There are two days you never have to worry about: today and tomorrow.

There are two qualities that define an excellent Realtor. The first is they understand that helping their clients is more important than making them happy. The second is they understand the importance of focusing on the present.

When a Realtor makes the choice to start helping their clients instead of trying to make them happy, it is a difficult one. They move from doing “whatever it takes or says to get the listing” to telling a prospective the truth or absolute facts with the hope of earning their confidence. A polar-shift in the way they manage their business. As professional’s we want to do both, make our clients happy and help them at the same time – but when we attempt to do this we normally end up trying to please them more than we end up helping them. The reason for this is some people want what don’t need and need what they don’t want (ie. client wants a beachfront home in San Clemente but the kids go to school in Ladera Ranch, the husband works in Los Angeles and the wife in Riverside). Someone has to tell them that it might not be a good decision or in their best interest, and that task falls on the shoulders of an excellent Realtor – even if it jeopardizes or minimizes a commission.

When a Realtor comes to the conclusion that it is more important for them to help their clients than to try and make them happy, they will likely have won their confidence. When a real estate professional has made this transition they might not be making their client (or prospective client) happy, but they have now become a true real estate advocate versus a real estate cheerleader. If their client is unhappy with them it will not be a result of personal failure of the Realtor fulfilling their responsibilities, but rather the opposite, they are fulfilling all their responsibilities because they aren’t out to win any popularity contests, they are showing their client every angle of the transaction – or all of the pros and cons to the transaction. A good Realtor might have critics and be misunderstood (by other Realtors), but choosing to help their client instead of making them happy is still a choice to make.

Another choice that the top Realtors in the industry make is to focus on the present. They make every effort to focus on what is right in front of them. The majority of Realtors have a tough time letting go of the opportunities they have allowed to pass them by. They spend too much of their professional career recycling a junkyard of regret. They focus the best part of their career on what might have been or what should have been. It is as if they think that if they replay it enough they can change the outcome.

The only thing a Realtor can control is what they do in the present. The more they replay yesterday, the further they get from today’s opportunities. And the further away they move from sales opportunities, the tougher the road is to get back. Potential clients may come in many forms and they may come from any direction, but one thing is certain, they can be seen and seized only in the present. We live in the present and that’s where a Realtor’s strength lies. Whatever has happened in the past has happened. Since you cannot undo the past not matter how hard you try, wipe the slate clean and go on to what’s next – remember your next client or sale can come from any direction. The choices we make as professionals truly do make us. With each one we change – for the better of the worse. To be a successful Realtor, you need to know what you stand for and what you will stand up to. The key choices you make regarding how you will conduct yourself will not only indicate what kind of Realtor you are, they determine what kind of Realtor you will become.

Greg Steinaker – CEO Irvine Holding Company

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