Real Estate: "Getting A Listing Is A Privilege, Not A Reward" By Alx.O

Despite what many of my colleagues may say or believe, getting a new listing is absolutely a privilege and not a reward. And I’ll tell you why with one simple word, trust. I’ll elaborate…
I work for one of the world's oldest, largest, and perhaps most technologically savvy brokerages in the U.S., Coldwell Banker. However, in real life, this doesn’t do as much for me as a Realtor as you’d think. Yes, the brand recognition is there. Yes, the technology is there. And yes, our internal network is vast and superb. However, when it comes down to getting that new listing, none of those things are what get sellers to sign listing agreements or what make deals close. Because if they did, then Joe Nobody Realty wouldn’t stand a chance against real estate giants like Coldwell Banker, and yet here they are, Joe Nobody Realty alive and kicking. Why? It’s been my experience that trust is the crucial factor, its the make or break. If sellers don’t trust you, then they will never list with you. And so trust is what keeps Joe Realty alive. Kudos to you Joe!
So why is it a privilege and not a reward? Well for starters, trust is a very fragile thing. Sure, you may be lucky enough to be trusted without reason, some people are just generally trusting in that way, but to maintain that trust, now that's another story. In order to maintain trust, you have to commit and to commit you have to care. You have to care about the fact that somebody trusts you, regardless if it's something as small as doing a favor for a friend or selling a home for your client. You have to care. Furthermore, you have to own it. You have to take responsibility. If a friend asked you to dog sit, you’d actually be there present watching the dog, not leaving the dog alone in the dark. No, you wouldn’t do that because one, its messed up but two it's a violation of trust. The same goes for a listing. If a seller agrees to enlist you to sell their home, they’re trusting you to do all that you can to make good on your promises. Which means being present, full of intent, and committed, not just leaving a lockbox on the door and letting some other random agent come and sell it. No, that’s again messed up but more importantly a violation of trust. The agent that does that, lied during their listing presentation. The agent that does that, is not committed and does not care about the seller's trust, they only care about the reward of getting a new listing. And sure, depending on the respective markets, these kinds of agents may pull wins out and actually sell that home but that behavior is not conducive to long-term growth. Those agents will never beat agents that actually do care and are actually committed.
The steady statistic of new agents that quit within their first year is 87% for this same reason. The real estate business has its own way of weeding out the bad ones and giving an opportunity for the good ones. And at the core of this is the privilege of trust, not the attainment of reward. The true reward if we were to label one, is the continued trust between Realtor and client. Why? Because that continued trust means A) You’ve kept your promise and sold that home, B) You did it the way you promised you would, and C) You showed your client a sincere yet powerful thing, that you cared. All of this by default creates new business because people want to work with people who can be trusted. And that's why no matter how big Coldwell Banker is, they will never kill Joe Nobody Realty or vice versa. So long as there's trust, there's always an equal opportunity for business.
Which is also why I respect that privilege deeply. I’m a second generation Realtor and I’ve seen first hand, both in my own life and my mother’s, who is also a Realtor for Coldwell Banker, that maintaining that trust is crucial. And so it’s not just what I do but it’s something I wholeheartedly believe in. And I hope the Realtor you work with feels the same way.  

~alx.O