People often go into real estate because they are people persons (does that work, grammatically speaking?) They like people, they have the gift of gab and are all around good people. What they often don’t realize is that being a real estate agent, and making a good living from it, is a business. A real estate agent is a professional, defined by Webster’s as “characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession (2) : exhibiting a courteous, conscientious, and generally businesslike manner in the workplace”.
“Businesslike” is where we sometimes go astray. Since we want to please, we often forget we are business people and act more in the guise of a public servant. We make ourselves available 24/7. We give out our home phone. We accept any payment people are willing to offer. We don’t set limits. We don’t qualify our clients. We don’t want to be rude or hurt anyone’s feelings. I, just as much as the next person, am guilty of some or all of these actions from time to time.
It’s time to stop looking at ourselves as servants to the consumer first and business professionals second (if at all).
It IS OK to:
- Set hours when you are available, answer the phone and show properties (my outgoing voice mail states clearly that I don’t work Sundays or answer the phone after 7 PM. Guess what? People respect and deal with that. I’ve lost ONE listing in the three years since I implemented that outgoing message and that listing has still not sold, three agents later.)
- Determine what fee you are willing to work for and be firm about it
- Say no to unrealistic and unqualified clients (take your time and money to clients who DO intend to buyer or sell, not just “look” or “see”).
Look at other professionals such lawyers, accountants and consultants and observe how they operate their business. They do it from a business perspective, not that of a public servant. I am not saying that you can not have a servant’s heart when dealing with clients, of course you can. But you should have a businessman’s heart when making decisions, setting limits and policies. Don’t change the person you are, but do be a businessperson.
Take a good hard look at how you operate your real estate business. Are there things you could tweak to have a more sound business practice? If so, put them in place and see if your bottom line doesn’t thank you.
