I had an interesting meeting with an agent recently – one that has been a reoccurring theme over the last 18 months with agents across the nation. We started the meeting under the auspice of setting goals, markers and expectations for the next 90 days. We ended with tears, hugs and a new lease on life.
After 20+ years in the business, a full pipeline and momentum shifting in her favor the dark cloud that has been hanging over her business was starting to clear. Despite the rays of sunshine a haunting depression and frustration was finding its way in each morning. Bitterness was building and the excitement of real estate was waning. She struggled with tears as she admitted to a growing distain for both houses and people. She was faced with burn-out and wasn’t sure how she got here or even if she wanted to continue in this crazy business.
We talked at length about finding purpose, and the importance of having the significant as fuel for our success. We talked about the realities and destructive road that lies at the end of a life that is being lived out of integrity. We can only fake it for so long, and while I am a believer in positive thinking, there are times in which we need a radical adjustment to our perspective.
I have discovered that integrity can be defined as morality (not doing wrong) plus character (doing what is right). You cannot do what is right when you are doing what is wrong. When we start to make choices from the place of what I need to do versus what I want to do, our lives (and businesses) take a very dangerous turn. She is moral and good, but neglecting doing the right things because of demanding clients and lack of good boundaries.
She is working on finding herself by exploring some places she can give back. We will re-visit whether she wants to leave her real estate business or not in a few months, until then, she is going find something that she can throw her heart in, because it is the right thing to do and it is the quickest way to avoid burn-out. Investing in the significant and being in integrity is the quickest way to give a shot of vitality and life to a business that is stagnant and struggling.
When struggling, down or feeling a bit defeated, recognize that our fulfillment must come from something outside of the real estate business – our lives and business depend on it.
Carpe diem,
I remember I had a professor in college that would ask that simple question of the students as he roamed the campus. I’m not sure how many students over the years were impacted by it. But the first day I ran into him and he launched his signature question, He changed me – forever. That question lives with me, no, it haunts me.
We’re recognizing that what human beings have historically spent much of their time doing-gathering food and establishing defensive measures for the community-is now a minor part of our lives. We’re recognizing that we can break the rules, make our own life decisions, learn the new skills we need, and have it all, and on our own terms.
Little did I know that I was just about to meet my friendly, professional rival, no, my nemesis. She quickly informed me that I could not market all these different areas that I was looking at on a map because “they were her areas.” Never mind that I lived in the area, and I had never seen anything from her, nor had she taken a listing there in the last 30 listings, nor that the manager had assured me that we were in an “open farming office.” So it started. It was actually one of the best things for me and my new real estate business. I have always been the kind who is up for a fight. And fight we did as we took it out to the market place. We both did well, although I, like the father in the movie “A River Runs Through It” who out-fished his sons, simply was a bit more blessed in the ongoing struggle for dominance on the sales board. 
many BMW owners would cop to ego being their primary reason for buying the car? With that said – let’s not beat up on the BMW crowd too bad, the same could be said about Lexus, Mercedes and others and they don’t have the distinction of being the “Ultimate Driving Machine.”
1. A ‘Sound Bite’. This is a seven- to nine-word phrase that distills the essence of your value to a specific client base. When used with your name, company name, and your title, you’ve got a great introduction. Used by itself, it succinctly and clearly answers the question: What do you do?
6. Contact (note) cards. Use contact cards to follow up a first meeting, thank for a sale, congratulate on a milestone, or just stay in touch. Remember, people do business with people they know, like and trust, and what better way to build a relationship than with charming hand-written notes?
Sell the skills you have, not your service. I see so many agents convey the great services they offer; only they fail to recognize most agents offer the same service. Rather than sell your services, try selling “your skills.” In an industry where being unique is very difficult, sometimes expensive and seldom achieved, I think selling your skills may be much easier.
Know how you measure success-