We have a PASSION for professionalism and it really comes across in this episode. There are so many ways you could and should be a professional in your work selling real estate. Join us for a sometimes heated discussion about what should be non negotiables for your business. Don’t miss the extremely inappropriate activity another agent got caught doing during a showing and other stories of professionalism do’s and don’ts. Check out more about what NAR says on professionalism here, https://www.nar.realtor/code-of-ethics-and-arbitration-manual/pathways-to-professionalism.

The following is a rough transcript provided by Otter.ai.

0:00
So what kind of questions did we get?

0:03
Well, Casey asked us for our age, weight, height, date of birth and social security number.

0:11
Hi, y’all welcome to hustle humbly. It’s Alyssa and Katie and we are two top producing realtors in the Baton Rouge market.

0:17
We work for two different companies where we should be competitors. But we have chosen community over competition. The goal of our podcast is to encourage you to find your own way in business. So stop comparing yourself and start embracing your strengths. Alright, it’s episode 23.

0:32
Perfect. professionalism. Yes. We’re not sure what else we’re gonna call it. We don’t even have a working title. We don’t have a title yet. But it’s about professionalism. And being a nice person, right? And being the one that everybody wants to work with.

0:48
I like it all good things, professionalism. You know what I want to call and it’s not just this episode. This is gonna be my soapbox series. Okay, because the next few episodes are very much I’m gonna get on my soapbox. They’re things that you feel passionate about very much. Very much. So. Okay. Okay, good. All right. So professionalism.

1:07
If you’re in any kind of realtor Facebook group, which I think if you’re a realtor, you are you’re probably in four or five. Yes, I’m in at least three. I can think of at least four. Okay, okay. There’s always riots in there. Yeah, about y’all. Please leave feedback. Oh, my gosh, they didn’t show up for their appointment that they made like so many issues. Yes. So many complaints. Yeah. So, today, we kind of wanted to talk about respecting everybody in your industry as a whole. Yes. In fact, the National Association of REALTORS breaks it down into three main points.

1:44
I love this.

1:45
I do too. I love it. Okay, number one, we need to have respect for the public public. Number two, respect for the property. Property. Number three, respect for your peers, peers? Where would you like to start public property?

1:58
peers? Yeah, three P’s of the three P’s of professionalism. There’s

2:03
our titled antenna, just like that covers all the bases. Okay, so the three P’s of professionalism. Where do I want to start? Yeah,

2:11
um, let’s start with maybe the easy stuff per property. Okay. I mean, like this, yeah, this should this is not rocket science, okay. But also, this should be common sense where you’re raised in a barn. Thanks. But it kind of brings into clearer view that maybe our southern manners come into play here. I don’t know if this is a problem with just like newness of agents. Or maybe some people just are not thinking outside of their own bubble. And so they don’t pay attention when the client leaves the back door unlocked, or they don’t notice when the client leaves a water bottle on the kitchen table, or they don’t follow the client into the bedroom and make sure that the kid with the crummy hands is not jumping on a stranger’s bed. Right? I mean, there are a lot of it seems obvious that you would watch your clients do during a showing so that they’re being respectful of the property, right? So seems obvious that you wouldn’t open a medicine cabinet or start digging in someone’s dresser drawers or probably you don’t even need to open a refrigerator. Like there’s just no need.

3:16
I think that to the world of security systems and cameras has gotten so advanced. Oh, that’s a great point that you just don’t even know who’s watching. But you need to act like you’re always

3:27
being you need to assume you’re being watched. And I think that you need to have and this conversation is just started in the last couple of years pretty hardcore with me on my first showing with a new client, I have to say, listen, we’re gonna go into this home, and we’re going to assume that we’re being listened to, and watched. And we’re going to be polite and kind. And if we have negative comments about the house, we’re going to save them for outside. And we’re also not going to be like this as the one, right? Because you’re giving away all your negotiating power. When you’re clearly you need a poker face. You need to look but at the same time, you don’t look like you don’t like it because then the seller is going to be like, Oh, they didn’t even like it. Like I want them to love my house. Right? Like there’s a fine line, right? But I think you need to have a poker face and you need to be respectful and think that you’re being recorded.

4:16
I went on a listing interview one time, yes. And the house had been listed previously. Okay. And the sellers had cameras in their homes. You couldn’t really see them though. Like you I had no idea where the cameras were right. And they said that they watch the camera it was in their living room. And this realtor was a man came in stood in the living room and told his clients go look around. He proceeded to pull out fingernail clippers from his pocket. Oh my God, no like and cut his fingernails in the sellers living room. There I can’t I know not I know. And then when his people were done, they just walked out so he didn’t walk the property strictly was a door opener door opener who was there to cut his fingernails?

5:05
That is by far the most absolutely asinine thing. It was terrible. I couldn’t believe it. Now that’s where common sense has clearly left his brain. Yeah. But okay, so that’s why we have the episode. Listen, friends, tell your people who maybe don’t have good manners. This is the one for them. You know, they

5:23
reported him good. And yeah, I was all for it. I was like, I will help you should have been mortified. And you know that this area is something I’m very passionate about. Yes, the realtor brand in general agree does not have a very high standard from the public on what we are right? They don’t think that we’re should be in the same category of professionals as attorneys or right. You know, it’s, it’s just there’s not a lot of respect. And the only way to get the respect is to keep up your level of professionalism. Yeah.

