I've been in Interior Decorating and Home Staging professionally for a short time, but have been studying and learning for several years. Recently I started my LLC and began actually charging for my services. I've done free and volunteer work up until now to gain knowledge and portfolio credentials. Well, here's my dilemma... I'm a talker. I'm very friendly and tend to get along with most people. I also LOVE this industry and enjoy my work, meeting people, and sharing my knowledge. The problem is, most of the people I've been meeting are also talkers! So instead of a quick visit to a home to learn about the project and come away with information to provide a quote or bid, I spend hours chatting (on and off) about the job, the person and basically making a new friend. Now, I have no problem becoming friends with my clients, but I'm having trouble steering the conversations back to business and leaving small talk for some other time (like when I am actually getting paid!) I'm sure it comes with inexperience as well as my background in customer satisfaction and support. Prior to this career, I was doing financial software support for several major banks and with that comes "relationship management".
I am betting as real estate professionals, this happens to you all the time. I mean, obviously you don't get paid till the deal is done, so is there ever a time when you know you really have to focus on business and put "personal" relationships on hold? How do you keep your clients on track? How did you start out in the industry with no income but a lot of time spent until you made you first deals?
I don't know if this is making any sense to anyone, I feel like I'm just rambling. But I'm treating this particular blog post more like a diary than a searchable knowledge base anyway. I'm just hoping others will share my growing pains! Thanks for reading!
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