A couple of ways an agent can annoy clients, says Joan Herlong of Joan Herlong & Associates Sotheby’s International Realty, include A) failing to do what they’ve said they would do and then B) using the passive tone when apologizing for it.
“The difference between active voice and passive voice is the difference between acknowledging one’s responsibility and dodging it,” Herlong says.
“Active voice says, ‘I’m sorry. I dropped the ball. I know I was supposed to call you, and I forgot to do that.’” she says. “But passive voice says, “Gee, I’m sorry we’ve lost touch. I’ve been on vacation.’”
Herlong says agents who choose the former over the latter can lose business to other agents.
“I had an agent who recently lost a sale and blamed it on ‘losing touch with the buyer’,” Herlong says. “It’s not the buyer’s job to stay in touch with the agent! The agent dropped the ball and wouldn’t acknowledge he’d dropped it.”
“The easiest way to determine whether someone is going to be responsible is how they handle it when they screw up,” she says. “We don’t have to be perfect, but we have to be pretty close to perfect about acknowledging our own imperfections.”
Herlong says when an agent sells a property, they don’t say “the property sold.” They say, “I sold it!”
“Therefore, we have to embrace our foibles the same way, with the same active sense of ownership,” she says.
