Professionalism - Playing Well in the Sandbox

For me, communication is the key, as I don't expect to get along or agree with every agent that I work a transaction with, but if they are not responsive, it also makes me look bad.  My clients have the expectation that thier questions will be answered and when I can't them answered, I am the only one there to blame, haha.

What a great idea for a class. It's one that every songle Board should offer. It seems that e dry time the market heats up, the more that I see too many instances of professionalism with regard to our fellow agents going out the window. Here are a couple of suggestions.
1). Make your listing fully available for showing. Too often we see agents not able to show for days and suddenly it shows up as "Under Contract"
2). Don't ask the listing agent "What's wrong. With the house?" Have we forgotten that the listing agent represents the seller? What would you expect the listing agent to tell you that wouldn't compromise his/her agency responsibilities?
3) This really goes without saying, but if your buyer cancels, please remember to cancel the appointment.

The list is really too long to recount, as I am sure many of the folks here agree with.  I will pick a recent one, Showing agents putting in the wrong lockbox code or having trouble opening it.  That happens all too often.  

You're the 2nd person I've come across who feels the need to create something with that very same title. I'm wondering what this says about our industry?

Class sounds great. Feel free to send it over here.

One of my pet peeves is other agents or professionals who do not return calls or otherwise communicate with me.

Reach out to our VP of Education at ORRA,  Her name is Ashley. 407) 253-3580
 We came up with a great 1 day class, Called Excellence in Professionalism and I think is 7 or 8  CE credits. ( we refer to it as GKC Gold Key Certified.. and over 2000 of our members have taken the class

https://orraportal.ramcoams.net/Education/Registration/Details.aspx?cid=23fa43a8-7f8e-4af9-855c-7a87b3aca489
We are currently working on one for Brokers.. She may be able to send you the course!

Great idea for a class!  My own Board would benefit from offering something similar here.

As to playing well in the sandbox suggestions:

1) When you have a listing and an agent calls with questions -- call them back, hopefully the same day but at least within 24 hours.  No one is so busy that they cannot take 5 minutes out of their day to return an agent's phone call (or text).

2) Buyers agents, please READ the showing instructions in the MLS for my listing.  If it states use the showing time feature, then please do so.   And if you are running late on your showing schedule, please text or call me so I can notify the homeowners.   MAKE SURE ALL DOORS ARE LOCKED on your way out.  And last but not least, please provide meaningful showing feedback when asked.

3) When there's a contract, the goal of the buyer, seller and the agents is to get to closing.  This is not a my team vs your team sports contest.  Keeping the lines of communication open can be critical to closing a transaction.

4)Thou shall not steal......other agents customers.  I always make a point out of asking if a buyer is currently working with another agent when they initially contact me.

As agents we all want the public to see us as professionals.  A key component of being recognized as such by the public is to BE professional when we deal with other agents, inspectors, vendors, title companies, etc.  

Debbie Reynolds - congratulations and what a great idea with the class! All of the above are valid and important points ... I’d like to add: don’t call me asking if I willhold an open house so you can send your clients. Me doing all the work for you ... and then you just write a contract. This has been happening numerous times around here and it’s definitely unprofessional. To top it off - you are late for closing! 

Wow, Debbie Reynolds, I am working on a class just like this for submission to the Texas Real Estate Commission for MCE credit. What a coincidence! I got the idea from an Active Rain blog I posted a few years back called, How to be the Agent Everyone Wants to Work With. I have taken that blog post, elaborated on it and added to it to create the class. Great ideas mentioned here...I may have to borrow some of them! Thanks for posting this!

I love coming back to this to see what everybody’s definition of professionalism is. :)

Rose King I think I might be interested in partaking! That’s a great idea for a class full stop

Oh, Debbie - I have a list a mile long!

1. NO high pressure sales tactics with customers, clients OR OTHER AGENTS. This is not the car business!

2.  CONFIRM RECEIPT when you receive something. Don't make us chase you.

3. Do. Not. LIE. Don't even stretch the truth.

4. Be concise, factual and brief.

5. Come from a place of cooperation, not contention.

6. READ THE LISTING BEFORE CALLING LISTING AGENT.

7. Not liking or feeling intimidated by another agent should NOT mean you avoid doing business with them. It's about what your client wants!

If I have time, I may come back and add more. 
If I may, i wrote a post about this a few weeks back. You may find some useful info in it.

Oh, how I would love to send many agents to that class.

Recently, I've dealt with unprofessional agents on a weekly basis, it seems. Just last week, my broker received a text after 10pm from an unknown agent requesting a showing on one of my listings. If you wouldn't call someone you don't know at 10pm I don't believe you should text them at that hour either. The text was forwarded to me the next morning and I confirmed the showing set for that afternoon at 2:00. At 11:00 am I received a frantic call from the seller of the unoccupied property that the alarm was going off. The alarm company's series of calls went first to the wife, who was on a business call and unable to answer, then to the husband in orientation on the first day of his new job, unable to answer and then to the wife's sister at work, treating a patient and unable to answer. Why was the alarm going off? The agent that scheduled the 2:00 showing was "in the area" and decided to go ahead and show because the house was empty. UNPROFESSIONAL! And I certainly told her so! I then told her the police are on their way...so deal with them! Grrrr!

That even our pay (Co-Op commission) tries to remind us how important COOPERATION is! As agents in the marketplace and even on opposite sides of transactions, we need to work TOGETHER. That means returning calls timely, checking in and seeing if the other agent/side are performing their tasks on time as needed (instead of assuming silence is compliance!) Treating agents as if they are customers too (and they are!) is a great mentality I'd love to see more agents practice & adopt.

my pet peeve is that while I am busy I have to listen to other agents who are a lot less busy than I am who make me listen to how busy they are - I think everyone should keep their mouths shut, not complain and just do their business

I don't believe a class like this will work.  You're either professional or you're not.  You have common sense or you don't.  

New agents or old, if you treat all parties in a transaction with respect, you are doing everyone a great service.  

If we could control how everybody acts in this business...  we'd all sell more, be happier and life would simply be grand.  

The people that already have this unprofessionalism before they get in the business will probably always have it, "perfect" class or not.  

The class that people will learn in is the "real" real estate world where they learn by fire.  

We recently had an offer accepted over three similar offers because of the reputation we have and the loan officer we were working with on this file.  

No patting on the back is necessary.  

We made our bed and most of the times it really works out.  

No classroom taught us this and it won't teach others.

If we let those agents that don't play well in the sandbox get to us, we aren't doing our jobs.  

I didn't read all the suggestions however I'll offer this one:

Dress neatly.  Appropriate for your area and the temperature. Don't be sloppy.

I've seen agents show up with their buyers dressed like they are going to clean out a basement. reflects poorly on them.

It doesn't take that much effort to wear at least a shirt with collar  and loafers, even with some nicer jeans.  Business casual  --again, using your climate and area as a guide.

This is a great post & the amazing comments are right on target!! I think my thoughts have been covered by others. Good luck with the class!
Bruce.

Debbie, you hit this one out of the park!  Love this.  As a fellow instructor this is always included in the content, but an entire class - wow!  What works well for me in a transaction, when playing well with others, is to immediately text a friendly text upon submitting an offer, "Hey Debbie, i just wanted to touch base as my clients love your listing!  So much that we're submitting an offer."  That immediate friendly text sets the stage for how well the transaction goes.  I just did this yesterday and the agent responded just as nice, and "thank you so much for the great communication."    Good luck you rockstar!

Oh, my! Don't get me started. I wrote a blog about an agent who wouldn't play nice in the sandbox. You should check out my blog.