This week, I found myself saying "No, Thank You - I don't want a referral fee."
Recently, Clients for Life called me and asked me to help them find a vacation cabin in the nearby mountains. The mountains are a little over an hour away from my office. I want to acknowledge that this is a common referral fee situation, but my Clients for Life were very specific about wanting to continue to rely on me. I agreed and blocked out an entire day for them.
Our Supra Keys don't work in this area, so I made special arrangements to get into each and every property. One of the listing agents asked me to come by her office and pick up the key. I did that.
They couldn't find the key. They explained that the listing agent had moved out of state that very weekend. (She didn't mention that to me.) The receptionist called an agent doing floor time to help me. The agent spent several minutes explaining to me and my clients that an Outside Area Agent could not competently represen
t buyers in this area. They encouraged me to hand the clients over to them on the spot and they promised a referral fee.
I explained that I was helping friends and I was very comfortable working in the area. I explained that my business model is about relationships, not commissions. I don't know if she didn't hear me or if she ignored me, because she interrupted me and insisted she would pay a referral fee. I was stunned that I was talking about relationships and she was talking about money.
Rudeness does not beget rudeness, so I suggested to my clients that we go next door to the coffee shop. We sat down with our drinks and I was getting ready to ask them what they were thinking when they almost exploded with emotion. The nerve! The rudeness! How did I keep my cool? I thanked them both for their confidence and we went looking at homes.
We wrote on a beautiful 2-bedroom cabin. We're waiting to hear back. My clients changed their mind about seeing the cabin listed by the above-referenced office.
They didn't even want to see the listing. I hope it helps some people listen to what the broker is really saying when he says, No thank you, I don't want a referral fee.
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