He was a grown man on the brink of tears. A broker. Relating a story to a fellow speaker after a conference session a few weeks ago.
I happened into the conversation by virtue of proximity. I became engaged by solidarity.
The broker, a smart and eloquent man, was relating an event unfolding in his business, a family enterprise now on shaky ground.
It was 133 days into the unsuccessful representation of a listing when he was called by the seller to intervene. This seller, on the brink of foreclosure, could faintly hear the flushing gurgle of his family’s hopes heading down the drain.
The broker spoke with the listing agent to assess the marketing campaign and pricing.
At that show and tell moment, the broker came face to face with all the words he has read in the past, the speeches he has heard, the cautions and advice he had been given but chose to ignore.
"Only two photos," I heard him say.
"After 133 days, all my agent did was take two photos of the home. Put it on the MLS. That’s it. This is a home worth millions that is about to go into foreclosure." he said. "And it’s all my fault."
Pain has a profile. It pushed hard against this man’s brow. He looked at both of us, his eyes continuing the conversation his voice couldn’t. A lesser man might have looked down. Or said nothing. He continued.
"I could be sued," he said.
"I should be sued," he echoed.
"If I were the seller, I would sue me. We have done less than nothing to help him."
No longer was I a passerby.
"Nothing yet." Was his reply to my question: "So what have you done about that agent?"
I peeked over at my colleague. Waited a few cautionary seconds before speaking. Hoping he, being far wiser than I, would intercept the moment and say something sage.
Seconds.
"What you should have done is handed that agent back their license," I said. "Right then. On the spot. Send a message to every other sub-par agent in the company looking to do as little as possible and make the most. Then I would have called every broker in the city and made sure this individual never works in this profession again. I would fire my GM, take over the reigns and send a message out to every agent that at this moment, everything in the company changes."
The broker looked me square in the face. "I never should have hired him to begin with," he said.
"Forget that," I said. "What’s done is done. Fire his ass and anyone else who has an issue with it. And either close the doors to your brokerage or use this as an opportunity to rebuild."
I expected him to tell me where to shove it. I would have deserved it. Or give me fifteen reasons why such drastic moves were impossible.
Neither occurred. The next day I saw him in the hall. As he put it, he was "erupting with new ideas."
Way to go.
- Davison
Sign up for the 1000watt Spotlight e-newsletter
and keep up with the ideas, apps and people that are changing real estate.
20 Tools to Bring your Real Estate Business to the Cloud
A mist of difference
Freaking...
Beautiful, and a fine example for brokers everywhere.
Davison,
I want to respect you. Really.
I want to respect your energy and enthusiasm for changing the schlock associated with transacting real estate but you are not making it easy with rot like this.
Totally agree 2 photos is pathetic.
However…….
Homeowners are the decision makers – they decide to buy
Homeowners are the decision makers – they hire a broker to help them sell
Homeowners are the decision makers – they price the home. They receive input from multiple sources and multiple brokers and make decisions.
… and they decide to stick it out in a down market for 6 months. Lotta dummies own 7 figure real estate and good for them. But they are still dummies.
Howz this:
- anybody can bring suit against anyone else and they often do. Welcome to America. Not agreeing with it. Hate it in fact. Damn Jon Edwards…
- that said, Mr. Homeowner is in foreclosure. … for whatever reason… feel bad for him and his. Truly I do. But even if was hit by a drunk and lost his job and had no "oh s#%# fund" or other provisions HE and ONLY HIS ACTIONS ought to be the focus.
- since when did brokers become responsible for other homeowners personal crisis brought about by the homeowners actions / inactions / previous decisions prior to broker entering the realm of the homeowner? When?
- "fire his ass?" Really?
… fire the broker or his manager first who reviewed this listing when it first came across one of their desks. They DID review a new 7 figure listing by their brokerage did they not?
The suggestion that "fire his ass" and "there-there don't cry mr. broker; lawsuits aren't so – have a tissue." is pure rot.
Davison, if you could rewind the tape of history your step by step would be what? You continuously suggest change, out with the old in with the zeitgeist… but you rarely fill in the vaccuum with concrete suggestion.
Thanks for your enlightening contribution.
If I could rewind the tape… there is no tape to rewind. We only go forward. As for filling a *vacuum, never my intention. If you come here to fill yours, my apologies for not succeeding.
Hi Marc,
I made a video concerning this story. I uploaded it onto YouTube and it's on private status right now.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JVw9v4rpQ6s
I was wondering if you can give me the green light on this so I can distribute this all around the net.
It's just that, what you wrote about, it's what makes me want to create my company quickly and correctly. I feel momentum in this start-up phase that I'm in, and I can't wait to be in rapid growth.
You and Brian are definitely two people I want to be rubbing my shoulders with.
Hope you like the video.
-Ron Park
Marc,
I understand what you are trying to say, but….let's think this through a bit.
What "message" are you trying to send? It sounds like fear to me, and fear is no way to hold an organization together.
