Our team has noticed a lot of realtors buying my book Automatic Influence. I thought, Maybe I could write a piece just for them.
I grew up in a family of realtors. My father started his career in Century21 in 1980, when I was twelve years old. My mother got into the business soon after.
Both of my parents have been six-figure earners at one point or another in their lifetime. They’ve both succeeded. My mom is still earning six figures to this day, decades later.
I also have realtor friends ranging from extremely powerful CEOs of firms with thousands of agents, to retired dabblers and newbies who haven’t yet earned enough to make a living, to everyone in between.
Which has given me a chance to see two different approaches to selling success – one that creates lasting results, and another that creates results that fizzle.
I call it, Rich Realtor, Poor Realtor. (Thank you Robert Kiyosaki for the “rich and poor” inspiration, see more about Robert’s great books and classes here.)
Let’s start with Poor Realtor. Poor Realtor gets clients and makes money on charisma and selling skills, but the earning doesn’t last. He or she succeeds for a few of their big-push years, but then there’s an inevitable decline. For some reason, they don’t keep their momentum. It’s like a grass fire that burns hot then dies out.
There are several contributing factors, but one is a lack of repeat business. They’re hard drivers, so they get sales, but clients pick up the vibe that the agent is using them instead of serving them. They sense that the agent is just working them for the quick sale (most agents desperately need quick sales, so it’s easy to go there). Poor Realtor uses tactics of influence but doesn’t deeply value people, so their motives are off. Clients pick up on it.
Which means clients call someone else for the next transaction.
There’s an interesting set of studies on medical malpractice that sheds light on this “use instead of serve” mindset. These studies show that doctors don’t get sued for malpractice because they make more mistakes than other doctors, but because of their indifferent or condescending attitudes toward patients. Patients pick up the vibe that the doctor doesn’t care about them. So when the doc makes a mistake, or appears to make a mistake, a resentment-driven malpractice lawsuit is likely to follow. But when patients pick up the vibe that doc cares about them, they’re willing to overlook mistakes. They don’t sue.
Rich Realtor and Poor Realtor both make mistakes. They’re also both skilled. They do the same things to market and get sales. But clients pick up on a different vibe when working with Rich Realtor. They believe the agent values them as people, not just as means to a commission. They pick up the subtle cues that the agent isn’t there to use them but to serve them. Rich Realtor fixes mistakes and resolves conflict and handles miscommunication a better way. So Rich Realtor doesn’t get indicted like Poor Realtor does.
That means repeat business for Rich Realtor. When a homeowner is ready to sell their house again in five years, they call Rich Realtor to serve them like last time. This repeat starts to layer up the listings and sales, like compound interest in a bank account. Rich Realtor builds momentum, a bonfire of business over time that keeps burning, while Poor Realtor builds a grass fire that fizzles out.
Which is why Poor Realtor eventually winds up poor. Poor Realtor is exhausted, takes a break, and business goes away. But Rich Realtor winds up wealthy, building up a bank of well-served and loyal clients.
In the long-run real estate business, love wins.
Erik Van Alstine helps people radically boost their power to work better and live better. Learn about the “roots of love” and how to approach every business situation in a new way in Erik’s book, Automatic Influence: New Power for Change in Work and Life.