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Professionalism. . .PLEASE!

By Trisha Bush-LeFore

Real Estate Broker/Owner with Preferred Properties Land & Homes #18909

July 11, 2011 05:41 PM

Seems pretty simple when you stop to think about what makes a Real Estate Agent or Broker a True Professional ~ right?

Character ~ Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, Citizenship
Attitude ~ Positive, Pleasant, Realistic
Excellence ~ Outstanding Customer Service
Competency ~ Knowledge, Ability, Expertise, Skill Set
Conduct ~ Honoring the seller's showing instructions, leaving a business card when showing a property, securing the property when you leave, returning agent calls and emails, offering "showing feedback".

This very basic concept seems trivial for a large number of our Walla Walla Realtors. Yes, every agent in our Association is a "Realtor". AND a Realtor is expected to be an "elevated agent" that adheres to the utmost business principles and practices of professionalism (cough).

Recently, I had a seller call and ask if any of the scheduled showings had occurred (we had 3 scheduled in a 24 hour span). Shocked by her question I said, "As far as I know - why?" She replied, "No one left a card." Of course, the only thing I could do was apologize for the three Realtors' unprofessional conduct and say, "Let me check. . .I know that they did not call me to cancel any of the showings." Now 2 out of 3 of these Realtors have been in the business for over 12 years and all 3 of them belong to big franchise offices that offer extensive training. Just sheer carelessness. . . lack of consideration . . . Unprofessional-ism? YES to all.

My client's house is in a special price point. When a seller preps Seller's in search of a business card. . . and cleans for a showing. . .they look forward to coming home to finding that card on the counter. You know. . .kind of like children when they look for their present from Santa on Christmas morning. This might seem to be an extreme analogy, but the unprofessional-ism in our valley has become extreme. Leaving a card is a professional expectation.

There is nothing more discouraging to a Seller and appalling to a Broker than to find out an agent/Realtor has not left a business card, has not turned off lights or locked up the property, and has not even given a courtesy call to share "showing feedback".

I belong to the NWMLS ~ Northwest Multiple Listing Service (the State System) and they have rules in place that enforce and encourage professionalism. Our Walla Walla Association of Realtors/Walla Walla Mulitiple Listing Service needs to establish some standards and then figure out a way to enforce them or join a system like the NWMLS.

For now all I can say is, "Professionalism. . .PLEASE!"

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Bryan Robertson

Los Altos, CA

Great article! I wrote about this topic recently and like the additional perspective you've added. I also see a lot of agents who don't leave cards after showing. Worse yet, they're annoyed when called and asked for feedback. It seems as if our associations need to offer classes in ethics and professionalism.

Jul 11, 2011 05:58 PM

Doug Bullwinkel

E Mortgage Capital, Inc. NMLS 1416824 - Roseville, CA

Mortgage Loan Officer NMLS #281609

Here you have all this talk about professionalism and then I show up with a photo of a dog on my profile photo. We really do live in a crazy world, don't we?

Jul 11, 2011 07:00 PM

Trisha Bush-LeFore

Preferred Properties Land & Homes - Walla Walla, WA

Providing Realtor Services in the Walla Walla Area

Bryan: Thank you - appreciate that!

Doug: All the pooch needs is a bow tie and you are good to go.

Jul 12, 2011 12:21 PM

Larry & Jacque Ficek

Alaska Dream Makers - Wasilla, AK

Realtors - Wasilla Alaska

We are SO with you on this one Trisha. Here is my rant on it.

We have devised a system that has multiple levels and we have decided to let our sellers know the lengths we go to get feedback. Although it does not put the unprofessional behavior of the licensees in a good light, what we tell our sellers is the truth.

First, the licensees have to click into the MLS showing assistance. This lets us know that they have at least gotten access to our clients showing instructions. Second, we ask the licensees to call us when they actually schedule a showing as a professional courtesy. Third, our sellers call us to let us know that they received the call for a showing. Fourth, the reader key reports. Fifth, they get input into a showing feedback system and then get 2 email surveys (one a day), if they do not complete that then we get a notification that they have not completed the survey. After that, we personally email and call the licensee to get feedback.

If, after all that, the licensee still does not have the courtesy for the sellers to provide basic feedback as a thank you for cleaning, prepping, escaping, kenneling their pets and not cooking dinner at the normal time or just for simply waiting at the neighbors home because they showed up an hour late. The sellers get the following email from us.

'We are so sorry for the lack of courtesy and professionalism on behalf of the showing agent (yes, the name and company goes in here). After 2 automatic emails, a personal email and at least two phone calls to them, they have decided not to complete our feedback survey or return our requests. We have tried all we can and unfortunately we may never know what the potential buyers or licensee thought of your home. We can only assume that the buyers are not interested at this time.'

This puts the blame back on the unprofessional licensees and shows the sellers a portion of what we do for them.

Phew! I did not mean to take over but this also gets our blood boiling.

Jacque & Larry

Aug 08, 2011 06:38 PM

THANK YOU JACQUE and LARRY! I appeciate you sharing. I am going to implement your system - it is a good one!

Aug 09, 2011 06:11 AM

Professionalism. . .PLEASE!

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