Salespeople who treat buyers with disdain would do well to remember that those buyers will become sellers one day. And they will remember those agents who treated them well when they were purchasers.
No salesperson will admit to treating people badly, but you do see it all the time.
A classic example can be seen around auctions, where agents happily allow buyers to do pre-auction pest and building reports – spending hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars – even though those purchasers have no chance of buying the property.
I bid at auctions for my niece and her husband a few years ago. They paid for two sets of reports on two separate properties and we never got a bid in. The agents led them to believe they had a good chance of securing each property on their budget.
Both agents blamed the ‘hot market’ when my niece missed out. When those agents said they had no idea that these buyers were out of the market on their budget, the agents were either lying or incompetent.
Today, my niece and her husband are homeowners and will upgrade in the foreseeable future. I know two agents that won’t be invited to do a listing presentation.
Clients are not a limitless resource.
It is foolish to treat people as though there are plenty of others to take their place. Treat clients well and it will pay dividends, in both job satisfaction and in results.
Geoff Burch, in Writing On The Wall, said that before you say “No” to a client, or are about to treat them with indifference, imagine them standing in front of you with a huge purse. This purse is full of money and they want to give it to you.
Buyers and sellers want to give you their money. All you have to do is find out what they want, help them get what they want and they will gladly hand it over to you.
Agents who are too busy to return calls, too important to arrive at the appointment on time, and who won’t give buyers and sellers honest information and feedback, are a blight on our industry. They have no long term future in real estate.
Give all clients your time, attention, and courtesy. Do this whether or not you have much chance of doing business with them.
Courtesy costs nothing, but pays huge dividends over the life of your real estate career.