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Do You Really Make Friends With All Your Clients?

By
Real Estate Agent with The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services 13253167-SA00

There was a featured post last week asking the question, do you make friends with your clients and remain friends after closing? A lot of agents, well, most of the agents said yes, they do make and keep the friendships after closing. real estate agent coaching


This response made me ponder how many of our clients actually become our friends. The first thing that must be defined before one can properly answer this question is-

"what is a friend?"

What is your definition of a friend?

  • Is a friend a person you go out to dinner with or you only make a call to them once a year? 
  • Is a friend a person you call to cry on their shoulder and vent and let it all hang out? 
  • Is a friend a person with whom you trust your secrets with? 
  • Or is a friend someone who just friends you on facebook?

Because I think that these days the term "friend" is used quite loosely. What comes to my mind when agents say they make friends with most of their clients after closing is that these agents must have a lot of time on their hands. 

How many "friends" can you have at the end of the day truthfully and still really be "friends"? How many times do you call on your friends and go out with them or meet them for lunch. Let's say you meet a friend a day for lunch, well, that is only 30 friends. So that would mean that you could have 30 friends if you define a friend as someone you go out to lunch with once a month. So what happens when you have more than 30 closings in a year? 

So the next question that came to my mind is how many houses are you selling? How many listings are you selling? 

If you only have one listing a year that you sell and about 5 to 7 buyers a year to sell a house to then I could conceivably believe that you can turn those clients into friends and maintain a meaningful relationship with each of them. 

But like Nestor says, we are hired to do a job and that is to market and sell our listings not necessarily to become friends. In fact, our clients don't even have to like us, they just need to know that we know how to sell their property. Of course, there are people who are our clients and have become our friends over the years. I am not saying we don't make friends with our clients. What I am saying is that when you carry a lot of listings it is not a practical goal to have. 

The reality in our markets here in Florida is that it is a very transient state. Even in our Church, families move in and families move out frequently to other states. Most of our sellers who are short sellers we have never even met. Most of them are out of state sellers who have a second home here or investment properties here in Florida or they have relocated for a job in another state. We are not likely going to get many referrals from many of these clients because they are not the kind of people who are going to go around showing off that they lost their shirts in a short sale or that they had financial hardships. Not something to really be tooting your horn about if you know what I mean. We do get a lot of referrals from our clients but not all of them will be apt to discuss real estate for a while. 

Then there is your life. You have a life outside of real estate. I wonder about the agents who make friends with almost every client. Does that mean the agent is single or has no family? No kids? No spouse? 

Because after work, family, church and community involvement- how much time is really left to go and hang out with all those friends you made by selling all those houses you sold? 

Since family is where and who we spend most of our time with- we have 9 children and 8 of them are grown ups- there is not a lot of time left in the day for chatting and going out to events with friends. Those relationships are more important to us than friendships outside of our family. Heck, we are so busy with the going ons with our family right now that I have not even spoken to my very best friend in over a month. 

Perhaps a better term for all these friends agents are making would be "acquaintances"? 

 

 

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*Do You Really Make Friends With All Your Clients?*

 


 

 

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In real estate we service Utah County, Salt Lake County, Wasatch County, Tooele County. This includes many towns and cities. Some of which are: Provo, Orem, Salt Lake City, Draper, Springville, Spanish Fork, Payson, Lehi, American Fork, Vineyard, Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain, Pleasant Grove, and more. 

Katerina Gasset is a real estate agent who is also a digital marketing strategist, website designer and consultant for real estate brokerages, agents, entrepreneurs and small business owners. She is also the owner of Get It Done For Me Virtual Services. 

Katerina is a Certified AI Marketing Specialist. She can help you with ChatGPT, Content at Scale, Neuronwriter, prompting, and many other AI tools. 

She develops products and online courses to empower real estate agents to reach their marketing, SEO, social media and branding goals. Katerina Gasset is a blogger, author, podcaster, and keynote speaker.  

Text Katerina with your name + number to work with her:

 561-502-1577 

 

 

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Comments (36)

Daniel H. Fisher
www.FisherHermanRealty.com (704) 617-3544 - Charlotte, NC
MCRP - Charlotte Real Estate, NC or SC

Friends spend summers at the beach together, so ours are mainly business relationships. We provide excellent full time professional service and our clients sell or buy property on terms that are agreeable to them.  Referrals are a good measure of how valuable our service was to them.  On the occasions we are invited to restaurants, graduations, performances or the occasional wedding, we gladly attend.

Jun 15, 2011 05:44 PM
Leilani Souza CRS e-PRO TRC (Granite Bay CA) 916-408-5500 leilani@souzarealty.com
Souza Realty/Roseville-Rocklin-Lincoln-Loomis-Granite Bay-CA - Granite Bay, CA

Katerina, I agree that the term "friend" nowadays pretty much seems to equate to a "Facebook Friend" aka acquaintance...someone you IM once in a while, comment on their posts and photos, and stay in contact with enough to make them think of you when it comes to real estate. :)

Jun 15, 2011 06:12 PM
Katerina Gasset
The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services - Provo, UT
Amplify Your Real Estate & Life Dreams!

Leilani- I think you said it best. I agree that is how it mostly is. Katerina 

Jun 15, 2011 07:46 PM
Katerina Gasset
The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services - Provo, UT
Amplify Your Real Estate & Life Dreams!

Melissa- As many short sales as you negotiate, you go to bat for your clients but as busy as you are I just don't see how it is possible to make friends with all those clients in any sort of super meaningful relationships, otherwise you would not get any work done! LOL! Katerina 

Jun 15, 2011 07:47 PM
Katerina Gasset
The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services - Provo, UT
Amplify Your Real Estate & Life Dreams!

