The Customer Doesn’t Know What He’s Getting….Until He Doesn’t

That’s a marketing ‘saying’, and I’m sure we’ve all bought something that we thought was different from what we got. It happened to me last year as I was trying to create a new website. Two guys promised me a stupendous site. It actually started out well–and sputtered and died soon after! After much ado with the credit card company, I got my money back. The customer doesn’t know what he’s getting….until he doesn’t. (and then, boy, is he mad!)

Why do Salespeople Do That?

We all hate to be ‘bait and switched’. Why then, do salespeople do it? Because

1. We are  afraid if we tell the truth, we won’t get the business
2. Others do it, so we do it, too
3. We don’t realize we’re hurting ourselves in the long run by ruining long-term relationships
4. It’s easier to do the old pie in the sky and worry about the rest later
5. A few of us just don’t know any better!

Brokers: Listen Up……..

A couple of days ago I read an article written by a coach about “what I wished I’d known as a new agent.” One of the points was that the broker didn’t tell the new agent the truth about the business: how much money new agents on average make, expenses, and time to get started, etc.  

(A great reference to find out how much money real estate agents make, how long they’ve been in the business, and the average number of transactions they do: See the timely surveys done by the National Association of Realtors:  Member Profile 2009 and the 2008 Technology Survey. Both are available at www.realtor.org. )

 Too many times, I think, brokers (interviewers) give a ‘pie in the sky’ view of real estate sales, reflecting item #1 above.   They’re afraid if they tell the truth, the agent won’t join.

If Only I’d Known

New agents: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. In Become Tomorrow’s Mega-Agent Today, I provide dozens of tips and 77 interview questions to ask brokers to break through the smoke and mirrors and get to the real nitty-gritty. Think about it this way. You don’t want to become a manipulative, bait and switch salesperson, do you? So, you don’t want to go to work for that pie-in-the-sky, you too can make $500,000 in real estate working part-time kind of broker, do you?

Long-Term Relationships is the Name of the Game

In Up and Running in 30 Days, I provide new agents the skills and point of view to create enduring long-term relationships. After all, it costs 6-9 more to get a new customer than to keep an old one. Learn to

                                     tell the truth attractively.

That should be the mantra, in my opinion, of both salespeople and brokers. Bonus: Our customers would trust us much more, too!