5:53
I think that’s fair. Oh, man.

5:55
Oh, that’s why it’s terrible.

5:57
And you know, I’ve had many, many clients call me since we’re on property and say, my back door was left unlocked, or the front door wasn’t like pulled to or, you know, just all these things that you need to do, you need to have a mental checklist, when you’re on a showing, go through the property with the client, right, confirm that they’re not, you know, digging around, or being nosy or doing things inappropriate, make sure that all the doors have gotten locked behind you that nothing is out of place. If you sat in a chair at the table to write an offer, it is what it is. But put that chair back the way you found it. Like you just have to go through and treat it as if leave it the way you found it like a national park.

6:35
I felt bad the other day because I had a client that I had, was having trouble getting pre approved, okay, they wouldn’t go. I was like, Come on, let’s go, I’ll go with you. But they were just like, No, we just want to look at houses. And I was like, I’m not showing you houses until I know you can buy it right. And I think that goes into a respect for your peers and a respect for the public. And we’ll get into that, right. But this also, so they this house came on the market. Okay. And it was $200,000. So, and they texted me and said, What do we have to do to make an appointment to see this property? I said, you know, you have to go get you have to go get pre approved. And I say listen, as a realtor. I tell all of the sellers and realtors that anybody that I bring into your home can actually buy it right. I’m not just bringing looky loos and making you clean and get out of your house. So I tell my clients like hey, per our standard of professionalism as a realtor. I mean, if you were selling your house, you would want to make sure that everybody that came through, right, so blame it, like use your lashes as a crutch. Yeah, it’s like, I’m not the one being picky. Like these are the role, right?

7:51
And this is the reason right?

7:53
And then they go, Oh, well, that makes sense. So that they said, Fine. We’ll come at 9am. And I said perfect. Well, I saw on the listing that it was like, as much notice as possible needed for showings. So I scheduled an appointment for the next morning at 10am. Okay, after we get pre approved, we’ll go see this house, right? Well, we get pre approved, but they only get pre approved for 170. Okay, first of all, the meeting went fantastic, right? They were so scared about going obviously, I haven’t been able to get them there for weeks, right? And now we’re finally here. And they learn their budget and they have a goal and like they know what loan program they’re using, do they need to save? Do they not love it? And so they were so happy to understand the process and what their budget actually is that they weren’t even that disappointed about about the fact that they cannot go that house. So I cancelled it at 930. But it was it was at 10 o’clock. And I genuinely felt horrible, right? Because the set the listing agent called me immediately was like, Oh my gosh, my seller, like took off of work this morning and cleaning and this and that. And I felt absolutely horrible. And I know that things happen sometimes, you know, but yeah, sometimes it’s unavoidable. You get clients stuck in traffic, you get, you know, all sorts of things happen. And you can’t make your showing but the but you have to cancel it right. Or you have to call the agent and tell them I’m so sorry. We’re not, we’re not going to make the showing if its own. Like it’s time you can’t go and here’s my pet peeve with the public and the whole operation. If you pull up into the driveway and your client says oh,

9:36
I don’t like the neighborhood. I don’t like the area I don’t want to go inside but you had a scheduled appointment and that house is occupied. Either way. You’d make your client go

9:44
inside or at least go in and turn out all the lights and leave

9:47
Yeah, go well, you need to be able to offer the agent feedback beyond they didn’t like the neighborhood. Well, my camera saw you in the driveway and you didn’t come in right because that’s gonna happen. Yeah. So you got to go and so that kind of leads us in The feedback it does. And

10:01
that was the number one rant when I was doing research for this episode. Oh, yeah. Like what is the number one thing that annoys you most about your peers as realtors, and it’s that they show your properties and they don’t leave any feedback at all

10:14
right? So feedback is not going to the system and saying my clients are not interested. Feedback is not refusing to respond to those requests that all feedback is giving it a few minutes of thoughtfulness and saying, you know, my clients didn’t like this home because they felt like there was too much maintenance to do, or they didn’t like the red dining room or the floor plan didn’t work because they had two children, and they wanted them to be closer to their bedroom or something constructive, or the yard size isn’t going to work for the pool, they want to install, I don’t care what it is. But it needs to have some sort of specific component to their home.

