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July 4, 2022

Don't Ruin A Good Thing

Don't Ruin A Good Thing

Summary:

When you drop the ball, you not only hurt yourself, but you could also hurt other agents. An agent in another part of the country reached out to me to make a referral, and I almost didn’t get the business because of something another agent did to him.

We had a really good conversation about how I could help, how I run my business, those types of things.

Then he said to me, “The only reason I'm cautious about referring this deal to you is because of the company you work for.”

That was very strange to me. I work for a pretty big company; there are thousands of agents who work for it. So I said, “What do you mean?”

He replied, “I previously reached out in your area to try to get another potential client connected with a Realtor in the Lancaster area, and a Realtor from your company promised to call me back, and then I never heard from them. They dropped the ball, and I never heard back.”

I apologized that this happened with that Realtor and restated here's how I run my business. Here's how I do things differently. I promise if you refer this client to me, I'll communicate well and do a great job. I encouraged him to check out my ratings on Google, on ratemyagent.com where I'm one of the top-rated Realtors in the Lancaster, PA, area, as I've shared before, in terms of the most reviews and the highest reviews in the area.

We worked through it, and he did end up referring the buyer to me. I am now currently helping them try to find a home here in the Lancaster area. The point of this isn't really that specific client so much as it is about not ruining a good thing.

Thinking back, I remembered a lender I used to work with who dropped the ball several times. I stopped trusting him. He also ruined a good thing.

Lessons learned

  • The only reason I almost didn't get the referral was not because of anything that I had done wrong but what another agent had done wrong. What one person does affects others.
  • We have such a great opportunity nationwide to help people to buy and sell homes and to give and receive referrals and receive a commission just for making that connection.
  • Some of you are like that agent and that lender: dropping the ball, not calling people back, or saying, “I'll get back to you by a certain time” and then not following through. If you answer your phone and you're a nice person, you're better than 90% of the realtors out there.
  • We have to do a better job for our clients, for the people that we get in touch with, for the referrals that we give out. When we say we’re going to do something, we have to do it. We don’t want to ruin a good thing.

Show notes and blog posts are brought to you by HarshmanServices and RealtorEmails.

John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and a part of the Andrew Welk Group. The opinions shared on this show represent the opinions & values of John Schuchman and do not necessarily represent the opinions & values of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty. The opinions & ideas shared in this podcast do not guarantee or promise any results of success to the listener.