You’re fired! An exercise in futility

When you’re new and sharpening your teeth with fresh skills as a real estate agent, you might find yourself taking ANY lead that comes your way. You’ve got your business plan done with the goals of how many deals you need to do to make your numbers and, at first, the options of folks you can help might be scarce.

Nevertheless, you are razor sharp in your focus. Let’s do this.

And then … you meet that one client that’s new to you, that you just do not like or understand. For some reason, any and all communication feels forced, like you’re shoving a round peg through a square space. It’s not that they are a terrible human being. It’s not that you are a regretful communicator. It’s just a personality thing, which then leads to a trust thing.

Remember, folks use realtors that they “know, like and trust”. The above scratches two of those possibly.

I’ve been asked this question by several new agents now, “What do I do when I just can’t connect with the client? We have found their perfect house, and they still didn’t jump.”

The answer is, fire them.

I can hear the gasps from managing brokers across the land.

Here’s a bit of advice I got really early in my real estate escapade.

“Every time you say yes to something, you say no to something else. Make every yes count.”

Interpreted:

There are only so many minutes in the day. “What we think about, we bring about.” And if you are spending your seconds trying to convince someone who just isn’t going to trust you to trust you, you’re not working on other leads/possibilities. It’s about as helpful as herding a bunch of feral cats on a boat, in the middle of the ocean, without an oar or a can of MeowMix. Futile and a waste of energy.

As of today, give yourself permission to call it quits with a client you just can’t serve. You’ll thank yourself for it.

Conversely, there’s the other side.

You think you’re doing a bang-up job. You’re communicating, engaged, and knowledgeable. You’re throwing down the gauntlet on your best work in your view and you get a strange pull back from the client. Then radio silence. Then, and the dreaded it’s not you, it's me” email stating they are going in a different direction. I cover my experience with this first hand in the book.

To be candid, it’s rejection and it sucks. You have two options: you can take it personally, or you can say “it just wasn’t a good fit” and get on with it. Chances are, they are doing you a huge favor by cutting the tie.

Exercise:

Review your leads. Are you spending a lot of time, energy and money on a prospect that is likely too taxing for your business?
You know what you gotta do. ;)

You are the CEO of your business, which means you get to set the rules on how productivity will work in your pipeline.

What do you think about taking control of who you work with and when? Do you see that you do not have to be reactionary on every single lead? Do you see that being intentional about how you spend your time can pay you major dividends in the end results you produce throughout the year? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment below.

Until then, chin up, keep your feet moving … and burn the white flag.

Shelley ZavitzFebruary 10, 2020Comment