Let's just take a moment to pretend that realtors ceased to exist, and in their place were door-to-door vaccuum cleaner salespeople. To make this easy, we will sell Kirbys. This story is about Lauren, the friendly Kirby saleslady and her customers, the Jones family.
For a little background, Lauren met the Jones family when she was canvasing door to door in a target subdivision. They were very excited to see what the Kirby vaccuum had to offer as their old Dirt Devil has just died. When Lauren offered to clean 2 rooms for free to show them what it would do, they jumped at the opportunity and made an appointment for the next evening.
This is a dialogue of the phone conversation between Lauren and Mrs. Jones that occured 4 weeks after the initial meeting. (Of course this isn't actually the dialogue, it's something I thought of while I was cutting grass yesterday, but humor me for the point)
Lauren: "Hello"
Mrs. Jones: "Hello Lauren. This is Mrs. Jones on Maple St. You did our Kirby demonstration a few weeks ago for us."
Lauren: "Oh yes! I've been waiting to get the signed order form back from you. I have left a few messages and thought maybe you'd gone out of town."
Mrs. Jones: "Actually, that's why I'm calling. My husband and I really wanted to thank you for all the time and hard work you put into showing us the Kirby vaccuum. We appreciate you cleaning our carpets. I know you only had to do 2 rooms, and the fact that you went ahead and did our entire 6000 S.F. house was so generous. We expecially wanted to thank you for coming back the next week and shampooing the carpets for us as well."
Lauren: "Of course, I was happy to do it! Are you ready to place your order now?"
Mrs. Jones: "Well, I wanted to talk with you about that actually. We wanted to let you know how much it meant to us that you got a babysitter on those late evenings so you could meet with us at those crazy hours! My husband's work schedule is just crazy! We know you missed dinner with your family to meet with us, and you're the best for it! We also wanted to let you know that your 6 phone consultations with us over the weekends was one of the main reasons we decided to purchase the Kirby machine."
Lauren: "Thanks again, I'm so happy you were pleased with my service. Shall I send the order in now?"
Mrs. Jones: "Umm, well about that. See, I was playing Bridge Wednesday night, and when I mentioned to the group that I was buying a Kirby, one of our players told me her daughter's husband has just started selling them and was having a hard time getting going. Since they have a daughter just starting college, and I DO play bridge with his mother-in-law, Mr. Jones and I felt that we better by the vaccuum from him to keep the peace with our friends. We really appreciate all of you hard work though...maybe your boss will compensate you in some way since we realize you work on commission alone. We feel terrible but know you will understand."
Lauren: silence.................
Would this actually happen? Probably not, because the consumer actually respects the time that the Kirby salesman puts into his job. Then why, pray tell, does this happen to us Realtors again and again?? I've come to the conclusion that it is because we don't respect ourselves enough to be upfront about our expectations of clients and customers and to believe in our service and our salary. It is time for us to stand up for ourselves, educate ourselves and others to the benefits of using a highly trained realtor, and stop allowing people to knife us in the back when we least expect it! The use of the Buyer's Brokerage Agreement is the best way to accomplish this. When I was a rookie, it was almost impossile for me to even broach the subject of a customer signing one of these, as I was afraid to scare them off! Now, after 9 years, if someone won't sign one, then I know I was better to steer clear in the first place.
What methods do some of you employ to prevent this kind of thing from happening to you?
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