I went on a listing appointment today. As we went through the kitchen, I noticed one of my calendars on the refrigerator. Mr. Seller had been receiving my "stuff" for 18 years - calendars, magnets, postcards, newsletters. Mr. Seller was proud of the updates he had made to the house since I sold it to him 18 years ago. He had me convinced. When I went back to the office and went through the file from 1989, I realized I hadn't sold Mr. Seller the house after all. In 1989, I added Mr. Seller as an "orphan" in my database. The agent who had really sold him the house had been out of the business about 10 years.
I get more than a few listings from "orphans" every year. Most of the time they are convinced I sold them the house. They say that when they call in to make the listing appointment. "Remember us? You sold us the house about 10 years ago".
A few days ago, Leigh Brown wrote a blog called What would you do? It was about unethical behavior that occurred during one of her closings. It generated a lot of comments. In one of my comments, I brought up the subject of "orphans". There were a few commenters who didn't approve of the technique of adding another agent's client to my database. I was a bit surprised about that. I never even considered I was doing something wrong.
Think about it. The odds are very high that with the exception of maybe a holiday card for the first couple of years, a client's own agent will abandon them. And the odds are just as high that their own agent won't be in the business after 3 years. In fact, you can count on it.
I say adopt an orphan. Orphans need care and feeding too. What say you?
Edited to add: Based on the discussion I am providing a link to a blog I wrote called - You are your database.
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