10:51
I recently had an agent tell me that they love when they see I’m the one showing because they know they’re gonna get really good feedback. I think

10:56
that’s an amazing like, be that person. Yeah, be that person. And think about it this way. Maybe you’ve not listed a house yet. But when you’re on the other side, and you get a showing on your listing, and the showing agent won’t return your calls, emails or text or the showing feedback, automatic requests. And you cannot tell your seller anything about that showing, you’re going to feel like the worst agent

11:19
ever. So you know, we’ve talked about how I have we both have template emails that if we find that we’re writing the same email over and over and over, I just save it so I can copy and paste it right. So now I have a template email that’s called it’s listed. Okay. And it says, Hey, so and so your house is officially listed here as the link. Yep. Please look through it very carefully. Let me know if there’s any changes that need to be made. You know your house best. Yep. I want to take a minute to explain showings. This is exactly what my templates are. It’s so good. It explains the app is out. Your home is listed. Now. What? Now? What? Oh, I like that. I may have to spice up mine. No, either way. So keep going. So then I say feedback. Let’s talk feedback. And I explained to them after showing ends, they immediately get emailed a form. I usually give them 24 hours. Yeah. Because they are looking at other houses. Right. And that’s a good reminder to your sellers. Yeah, you’re not the only house on the market, no doubt. Like when people say well, why don’t they just make an offer? The answer is because they don’t have to. Yeah, if you were the only house for sale, they would have to write. But if there’s one that is slightly better than yours, that’s the one that they’re gonna try for eight. So anyway, it says they’re showing other houses besides yours. So I give them 24 hours before I email them, right? If they don’t fill out that form, yep. I then email them and say, Hey, how did it go? Any feedback, I can pass along to the seller. If they don’t respond, I call them the following day. Okay, if I have to leave a message, I send them a text and say, Hey, I just left you a voicemail. Let me know. I’m annoyed at that point. Because you know, I don’t like to text for work. But if you have ignored all modes of communication that I had to Yeah, and then I ended with saying, as much as I would love it. If every single agent left feedback, that is not the case. And if I have gone through all of these steps, right, then it just means that they’re not interested. Yeah. And I’m sorry that I couldn’t get feedback for you. Yeah. But you know what that eliminated five minutes after showing ads getting at what house buyer seller saying, How did it go? How did like it’s easing their anxiety, because they understand the process. They’re not surprised when I say some realtors don’t leave feedback. And yeah, now they understand how it all works.

13:34
Yes, they’re so anxious, and you have to put yourself in seller shoes and understand why they’re doing that. But you also have to be the professional that tells them this is not the way that it’s gonna work. I’m gonna set expectations up front. And you need to remind them that me calling that agent five minutes after your showing makes you look so super desperate that you can’t also be a staunch negotiator like you can’t tell me that my list price is firm, and also be wanting me to be down the doors of every agent that shows your listing, like it can’t work that way. You have to think that all the way through. So I love that you’re giving them an upfront list of how it’s gonna go down. What’s the timing on each of those things. And this is where professionalism is so key. I don’t want to keep making excuses for bad realtors, right. And that’s what you’re having to do. You’re having to say, Listen, sometimes they’re not going to respond to me. And all it does. And I want everyone to be mindful of this. It reflects poorly on you and the full and the full realtor brand and the full profession. Yeah, maybe you give great feedback every time. But if 80% of the other agents never give any feedback at all. That’s why 80% of the public thinks agents are horrible, right? So I just think that you got to do the feedback. It’s probably the biggest thing.

14:50
And one of the things on here was like if you see something that is a myth, like if it’s a vacant house and it looks like something’s leaking on the ceiling, to contact the listing agent. Yeah, immediately. You know, just courtesy stuff like that, hey, the back door lock isn’t working. Right. Yeah. Um, so the last I have one more story for respect for property. Love it. Let me hear. Okay, so this was actually a very professional realtor that this happened to. It’s not totally her fault. I think there was just too many people to keep track of in the house, so and they had twins that were like, five, okay. And they went in the master bedroom, okay. And one of the twins went in the living room, okay, and wrapped the drapes around them like a cape and then started spinning in circles. Well, then they got stuck in the drape and fell, fell forward. And the rod came out of the well, my word and my word mash a glass table. So the kid is still in the curtain. This is a real story. No, no. And she just had to be like, I am so sorry. And we will fix this. And this is what happened. But like, no matter how professional you are, if that happens, you look bad.

16:04
I mean, you there’s nothing you can do. I know that happened to me before. Well, I had client not that exact, but I had clients, a young couple, no kids, we looked at this house, they were really interested in it. So we and this was a good, you know, five to probably seven years ago. It was before everything was a sign. Okay. And so I carried like a purchase agreement with me and like, would they we go to sit down at the dining room table to like, look at the offer and potentially, you know, write something up or look at the, or whatever, the husband and they had all these antiques. And so the table was like an older antique, the husband sits down on the chair and the back of the chair, like breaks off, like my chair is broken, there is no way to fix it. I just looked at them. And I’m like, you know, you have to buy this house now. Like there is no turning back. So you know, you swallow your pride, and you call the agent and you don’t make excuses. And you’re just like, hey, we sat down at the table. We broke a chair. Let me know, go do this,

17:03
or we’re sitting down to make an offer. Yeah, I’m sending you an offer. No,

17:07
I’m serious. Whenever people do any look, I had a seller who didn’t want to. He didn’t want anyone to go in his attic until inspections. And I’m like, thinking in my mind. Are you trying to hide something? Because sometimes when buyers get really serious before they make an offer, depending on how thorough they are, they’re going to want to peek in the attic. Right? I mean, I’ve had this happen before. Well, he was like, no one is allowed my attic until inspection. I’m like, Okay, so I’m like, tell me why. I mean, tell me what’s in your head. Well, when I bought this house, I came in to look at it. And He Himself, the buyer got in the attic to see what it was all about and fell through the ceiling. And tore like his rotator cuff or something God needed surgery was relocating from out of town had to go like have surgery while he was out of town. Obviously ruin this living whatever ceiling. And he he ended up buying the house because that’s the rule friends. If you break it, you buy gotta buy it. If you break it, you buy it. Wow. So that’s how he was sensitive to that. But yes, respect for the property, use your common sense. Also make sure that your clients are being told what is appropriate while they’re in that house.

