by Meredith Gossland
There are several small businesses who retain hundreds of years old traditions for their manufacturing processes. Hand-dipped chocolates, fresh flowers on every table in a restaurant, or mints and roses on a guest's pillow at a B&B. Loyal customers come to expect these little perks or tokens of quality in the product and changing your traditions might mean the loss of a huge percentage of your evangelical customers. These are unspoken signs of a companies value system and devotion to the customer, to change could be a disaster. Then there are traditions that are a little harder to explain.
There are two curious habits in the real estate industry that have always baffled me. They are age-old traditions and the public has come to accept them as part and parcel of the product. But are they a reflection of company values or just a couple of really bad habits?
The first....Why do real estate agents and insurance agents put their picture on absolutely everything? Real Estate agents are there to sell houses, people come to the agent to buy a house not to become best friends or to get a date. The image portrayed is that of an egoistical, self centered, self serving person. I have asked many agents why they do it...the answers range from; because the company requires it, to simple I don't knows, to I need it to stand out from the competition(If all the competition is doing the same thing, how does that set you apart?) There are many people who have their own businesses and are sole-propritors from hair dressers to contractors, pool cleaners, consultants and lawyers but they don't plaster their headshot all over everything that relates to their business. There could be some reasons why they don't. Sending the wrong image of self importance is one but I think the number one reason is aging. As people get older they become less and less satisfied with the way they look, a little less hair, and few saggy chins, smile lines that have turned into furrows. Real Estate agents face this problem head on...they just leave the same picture on their business card for their entire 25 year career, a nice youthful look. New Clients visiting the agent for the first time are in shock!
"You don't look like your photo!"
The second tradition that seems more like a bad habit is to have flyers and doorhanger bags strewn all over a neighborhood. If it is a particularly popular neighborhood this means you find this trash on your front porch 3-5 times a week thanks to 10 or 15 different agents! I've even seen this stuff delivered on Sundays. It's really convenient for thieves..they know you've been away on vacation even if the mail is being held at the post office. How many people pick up that trash while vowing to NEVER do business with the agents who turn their porch to a landfill's delight!
At some point one's values should win over tradition. Respecting the client, making the client's/prospect's priorities your priorities must become the guiding light to a successful career. Common sense and creativity should come together with customer service and bad habits should be broken, even if all the competition plans to carry on the stupid tradition.
Be a leader, put a picture of a door knocker or house on your business card I know its a radical idea but take the challenge! Who knows, you might even generate some goodwill by not cluttering up a porch with flyers that go straight into the trash.