Clients First: The Two Word Miracle

Going against the Current

JoAnn and I would take any listing and then try to make it sell. In fact, though we had already sold several other listings, we still hadn’t sold our first listing on Sweetwater Avenue. The home was so overpriced that it would be several months more before we finally sold it. If I had to credit anything for our early success, it would be our dogged determination to make things work. In fact, we can directly credit a dozen good clients we have today to meeting them at that Sweetwater house, which we held open week after week.

We did a lot of that back then, going against the current wisdom. I remember thinking at the time, Susan’s decision to turn down those potential clients was foolish, but she had that spark in her eye and a wholesomeness that could only be grown in small-town America. She was just doing what they taught in real estate class. We were a bit more independent.

Susan had recently earned a degree in music and could play every instrument in a symphony orchestra. We knew she was special and hired her immediately, putting her to work on escrows. Marta almost cried with relief.

As excited as we were from the revelation of the night before, there was no time to talk all morning. I was busy at the computer, lining up houses to show to the client we were meeting in the afternoon. Marta was preparing the weekend’s classified ads for the open house directory. Susan had two inspection reports to oversee and a buyer’s request for repairs. JoAnn was ...