Toby Boyce
By Toby Boyce
The sun rose over the eastern sky as my alarm went off on what was quite the unusual March morning. Well beyond the fact that it was nearly 50 degrees, I decided to take my wife’s advice and go to the neurologist and chiropractor after six days of constant migraines.
As I sat in the chiropractor’s office, I was reliving every Charlie Sheen joke about chiropractors from “2-1/2 Men” in my head and sadly it blended very well with my own personal experience. But as I sat there waiting for my name to be called, I read through the pamphlet that was provided to me by the office manager – it dawned on me – these people were on the ball.
Are you on the ball?
They gave me three sheets of paper that outlined three key things that I wanted to know.
- What was going to happen on the first visit.
- What is going to happen on the upcoming visits.
- How to work with insurance and other options to pay for the treatments.
It got me thinking. Am I preparing my clients this effectively for the transaction? Sadly, REALTORS® have about the same reputation as chiropractors for working their clients over.
How can we take a page from this chiropractor?
- Provide a pre-meeting itinerary that outlines exactly what the meeting will cover and how it will go. This does a few things, but most importantly it keeps the meeting on track and provide a road map, keeping the awkward silence to a minimum. Continue reading »
Crystal Webster
By Crystal Webster
When I first got into the business I thought I knew it all – rookie mistake. I knew everything there was to know about Kansas City (yes, the whole GIANT city). My business was the perfect model. My processes were the best to be had. And my broker was the best broker anywhere in the world – for everyone. Pair that with a couple bad transactions early on with another one of the larger brokers in the area and I started running my mouth off – mostly to friends and family, but to a few potential clients as well.
Bad news: I lost credibility in their eyes, and it’s A LOT of work to try to rebuild that credibility. I’m still not sure it can ever be fully restored. Early on, it’s easy to forget how important it is to “save face” and not tick people off – especially in the age of social media. The lesson I learned was to keep my big mouth shut! I still have plenty of opinions but I don’t share them with just anyone.
So learn from my mistakes. It’s very important to censor yourself – probably even more then you think you should. You never know who you will offend someone because they live in that area that you hate, know a guy that works for the company that is “run by idiots,” or they have a brother that works for that lender… But don’t worry; I still do think that my business model, processes, knowledge, and broker are the best – for me.
Crystal Webster is a REALTOR® in the Kansas City area. Visit her networking site at www.kcyoungprofessionals.com and her Web site and blog at www.theheritagehometeam.com.
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