18:17
You know what I started doing one time, that was kind of fun. What? I knew I had a busy day. So I was showing five houses. Okay, I knew I had a busy day after I don’t like when my email gets full of all these feedback requests and things like that. So I opened the showing time at while we were in the house, and I told my clients, I was like, Hey, guys, every time I show a house, I leave feedback, Can y’all help me? Oh, I love it. And they were like excited into and as they were walking around, they were like, Oh, tell them we really think that painting the kid’s room would help or removing this or doing that or just whatever the case may be. And it was really easy. And then when we were done with showings, I didn’t have to do any fee. But I love that I

18:56
think it’s also good. If you’re not willing to open your app and do it right there. I bring a paper copy of my listings when I go because I just want it in front of me. I don’t want to depend on technique, I would call that a professionalism hack. I don’t want to rely on my phone pulling up that listing to get additional information. I bring a copy of each listing with me and the eye make notes because if you’re seeing 510 15 houses, whatever it is, you’re not going to remember which is which

19:20
I have all the MLS sheets printed in order of where we’re going exactly. I send it to them and I say look, we’re seeing five houses today by the end of the day, they’re all going to be jumbled, jumbled together. You’re not going to remember Yeah, make notes in the car between houses if you know you don’t like it put a big X same but yeah, it’s it’s really nice. When they asked you a question and you just have the information right there.

19:42
I have a copy they have a copy you I’m telling them you make your notes and I’m making my notes because there are things that they say that I don’t know that I necessarily want them to keep focusing on a negative comment, but I want to make note of it because people do go back and buy a house that maybe they had negative feedback on

19:59
and I do try to include some positives all way. Like even if the floorplan is terrible. I’m like, hey, it was so clean and show ready.

20:07
I love that. And I do the same thing. And you know why so many sellers are getting that direct feedback. You don’t want to just be bashing their house. I mean, they’re going to, there’s no need to hurt someone’s feelings.

20:19
Being a seller is the worst. It’s so hard. You just feel judged vulnerable. It’s hard. Any bit of positivity, even if it’s not the house for you is just like so comforting.

20:28
Right? And be mindful agents. You have time for this. Yeah, you you signed up to be a realtor. This is what it takes your job you’ve got it is your job. This is your treasurer professional duty to do this. It is not an What do you call that? It’s just not an optional activity.

20:43
You got to do it. Right. Okay, so that’s property pretty good. And we we got into feedback. What about respect for the public? Okay, we’re going to cover that. I think respect for the public and professionalism go hand in hand, because you have to be the driver for them. Yes. They need a realtor. Yeah, they want you to be the boss. Yeah, they want you to guide and direct them. Yeah, they don’t want you to show them 20 houses without a pre approval letter eight, they want you to be like, I’m just telling you, it’s not gonna work out well, for you. Yeah, if we find the house that you want, and you’re not pre approved, yes, you could lose it in a multiple offer situation, you could not feel confident when you’re buying. And I’ll tell you all, I know how hard it is to get a buyer to go get pre approved. But it’s something that I do not negotiate. I love that you do that. I’m not going to do it. I love it. And okay, so one time I had a friend, refer me her friend, okay. This friend was like, Hey, me, and my boyfriend went to look at houses. And I was like, oh, okay, great. Like, I’d be happy to help you. Listen, there’s a few good lenders that are local. What Who do you think you would like, tell me about you know what you’re looking for? Well, we just want to go look at these houses. Nope. And I said, Well look, as a realtor, I make a promise to every seller that if I’m showing your house, everybody that comes in it can buy it. Right. And I let them know that you have already been checked out. It’s it’s for safety. Yeah. It’s for professionalism, and it just helps you. Yeah. Her response. Well, my boyfriend’s cousin is a realtor and said he would show us without a pre approval letter. Right. And I just said, well, it, it does disappoint me that not all realtors uphold the same level of professionalism. Yes. So if you feel like you need to go with his cousin, I understand. But at some point, you’re going to have to get pre approved, why not do it first so that you can shop with confidence? Yeah. Well, she just didn’t like that. And this is the one of the very rare exceptions Yes. To people giving me this much pushback. Yeah, normally, they’re like, Oh, that makes sense. And I can tell that they’re still nervous, but they understand. But after the meeting, they are not nervous anymore. They’re so thankful and happy. Yeah. So anyway, I was grieving. A little right. Because I lost her. I lost her. And I was like, I’m too strict. I’m blah, blah, blah, you know? No. So like, three months later, oh, gosh, there’s a picture of her on Facebook with her boyfriend holding keys in the front yard and saying our new home and I’m just like, see, Alisa, you’re too strict or too strict. She lost her, she could have been a good client. And now you probably ruin the relationship too. Well, so I’m just being nosy. And I start reading the comments. And people are saying, Where did you buy? Where did you buy? And she responded, oh, this is just a rental. We’re renting. And I’m with her. And I just felt so validated. Because like, I’m so thankful that I did not get a babysitter for Saturday so that you know that you could I could go show you all these houses. And I don’t know why they decided to rent, right? I will tell you this, they were gung ho on buying. So it wasn’t that they stopped wanting to buy No, I don’t know if they ended up getting pre approved and finding out they weren’t or that it wasn’t what they thought or whatever the case was thing. But it was every time that I’m explaining this. I remember this story. You

24:12
were validated in your professionalism. Yes.

