Like many of you, I have spent the week saddened by the tragic news of Beverly Carter, a fellow Realtor. I feel compelled to make sure that we address this as an office. I work closely with all of you and care deeply about your safety, a
s I know Ken does.
There aren’t easy answers here. There is a tremendous amount of discussion all over the internet debating the value of CHL, pepper spray, security apps, and even new jewelry for men and women that can send notifications and be used to track location.
While the debate rages on about how to protect oneself, I’d like to spend some time covering how we mitigate that type of risk in the first place. Tracking is fine. Letting someone know where you are is fine. But it may only serve to ensure that one is found after a potentially deadly crime has already taken place.
So, possibly the question we ought to be asking is how to avoid these circumstances in the first place.
One thing that I have thought about often these last few days is a woman I coached a couple years ago. She and her husband had a strong, thriving business, and an abundance of buyers and buyer leads. Sadly, her husband was diagnosed with a terminal illness and given a short time to live.
As you can imagine, it makes one really take stock of where and how they spend their time. Of course, they still needed income, so the work went on, but she did make one thing clear; she would no longer spend time with clients that she didn’t feel were committed to working with her. She had an initial consultation, met in her office, and built a solid relationship with them, or she was willing to let them go.
What amazed her is that she expected more ‘no’s’. She expected more resistance. Instead, she found that once she respected her own time, her clients became more committed, as well. Her business actually increased.
Listen, I get that a good call comes in and we want to respond. But, I am suggesting that inviting them to meet you in the office or at a Starbucks first, is more than reasonable. If you are faced with tremendous resistance, one has to wonder why.
Beverly was an experienced, savvy agent. This man was a self described cash buyer. She did some things right. She left her purse in the car. She let her husband know where she would be. But, the world is dangerous and this is far from the first time that a Realtor has faced violence. Some of the recommendations we hear, may just fall short of saving a life.
For some additional safety tips, read THIS. It’s important to think about your safety procedures, but let’s spend time also considering how we can mitigate some of the risk by not being in those compromising positions in the first place.
If you have questions, reach out to Ken or myself. If you need to work on scripts to convert those buyer inquiries to meetings prior to showings, we’re happy to help.
To your success, and safety.
