In the town where I live, real estate is somewhere between a shared curiosity and a bloodsport.
“They’re asking how much for that house?”
“Did you hear who’s splitting up? That house will go for a fortune!”
“There’s an open house today. I’ve always wanted to see inside.”
A side story to the real estate game is the outsized number of people who are in the business of selling those houses. Who you get to represent you is very important as not all agents are built the same.
I was enjoying an aprés-golf cold-one recently when a playing partner started telling us about the challenges of selling their 100+ year old house. During his ‘Ted Talk’, he mentioned the realtor’s name and I immediately added, “Nicest woman on the planet!” He scrunched his face and replied, “I’m not impressed.”
WHAT?
Such an opinion is like questioning the virtue of Mother Theresa.
Or saying Jane Goodall is in it for the glory.
Or believing Wes Anderson makes normal movies.
I pushed back on him and he was impressively self-aware enough to clarify:
“What I don’t like is two things. First, we call her, and she texts back. Second, she hasn’t recognized our emotional attachment to the house.”
I’ve thought about this exchange since posting that 99 on my USGA app, obviously enough to write about it. What are we missing as salespeople? Are we following our rules exclusively?
Our job includes learning and then mirroring a customer’s preferences. Those who heed this advice have a client for life. Those who don’t might get a sale, but the relationship will end there, and they’ll have no idea why.
