Take time to care and the rest will take care of itself...

“Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” (Theodore Roosevelt) – from the Jack’s Winning Words blog. I love much of what Jack (Pastor John Freed) writes in his daily blog, which is always based upon some quote or saying that he has found. Jack puts a religious or life lesson spin on the quotes, but I find many of them to be applicable to my real estate practice. While the post today is aimed primarily towards other real estate professionals it is also a reflection of how I try to run my day-to-day real estate business.

Today’s quote from Teddy Roosevelt is certainly true in real estate. I’ve heard of too many Realtors® whose listing appointment presentations are basically “me, me, me” soliloquies, when in fact they should be “you, you, you” oriented discussions about the needs of the seller. Perhaps some agents have become too jaded or full of themselves to care about the clients. Too much success has a way of clouding one’s view of the world and pushing humility off to the side. I recall Mohammed Ali’s “I am the greatest” rants after he won the heavyweight championship.

Real estate sales are often very personal and emotional events for the sellers. The reason for the sale may be something very sensitive to the seller, especially in these times of high distressed sales and high divorce rates. I believe It’s essential for the Realtor take the time to understand those reasons and to treat the emotions involved with the care and respect that they deserve. To the seller the house is not just a house, a product to be sold; it is their home and likely full of memories and emotional baggage, either good or bad. Even people who appear to be quite ready to move on might need a little time to reflect on the time that they’ve spent in the house or the neighborhood.

Taking time to care about those emotions and memories and showing that you care will do more good than throwing down six months’ worth of newspaper ads to show how good and expensive your marketing efforts are. Taking time to explore some of those memories with the seller is often more valuable than showing her ten pages of sold listing sheets in your brag book.  A few moments of quiet listening can be more valuable than ½ an hour of you prattling on about how many designations you have or what awards you’ve won.

So, take time to listen and take time to care. Care about the memories that the seller has. Care about the events that have led up to the need to sell; and care about what’s next in life for the seller. Once you show that you care; then, you’ll have all the time that you need to show the things that prove that you are also capable of doing the job.