24:15
I just feel like, I feel like at the end of the day, they appreciate that you were the professional and that you push them to do the steps in the right order, right? And then like, I don’t know, you know, this is a good thing for lenders to do my lenders do this. I make the lenders that my clients are working with, send them monthly notes at three different price points. Oh, I like so if you’re approved for 250 you right? I tell them and say they come to me already pre approved, right? I say look, I don’t know who your lender is. But now I probably do because you know, you kind of get to know people, right? But I say email your lender and ask for the monthly note at 200 to 25 and 250. Right? Because when we’re out house hunting, and we’re inside a house, I want you to be able to refer back To that, yeah. And know what it’s going to cost you per month. I think that’s good. Yeah, it’s awesome. I love that I appreciate it.

25:05
They totally appreciate that I think communication with your clients is a key. And really, we’ve talked about the templates on many occasions, it’s not just a matter of making your life easier, it’s a matter of giving them all of the information, they need to know how the process works. The general public is not, they’re not realtors, they maybe haven’t bought a house in five to seven years, if ever, or 10 or 20, or 30. I mean, like, they need to be guided and given the proper steps, and you need to be the person that gives them that knowledge.

25:37
I mean, we all know those negative Nancy realtors, and I can think of like seven off the top. But the ones that say, this client is driving me crazy. They’re constantly testing texting me asking us have we gotten feedback yet? They’re constantly texting me saying, can we go see this house right now? And my question back is, why do they think that they can go see a house right now? Yeah, do not explain to them that showings require advance notice, especially if the house is occupied, we have to make appointment. Right, right. And it’s like, if you’re being aggravated by your clients, I can promise you that you are the problem, you did not set an expectation you did not set an expectation you did not do your professional duty at the beginning and started off on the right foot

26:17
agree. This is starting off on the right foot, this is a perfect. I have this in all caps. In my notes. There is one thing that you must say to every person that you are about to work with, or that calls you on the phone or that you know, inquires in any way about real estate. Are you working with an agent? How lovely, please do not blame them for not telling you and then you go on 10 showings and they’re like, Okay, great. We’re gonna get our agents to write up the offer. What, wait a minute, do not be afraid. I think most people don’t ask this question not surely out of not being professional. I think they’re afraid to hear the answer. And that makes no sense.

27:00
This is kind of where the scarcity mindset comes in. If you’re so scared, yeah, lose a client. Yeah, I got assigned call the other day. And they were like, Hey, can we see this house? I said, Absolutely. Do you have an agent that you were working with? Well, we do. But you know, we just kind of want to see this house. And I said, Well, look. And I’m honest with them, y’all. You don’t have to say something fancy. I said, Well, look, a lot of people don’t realize how it works, right. But in realtor world, whoever shows the house is the one that writes the contract. So if you have an agent that you would want to write this contract for you, they just need to schedule an appointment, right? Well, they’re out of town. Well, that realtor should have someone working with them an assistant or a broker? No, they don’t. I which point I say, do you mind if I call you back? Right? And look, this is kind of where professionalism and etiquette comes in. If it’s just like a total loss of a situation, right? And you can’t reach that agent who’s on a cruise and left no one in charge of her business, right? And this buyer really wants the house and it’s your listing, right? You may have to just say your seller can sell there. So your seller can sell their house, do it, do it, show it and you know what, that Realtors never gonna forget that you did that and didn’t ask for any kind of compensation or referral fee. Right? But at the same time, I you’re not losing anything? No. Like when they say, Well, we do have an agent, do you want to work with them anyway, you were not going to work? You lost nothing. And now to stop feeling like you lost them.

28:32
Right? Like just okay. But you got to ask I know it’s

28:36
an you have to educate them. Right? When they say yes, you don’t scold them and say Oh, well call them you have to explain to I call it when I’m talking to them. I’m like, in realtor world. This is this is how it works. And they go Oh, yeah, like they genuinely didn’t know and they appreciate someone explaining the process to them. And the reason

28:56
why they didn’t know is because their realtor however lovely. They may be didn’t set those expectations for them and didn’t tell them how it worked. Right. So we all have to do better. I’m not saying I get it right. Every time I’ve many times not said are you working with an agent. But I have learned over many years to make that the prime thing you want to ask?

