Is it ever ok to fire a customer or client? With the turmoil in the market, many would say are you crazy. However, I believe that regardless of market conditions you need to be prudent in who you have as a client or customer.

How many times have you had someone that says they are looking to purchase, lease, etc a property and you spend countless hours searching and showing them properties only to have them just disappear one day and never to contact you again? Also, how many times have you tried to educate a seller in trying to establish a list price that is reasonable in today's market only to have them tell you that they will only list it at X price that is a ridiculous number that will be laughed at, and if you list it at that price you get no activity from anyone other than the seller calling daily to find out what is happening.

If you honestly evaluate the amount of time you spend on bad, unreasonable, etc. customers, I am sure that you will find a tremendous amount of time that could be better spent farming for new listings, calling to find new buyers, or updating marketing for existing listings.

I know that it is good to have lots of listings, but when you have bad listings that you know aren't going anywhere impacting your efforts for good properties properly priced that is a bad thing.

So, what do you do when you realize that you have a bad listing? The easiest thing is to have a frank discussion with the seller and explain why you believe the price is wrong, the place isn't selling, etc. to try to get them to adjust accordingly. If they are absolutely not going to work with you to modify whatever it is that needs done, then it is time to just explain to them that at this point, you don't feel that you can provide them with the service that they require and that you can either recommend another agent or that you feel it is best ot end the relationship now before there are any bad feelings. Sometimes, this is enough to prompt them to be more open minded and listen to your advice, but if not, mutually agree to end the listing, in writing of course, and move on.

Doing this will allow you to focus on more productive activities and will almost assuredly increase your bottom line. If done in a nice manner, it will also never burn bridges so that they may return to you when their expectations are adjusted at some future point.

Will you ever lose a sale to another agent by doing this? I would imagine you will, but I believe that the offset is that you will gain many more productive listings and customers that will have far greater returns than those that you have lost.

Please feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts and practices with regards to this as I always enjoy learning.

Till next time... Live with passion and be passionate about everything and everyone in your life.

Jim