My background is in Customer Service. It is ingrained in me from the very beginning that the Customer is Always right. While working at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company I taught everyone that the 2 things we never said to a Guest were, "No" and "I don't Know". I am finding in Real Estate that the customer is not always right. The challenge we have is how we can break it to our customers gently.
Our role as Realtors is to educate and guide our customers as well as the general public on all of the aspects of Real Estate and specifically, their transaction. We also need to know when to tell them no.
I find that it depends on where agents are in their careers. As new agents, they go out and take any listing, any place, any time, any location, any price, any condition. Experienced agents usually are in more of a position to tell the seller to clean it up! De-clutter it, get your act together. The most experienced agents will actually turn down listings if the seller is too unrealistic on the price or refuse to listen to reason and or the comps.
The expertise comes in making the customer feel like they are right, even when you get them to think the way you want to. (Sounds strangely like a marriage!) I have met a few agents who seem to go the extra mile to prove that they are right, many times at the cost of that customer. We have all heard agents on the phone talking harshly to someone and when they hang up, it was their customer. That amazes me.
Even in these trying times, I have heard stories of agents not calling buyers back in a timely manner. The buyers simply move on to someone who is able to help them.
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Jim. That was exactly correct. Instead of telling a client no, you can say it a different way. Give them options. Great post. Thanks, Royal..