Don't Disrespect...

“Eric.  We were kicked out of their home!”

The phone rang… I knew to excuse myself from present company as it was one of my partners calling and at 7p at night it is not a call to just check in.  My partner was on an appointment and I knew that she either had a quick question or needed to discuss something.

I was in Orlando last week for a few days with some Elite Entrepreneurs, other ImpactClub® cofounders who have become like family over the last few years.  Some, like the Ryan’s – Fletcher and Sloper I’ve known since 2011 and they know more about me and vice-versa than most anyone.  When you surround yourself with those who strive for more than just ‘selling real estate’ there can be real breakthroughs that translate into other businesses.

This is the time of year where these ‘meetings’ happen.  There are the ‘guru’s’ that have their followings and they all teach their members how to get more sales.

Cold-calling.  Door knocking.  Pop-bys.  Lead generation.  Bait ‘n Switch offers.  How to use FB Live to drive business.

Truth be told… these methods work if:

1-      You are willing to devalue your time and mental effort by following someone else’s script.

And

2-      All you want is more sales.

For 3 days there was ZERO talk about getting more sales.  And the real estate talk was only about how to build out an organization properly so that you can use Real Estate as a back-end service to help fund a larger purpose.  How you can use real estate to make more of an impact. 

Our meetings focused on putting systems in place so that you can have a greater Reach, a greater Influence, and a lasting Legacy built through Purpose.

So for the past week, I have been thinking about how I can help others build a Legacy.  And yesterday I put the wheels in motion to put together a platform/program that will help those who want to make an impact, we will be Forging Legacy Builders.  Through Story and Relationships, we will put together a blueprint that will help people better share their story and influence others. 

It is through Story and Relationships that one can truly influence.  One without the other can be effective, but not Legacy Building.  You must properly execute both to engineer Legacy.

It was Tuesday evening of the event when my Partner called me.  She was very upset as the Staging Appointment didn’t go like the hundreds that we had done prior go.  We go and meet with the client with our Staging Partner, Shari at Staged Above.  She walks the seller through their house, looking at their home as a buyer would, with a buyer’s eye and gives pointers for each ‘space.’

Some homes need minor tweaks to achieve maximum profits.  Some need a more substantial investment (carpet, paint, fixtures, flooring, upgrades, a STORAGE unit) to achieve the same results.

All in all, this appointment and home, from our view wasn’t bad.  However, the owner took the recommended suggestions personal.  He gruffled at suggestions thinking that they were a knock against him.  They weren’t.  They were all to engineer a desired result.

He got to a breaking point during the consult and kicked my partner and Shari out of his home.

Never before has this happened.  People typically love the consults and the transformations that their properties go through.

He even sent some very disturbing and demeaning texts to Shari and my partner that night.  Personal in nature.  NOT GOOD!

See.  We do what we do because we LOVE it!  Do we LOVE selling real estate on a day to day basis?  No, what we love is the relationships that real estate brings.  The trust that people put in you.  The challenge of engineering superior results for our clients.  And when that trust and that relationship breaks down the other stresses outweigh any positives, any commissions.

When this person reached out a few days later, after realizing that all we were trying to do was engineer superior results for him and his wife and he apologized and asked if we would still work with him… My partner and I chatted and I left the decision up to her, but I gave her my thoughts and how he made her ‘feel.’

Needless to say, we sent back a very PC response to this gentleman that it would be better if he went in a different direction.

Not to worry, I’m sure one of those ‘sales’ agents will reach out to him.

But what I have learned when you look at real estate as a vehicle to strengthen relationships then interactions, negative interactions with clients should never exist… and when they do – on that rare occasion- you need to remove yourself from that relationship.

Life is too short to provide undue stress.