I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!
Agents brag about getting clients “multiple offers”—a higher sales price. A superior result, though, that’s what we call “Normal.”
Being that I’m in real estate, maybe I’m hypersensitive to what is taking place on Facebook. But if you’re a “friend” of any real estate agent on Facebook, every other day it seems one is bragging about how they have secured multiple offers for their client. You see this too, in the NFL, when a rookie scores his first touchdown. They behave, as if they are they’re Neil Armstrong — first man to walk on the moon. The helmet comes off, he pounds his chest, and points at the crowd, as if to say, “Look at me.” Meanwhile, the true professional, an Emmet Smith or Jerry Rice, who are no strangers to the end zone, having been there over 150 times, kindly hand the ball to the ref and go about their business — scoring more touchdowns, helping their team win.
The rookie, what has he done? Drawn an unsportsmanlike penalty, putting his own ego and self-interest before the priorities of the team. I’m sorry, but I abhor self-promotion. And when I see my peers on Facebook, celebrating like rookies, I simply think…
“Friend, a superior result, that’s what we call “normal.”
Ryan Williams, host of The Influencer Economy on iTunes, puts it this way. “We’re in an era where people are taking credit for stuff they’re supposed to do. People are bragging about stuff that a normal person just does.” So please, to all my real estate peers, along with putting a kibosh to the end zone celebrations, please stop professing how honest you are too. And, how much integrity you have. Real estate is cesspool for The Unethicals, I’ll give you that. We all know it. But, no man or woman gets brownie points for being a person of integrity. Honesty. Morals. Ethics. Doing the right thing. These are character traits normal people are supposed to have.
I was reading a book the other day, I Want To Quit Winners, by Harold S. Smith, where in it he writes, “I will not ever try to persuade attempt to persuade you that I am honest. You must judge for yourself. This is one of my idiosyncrasies, of which at present writing I have a bundle. For example, while I have a good private secretary, I write my most important letters myself on a hunt and peck typewriter. I never sign them “Sincerely”; that is redundant. Why else would I take the time to write? By the same token, I never profess to honesty. Either it shows or it doesn’t.” This too is how I’ve lived my life, and carried out my dealing with clients. “Either it shows or it doesn’t.” Much more can be revealed about character through actions anyhow. Talk alone, has little meaning. The people who say “trust me” the most, “I’m an honest man or woman,” most often turn out to be the con-men. Just look at politics—they all claim to be honest and have integrity.
Besides.
Just because multiple offers are secured on a property; it’s no guarantee that maximum profit was had for the client. Do you know how many times I’ve witnessed agents botch the handling a multiple offer situation? Let me put it this way, Frankenstein has less scars.