Last Thursday we did a show in the SWS Virtual Studio called "Are You an RCHB?"
Um... huh? What on earth is an RCHB and why might you care to be one (or not)?
Well, RCHB stands for "Reasonably Competent Human Being" and the context is whether or not we give the people we know and the people we meet in our day-to-day wanderings reason to believe we are RCHB's... and therefore capable of handling their real estate business and referrals.
Hopefully most of us realize the importance of being Reasonably Competent when it comes to our businesses - when we're working with our buyers and sellers. But where a lot of people (myself included) fall short is in our personal lives - with our friends, acquaintances and people we meet outside of business. But since someone who has never had the pleasure of working with us in a real estate transaction doesn't know if we're any good at what we do, they must make a hiring or referring decision based on what they know of us on a personal level.
During the show, we described six potentially problematic areas where it's easy to "let your hair down" and, well, demonstrate to people that you might NOT be the RCHB real estate agent they've been searching for.
At the end of the show, we polled the audience to see which of the six tips hit closest to him for them and which one they'd be making an effort to do better in...
Favorit-est Tip #1
Do what you say you're doing to do instead of making excuses for why you didn't do it. It's so easy to overcommit and then scramble to get out of doing whatever it is you committed to... or apologize afterwards. But to come across as an RCHB, you want to be the person who does what she says she's going to do, not the "Yes" person who constantly overpromises and underdelivers.
Favorit-est Tip #2
Be on time. Not only for professional appointments, but in your personal life as well. Don't keep other people waiting for you, not even your friends. Sure, your friends may put up with your lack of punctuality; they might even laugh about it, but it very may affect how your friends view you as a professional. The factors we use to choose our friends are very different from those we use to choose the people we hire and refer, so strive not to give the appearance of disrespecting others' time or being too unorganized to show up when expected.
Favorit-est Tip #3
Return phone calls promptly. Again, not just business phone calls, but personal ones as well. You only have a small window to "return a phone call promptly;" after a few hours that opportunity is lost and you're left with apologies for not calling back sooner. While the people who call you might not expect a prompt return phone call, it will certainly make a great impression if you do call right back! Sure, sometimes you simply can't, but when you can, do.
Favorit-est Tip #4
Watch your language. Curtail your use of profanity, if that's a problem for you. Yes, even among friends. It's very easy (trust me on this) to become unaware of the effect a potty mouth has on others who don't use profanity on a regular basis. If you don't believe me, cut out all four-letter words from your vocabulary for a week or two and you'll see what I mean...
Related to this is to watch your Facebook and Twitter posts with regard to alcohol use. I can't tell you how many posts I see from real estate agents about being drunk or wanting to be drunk. I'll probably write a whole separate blog on this subject soon!
Favorit-est Tip #5
Review your marketing materials for errors, especially your website. Anything you put out there in the world in writing needs to be as close to 100% error-free as it can possibly be. If your website contains typos, misspellings, broken links and glaring grammatical errors, it will raise the question in your visitors' minds if you're (note, not "your") a Reasonably Competent Human Being.
Favorit-est Tip #6
Be emotionally mature. This simply means to do your best not to whine, moan and complain to your friends and acquaintances about your business, your health, your love-life, your dog or your car. Sure, from time to time you need to vent, but part of being an emotionally mature human being is to be able to handle your problems.
So, there you have it... I see myself in a few of these... not at all in others... no one is perfect, of course, but if there is an area or two in which you could use improvement, no time like today to start doing something about it!
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