If you sell real estate and you work with a broad range of clients, it is inevitable that someone at some point will either dump you or choose not to work with you. Or perhaps they will suck the life out of you only to have you find out later that after all your hard work, they just wrote an offer with someone else. When this happens and you get knocked down, you are the only one who can whip yourself back into shape and reset your mindset. The reality is that some people will do this to you. But the reality also is that many other clients will not. And you can’t stop or slow down your business because of one failure.
Most agents don’t keep a scorecard of every win they have but they are very good at putting up billboards to remind themselves of their failures. When you ignore your many successes and focus on a failure that you have had with one client, you give that failure energy. You need to put things into perspective and talk yourself back off the ledge. You cannot control what clients may do. But you can control how you react.
I have seen agents get dumped by clients and then spend a month sulking over it. They become convinced that they are a failure or that people in general have failed them. They may feel betrayed, angry, frustrated or hurt. Perhaps they had wasted a month of weekends showing a client properties only to learn after all that, the client went with someone else to write an offer. This is a reality of the career of real estate: you win some, you lose some. You will impress some people and you will turn others off you. That’s just real estate sales! The key is to shift your mindset from feeling like you were betrayed to realizing that this is part of the business. Try to look at it from a positive point of view by being thankful that this client didn’t string you along any longer than they did.
Most agents ignore the many incredible things they do for their clients and instead let that one failure leave them floundering. When this happens to you, it is critical to examine and document all the wins and successes you’ve had with and for clients in the past month. As you begin to document this, you will see your pattern of greatness – and that one perceived failure will become just a small blip on your radar screen. Every agent needs a positive mindset radar screen!
One of the most powerful things I used to do when human nature let me down or a client called to inform me that they had purchased a house without me was to sit down and go through my book of thank you cards and testimonials. And I would be reminded of all the wonderful, positive clients I had. Try this yourself the next time you start to feel like a failure because of a client’s rejection. And don’t let that one bad apple spoil the whole bunch!
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I really appreciate this article. Having multiple negative hits over the past six months has taken it’s toll on me. I wonder what’s wrong with me, have I don’t something that has effected my sphere? Or do I have a bullseye that says stay away? I also wonder if people think I’m so nice that I can’t be a great negotiator – which is definitely not the case. Again, these are all self-doubts that come my way every time I see an acquaintance list or buy their home with someone else. This was a great article. I think a lot of brokers would benefit from a full-day class on this topic. =)