Between March 17 and March 21 of 2006 a Harris Poll conducted online within the United States among 2,302 adults (aged 18 and over) revealed the following public levels of trust for 11 professions:
|
| Completely | Somewhat | Not At All | Not Sure |
A doctor | % | 50 | 43 | 4 | 3 |
A dentist | % | 47 | 44 | 4 | 5 |
A nurse | % | 46 | 46 | 3 | 4 |
An accountant | % | 28 | 58 | 7 | 7 |
A lawyer | % | 18 | 62 | 14 | 6 |
A banker | % | 16 | 67 | 12 | 6 |
A financial advisor | % | 16 | 64 | 12 | 8 |
A mechanic | % | 12 | 68 | 14 | 6 |
An insurance agent | % | 9 | 63 | 21 | 7 |
A real estate agent | % | 7 | 65 | 20 | 8 |
A stockbroker | % | 6 | 57 | 25 | 12 |
One of the distinctions that was made by people analyzing the poll results was that people generally have more distrust for those professions involved in selling them something. Interesting. That brings me to one of my sore points. I know that people mean it as a compliment, but I am saddened when someone says I "sold" them a house. If I've done my job well, I've matched up someone who wants to buy a home with someone who wants to sell a home. They both walk away feeling that they got a good deal. If I've done my job right, no one feels they were "sold" anything. It is my goal that my clients feel that they received excellent service and advice from someone who helped them to achieve their goal of buying or selling a home.
Sales people in my opinion are generally individuals who have mastered a set script for a product or product line and use selling techniques to get people to buy. As real estate professionals, we do so much more than master a sales pitch and learn a set of responses to a set of average objections to buy a particular product.
As Real Estate Professionals we must have:
- Extensive product and market knowledge
- A wide range of resources to refer to a client ---contractors, title and escrow services, etc.
- A general understanding of Real Estate Law
- A general understanding of Tax Laws regarding real estate
- A good understanding of construction requirements for the area
- A little psychology, marriage counseling and child counseling doesn't hurt.
- A little grief counseling is helpful when working with clients going through the loss of a spouse, marriage, or parent.
- Ability to research zoning laws, permits and work with city officials.
- The ability to calm the fears or identify when to advise our clients to walk away from a transaction not in their best interest.
- Ability to negotiate on behalf of our clients. Even though the medium we work with is a commodity, it does not have a fixed price.
- Marketing ability - knowing how to put a home sellers best foot forward
- Good listening skills to evaluate the needs of home buyers and home sellers.
We must be ready to field many questions and know where to get the correct answers. We must be prepared to learn something new each day because just as NO TWO HOMES ARE ALIKE...SO, NO TWO TRANSACTIONS ARE ALIKE.
Sadly, in the Harris poll no one poll, the highest rated profession, Doctors, only 50% of those polled were completely satisfied with their doctors. Pretty sad commentary when you come in number 1 and only make 50% of the people completely happy.
As Real Estate Professionals---we clearly have some work to do. What are you doing in your business to deliver service to your clients that would cause them to give you high ratings in a similar survey?
Here's an example of two members of the profession that ranked two notches above Real Estate Agents in the Harris Poll:
Another great read about a similar poll was written by Gary Nelson in January 2007 in his post REALTOR vs. Car Salesperson
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Marlene Bridges, REALTOR® 800 777-1775
South Orange County Real Estate Website
Orange County Seniors Lifestyles Blog
SRES - Seniors Real Estate Specialist®
CRS-Certified Residential Specialist®
President - Laguna Hills/Laguna Woods Chamber of Commerce
Marlene is a highly experienced South Orange County CA REALTOR® specializing in residential Real Estate and the sale of Homes and Condos in South Orange County, California and Saddleback Valley cities of: Laguna Woods, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Beach, Rancho Santa Margarita, Lake Forest, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente, Aliso Viejo, Mission Viejo.
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