As real estate agents, I suspect that if we put a clear price on our actions and inactions we might be shocked at what we'd find out.
Now there's a lot of variables, what ifs and maybes that go into this, but as a business, even when we're a business of one person, we need to be aware of what does and doesn't work and what things cost.
We can look at our credit card statement and see some clear costs, well defined and no argument about it:
- web hosting
- IDX service
- MLS dues
- hardware for our business (signs, and lockboxes)
- There might even be some small price vampires, services we tried and used and stopped using and never canceled.
But what about the things that aren't so blatant? The things with hidden costs that just might be taking a big chunk out of your annual earning potential? For example:
- Not blogging regularly
- Ignoring new construction in your market
- Not answering the phone and assuming if they're serious, they'll leave you a message
- Being a jerk on social media (whether here in the Rain, on Facebook, Twitter or anywhere else)
- Not responding to web queries from your site
- Not staying in touch with past clients (guilty!)
The last one slapped me in the back of the head recently, running our market reports and seeing an address I recognized, a home we brought the buyers to years ago, but didn't keep in touch with. Cost of that one? About $9000 in commission. The home was pending within a week. There's no guarantee that keeping in touch would have for sure gotten us the listing, but obviously NOT staying in touch didn't help us get called back. Lesson learned, one more area for improvement.
And while we may like almost everyone here in the Rain, fact is there's a small selection of people that would never get a referral from us, and chances are we just might be on a few people's list too. I try to minimize bad relations here, but if someone is just plain abrasive, or worse yet lying about something, well that's a deal killer for sure. While it's harder to put a price on the odds of one Rainer having a referral for another specific Rainer, I'm not one for intentionally burning bridges because who knows what MIGHT happen later?
And you'll find plenty of posts in this community of Rainers who blogged successfully then got off the blogging wagon and watched their pipeline dry up. Again, it might be a hidden cost, but there's a cost to neglecting blogging regularly.
So the next time you're thinking about doing something, or NOT doing something, ask yourself "What's the cost?"
Until next Tuesday, just Ask An Ambassador if you need help!
Liz and Bill aka BLiz
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