Daniel- You sound just like us. I so agree with all you said. Katerina 

Jun 15, 2011 07:47 PM
Bryant Tutas
Tutas Towne Realty, Inc and Garden Views Realty, LLC - Winter Garden, FL
Selling Florida one home at a time

My customers and I are very "friendly" while we are working together to achieve a mutual goal. I have a few that have become friendlier than others but even those are not close friends. In fact if I'm being honest I have very few close friends. Mostly just me and TLW against the world. And frankly that's the way I like it.

Jun 16, 2011 01:15 AM
Missy Caulk
Missy Caulk TEAM - Ann Arbor, MI
Savvy Realtor - Ann Arbor Real Estate

Most of our clients I would call friends or aquaintences. We stay in touch, keep up with the kids, etc...

Ther term is used loosly.

Thanks facebook!

I have few FRIENDS, many aquaintences.

 

Jun 16, 2011 01:39 AM
Bryan Robertson
Los Altos, CA

I have a friendly relationship with many of my clients but there are quite a few with whom I would prefer not to stay in touch.  Even if I only did 10 sides per year, I doubt it would be possible to build real friendships with all 10.  I do more than that so I don't try.  If I connect with them, fine, otherwise, no worries.

I do stay in touch with all of them through my mailers.  That's just business.

Jun 16, 2011 02:57 AM
Katerina Gasset
The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services - Provo, UT
Amplify Your Real Estate & Life Dreams!

Bryant- AHHHH!!!  You and Nestor are SO much alike. That would be Nestor's dream life:) 

Jun 16, 2011 03:24 AM
Katerina Gasset
The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services - Provo, UT
Amplify Your Real Estate & Life Dreams!

Bryan- You have the right mindset for a business man! THat is as it should be. Stay in touch for repeat business and for referrals and if something blossoms out of that , then it does, if not, no sweat. 

Jun 16, 2011 03:25 AM
Katerina Gasset
The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services - Provo, UT
Amplify Your Real Estate & Life Dreams!

Missy- I wondered when hearing this, would you call one of your clients up after a sale to pick you up if your car breaks down? If you need a ride from the airport? I just don't see this happening a whole lot in our busy lives especially if we have families. Katerina 

Jun 16, 2011 03:26 AM
Kathleen Daniels, Probate & Trust Specialist
KD Realty - 408.972.1822 - San Jose, CA
Probate Real Estate Services

Nestor and Katerina, You know, it is what it is for each of us. It’s not my job to determine for someone else who they call a friend or how they define friend. At the end of the day, does it really matter? Many of the members in the Rain, including you, I consider AR friends. I say, live and let live. Be and let be. It’s all good!

Jun 16, 2011 03:57 AM
Katerina Gasset
The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services - Provo, UT
Amplify Your Real Estate & Life Dreams!

Kathleen-There are AR members that I consider my true friends. I can call Missy or Cyndee or Loreena or Lenn or Barbara or Tami and the list goes on an on if I was stuck on the side of the road and needed help. I don't see peers in the same way that I view clients. It was a topic that I read about and started pondering on as I examined my business and my life and then related that to the statement that all clients become friends. Friends used to be a very guarded term and as Missy says, thanks to Facebook it no longer is. Thanks for your comment! As a coach and a business owner I would not be very good at either if did not seek to understand and ask questions about behaviors and business practices.:) It is not your job to determine this but it is mine because this is what I do, coach and train agents to be their best and reach their potential within our company and with those I coach outside of our company.IT is all good! And we are truly blessed!  Katerina

Jun 16, 2011 05:33 AM
Andi Grant
310-508-4354 | FirstTimeHomeBuyerRealEstate.com - Los Angeles, CA
Helping 1st time buyers and home sellers in LA!

I do have some past clients who are more than professional relations.  We have lunch or dinner periodically and we discuss various circumstances that have nothing to do with real estate. 

As for people picking me up from the airport there are some family I wouldn't even consider calling. lol

I have about 6 super close friends (1 of them a past client) that if I needed a bone marrow transplant and they were a match they would fight each other getting to the hospital table.  I try to be the same type of "friend" to them.  I AM BLESSED! 

 

Jun 16, 2011 06:39 AM
Katerina Gasset
The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services - Provo, UT
Amplify Your Real Estate & Life Dreams!

You are very blessed Andi! And your new photo looks marvelous, very beautiful!!! 

Jun 16, 2011 06:42 AM
Bob Jakowinicz
National Realty Centers Livonia--Bob Jakowinicz - Livonia, MI
Michigan Real Estate Agent-- MI Real Adventures

Great working relationships mostly as most of our clients are also busy much of the time.  We keep in touch but would be impossible for us to have lunch, etc, etc on a regular basis

Jun 16, 2011 06:59 AM
Katerina Gasset
The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services - Provo, UT
Amplify Your Real Estate & Life Dreams!

Bob- I agree! 

Jun 16, 2011 08:04 AM
Todd Clark - Retired
eXp Realty LLC - Tigard, OR
Principle Broker Oregon

I certainly can't make friends with every one. But there are those I now am over at their house more than once a month for game nights, they come to my kids sporting events from time to time, certainly more than a client.




Jun 16, 2011 06:21 PM
Katerina Gasset
The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services - Provo, UT
Amplify Your Real Estate & Life Dreams!

Todd- That is great. More power to you! You are inclusive and that is good. I also know you are very social person too:) Katerina

Jun 17, 2011 01:51 AM
Andi Grant
310-508-4354 | FirstTimeHomeBuyerRealEstate.com - Los Angeles, CA
Helping 1st time buyers and home sellers in LA!

Thanks Katerina!

Jun 17, 2011 10:13 AM