So many times we’ve heard the expression the like attracts like, and birds of a feather flock together. About a week ago, someone who’s been in business here asked me how I managed to get through all the bad years of real estate. I’ve been asked that question before so I was already prepared for the answer. I told him, “If it were not for the loyal and faithful clients and customers, I would have been out of business long ago.”
Yes, we all loose customers to competitors as well as the opposite. I believe it goes deeper than just the surface of doing business. The more I’ve thought about it, the more I’m convinced people who do business on more than a single transaction basis,they look for people with whom they share common ideals. For example, there is an extended family with whom I’ve done business with for over 30 years beginning with the parents. The longer we knew each other, the more we found that we shared many likes and dis-likes. Their relationship caused the creation of relationships with their children as well as brothers and sisters. I never heard a word from them about how much business I received from them or those little innuendos about the money I received from their transactions. They appreciated everything I did for them as well as my in turn, the endless thanks for their business. I sometimes don’t see them for years at a time, yet we seem to always pick up in conversations where we left off.
On the other end of the spectrum, there have been customers who at the end of a transaction, feel as though they have done some great service for me by giving me the opportunity to sell them something. Believe it or not, there have been times after closing where they have hinted that I do something special for them. I spoke with a gentleman today who was one of those “one time” sellers. At that time in the past, he made it sound like he was doing me such a big favor. More than once, I’ve heard him mention in a sort of dark jest, that I already had too much money. Well today, he gave me an obscure reason why he was working with another agent. Since I know him well enough, I would say that we share far less in common than what would be considered average.
When all points of pressures are lessened, I believe we do indeed gravitate towards those with whom we share many of the basic beliefs. In the short term, we are all pretty much looked at in the same light; but in the long term, we find ourselves searching for those birds of a feather.