29:15
Well in my email templates, I have a next steps email for my buyers. This is what they get after they’ve been pre approved. Right? And it says, you know, congratulations, you’ve been pre approved. What do we do now? Right? You send me houses, I send you houses. But look, I encourage you if you don’t have anything to do on a Sunday, go to open houses. Just tell them I’m your realtor. Yeah, but they need to be told that Yes. I encourage you to if you’re out and about and see a new construction model home open, go first thing out of your mouth. Tell them I’m your realtor. But they don’t know that right? They don’t know unless you tell them so the realtors that are like my clients just walked into a new construction and signed whose fault is that? And we have to stop blaming the public for our losses? They don’t know. I don’t know. And if you’re not taking the time to educate them, they will never know when you’re you’re going to constantly be living in a state of disappointment because you have no control over your clients. Yeah,

30:14
I agree. Completely agree. Yeah. Okay. I have some other notes on listings specifically. And this message is for obviously, realtors professional photos are non negotiable, for sure. They are, they’re called professional photos. So we need to have them in our professionalism talk. But they’re non negotiable. I understand that it costs money, it is actually not as expensive as you might think. And, and a professional photo is not made by way of oh, well, I have a nice camera. So I can just do it, right? No, and I people will disagree with me on this, and I am okay with that. And not every photographer is created equal. And I want you to go look at some MLS listings and see the difference in photos. And I want you to understand that the public starts online, over I think it’s now up to like 95%, you’re showing your photos of your listing for your seller, or the number one thing that you should be worried about, when you’re putting it on the market, you are going to have a much easier time selling a home that is presented professionally and has the appropriate photos. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve you know, taken the listing that didn’t sell and I look at the photos, I’m like your house is lovely, these photos are not right. And I have to tell my buyer clients, when they’re looking at listings online, please don’t rule out listings with bad photos, you’re gonna have to just look at the stats and the size and the location. And sometimes we’re gonna have to go look at houses that you thought were ugly. And sometimes we’re gonna go look at houses with professional photos, and you’re gonna get there and be like, Whoa, those photos made this house look great, right? So I mean, it goes both ways. Don’t over Edit and don’t, right, please don’t use your phone, fisheye lens, whatever that thing is that stretches your room out and makes it look all crazy. Please don’t stand on a ladder and take a picture down of the room, I don’t understand that. Get a photographer that takes real estate photos as their profession. Yes, not just any photographer, one that has the appropriate lens, one that knows how to edit appropriately, one that isn’t going to distort what’s happening there. Be mindful of what you’re putting out for the public to see. And the more professional your listing appears, then then the easier it is to sell and the more of a professional you appear to be. So hey, the next time someone wants to hire you as their listing agent, they’re gonna go look at your old listing, right? Oh, they’re gonna see or they’re going to be your friend on Facebook. And they’re gonna see every time you share a listing, your listing photos are always beautiful, and look at all these pretty houses. And look how nicely you present that what you were selling. So I think that’s important, very important, super important. I think the other thing on listings is you should be giving staging advice. I think that you do a great job of this in your templated emails. And I think that sometimes we’re afraid as realtors to deliver difficult information, but it is part of your duty as a professional, it’s your job to tell the seller things they need to hear.

33:17
They need your guidance. If you don’t tell them in the beginning, they’re gonna hate you in six months when it expires, and they don’t understand when the

33:24
next agent comes along to fix this problem and tells them you can’t sell this house with the red kitchen cabinets. They’re gonna say, Well, my last agent never told me that. And guess who that affects the entire realtor brand.

33:37
Okay, true story. I’ll be here. I showed house one time. And it was like very adamant about leaving your card on the kitchen table, which I think is stupid. By the way. I hate that. I don’t do it. Unless the agent is really adamant about it. Yeah. So I left my card on the kitchen table. And I left really good feedback because I leave really good feedback. Yeah, the seller called me Yeah, because they had my contact information. And they were really appreciative of my feedback, and said that it was the most guidance they have been given so far right. And wanted to know if I could list their property, it is still listed with the other agent that’s really backfired on that. Oh my gosh, and it really opened my eyes to that. sellers want to know the truth no matter how hard it is. The public wants you to be the boss. They are hiring you for your advice for your knowledge for your professional. Okay. Yeah, I just remembered that we’re recording client management. Yeah, soon. Yes. And this is getting into a lot of client management. That’s fine. We’re going to I’m gonna add two more things. Yes. That will bring it back to professionals. Let’s hear the top two things that the public had to complain about their agents. Okay. They are not on time. Yeah, number one. Yes. Number two, they do not respond in a timely manner. Yep. You know about my email rant? I know like you have to respond to people in a timely manner. Because if you don’t, there’s 1000s of other realtors that they could call and get a quick answer so well

35:10
and if a responding in a timely, here’s my problem because I’m I can fall victim to both of these things. I am a tardy person, that’s who I am, I am late and you will laugh because all the real there’s so many realtors who are late by nature, I have read articles that say it’s because you’re a more positive person. Oh my gosh. So you think you can get more done than you can and then, but here’s the important professionalism. I’m never more than five minutes late. But I’m almost always five minutes late. I am almost always having to send a text that says, I am on the way I will be there at this time. Like, just if you’re going to be late. If you’re a late person by nature, I know it’s hard to fix, communicate, tell your clients where you are work on fixing it. I’m always I’m always working on it. Oh, check Waze, see how long it’s actually going to take you to get there before you go to get in your car? And then what was the other one? responsiveness? Yes. I like to sit at whether email or text or return call, I wanted to have a keyboard, if I’m going to type a long response, I’m not going to do it on my phone. If that is the case, and I’m out and not near my computer, at least make a response that says I have received your email and I will get back to you at 3pm or something to that effect so that they know they’ve been heard. So I just think you need to be mindful. And that’s a communication thing.

