Through the course of my life I've had many professional sales jobs. I've worked in stores where the customers came to us and we ‘served' the customers by selling them what they needed or wanted, and more. I've been the traveling minstrel, so to speak, where I went into women's homes selling home decorating items to them and their friends. I've sold hearing testing equipment to pediatricians, one of my toughest gigs yet!
Then there were those jobs/careers that were sales, but not obvious sales. I managed a staffing agency where I routinely sold our service to our business clients and to the candidates looking for a job. I spent 8 years recruiting pharmaceutical sales reps throughout the United States. Each interview, both on the phone and in person was begun by a sales pitch regarding why they would just love to work for our company. Then once I had them sufficiently pumped up and excited about coming to work for us, I would begin the interview.
Then there was the oxymoron of all ‘sales' jobs, pharmaceutical sales. We danced around that term constantly. "We weren't sales people, we were consultants, educators bringing insight and facts to the doctors on the products which would best serve their patients." I have never suffered more constant humiliation in a ‘career' than that. There was a right of passage for new reps and if you survived it then you could be trusted.
I've had my share of sales jobs and been extremely successful at them, winning/earning bonuses and awards and acclaim. I survived the humiliation, the dumb stares when they had no idea what you were talking about, the angry outright shouts of ‘no'. I survived dragging my products in and out of freezing cold and burning heat only to attempt to make a sale. I've pushed, pushed and pushed to gain bonuses, commissions and notoriety.
So maybe that is why now since I am in Real Estate, I don't feel like I am a sales person any longer. And, I think this is where so many Real Estate professionals miss it! What I have learned, and truly believe since beginning in Real Estate here in Oklahoma, is that my primary role is to assist, educate, negotiate and encourage my clients.
I do have listings and I am very thankful when a client comes along and wants to buy one of them. I will point out the obvious strong points as I see them, but each client is different and may or may not agree with me. I have a goal for each listing to sell whether I am the fortunate one to bring the buyer or not, and I market the product to the maximum in every type of venue possible to make sure that does happen.
Well, if I don't ‘sell' the homes, then what do I do? I spend my time playing matchmaker. There are so many buyers out there and so many homes, all very different. My goal is to get to know the buyer and then match them to just the right home for them. When I have done that and done it well, I don't have to pull out a bag of sales tricks, and believe me after all these years I have plenty of them; I let the house sell itself.
I love seeing the faces of the buyers light up when they walk into a home and fall in love with it. Sure, I will council on potential issues and repairs, but will encourage them that there is usually a way to overcome those obstacles. Then once they have fallen in love with the home, I begin to put my expertise to work for them by writing a great contract, negotiating and working the deal through to the end.
So for me, this isn't Real Estate Sales. It is Service and service of the highest kind. I am still going in and out in the heat and cold, struggling with lockboxes down on the water faucets behind prickly bushes, and so on. But I do it to see dreams come true. That is not just a catchy slogan to me. I love seeing my buyers get the home they've always hoped and dreamed for or just to get into their first home. I believe in service, not sales and I've been the busiest that I've ever been.