My son Micah is nine years old, and he’s all boy. I was cleaning the garage and watching him build a skateboard ramp at the end of the driveway. He had taken plywood, propped it on some bricks piled high and then built a landing ramp on the other side. His plan was to skate down the sloped driveway, hit the plywood ramp, fly through the air and hit the landing ramp. All while staying on his skateboard unharmed.
Being a boy once myself and having tried the exact same feat, I knew from experience that this was fraught with danger and headed for disaster. I pulled my son aside, put my arm around him and explained how the skateboard would either a) come to a screeching halt when the wheels hit the edge of the plywood or b) the bricks would fall over from the weight of him on the board. While he listened to his father with earnest intent, his face said something entirely different. Micah looked at me as if to say, “Father while I appreciate your care and concern for my well-being, I am going to attempt this any way and mostly likely hurt my self badly.” As such, I watched in horror as it played out exactly like that with Micah heading into the house bleeding and crying. He later admitted he would not try that again. Sometimes in life, you just need to hurt yourself to learn a lesson albeit the hard way.
The story above is exactly what happens many times in real estate between agents and their clients. You see, the agents have been in so many complicated real estate scenarios before. We can see the danger, mistakes, troubles, warning signs, and bad decisions usually from a mile away. In every case, we never want to see our clients make a bad decision, a mistake that will cost them or maybe not get the home they wanted. Much like my son Micah, over the years I have tried to put my arm around my clients and advise them about a mistake that they were about to make. And like Micah, many of them have looked at me in the eye as if to say, “Dear Dan, while we appreciate your care and concern for our well-being, we are still going to go ahead, ignore your professional advice, and possibly hurt ourselves.” Ok, I understand. More than once, those clients came back a little beaten and bloodied but nonetheless learned a lesson. The next time around, they were not so quick to make the same mistake. Over the years, I have coached many a frustrated agent through these waters. I tell them not to worry that their client is not taking their advice; sometimes, your client just needs to get hurt before this deal will come to fruition.
Dan Polimino is a Broker/Owner with the Colorado Dream House Team, Keller Williams Realty DTC. Contact the Colorado Dream House Team at 720-446-6325, Follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, Watch us on YouTube, Questions?
Comments(0)