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The good agent
Don’t confuse sales volume or financial success with being good.
by Chris Heagerty How many times have we heard an agent referred to as a "good agent"? These days it seems tied to irrelevant trappings like the financial success of the agent, clever self-promotion, or number of assistants. Defining a good agent, though, is illusive.
The Real Estate License Act is very specific in providing the regulatory yardstick for agent behavior. We can all think of agents who conform to TRELA but would not be considered good agents. Those who originally crafted the act did not have a vision of the business model of the modern agent.
Today’s high-profile agent has multiple assistants to provide client and customer services and spends much time engaging in varying degrees of self/team promotion to generate business. Although a direct correlation exists between self-promotion and financial success, there is little accountability to the truth and no direct relation to being a good agent.
A "good agent" is an agent who provides real estate service that is beyond the ordinary. This person has been diligent in learning the profession and staying abreast of changes. She places the interests of her client above all those in the transaction. She treats other professionals with the same courtesy and respect with which she would like to be treated. She is accessible and communicates appropriately and in a timely fashion. She recognizes inexperience or ineptitude in her colleagues and does not seek to exploit it or diminish the person. Rather she bridges any gap that might be caused by the incompetence of the other. She adheres to the Code of Ethics. She does not dwell in blame but focuses on solutions. Cooperation with her is a pleasure rather than a chore.
Perhaps being a good agent is a lot like a mosaic. The picture is composed of a multitude of small pieces that fit together to form a cohesive image of a professional person. It encompasses how the agent presents herself, acts, talks, deals with others, and performs real estate services.
Large sales volumes, multiple assistants, huge listing inventories and shameless self-promotion appear to be the ultimate goals for most agents. However, these objectives really have little to do with what makes a good agent. In fact, they distance the agent from the point of service, posing additional challenges for the good, professional agent.
For the large-volume producer, earning the "good agent" title becomes even more difficult. The size of your practice should not diminish the service you provide or the control that you have over your business. If you perform your tasks well but those who support you fall short, then the mosaic becomes distorted and reflects poorly on you. When large volumes mean that you lose firsthand knowledge of your transaction, your image suffers.
Your standing as a good agent could be in jeopardy if you spend more time promoting yourself than you do serving your clients. If you do not have a mechanism in place to gather meaningful feedback about those who support you, your reputation could be at risk. Reporting on your support staff should be gathered not only from your clients and customers but also from cooperating agents. Then, as a good agent, you can take that feedback, rearrange the tiles in the mosaic, and become an even better agent.
Chris Heagerty, CRB, CRP, GRI, is market director for eRealty.com in Austin. E-mail her at cheagerty@eRealty.com.
Illustration © Artville.
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