It’s easy to pass the buck but who does that help? Instead, take responsibility and solve the problem. Be solution oriented.
In real estate, we often run into little problems at closing. There is no garage remote, the condo is filthy at possession, etc. Many real estate professionals, I use that term loosely, simply default to “call the lawyers.” I only call the lawyers when it’s items that I can’t fix with a little work or a little money.
Recently our team helped a buyer purchase a condo. We did a walk through with our buyer before possession and it was gross. Furniture was left inside, nothing was cleaned, cupboards were full, and there was even meat that had semi-thawed in the freezer. We called the seller’s agent as it is there responsibility. Her response, “not my problem, call the lawyer.” Our client was disappointed but she had to get back to work so we set an appointment for 5 pm to hand over the keys. We had 6 hours to problem solve. My assistant went back to the office to get bags and boxes. We called a junk removal and cleaning company and asked for a rush service. While the cleaners cleaned, we cleared out all of the food and junk that wasn’t supposed to be there. Even the condoms under the bathroom sink.
While the cleaners finished up, we went and picked up a housewarming gift to leave in the now spotless condo.
Five o’clock came and the client picked up the keys to go to her new home. She expected to walk into a lot of work on her part but instead walked into a clean condo with a present waiting. She didn’t expect this but very much appreciated it. It cost us a little work and a few hundred bucks to change her entire real estate experience.
We could have passed the problem onto the lawyer that would have in turn passed it on the buyer. Maybe she would have gotten the money back to pay for cleaning but it’s still time and energy that she would have had to put in. And I think we’re likely repaid with the story she tells about her real estate experience. Good or bad, our name would have been associated with it so we wanted to ensure it was good.
There was a problem. We solved it. We acted like sales professionals because that’s the business we’re in. Business is about solving problems. Sometimes the problem is met by providing the customer with a product and sometimes the problem is a little bigger but it’s still your job to solve it.
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