What makes for a good client broker relationship

Since we returned from our little getaway time has flown and the hours have been long. Over the weekend I received some great praise by several past and present clients but I also got it right between the eyes with 1 client last week and and many "clients" just seem to be to "busy" to ever respond to calls. On Sunday I was with a close friend and he was lamenting how difficult it is to get guest to RSVP for a party. No one seems to be responsible or want to be accountable but as he pointed out he must pay for the caterer, pay for the food and staffing, the room, and all of the costs associated with the event and an accurate count is very important. I both sympathized with him and empathized. For several years the DMG provide a yearly summer party. We went all out to do it right and thank all of our clients and let them know how much we appreciated their business and loyalty. Of course I have used the past tense. In frustration I finally canceled the parties when our RSVP list for people that said they would come topped 50% no shows (about 200 no shows) and people who did not RSVP made up 20% of the guest lists. Planning and costs just became unbearable with the huge swings in attendance.

So to my question. Respect, accountability, and an acknowledgement that a good sales campaign is a group effort. Many clients fail to be held accountable for the simple fact that they control all of the major marketing factors for a home. Yes, that is correct all successful marketing stems from the sellers basic decision on price, conditions and access to the home. Do not believe that, then just raise your price a few hundred thousand dollars and see what the market does, or drop a price by a hundred thousand and watch the buyers come out of the woodwork! When a seller takes an active role and works with the broker, not only is life good but the sales process is always a great experience. To those sellers that set price expectation's unrealistic, refuse to adjust to changes in the market, make demands to the buyers for inconvenient access to their homes, do not provide showing conditions that are less than ideal the process can become a nightmare.

Today we now do something unheard of years ago. When we realize that we have misjudged a seller and the seller expects us to provide miracles while they make life as difficult as they can for us, we graciously give them their listings back. Life is better, profits are up and those sellers that care we can provide so much better care and attention to them that I regret not making this decisions years ago.

Return from Mexico

Well we are back from Mexico, actually, we got back early in the week but I am just getting time to write now. Being a guest at a wedding in Mexico turned out to be a wonderful experience and my family and myself just had a super time.

We did not know if we would be going up to 72 hours before departure due to the fact that my wife's passport had not arrived after waiting 3 months for it to be returned. We called our Senator for some last minute help and Senators Reids office was just wonderful (Ensigns office turned us down cold) the passport did show up and we made the trip and we will remember this and are very appreciative of the support (or lack there of?). Note: get your passport, you are going to be needing them. My wife's did not expire until August but the new rules say that it must be good for 90 days beyond the return date of the trip.

Great food, terrific weather and one day of superb sightseeing added to a delightful wedding experience. My best to the new bride and groom. We have never stayed at an all inclusive resort before and this property was billed as a "gourmet" experience. Yeah, right, long buffets is what I expected. Was I wrong. Great rooms, 4 different and outstanding restaurants with great innovative food preparations. For foodies it was nice. The staff was great and of course for those that are worried about Mexico you really did not know you were even in another country (that is always a disappointment for me when the soul of the country is removed from the experience, but that is another story).

Oh, and our return flight! I must admit that we do not fly commercial all that much any more. First, work consumes more time than I would like to admit and second for 3/4 of the year we can use our own plane for much of our travel. We have heard much about travel today and we ended up with the full experience. What a mess. US Airways covers what appears to be much of the world but getting there may not be worth it. All flights were late but at least we got to Mexico in one day. Other parties getting to the wedding experienced delays much worse and the grooms parents had the flight from hell, 2.5 days to get to the wedding and they missed their own reception dinner.

The return flight was really fun, before we took off we knew that we had already missed our connection to Reno, and most other passengers also had missed their connections as well. I must say the airline was really prepared with the overnight hotel vouchers, they appeared to be really experienced in handing them out. So a long day in getting back to the US and again up at 4 am to make our new flight and guess what, it was late as well but we did make it back to Reno! In retrospect the flight back in our plane is 2,400 miles (about 650 miles longer due to our going around the gulf). I could of flown this myself, had a nice planned overnight stay and a nice dinner and been home only 5 hours later than the airline delivered me. They travel at 500 knots per hour (about 575 mph) and I fly at only 175 knots (200 miles per hour) and that is crazy!

Well back to work. Our marketing efforts are paying off and I had 5 offers to work on when I stepped back into the real world (sorry, not all 5 came together but 2 have so far). More later.