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Whatever Happened to Time and the thought on Being On It?

By Darren Kittleson

Real Estate Broker/Owner with Keller Williams Realty 50461-90

June 03, 2007 01:59 AM

Late last week I attended a function hosted by a local bank. This was a breakfast meeting in which the invitation clearly stated "7:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast/Networking; 8:00 a.m. Program Start; 9:30 a.m. adjourn".

This was on Wednesday and I booked the rest of my morning planning on the timeliness of this morning start.

The Continental Breakfast was at 7:30. At about 7:55 I moved in to the room where the program was to start and sat there until 8:10 a.m. before the rest of the group filtered in. (There were about 150 people attending this event).

The program was very good but ran over time by 10 minutes. Thus, I raced through the city streets to be on time for my 10:00 a.m. appointment. I made it, but only by minutes.

What has happened to respecting people's time? There seems to be a trend in business that "running late" is acceptable. I, for one, have very little patience with that attitude.

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Jay McGillicuddy

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Verani Realty - Exeter, NH

Real Estate Broker

Darren

I find it very rude for people to start late. There is no need for it unless there is some technical difficulties.

When I run meetings I run them from the time they are supposed to start and end when I said I would.

Time is money.

Jun 03, 2007 02:12 AM

R. B. "Bob" Mitchell - Loan Officer Raleigh/Durham

Bank of England (NMLS#418481) - Raleigh, NC

Bob Mitchell (NMLS#1046286)

I agree that purposefully running late is rude. That said, it can be very difficult to know how long some things are going to last. Most times a listing appointment will last me about 1 to 2 hours, but I've had them run 3 and even 4 hours.

Loan applications generally take me about 1 to 2 hours also. I've had some of them run over too. Any one who closes a fair amount can tell you horror stories of closings lasting all day!

I'm not condoning being inconsiderate, but real estate is one of those business' were time can get away from you and that is simply the nature of the beast.

Bob Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.

Jun 03, 2007 02:17 AM

Darren Kittleson

Keller Williams Realty - Madison, WI

CRB, SRS, RENE-Madison WI

Jay-I agree and I do give leeway for technical difficulties. Anything else is just bad planning or lack of respect.

Gary L. Waters Broker Associate, Bucci Realty

Bucci Realty, Inc. - Melbourne, FL

Eighteen Years Experience in Brevard County

With the advent of the cell phone, time is not important.You can always call and let them know you are on your way.... just kidding, really! What is the old saying? If you are not 5 minutes early, you are late. I guess there is a balance between these... like a few minutes early!

Jun 03, 2007 02:48 AM

Gregory Maley

Sold Buy the Sea Realty & R.E.N.T. - Wilmington, NC

REALTOR, GRI, CBR, SHS, e-PRO, ABR

It makes me crazy! I recently attended some CE classes to renew my Virgina license. The classes were starting at 6:00 PM. Since I live in Maryland, all the way on the other side of the beltway, I left the house at 4:30 to ensure timely arrival. Now if you're late for CE, they're SUPPOSED to turn you around and send you on your happy way. NOOOOOO, I arrive at 5:15, sit and wait, catch up on calls and reading. Are the people who stroll in at 6:30 penalized? Nope. They're allowed to sit down and get the same credit hours I got. It's infuriating!

Jun 03, 2007 03:07 AM

Anthony-thanks for the comments, I meant to get this to you at 6:15 this morning and now it's 6:20

Gregory- I'm an instructor for new REALTOR orientation for our local board. I've been known to disqualify someone from passing the course for arriving late. Why allow a new agent to get off on a bad habit from the get go?

Gary-I agree with you 100%

Mott-too deep a thought for me on a Monday morning.

Bob-Good points but I think we use this as a crutch far too often vs. simply scheduling smarter and/or having some consideration for others. In my example none of this happened, it's simply a group not seeming to feel being on time from start to finish was important.

Thanks to everyone for the great comments. It's my personal quest to run my organization in this manner. My hope is that it can filter out to the rest of the industry.

Have a great Monday!

Jun 03, 2007 11:24 PM

Whatever Happened to Time and the thought on Being On It?

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