Technology TransactionsWhy Don"t Real Estate Professionals Look The Part?
Real estate agents are professionals. Have you ever stopped to really think about what that means? We go to school, we receive specialized training, we take a test, and we earn a license to do what we do. Not every Jane or Joe on the street can sell real estate. That makes us professionals. So why don"t we act like professionals?
Why do people have such a low opinion of real estate sales people? Sellers balk at paying six or seven percent commissions on real estate transactions because they don"t think we deserve that much. Why not? Because they don"t perceive us as professionals! Do you think they grumble that much about the commission they pay when selling stocks and bonds? How about the fees they pay the attorney or a doctor?
Here are a few reasons why real estate professionals don"t appear like they are:
Name badges – an idea who’s time has gone
What’s with the name badges? Does your insurance agent wear a name badge? Your financial consultant? How about your attorney, your stockbroker, your CPA? So, as a professional real estate agent, why do you? Is it a sinister plot by the makers of name badges or just an outdated idea that needs to be rethought?
Oh, I can hear you now saying, “But just yesterday I was standing in line at the grocery store and a lady looked at my name badge and said, ‘you’re in real estate.’ As a result I made a sale for $250,000.” But how many people look at your name badge, say nothing, and think to themselves, “There’s another stinking real estate agent trying to make a sale in the grocery store. Why don’t these people get a life?”
Advertising that doesn’t pay
And what about those car signs on the side of the car? How professional does that look? Image plays such an important part in the way people perceive you, and, if you’re driving around with a sign on your car, folks are not going to think, “professional.” They’re going to think, “vulture, used car salesman, painter.”
Do you put your web address on your car windshield? It’s true; you need to advertise your web address on your business cards, your newspaper ads, and your magazine ads. You need to publish that address on everything but your windshield. It makes you look desperate.
A picture is worth 1,000 words – like vulgar, cheap, and sleazy
Pictures on your "For Sale" signs, should not be glamour shots that bear no resemblance whatsoever to the “real” agent. This to me is another idea that has no merit for a professional. People don"t want to hire a beauty queen to sell them a house - they want a professional.
That brings me to the business cards. If you"re going to have your picture on your business card, please for the sake of professionalism, have your picture updated yearly and avoid – let me repeat that - avoid the temptation to have glamour shots and cutesy poses with your hand on your chin or something similar.
I once saw an agent hand a business card to someone who glanced at the card, looked up, and appeared puzzled. Later this person told me, “I wondered who was on the card. It certainly did not resemble the person I had just met.” Is that professional? How about pictures of agents with their pets? This type of picture is supposed to bring out the human side of a real estate agent and make the agent seem warmer and friendlier. Bull! Come on, professional people don"t deal with dogs and cats. They deal with other professionals. Let’s keep the marketing at a higher level of professionalism.
Sales clubs
And so what, you’re a member of the Million Dollar Club or the Circle of Excellence or any of the names local Realtor boards come up with. People figured out decades ago that these designations merely denote a dollar amount of sales. Membership does not in any way measure the quality of the service you render. Just because you sell a large volume of houses doesn"t make you a professional.
Don"t broadcast how much money you make. Show buyers and sellers that you provide top-notch service. I personally would like to see a system that awards agents for the number of satisfied clients they render rather than the dollar amount they earn. This would put the small producer in the leagues with the large producer. And with service and professionalism utmost in their mind, the small producer could even outperform the large producer.
Pop Tart Realtors
What about agents who will take a sale call then immediately rush out to show a house with no regard for their own protection or the security of their client. They just march right off to meet a complete stranger without even knowing if the caller has a job or the income to support a purchase. We call these “Pop Tart Realtors.” They pop up at the ring of a phone. Is this the kind of Realtor desired by sellers who are confronted with the largest financial transaction of their life?
Open Houses - why?
Why would you, a professional, allow a complete stranger to walk into your client’s house with no regard for your client’s safety and the security of his or her possessions? During open houses, agents readily supply to complete strangers information that breaches the security of a client’s home.
For example, if a visitor inquires about a security system, the agent most likely will spill every detail. The stranger might ask, “When’s the best time to bring my wife back by?” And the agent will gladly tell this person not only when the owner will be home, but also when she will be away – leaving the home wide open for burglary. And what about the agent’s safety? You’re sitting all alone in a strange house in an unfamiliar neighborhood. Anyone could walk in and do the unthinkable. Your open house sign is like a siren call for whackos. Believe me, many agents have paid the ultimate price for engaging in this foolish practice. Why would you put yourself in such a very dangerous situation? Is this professional? I don"t think so.
Are you part of the 8 percent or the 92 percent?
The thoughts I am sharing with you are by no means slanted toward that small eight percent of Realtors who conduct their business as professionals, but let’s face it - the other 92 percent pull down the true professionals into the trenches.
Fellow agents, it’s time we pulled ourselves up out of the mud and promoted ourselves as serious, dedicated professionals. It’s time to seek prestige and honor for our profession. Perhaps then we"ll see a decrease in those “For Sale by Owner” signs that have been popping up with increasing regularity.
Act like a professional and you"ll be perceived as and treated like a professional.