While acting as a real estate professional, working on purchase and sale agreements, leases, real estate closings and the like, has been interesting, I must admit that nothing in my over 40 years of practicing law has been elevated to the status of "earth-shattering" or even dramatic. What I do every day is generally routine; many other people are able to do the same things that I do. There is no question about that.
So, sometimes I ask myself why is it that I have been able to achieve a fair level of success here, while some others have failed. I have reached the following conclusions:
1. Set Yourself Apart. You must do something in your profession that makes people remember you. It sounds simple enough, and most times it is. In the past few years, I have taken to wearing bowties. It is not that I look particularly good in bowties. It is just that I am becoming known as the lawyer "who wears a bowtie." That small thing sets me apart from other attorneys, which, essentially, has been my plan. I know a mortgage originator who brings a pie, which she has freshly baked, to every real estate closing in which she is involved. She has, naturally, started to be known as the "pie lady." The connotation is positive; she brings sweet things to her Buyers. Another person I work with always wears a special hat to her closings. Gradually, she gets herself noticed, and commented about. When she changes her hat, it becomes is a discussion item.
2. Create a Powerful Persona. Once people remember you, they need to view you favorably. Obviously, something that makes people remember you can drive new business to your door. But, now, comes the important part. You need to make that initial reaction have some substance. If you are a practicing attorney, you need to be the one who returns "every" phone call, who schedules closings not for his or her convenience, but for the convenience of the client. You need to always be the person who stays calm when others are frazzled, who always offers solutions when none seem apparent, who never gives up until the deal is closed and the deed on record. If you are a loan officer, you need to be the person who always looks for alternative ways of structuring the deal, who shows up at the closing in case there are last minute glitches, who is always positive and never "kills" a deal that can be rescued. If you are a Realtor, you need to have a reputation as being a "deal maker" not a "deal breaker". You need to work ceaselessly to find solutions when there is an impasse. In certain circumstances, you need to be willing to make concessions on your own fee to make the deal happen. You need to be totally loyal to your client.
As I have said, if you can combine the "persona" you have established with a reputation that is positive, you will set yourself above the rest. People will seek you out, and just you. It is great to be on the first page of Google; it is even greater to have a flock of "raving fans" who go out of their way to refer business to you. Your "positive persona" is the key to success; we all can improve ours through hard work and hard thinking.
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