36:25
So I think we can move on to respect for peers. Oh,

36:28
yeah, let’s hear it.

36:29
There’s just so much that we need to focus on here because this industry can be so cutthroat agree, people are acting like we’re constantly in competition with each other agree, which is true to an extent, but there’s enough business to go around. Yes. And obviously this podcast is about community over competition. We need each other. Right. So it’s December right now as we’re recording this and last night, I wrote an offer on a property that got accepted. Okay. And the listing agent I have done several transactions with in my time as realtor, okay. And she emailed me back and said, I’m so excited to start off 2020 with you, I always love doing a transaction with you have it? And I was like back atcha That’s right, so true. And you know what, it’s gonna go fine. Um, but just, it’s just going back to the basics of being nice and remembering that everybody has things going on. Yes. And you want to be the realtor that when you submit an offer, you want that realtor to win because they like you. That’s right. I’ve been there. No one made me and you leave really fast because it’s my favorite. Do you want to tell her Do you want me to tell talk about how cute this house was? Okay, first

37:35
of all, I had this super cute cottage that my cousin’s had bought with me a couple of years before they’d done a beautiful renovation. It was an awesome part of town. It was like a dorm. It was adorable. And we

37:47
were not really you weren’t looking friends? Yeah,

37:50
we weren’t No, we

37:51
had had. We were friendly, friendly. We had had coffee at least once or twice. Yes. But we were not like there was months in between seeing each other. Yes, we had no idea that one day we would have a podcast. This point would

38:06
have we had no idea how much we would split how much time we would know together. But it was a hot property. Yes, it multiple offers. Five offers live, I believe, actually six, by the time I was able to respond that evening rush and you were one of the six with your buyer client. And it was important to me when I’m starting to split hairs, because we’re looking at six offers myself and the seller. And I could say I know. And it wasn’t just you, I know this realtor is going to do a good job. I know this realtor is going to do a good job. We can look at all these numbers, the numbers are all the same. These are the types of loans. Here’s the deposits. Here’s the closing date. Like we’re really splitting hairs on picking one. And I mean, I think that it came down to me being able to say, I know that this is going to be a pleasant transaction for you and me and the whole operation. And we’re not going to have to fuss with another agent. There is also an agent that lost that multiple offer situation partially over their feedback. Oh my gosh, they had made negative feedback on the house probably trying to privatize for an offer. Yeah. And that backfired on them. Wow.

39:13
Yeah.

39:14
What is your take on that experience,

39:17
which was a multiple offers. I felt like I had to prepare my clients. Yes. And say, Does your pre approval letter check the box that says that all of your documents have been reviewed by your lender? Did you do your homework ahead of time so that we can win? Yeah. And I also had that talk with them. Listen to me. I know this realtor. And if we win, and these other five people leave, we are getting to the closing table. Do you hear me right when we have our home inspection? We’re not going to be this nitpicky. Yeah, you know like we’re gonna do this right and we’re gonna get I made sure that they were serious.

39:51
I know for you, but the way you treated that as the way everyone should treat every transaction, be the agent someone wants to work with again, be Be respectful speak to the other agent with kindness. Be open with communication. Don’t Don’t leave them feeling like you didn’t respond to their request didn’t answer their phone calls.

40:12
I listed a house last week. That was super cute. And we did a lot of staging to it was listed previously with another agent. I’m the second agent and we staged it and did a few things. Yeah, and it’s pending now. Love it, it was on the market six months love it. Anyways, I had two agents who I have never heard of call me Yes. And say, hey, my client like wants to make an offer. But it might be a little bit lower. And like, I just wanted to see if it was worth writing. And I was just like, really like, do your job and just super professional like we don’t do anything verbal, verbal means nothing.

40:49
Is it worth my time?

40:50
Is it worth my time to write? I’m like, I don’t know, write it. And let me see what we can count. Or maybe we can meet in the middle. Two agents asked if they could just run it by my sellers. I said, No, I’m not running anything by my sellers. Yeah, until it’s in writing. And I know that you’re serious, but that is not serving your buyer client in a professional manner. No, it’s do not tell them that is an option. So I got an offer on paper, okay. And it was lower. And we countered, and they accepted love it. And these two agents said, Well, I told you that my clients were interested. So this is not my fault that you didn’t want to take the time to do you were trying to be lazy. You were trying to cut corners. And you lost. Yeah, not my problem. No. That being said, I do. I don’t know if people use showing time or whatever. But I do use the feature that allows you to email everybody that has shown the property as that didn’t say I have an offer, I just want to let everybody know I have received an offer on this property I have until 6pm. To respond, if you’re interested, I need to know by 3pm.

