You have to remember while in the process of helping your clients, that you are there to do just that. You are here to help. They are not here to make you your next commission, you are here to help them either sell or buy a home.
I have seen far too many agents put their needs and wants above the needs of their clients. This is a fatal mistake for both the agent and the consumer involved in the situation. The second you put your own feelings above those of your client, you are no longer effectively representing them, in fact, you're not really representing them at all. You're representing yourself.
Don't get me wrong, no one starts a business to lose money. We are all in this business in the hopes that we will make a living and hopefully a good living at that. How ever, your clients can't suffer for those aspirations.
There will be situations where you may have to try and protect a client from themselves. For example when a seller wants to price their home above market value. It's your job to dispense the correct advice and tell them in what price range they can truly expect their house to sell. There can be any number of these same types of situations where have to do your best to pull your clients back in line with where they need to be in the process.
However, there is no excuse for your client needing protection for you. You are here to provide protection, not to make it a necessity. The first rule of thumb in my opinion for any relationship is to get over yourself. If you think about yourself and only yourself, any relationship is doomed from the start, be it business or personal. You have to consider the fact that now every decision you make affects more than just yourself and you have to consider how it will affect the other person.
So do your clients a favor, get over yourself.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
JL Boney, III - Columbia, SC Realtor - Russell and Jeffcoat Realtors
I specialize in Columbia, SC real estate and the surrounding areas, including Blythewood, SC, Kershaw County, Fairfield County, and Lexington, SC. If you are in the market to buy or sell a home in Columbia, SC or any of the surrounding areas, I would love the opportunity to speak with to see how I can help. Thanks for reading and feel free to contact me if I can be of service to you.
Office- 803-788-1450 Cell- 803-730-9601 Email- jlboney@russellandjeffcoat.com
My Columbia SC Real Estate Website
My Columbia, SC Real Estate Blog
www.jlboney.com/columbiascrealestateblog.html
www.activerain.com/blogs/jlboney/rss
Subscribe to JL Boney's Columbia SC Real Estate Blog by Email
Very sound advice.
And the customer usually has no problem figuring out where your true allegiance lies. And then you are left to wonder why you get no referrals.
JL, I keep telling my agents...'take care of yiour clients and they will take care of you'!
JL ---- you are right on once again -- I agree with William
Very sound advice, and yes, William's has the right idea! Have a nice day!
Without the client, we are nothing. The client rules the roost. But, you also mentioned that sometimes we need to protect them from themselves. Overpricing will hurt them every time. I remember before I became an agent...way back in the day... I felt you could at least see what happened. What will happen now is a MACK truck bearing down on you with full beams.
Right again my friend! It seems there's a lot of REALTORS that could take your advice!