How To Stop People From Secretly Thinking You’re Full Of Crap

Thanks Ken. The last few years of market decline have brought along a decline in Realtor professionalism. We all probably need to tape this post to the mirror and read it every day. Trust is not something that you proclaim (like “multi-million dollar producer”), but something you must earn.

The sad thing is if you actually have to tell real estate agents this advice, that in itself goes to show you how out of it a lot of real estate agents are, and how ridiculous this “profession” can get…

I hear you, for sure. This is the dream. And I wish it played out this way.

But from my experience, this sort of ‘build it and they will come’ optimism simply doesn’t produce the necessary results in order to make a living.

And I don’t say that with a snide leer or cynicism. My father and I constantly deliver incredible service. Ridiculous levels of service sometime.

But the business of selling real estate is inherently capricious, time consuming and complex. The bottom line is tough to leverage well.

Tangentially, I often find that ‘professionalism’ and ‘lead generation’ seem to be on opposite sides of the real estate continuum. Consider the spectacular response to crummy-looking yellow STOP FORECLOSURE roadside signs. And I accidentally learned that forgetting my Open House flyers will generate more conversations and leads than any other strategy.

So what do I propose we do? I have no idea. That’s kind of the problem. I experiment constantly and experience ups and downs.

I sure don’t want to come off as critical of the author’s message. Because obviously it’s the best way to run any business. At the same time, I don’t hesitate to frankly say that the real estate model we currently know is deeply flawed with good honest people going broke everywhere. And without some dramatic change it seems like the industry (as we know it) will ultimately vanish.

Meanwhile brokerages (at least mine) seem unwilling to address these realities and possibly help. Instead, it’s the same old ‘We will persevere with integrity’ sort of thing. Which seems funny to me considering the savage death of parallel industries such as stock broker, travel agent, and so on.

Ok. This has gotten really long! And I don’t have a real take-away to offer. These are just some thoughts on reading the above article. Thanks for reading!

Ryan Rockwood

Ken:
Great post – I think it was the better market, not the decline that led to the lack of these basic skills – When you just have to show up to make a living, that may be all you do. When you work through the tough times , you make yourself better.
Just wish I lived in Texas or you lived in PA so we could work together – always awesome to hang with the big dogs 😉

“Act like YOU are the most important person in the room.”

Look, I’ve seen this transition countless times over the past six years of teaching pre-licensing. A student takes some none nominal amount of training, puts a found thousand in start up fees on a 19% interest credit cards and immediately transform into a monster.

Even before the first closing, the Association, brokers, lenders, settlement attorneys and market service providers start to try and woo you. Agents are taken to lunch, begged to affiliate or provide a service and then a year later are driving cars we can’t afford.

Then… if you’re above average (average is $19,000 a year income) you get a trophy and called a “Top Producer”.

It’s human nature. Agents tend to forget that they are “serving” a client. I think MANY are getting better, but it’s the whole culture.

I think it’s interesting that according to the NAR Profile of Buyers and Sellers that 68% of clients would use the same agent again. Agents can’t be all that bad…

Bill – Yeah, I’d be cool to grab a beer every now and then, given time and the proper imagination stimulant, I bet we could de-thorn some or real estate prickly pears. As for Big Dog, some times I feel more like the Taco Bell Chihuahua…ha, ha. Cheers Bill. Thanks.

Ted – I know, it’s like Lincoln said, “You can please some of the people all the time, and all the people some of the time, but, you can’t please all the people all the time.” For me, I try my best (most of the time) and I sleep well. I can’t change who people perceive me, I can only effect how I handle myself. Thanks for the feedback. Cheers.

Matthew – Sorta sounds like the American Success Story. It’s possible to go from zero to hero, if you build it right, you can stay, if not, you flounder and eventually fail. Yes, most would use the same agent, that’s the good news. The stories of horrific service and behavior are fun to recount and have way more viral energy than the more common “job well done”. The success stories aren’t that interesting and don’t get repeated. Thanks for the comments. I always appreciate your take on thing. Cheers.

In my experience, the majority of people think real estate agents in general are full of crap. And as an agent, I agree. Most are.

Ken, you make many good points in your article with great injections of humor. However, it’s also important for agents to use proper grammar and spelling on web sites, e-mails and advertising, plus proofread for typographical errors. (I even had to look up “proofread” to verify that it is one word, not two, because I wasn’t 100% sure as I wrote it.). We should not rush when we compose information or articles. Even your article has a few of those problems. For instance:
-Their Problem = Who To Trust? (should be “Whom” to trust).
-Donald Trump combs over (Should be “comb-over”)
-Here’s How Untrustworthy Is Created (Should be “Untrustworthiness.” Untrustworthy is an adjective, which would modify a noun.)
-Create property flyer’s (should be “flyers”…plural, not possesive)
-Sprinkle your MLS listing remarks and property promotion materials (should be “promotional” materials, an adjective modifying the noun “materials.” “Promotion” is a noun.)
-Keep them un-informed (should be “uninformed” without a dash)
-Trust is earned when we act energetic and enthusiastic (should be the adverbs “energetically” and “enthusiastically”, not adjectives)
-Trust is earned when we ask lot’s of questions (should be “lots,” plural, not possessive)

Sorry, but I can’t help it. My mother (rest in peace) was an English teacher and drilled proper grammar into me, so little things like that stick out to me. Still, even I have to check dictionaries, etc., at times to make sure that I’m saying or writing things properly. My mother always told me, “When in doubt, look it up.”

I may have even made a typographical or grammatical error in writing these comments (I hope not), because I’m in a bit of a rush. I’ve already found and corrected a few mistakes I made before clicking “submit.”

I did truly enjoy your article. You made many excellent points and presented them in ways that grabbed my attention and kept it. Thanks very much for taking the time to write it. (By the way, the title was a great attention grabber.)

Great post, Ken!
If you haven’t already read it, get a copy of Todd Duncan’s “High Trust Selling”.
it espouses many of the same concepts you have so aptly stated.