I’ve been in sales all my life – most of it paid at 100% commission. My first job was selling custom window treatments, can you imagine how people looked at me when this teenager told them this shutter would change the look of their 100 year old home? Let me assure you, I was met with blank stares and looks of ‘I’m so sure, little girl’.
When you add it all up, that’s 17 years of earning peoples trust and business. My livelihood has depended on following through with what I say, being trustworthy, hard working and creating a positive reputation. If I fail, my family doesn’t eat.
I recently spent a good chunk of time showing a lovely couple homes only to learn that they’d decided to relocate to another city. When they broke the news, they said that I had helped tremendously in making their decision (they chose a city where they could get more home for their money) and that when their daughter sold her home later this year in Denver, she’d call me. I called this a win – I know that not everyone I work with will come to the closing table but, I helped them and they recognized I could help someone else.
At that same time, I was working on another transaction with someone who said they’d hire me. We talked in depth about the transaction and I was open and honest about the process and gave up all my secrets. Do you know where this is going? Yep, they took all my proprietary information, all my hard work, and hired another agent. I was crushed. They told me how wonderful and helpful I was but, wouldn’t disclose where I’d failed.
The majority of people work the 9-5 grind and get a paycheck at the end of the week. It comes without fail, you can depend on it. For those, I know my job is hard to understand. I do all the work, 100%, BEFORE I ever get a paycheck. I work for months to get you through a transaction and if we don’t get to the closing table, all my knowledge, work and trust is for nothing (for both my client and me!). In its simplest terms, you eat what you kill.
Look, I know it isn’t always going to come together – and that’s the risk I take. But I hope my ‘9-5 Friends’ remember that there are other ways to recognize my work. Top agents business (myself included) is composed of 80% or higher in referrals yet, sometimes our closest friends seem to forget about us.
I’m just asking to take a trip back to the 80’s and in your head see the ending scene of ‘Breakfast Club’, and……wait for it…..‘Don’t you, forget about me’ when there’s an opportunity for me to earn your friends and families trust.
Written by Sarah Whitely, SarahWhitelyHomes.com
