a podcast called Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations. She had Dr. Phil on to talk about his life philosophies. One of the things they mentioned was how he decides whether a topic is worth discussing on his show.
He said one time there was a lot of bantering with his producers over a particular topic, and then his son briefly stopped in, listened for a few minutes, and on his way out the door, said, “Just ask yourself this: If a person is only going to see one ‘Dr. Phil’ in their entire life, would you be okay if it was this one? And if the answer is no, don’t do the show.”
And this got me thinking….
When people are looking online for a house and they stumble across my listing, is my presentation of that home the best it can be? What about when they are checking me out? Is my profile on Facebook, Instagram, or our website portraying me in a positive light? And what about those people who ask my past clients if I did a good job? Can I know with certainty that they feel I did well by them? When people observe me in public, is my behavior consistent with my perceived moral character?
Do I give every client and every transaction the same amount of attention to detail? Do I market every property as well as I can? Do I communicate with everyone to the best of my ability? Or do I subconsciously pick and choose who gets the best of me, and who gets a little bit of me?
I would hope that I treat my $50,000 buyer the same way as I treat my $300,000 buyer. I hope that my small city homes get the same great marketing as my large lakefront homes. I hope that every single client, regardless of who they are and how big their budget, feel that I did well by them.
Will we get along with everyone? No. Does everything always run smoothly and happily? No. Will some deals require more attention than others? Yes. Will we feel like we are devoting too much time to one transaction and not enough to another? Yes.
Maya Angelou once said, “People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
And if you treat everyone as well as you possibly can, then you can feel assured that their snapshot of you- no matter how they got it, who they asked, or what research they did- is the best possible portrayal of you.
And if this is the only snapshot they will ever have, it will be worth it.
Amy Gilpin, Associate Broker, Manager, ABR, SRES.
Sixteen years of helping clients. Nine years of helping agents. All for this crazy thing we call real estate.
Production Realty 517-879-4141 Jackson, MI Amy@ProductionRealty.com
