Throughout our careers we come across individuals that we may judge because we believe they are making silly decisions and we may even jump to the conclusion that they shouldn’t be in the business. Many professionals in the Real Estate industry may agree with the fact that they do come in contact with many individuals in their industry that may make bad choices.
We as professionals need to learn how to form better relationships with our colleagues, even when the smallest problem is thrown at us. If you become the local professional in the industry known as the inpatient, pessimistic, over competitive agent within your company or your city it will be difficult to build relationships and your network.
You may think the consumer/client opinion was the only thing you should worry about because that’s who affects your pay check, but really building rapport with other agents is equally important. You want to be able to count on your colleagues to help sell properties more quickly based on your professionalism and network growth.
What do you have to lose? Below are the do’s and don’ts of building great relationships with your real estate colleagues, so you can count on each other for support and hopefully improve the turnover time for sales.
- Do refer to them as your colleague. This gives comfort to your client knowing that you may have a relationship with them more than just a mutual property.
- Do not refer to them the “other agent”. Promotes the above statement.
- Do expect some kind of issue to arise and do not poke blame just find a way to move forward and conclude the transaction.
- Do listen to each other.
- Do not yell or hang up on another professional or individual in the business. If you ever feel the need to end a conversation that is getting hostile, please announce that you have a client calling and that you must take it. Respond via email with your concerns that led to the hostile turn of events and calmly conclude the issue.
- Do not let your personal or previous business transaction effect current relationships because in the end this effects the clients and most likely they had nothing to do with this.
- Do leave detailed messages and do not repeatedly call. You know how you get when you are busy, send a short text about leaving a Voicemail, leave a VM and that’s it!
- Do not judge if you get a low offer on a listing remember your job is to represent the consumer and be their guide. If the consumer insists on that offer, the agent is just doing their job and its your job to politely explain why this isn’t going to work. Most likely your colleague will support you while discussing this with their clients.
- Do express gratitude throughout the transaction process, close of the sale and afterwards. Send a card to your colleague addressed to the agent and their clients. Email is always a great way to do this because you can copy everyone, however written notes are read when they want and taken more to heart.
- Do not complain about other agents. Express only positive words and if you don’t have anything positive to stay simply state:
“During my experience with Agent Z we closed after X time, the property was nice but the way I worked with my clients was a little different than the way Agent Z worked with theirs, so we struggled with that, but overall the transaction closed and I could count on him/her’s help if I needed it.”
Blaming yourself takes guts, showing the contrast in work personality will show how you struggled, and then complementing them by saying you could refer to them if needed, not only shows when you have an obstacle you move forward, but it also shows yours professionalism. Think of it this way – you prepared the person that asked that there was a struggle and they can decide from there. What good are doing by downing the another professional in the industry that may have only been different because of the contrast in professional character and work ethic(between the two of you)? Never ever burn your bridges, and start now by always taking the blame and always ending positively.
Most agents are intelligent, self motivated and proactive leaders and whether you like it or not, many of them bump heads because of how alike they are. You should be proud of the stature you uphold for a your industry, but keep in mind even though you are so similar, you are very much different. These differences can be seen as negative, but it it’s a team function to close on a property, and you must learn to work with each other’s way of working. Using these tips may help you build stronger relationships and possible even referrals from other agents! Wow, bet you didn’t expect that. Give it a try and comment below on ways you have learned to improve your relationships with colleagues and changing “the other agent” to that person you can call for a question anytime.
Good Luck!
