My recent survey asking real estate agents why we fail generated many responses. You can read a few of the responses received here:
If you would like to know the top two reasons why agents fail, check out this blog post.
Below, I have included one specific response that I wanted to write about in today’s blog post. Here it is…
Lack of a system to keep them focused, motivation, a feeling of disappointment in a down market dealing with buyers who are not motivated and insecure. I think there are a few of us also that may have a hard time being concerned when representing a buyer that what a buyer is considering is not a good buy when the market is still not at its bottom. I know I have this trouble as I am so committed to the right ethics of a real estate person that sometimes I miss sales due to the fact I don’t feel it is a good buy and I am honest with that fact. In being honest we are still waiting to find the right house. It takes patience to do so and not get discouraged. So at present I have three wonderful qualified buyers still working with me but waiting as we haven’t found just the property. I could have sold them something but it would not have been the right purchase.
I really admire the agent who submitted this answer to my survey. Why? Because they were 100% honest. Why? Because they sincerely want to do the right thing for their clients. However, I’m not sure their thinking is 100% correct.
Several years ago, I had a similar mental challenge in my business. In my business, I niched to help real estate investors buy single family homes. There was a period of time when I operated under this mind set:
If I wouldn’t invest in this home at this price, then I shouldn’t let my clients invest in it either.
I would set unreasonable purchase prices with my clients and then spend hours trying to get this price through negotiation. I put my clients through a lot of stress trying to help them meet my investing criteria. They walked away from many good investment properties. They wasted a significant amount of time with me trying to get homes at prices that weren’t obtainable.
Now, I did all of this with the best intentions for my clients. I really wanted to get them the best investment properties with the best terms. The problem was that my investment goals were not the same as their investment goals. Many of my clients worked full-time jobs and didn’t want to spend months looking for one investment property. They wanted to find a nice home with a reasonable rate of return quickly so they could get back to spending time with their families. They didn’t want to spend week after week looking for the deal of the century.
My mistake was assuming that my goals were their goals. They weren’t. The same goes for the agent who submitted the response above to my survey. Our job as real estate professionals is to help our clients meet their goals. Our goals don’t matter. This agent wants to help their client buy a home at the bottom of the market. Is this really their client’s goal, too? Or is the client’s goal to simply find the home of their dreams?
You see, if the client’s goal is to find a home they love, then this agent is actually holding their clients back by trying to wait for the bottom of the market to hit. We need to remember that our job is to put the client’s wishes first. What do your clients really want? Did they specifically say, "We want to buy a home at the absolute bottom of the market?" Or did they say, "We want to find our dream home and buy it at an attractive price?"
Before I wrap up today’s post, I want you to think through your client list right now. Are you holding your clients back because of your opinions or your goals? Think about what your clients really want and then go help them get it.
P.S. I’m working like crazy on my new membership for real estate agents. The launch of this membership is scheduled for Monday, August 25th. Check back to my blog on August 25th to learn more about this new membership. I’m going to show you how to create systems that help you generate leads and convert these leads into clients for your business!
