Pride Goeth Before the Fall

When I went on my first check out dive after SCUBA training, my BIGGEST, nightmare-inducing fear was water getting in my mask because I wear contacts and I was terrified my mask would leak, I wouldn't be able to see and would get myself into a horrible, life threatening situation. 

Well, it didn't happen the first dive.  Whew.  But it DID happen the second dive, I surfaced with my eyes closed, was swamped by a boat swell, swallowed a mouthful of sea water and started choking as the swells kept pushing me under.  All of this while I held my eyes tightly closed so as not to also lose my contacts - because then I would really be up a creek (or a sea) without a paddle.

Eventually, the choking stopped, the water calmed, I was able to clear my mask and finish my dive.  Oh, yeah, and obviously I didn't die.  BUT I never worried about it again (it never happened again!) and was a much more confident diver when I began my descent after the incident.   Seems like all that excellent instruction and training paid off in a big way and held me in good stead every time I went diving.

Real estate is the same way; it's a big deal - a very big deal - we are helping people spend a huge amount of money and we don't want to muck it up. Although the worse case is not usually that we could die from our mistakes (unless we show up at a vacant listing to meet a dangerous prospect), we can screw up our clients (not to mention ourselves) in a big way, so it's a serious business. 

Sometimes, though, I receive offers that puzzle me because they are incomplete or so poorly written, it is obvious the agent is either inexperienced or poorly trained.  I'll leave out lazy because that's a whole other topic.  And a discussion of why they are poorly trained is a whole other post, too.

But, WHY, I always wonder, do these agents not run their offers or contracts by their brokers?  Why did they not seek help?  What are they thinking?  Aren't they trained?  Surely they do not think what they are doing is correct? 

I have learned firsthand over the years some agents absolutely do not want to ask questions or appear not to know something.  They would rather pretend to know something than admit they do not.

Sometimes folks let ego trump knowledge.  But the trust our clients put in us and our abilities trumps everything and we owe them nothing less than our absolute best, even if it means humbling ourselves, admitting we don't know everything and asking for help.

In a competititve business such as real estate, I realize folks don't want to be seen as weak or incompetent but I view asking for help as a strength:  we are confident enough in ourselves that we don't see seeking help as a negative. 

We should always see asking for assistance as an opportunity to learn more and be better prepared.  After all, our clients are depending on us to do just that.  

 

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All information believed to be accurate, but is not guaranteed.