The minivan pulled back into the drive late Saturday night. Sunburned, broke, and totally relaxed the Rogers family returned safely from a week in Destin, Florida. Along with some really tacky souvenirs, I brought home a few relevant real estate lessons from paradise. Over the next few days I will share some of my observations from the past week.
Lesson One--Angry Customers Can Demonstrate their frustration in creative ways. During my time in paradise, I set aside one full day for offshore fishing. The modern boat had an awesome crew and a wonderful captain. On the trip out I made friends with a young man from Missouri. This was his first trip in the Gulf and could barely contain his excitement.
About an hour into the fishing, the young man's reel began to scream. After a ten minute fight, the amberjack fish was boarded. The young man was grinning from ear to ear. Then the mate threw the fish overboard, it seems said species needed to be 30 inches, this one was 28. Without saying a word the young man disappeared not to be seen for the rest of the trip.
On the return to port, the first mate passed me on the way to the captain. He looked as if a ghost had just introduced himself. It seems the young man from Missouri had "dropped a deuce, went number 2, etc" in the bathroom sink!!!
Why? Because he was angry with the crew. Was it the crew's fault that the fish was too small? Of course not! But the crew still paid the price for something beyond their control. Pardon the pun, but all parties had their hands dirty on this one. The crew should have take the time to explain why the fish was being released. I could have sought the young man out and offered explanation. And the young man should have kept his shit to himself!
As Realtors the same applies. There are MANY factors beyond our control. Instead of "washing our hands of the situation" (again pardon the pun) we need to at least educate the client on what is going on.
Tune in Monday for lesson two!
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