Do You Mind If I Steal Your Lead?
By Michelle Carr Crowe, San Jose real estate agent selling homes in Cupertino Schools
“Do you mind?” the agent attending my broker tour asked with a smile, as she handed her card to two ladies I personally invited into my open house at 6312 Bollinger Road in West San Jose.
“Actually, it’s not OK,” I said, without a smile.
“Well, we’re both Chinese,” said she.
“I have agents on my team and in my office who speak Chinese who can help if they have questions,” I said.
As they spoke, she reluctantly admitted she only WRITES Chinese and DOESN’T fluently speak it. Explain to me how this is helpful in any way to me with selling this home or connecting with these ladies or finding out whether this home could be a good fit for them? (Did I mention this is an extremely competitive market?)
The worst part? Before that agent left, she asked I’d like her to hold an open house for me!
Let’s see, if I was looking for an aggressive agent who would attempt to steal a lead right in front me, I can only imagine her behavior and ethics at an open house...as Simon Cowell would say, "It's a No, thank you."
I gently guided these lovely ladies away from danger ... and to my handy-dandy notebook. Because these ladies could read and English well, so I simply wrote down the facts for them, they read what I wrote, talked together, asked questions...then said they’d come back to the open house this weekend. They ARE interested in this West San Jose home that's the lowest priced single family home in the top Cupertino Union School District with Lynbrook High School.
I offered to call one of my Chinese-speaking agents to make it easier for these ladies.
“It’s okay,” they said. “We’ll come back and bring a friend of ours who speaks English better than us this weekend.”
As my two new friends were leaving they thanked me and asked, “ Is it okay if we take this paper?”
“Of course,” I said. “That’s why I wrote it all down for you.”
Then I thanked them … in English and Chinese.
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