Any broker who discovers months into the process that he has an under-performing agent – needs to fire himself FIRST. Then he needs to rehire himself with a commitment to improve things companywide, including the u-p agent.
This broker and his company essentially had an unwritten policy that condoned this level of performance. Even if they had a written policy in place, the fact that 133 days went by without correction indicates that their "unwritten policy" rules the roost. Thorough analysis of individual and organizational problems always, always, always ends up with management as the root cause. Always, when you are good at solving problems.
Now, with the policy in place AND being enforced – the agent continues underperforming, THEN show them the door. Had there been a real policy in place to begin with the problem would have been corrected one way or another months ago.
The leader who blames himself first and then takes indelible systemic improvement actions sends the message to everyone of the importance and value of the organization. This will have the effect of making the place a better one to be and work in, and will also aid in recruiting and retention.
There is enough fear in this (or any) business already, but there is no place for fear from within.
Marc,
Surprising no comments on the homeowner himself. Your vignette boils down to agents bad, broker screwed, decision making homeowner ???
- a victim maybe?
I don't think anyone comes to your blog to get filled up. But I do know this, you offer much critique at how things get done currently. Much of it is a bullseye. But you really do not suggest alternative. I can say yours is the only blog I've read nearly every page and word and attachment of and, well I don't see it.
That may be your intent but why stop short?
Why don't highlight your vision for the 7 figure homeowner marketing his home? Why not spotlight further your personal agent whom you've indicated practically walks on water?
Mark, I chose not to embellish this piece because the story needs to be about one thing only – the broker and his admissions. My two cents advice was a take it or leave it sidebar riffled at him to shake him up. Get his mojo back.
This story stands on it's own and is meant to be a simple slice of the whole pizza pie story that required no pepperoni topping of tips, or sausage advice for agents on how to list, market and sell a house.
There's a plethora of that content all over the web.
I hear you guys – the issues run deeper than the surface I scratched. The focus in on the one issue. The Broker. Facing his demons. His errors. His omissions. And the moment, after a panel he attended that brought it all to the surface.
But, instead of looking to me for what I would do or what tips I have, I put this out in hopes that commenters would offer up what they would do. Clearly, I don't have all the answers. No one does. But collectively, I think that's where the prize is.
But you've all given me an idea for a part two to this piece. It may not be any prettier and might generate a greater rise, but last time I checked, I think that's a good thing.
Ron,
Cannot access the video on youtube. You need to send me a consent to view.
Sorry Marc,
I thought privacy options don't allow spiders to crawl the video and let this video show up in search results.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JVw9v4rpQ6s
Here's the video.
-Ron
You can also watch it in high quality. Button is right under "views."
Chills.
Green light.
Thanks Chief. It's going down.
If you search 'Real Estate Revolution' on google, I'm right now on page 2. Only been 2 hours since posting.
And Marc, you really ruffled some feathers with this one. I'm even receiving the outrage!!! Hahaha.
I think what Marc was pointing out was nothing new to the broker, but rather the broker got complacent, wasn't paying attention, lost the eye of the tiger or whatever causes otherwise competent intelligent people to lose the thread.
It happends in businesses, personal relationships, marriages. People need to be constantly reminded.
We need to be on everyday, or almost every day. If we slip a few days, days become weeks, weeks become months and next thing you know you are doing things all wrong all the time.
Davison,
I want to respect you. Really.
I want to respect your energy and enthusiasm for changing the schlock associated with transacting real estate but you are not making it easy with rot like this.
Totally agree 2 photos is pathetic.
However…….
Homeowners are the decision makers – they decide to buy
Homeowners are the decision makers – they hire a broker to help them sell
Homeowners are the decision makers – they price the home. They receive input from multiple sources and multiple brokers and make decisions.
… and they decide to stick it out in a down market for 6 months. Lotta dummies own 7 figure real estate and good for them. But they are still dummies.
Howz this:
- anybody can bring suit against anyone else and they often do. Welcome to America. Not agreeing with it. Hate it in fact. Damn Jon Edwards…
- that said, Mr. Homeowner is in foreclosure. … for whatever reason… feel bad for him and his. Truly I do. But even if was hit by a drunk and lost his job and had no "oh s#%# fund" or other provisions HE and ONLY HIS ACTIONS ought to be the focus.
- since when did brokers become responsible for other homeowners personal crisis brought about by the homeowners actions / inactions / previous decisions prior to broker entering the realm of the homeowner? When?
- "fire his ass?" Really?
… fire the broker or his manager first who reviewed this listing when it first came across one of their desks. They DID review a new 7 figure listing by their brokerage did they not?
The suggestion that "fire his ass" and "there-there don't cry mr. broker; lawsuits aren't so – have a tissue." is pure rot.
Davison, if you could rewind the tape of history your step by step would be what? You continuously suggest change, out with the old in with the zeitgeist… but you rarely fill in the vaccuum with concrete suggestion.