Apathetic Agents

I think agents are afraid to meet and interface with the public. We have been coached and trained and conditioned on how to streamline our process to get as many listings into the pipeline as possible as quickly as possible so that we’ve become very efficient. But in our haste, I think some agents are not taking the time during the listing process to slow down and educate clients. How can they be when they are adding 200 – 300 listings a year? It’s simply not possible, and it’s a disservice to our clients. Agents rarely sell their own listings, so the oversight falls on the time spent with buyers. Buyers need an education.

I just met with a new buyer couple last week. It took 2.5 hours to introduce them to the community (because we have a great community!). I believe that when you are teaching people how to do things, it has to be done at their timetable. Someone purchasing a new home is staring a major life event in the eye and is about to incur a lot of stress. There are a lot of details swirling around in their heads and I cannot be successful at coaching them through the process until they are open and receptive to learning what the process is. Unfortunately, I think many agents don’t want to take the time to read their clients in this way. It’s a shame really because if they would slow down and listen to the cues from their customer, they would have greater success and more referrals.

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