41:53
And look, if you are not doing that best practice, it is a professionalism standard that it is a above and beyond your seller is not going to require you to email all of the other people that saw the house. But you should be doing that. If you get an offer on your listing and 10 other people saw it, you need to send that email that says hey, we have an offer. Because you should always be trying to get your seller, as many and the best offer you can and multiple offers is always going to be better than one offer. Yeah,

42:23
I agree. One of the things on here was notify the listing agent if there appears to be something inaccurate on their listing. I like that I do this a lot. You do. So one of my clients was like, hey, granite countertops are like a non negotiable, like they were super gotta strict about grading. So I made it in my MLS search must have granite. Okay, so she sends me this house. And it didn’t come up in my search. Right. And I was like, annoyed, you know, I’m like, wait a minute, I went to all this trouble. Yeah. Why didn’t this come up in my search? I want to win. I want to be the one to send them information. Well, turns out this agent had just not checked that box. Yes. So I emailed the agent and said, Hey, I just want to let you know, I have a search set up for my client. This house has everything on my search list. But it didn’t come to me. Because you didn’t have granite. And they said, Oh my gosh, thank you so much. I didn’t even know that wasn’t on there. Well, exactly. And they were so appreciative. Right?

43:14
Let them know, because it makes it easier for everyone to search further if you are inputting a listing that was sold before processing, put all the data in there. Okay,

43:23
my dad is a real estate appraiser. Go on. He gets so frustrated when a house sells before and they just put like a crummy front photo. No other pictures, no description, how can it be used as a comp it can if it’s sold before processing, it might be a good cop. It’s probably it would help the subdivision it thank you remember that you’re

43:43
still serving your client by putting that information and maybe your seller Klein, they’ve gone on to another neighborhood, but you’re still serving the public. Yeah, ultimately, you should be serving the public and the real estate market. And

43:55
then I think just getting into normal like thank you cards after show. After closing. It was lovely to work with you. Just being nice to people. When you go do your final walkthrough and you have the buyer ask them Can I grab your sign and lockbox for you, I do that no need for you to come all the way out here. Like whatever you can do to make this so pleasant.

44:16
Yep, that’s all you have to do nationalism and manners. go hand in hand, be nice, be nice, be kind, be thoughtful. Remember that this is not a job you can do alone, right? There are going to have to be other people involved. The other thing I wanted to say and remind especially since we’re on professionalism, and we’ve said it before we will say it again. If you treat your business like a business, it will pay you like a business and you need to have a business plan and business systems and you need to have standards of professionalism that you are using on every transaction

44:51
right. I do have a template that goes out to the other agent now that says hey guys, email is the best way to reach me for anything this please don’t send me To check if it’s a realtor, I’ll be like, I’ll be honest with you. I’m not great with text messages because I get too many. So email is if you need something, email me, right? And it just says, I will schedule everything through showing time. Please do the same. Love it, whatever you need them to know to work best with you. And I liked about in your template emails at the time. Yeah, it’s just chatting with your clients with other agents. I love it. You just have to be the boss. Yeah, you have to be the boss. And remember, not a doormat? No, you’re not and the public is listening to you.

45:29
So we’ll get into that. I think in client man, like, what

45:32
if you met with a CPA? And they were like, so what do you want to write off? And like, I would be like, Oh, my gosh, I have no idea. You tell me you tell me you’re the ball that’s

45:42
right and willing to pay you for your knowledge people. So give them what they’re paying. If you don’t feel like you have enough knowledge to give that to them. Go out and take a class.

45:50
There’s an agent in my office. Are we finishing up? Right? Yeah, thanks. Hey. So there’s an agent, my office I want to toast to I love it. When I was reading about professionalism. She just kept coming to my mind. Okay, she joined her office a few years ago, and I was instantly like, I like her, I want to be her friend. Okay, I love it. And it’s funny, because, you know, I’m casual like beans and whatnot, you know, in a professional top or whatever. But she always is dressed more professionally, whether it’s like a pencil skirt, or a blazer. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen her like in jeans if we’re at work, okay. And most people like that I feel intimidated by and I feel like, you know, I can’t connect with right, but she just has this way of acting that is welcoming. And I’ve always kind of said like, if I wasn’t a realtor, she might be my realtor who I love it. Because she’s professional, but approachable and friendly. And she’s like the perfect combination of looking the part. So she used to be in the car business, okay. And I think that’s where her professionalism comes in, because she has legit training on how to speak to people. The right things to say like the natural scripts that you just repeat. Yes. And I’ve just always been so impressed by the how she can be ultra professional, and ultra approachable, because it’s very hard to be both of those things really is and we’re gonna get into that. But tell us who we’re toasting Casey barn love it. And I’m just so happy to be able to work with her every time I hang out with her. I’m just I say I wish I could have your mouth. The way that you explain things and the way that you handle yourself. I’m just always impressed. So I would like to toast to Casey Barnes cheers to Casey here’s the case. Awesome professionalism. Yeah, love it. Great job. Right. That’s it. Bye guys. Bye. Thank you so much for tuning in to the hustle humbly podcast. Let us know who we should toast to for the next episode.

47:51
Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at hustle humbly podcast. If you have an episode, topic or question please email us at hustle humbly podcast@gmail.com Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.

48:03
See you next week. Bye.

48:08
This is the goodbye