From RealSource... Glenn's Blog

What can you do with a "no"...

• Move on to the next prospect.
• Move on to the next property.
• Move on to the next research project.
• Find out if you made an error (so you don't repeat it).
• Find out if you were not communicating clearly (again, so you don't repeat it)
• Move on to the next day.
• Move on to the next email.
• Move on to the next phone call.
• Move on to the next house for a past client.
• Move on to learn more about a market.
• Be glad you've not wasted more time on a dead-end.
• Find out why it was a "no" and see where that leads.
• Move on to the next opportunity!

We all dance around like "no" is a four-letter word we should avoid.  Customers don't like to say it.  Many people don't like to hear it.  Some people say they won't take "no" for an answer (that can make you a pest if you don't handle it right).

"We'll think about it and let you know" may (not always) really mean "No, but I can't use that word it might make me look bad for wasting your time and I would feel guilty."

But you know what... avoiding "no" can waste everyone's time.  Give people permission to say "no" and it actually creates more freedom to discuss and even leads to more "yes"es!

I practice telling people a clear "no" if something does not work for me.  Not agressive, just "no thanks" or "no that really is not for me."   Professionals will appreciate this.  I hope you do too!

Little things can be such a big difference!  In the conclusion of a recent deal, we found a lender had added "SW" to a street address on all of their paperwork.   Don't know why but there it was.  Every document from the lender.

Well, it turns out that "changed address" was a real, but different, street address (for example, the deal was for "123 Second Ave" but the loan documents said "123 Second Ave SW."). The closing staff and attorney either did not catch this mistake or ignored it

Now, to make it interesting the buyer of this house was having utilities turned off for some reason (perhaps he was going to remodel or not move for a month, don't recall).  He used the incorrect address from the loan package... an address that was someone else's property and where someone lived that was not involved in this deal!  .

Imagine sitting at home and off goes the power, call the power company and they say the new owner ordered the power turned off.  Or when you go to sell your house, you find a mortgage attached in someone else's name!

And if that was not enough, the closing attorney's office did not want to get the loan documents or the other associated closing document corrected because the deal had already closed.  They said it was no big deal.  And this is the party that represents the lender!!!

Our position was that the lender was at great risk here and the attorney's staff were also responsible for protecting the interest of their client, the lender.  There were a multitude of potential problems downstream for the buyer and risks for the titles of two properties now, one of which was not even involved in the deal but would now have a lien attached.

It took several phones calls and being a bit of a bother to get the attorney's office and the lender to correct the address on the documentation.  And they expressed great dissatisfaction about having to do this "extra" work on a closed deal.  The idea that this was an opportunity to correct their own mistakes was irrelevant.

But it was the right thing to do even though it was not our fault and required several days of additional periodic follow-up.

So, remember that every little detail can be a problem if not properly attended.  Have a great day!

Greetings! 

I am curious as to how those with good-to-great assistants found those assistants.  And how you keep them trained.

I spoke with one successful Realtor that told me that by having an assistant, she and her husband sold 14 more houses a year.  She said that if she loses focus and starts working on tasks normally assigned to their assistant, her husband teases her with "So, are you being the assistant today?"  That helps her keep the eye on what she should be focusing on.

I've spoke with another Realtor that has had several assistants and none worked out.  The assistants she hired were not very motivated and were easily confused.  And there is likely some question as to how effective the Realtor was as a manager and employer.

Thoughts?

Breaking new ground in any market is always interesting.  Breaking new ground in real estate may be even more interesting.  Providing services in a new way has become an interesting human behaviour study.

It has been said that "knowing prevents learning."   That is, if we "know" how something is done, we can be challenged to think of the process in a new light.  If you know how to tie your shoes, learning a new way can be tough, even if someone came up with a great new way.

Our coordination and managment of support services for a multitude of Realtors, lenders and developers is such a new approach, there was no technology to support the work properly.  So, we built our own technology.  And that turned out to be a great thing!

Granted, there is technology to help individual realtors and lenders track their specific deals (and perhaps expose those documents to the clients and other applicable parties).  But nothing to match our unique process of matching many deals with many parties and make sure nothing falls through the cracks. 

We not only can track services, we can be proactive.  We also can score every task and every service for quality.   Is one title insurer better at turn-around times for out-of-county work?  Is another very fast but prone to errors?  Is yet another very accurate but a bit more expensive?  We know that.  And we use it to help the service providers improve their business while matching the best providers to the deal (since each deal can be very different).

How effective is using our service?  One realtor sold 38 houses in central Alabama in 14 months and almost all were someone else's listings!   How?   Once she got a signed contract, she let RealSource handle the contract-to-close work while she got back out selling.  

It is going to be interesting to watch as the company expands into new areas of the country!