Having attended some of Berkshire Hathaway’s Virtual Convention which was held the last week of March, I wanted to share Convention's motto with you - "We are Unstoppable".
Our CEO shared his belief and observation: Take care of your clients and then everything will fall in place. You will get commissions and referrals from clients . The primary goal is to take care of them and not focus on the commission. (This has been my concept for the past 26+ years that I have been practicing real estate.)
Chris Stewart calls agents who focus primarily on commissions as 'transactionally focused' vs. ‘relationship focused’. Those are the agents that are always chasing after the next deal while missing out on the bigger picture of building relationships and loyalty. (Small minds, small approach you could say.) He suggests switching your mindset to be client focused or relationship focused and in turn you will reap the long term benefits.
Putting this in my own personal perspective, I cannot agree more. Twenty years ago, I would routinely mail 30,000 post cards a month to generate business. Today I have a lot more business than I did 20 years ago and do not send out post cards; today it is repeat business, my past clients calling and emailing me wanting me to represent them once again.
As my father would always say to me "Every dollar is a dollar. The more deals you have, the less you need to worry about the money. If one deal falls apart, there are still the others that are together." This philosophy has always worked for me. I currently have five transactions in escrow with purchase prices ranging from $27K to $560K; 2 combined for $460K; and 23 active listings ranging from the low of $39K to the high of $1.150.000. Regardless of the dollar value of the property, I treat each client the same. Of the 23 active listings, 5 are first-time clients while the other 18 are repeat clients. All of them know and appreciate that my focus is on their benefit and not about me. You get the idea.
This brings me to the point of being on this platform. Thanks to Active Rain, 10+ years ago I was introduced to something brand new to me - blogging. Not only did Active Rain blogging increase my visibility on the Internet, it also helped me meet new people, make new friends and build relationships.
In the beginning most everyone thought Active Rain will bring tons of referral business. I was of the same belief system before reality set in; most of the referrals are from California (where I am) heading to other, more affordable parts of the country. Clearly, I was not going to be receiving many referrals. On the flip side, what a fantastic opportunity this gave me to instead focus on building friendships. Back in the pre-COVID days, we had multiple Active Rain Meetup dinners - how fun it was to seek out like-minded Realtors with similar interests, hobbies and lifestyles. Then there was the 'big one' in Boston that gave me the added benefit of visiting the city that was my home before relocating to Los Angeles.
Ironically there are others who missed the friendship building part of Active Rain. In my opinion, not only are they missing out on building personal lasting relationships, but they are also missing out on getting referrals. I would always send a referral to someone on Active Rain with whom I have a personal friendship rather than someone with whom I've never developed a bond.
My clients always come first; any referral that may come my way you can rest assured I will do my absolute best for them. Plus you have the addedsecurity that HomeServices of Amerca was again recognized as the country's #1 real estate brokerage ranked by number of homes sold in 2020 as reported in the Real Trends 500 transaction report. We are located on three continents and in at least nine countries to the best of my knowledge.
So, do I need Active Rain referrals? Yes, absolutely! Referrals are the lifeline of any successful Realtor. Hence I love them from my sphere of influence, my fellow Realtors and my wide range of Active Rain friends. Those with whom I've already worked know that your referrals were well taken care of and commissions and referral fees were shared because of it. Nevertheless, all that is the byproduct of what came first - the friendships.
If you read this far, thank you and feel free to comment. I look forward to getting to know you better if we are not friends already.
Wishing you a safe and healthy life and I look forward to your comments. If you are looking for a knowledgeable, focused and goal-oriented Realtor in the Beverly Hills area who will help you achieve your Real Estate goals, please reach out to me directly! If you are looking for a pet friendly Beverly Hills Realtor who can handle and sell the most difficult properties that no one else could, please reach out to me directly!! If you are considering buying or selling a home, a luxury home, luxury investment real estate, luxury vacation homes, or luxury beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu, feel free to contact me at 310.486.1002 ( m) homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com I contribute a portion of my commission to local animal rescue organizations. Endre Barath,Jr. Realtor at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties DRE#01238708
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