"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt."
Lincoln or Twain dpending on source
I'm an introvert and an engineer, so I have resting silent face :)
Silence is my natural state. Ask me a question and I'll answer.
But around me, there is much being said, and some of what is being said is costing the speaker gold.
There are two main circumstances I see this occur.
First, I see people on Facebook with homes for sale, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with posting a picture of your home for sale with a link to your agent's website page of your home.
But it's right after that where things start to unravel. Friends and acquaintances start commenting. Where are you going? Why are you moving? And the poster answers.
"I have a job transfer".
"I bought a home with some acreage".
"I retired and moved to Florida".
As an agent, I know those responses can be harmful to the seller's negotiating position and literally cost them thousands of dollars because it's obvious, you HAVE to sell, not just that you WANT to sell. And the world is small, so you never know who is reading your posts. Your potential home buyer? A friend of a buyer? The agent of a buyer? Even if you have your security settings locked down tight, your information may not be staying as close to the vest as you expect.
The second is any social media venue, whether Twitter, Facebook, blog posts or elsewhere.
Business owners and service professionals forget they're being watched by potential customers and referral sources. And they cut loose and a there's a long list of topics that guarantee that half the people that read it will NOT be happy with the poster. Even if the poster manages to maintain a civil approach, there's no guarantee there still won't be an unhappy opinion formed. And that unhappiness translates to withheld business.
We can argue freedom of speech all day long, but as we've discussed before, freedom of speech doesn't provide freedom from circumstances.
Bill
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