Everyone has their moments where they make excuses to avoid doing something. As a real estate agent, we all have our good and unpleasant habits. The best way to handle these habits are to know what works in your favour and what derails you from accomplishing your goals.
Here is a list of bad habits that should be avoided:
- Not Having a Back-Up
As an agent, you should always be mindful to have a backup in case of emergencies or when you’re on vacation. Purchasing or selling a property is a huge deal which causes tremendous stress to your buyers and/or sellers.
When your buyer or seller cannot contact you or have anyone else to reach out too, this will cause them more anxiety. Thus, always ensure you have someone to take over the reign and your buyer or seller knows how to contact them when you’re away.
- Slow Response to Enquiries
In this year and age, patience is a virtue that not many people have as we are spoiled with instant gratification. Therefore, your buyers and/or investors expect to hear back from you quickly.
Slow response is actually one of the top reasons why buyers and/or investors are dissatisfied with agents. To be a good agent, ensure you put in the extra effort to follow up with all of your leads and communicate with your buyers and/or investors as quickly as you can.
- Misrepresentation of Listings
It is of utmost importance that you do not misrepresent your listings to your buyers and/or investors. Nothing is more infuriating to a potential buyer and/or investor than seeing the property they’re interested in, only to discover the property is in desperate need of an uplift.
When listing down the condition of the property, you should be honest on whether the property needs additional maintenance. You do not need to point out all the flaws, but you should be open about the property’s condition.
- Behaving Aggressively
Another bad habit that should be avoided is being aggressive with your buyers and/or investors. As an agent, it is your job to guide your buyer and investor on their quest to find their perfect home or investment.
However, it is not up to you to bully your way into negotiations about what your buyer and/or investor want. At the end of the day, buyers and investors want to work with agents who will take their wants and needs into consideration and not someone who will disregard their requests.
- Not Listening
A complaint that is always heard is that agents do not listen to their buyers and investors. If your buyer and/or investor informs you they do not want to live in a specific area, do not schedule showings in those areas.
By not listening to them or taking their feedback seriously, your buyers would not believe in your ability to look out for their best interests. It is important to ensure you understand what your buyers want and go about finding properties that actually matches their request.
In short, avoid these habits and be the type of agent that buyers and investors would love to work with. Habits are learned behaviour and by following these rules, you can improve your business results. The key to success is maintaining an open and honest communication with your buyers and/or investors.
