Episode 2: Beyond the Stereotype: What makes a successful agent today?

Ready to Go Deeper: Extend the Conversation Beyond the Mic

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Episode Transcript:

Lance Pendleton: On this episode of consumed, we're going to get into what makes an agent successful, what do good agents really do, and how does differentiation play a role in all of it? So let's get it started. This is consumed, the podcast for real estate agents who are tired of hearing the same old industry stuff and want to experience something completely different. So today we're going to talk about what makes a successful real estate agent. And I mean, there's a lot of answers here in this one. But, you know, we talk about a shift in a mindset. And that agent success often comes from their drive, their relentlessness, their pursuit. There's all kinds of different things that people say that, you know, what makes a great agent. But, you know, I want to start by by really kicking it off with what doesn't make a great agent first, because I think there's a lot of behaviors and practices that agents believe are the things that make them great, agents that probably aren't and don't. And from having spoken to a ton of consumers. What I've learned over the years is that what consumers view as valuable is, nine times out of ten, the polar opposite of what most agents think are the things that are valuable. So, Lucy, what do you think? Give me 2 or 3 things, if you don't mind. I'm just curious your thoughts on this one. Right off the bat, 2 or 3 things you think that don't make a good agent?

Lucy Edwards: Well, lack of communication. Totally ignoring your client, not updating on what's happening that I believe that is that is the foundation of a of an agent not being successful. Ignoring technology, I think that is also very important and not being up to date on the market data, on what's happening on rules and regulations, how it can affect the consumer and what's happening in what's happening in the market world and in the real estate landscape right now.

Lance Pendleton: That's interesting. So I would agree with all of those, but those wouldn't be on the top of my list.

Lucy Edwards: It would not. Wouldn't you say the communication is extremely important. Uh, agent disappearing for a week. And you are frustrated as a as a seller, for example. And there are no showings and the. No. My my phone is not ringing. The there are no potential buyers.

Lance Pendleton: Yeah, but I think that those things that you just mentioned, they're all valid, but they're all things that happen during a transaction.

Lucy Edwards: So you're talking about the agent before, uh, before the agent gets the Transaction.

Lance Pendleton: Operating a business.

Lucy Edwards: I would say building your brand accountability. Uh, also, having reputation, reputation is a very important part of being a good agent, but a lack of reputation, since we're talking about the the opposite right now, lack of occupation of reputation is definitely a big a big minus to an agent who is building their business, and they cannot show anything with any kind of results. I think that's important.

Lance Pendleton: Well, what do you think is what gives an agent a bad reputation?

Lucy Edwards: Um, first of all, if you don't have any referrals or your referrals are negative, please do not use that agent ever again. And then there is a whole laundry list of why someone is talking like that about you if you are that agent. And again, not being not not communicating, not being on time, uh, don't really care. Uh, do not provide the value. There are no strategies. That is that all comes together and that can bring your reputation down.

Lance Pendleton: I love the last thing that you just said. No value and can't provide strategies. And what's super interesting to me is if I took if I ever wanted to silence a room of 500 real estate agents, all I have to do is ask them, name me something. You do that no one else in real estate does. Crickets. Crickets. And that's to me, Lucy, because there is no talk about the term value. And we've talked about this before on the show. The term value is a dirty word because it doesn't mean anything. And in essence what we're looking at are points of differentiation, right? How do I actually differentiate from anybody else. But the interesting thing that you just said is, for me, I think what makes a bad agent to start with is an agent whose behaviors regularly mimic those of everyone else in the business. If the behaviors that you have mimic those in the business, that's the first sign of a bad agent. So I say this to people all the time. You know, we talk so much about when agents go on listing presentations and they say, you know, my marketing, my marketing, my marketing, we're going to be in the Beijing Times and we're going to be in the local paper. And then I do this, and I send this, and I've got an e-blast for that.

Lance Pendleton: You've got all these things. And I tell consumers when I meet with them and talk to them, if you're talking to an agent and the lion's share of their listing presentation to you is around their marketing run because it means they have nothing. They literally have nothing. Why? Because we all have the same basic marketing. We all have the same access to these things. This concept that marketing is this answer. So when you look for me, Lucy, when I look at who makes a great agent, really good agents are the ones that can offer points of differentiation about things that they do, and have a series of experiences that make them relatable to the consumer and make them relatable to the individual who they're working with to help. So the very first piece of it is, if you want to be a great agent and you want to be able to have something that other people and you can, you can look at them and you can say, you know what? I've got certain elements of things that I do that other people don't, right? They have to be things that you can clearly point to that other people are not doing. So if you're doing the same things as everyone else, that's the first mistake.

Lucy Edwards: And I agree with you. Everyone is offering professional photography. Anyone can have a beautiful open house, can have postcards sent out to 5000 people in the in the zip code. Everyone can do that. You have to have something completely. You have to have something else. And I think today's agent, successful agent is going to be like a hybrid, uh, combination of someone who puts their heart and soul and also embraces the technology and can put two of those together by understanding, by listening to the client, by, by, by basically letting their pain as well understand their pain, why they're selling the home, uh, what's going on? Because sometimes it's not the happiest thing in the world when they have to sell some of their, their property. So I think that is very important to be to be passionate of what you do. Listening and at the same time embrace the technology to the point that your strategy is the best one. Besides the professional photos and besides everything else you are doing. Lance Pendleton: So I would love to go. Let's explore this a little bit because I want to I want to have a deeper understanding of of some of what makes a great agent. Um, and some of those points of differentiation. Is there anything that, you know, that you've heard from the different agents that you've spoken to, um, that you would say that agents do that? You can say, hey, Lance, these are a couple of things. This I've heard this as something an agent does as a very good point of differentiation. Lucy Edwards: Well, uh, first of all, I would say that the again, communication to me, that's all I hear a lot from agents how communication is important. Uh, when I, uh, when I go to even office presentations, and one agent was saying, I'm so afraid to tell my, uh, my client that I. In two weeks I don't have one single showing or one single, uh, telephone call, and I don't know how to explain why. Besides the point, besides the fact that it's over, the property is overpriced. Well, that is that is a bad agent. That agent should really try to understand why they don't have the showings, why no one is calling. And maybe it's not because, uh, the property is 20% overpriced. Maybe there are other reasons. And I think to dig into it and to and to and to explain how they how they are different. They constantly analyzing, they analyzing who is looking at the property. They have statistics and, uh, and they have data. Data is important and they can show, okay, two weeks I had 2000 people looking at your property on Zillow and Realtor.com. No one is. The photos are amazing. So it's not lack of my marketing and it's not lack of my efforts. Um, then your your video, I have a beautiful video, but on second, on the 10th, second, everyone stops. So let's let's sit down and together analyze what's going on. And maybe it is the price. So I think a good agent will have the strategy to explain to the seller or the buyer, whatever, whoever they represent, why there is no success in today's, uh, transaction.

Lance Pendleton: Go back to the thing you just said, though. You said that agent is sitting in an office meeting saying that they don't want to call the client because they feel badly that they have no showings. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. Why do you think that agent feels badly?

Lucy Edwards: They feel like they failed. They feel they failed the seller. Uh, either they overpriced the property, and they didn't explain right away that it should not be the price. Or maybe they didn't work with the data properly. Or maybe they didn't have they actually, in this case, they did have professional photography, but I don't know how good or bad it was. I didn't see the listing. Um, but maybe it was the, uh, maybe they needed a different marketing. Maybe they needed the drone because the house is on the water. Or maybe, you know, there are so many other, uh, maybe the description really did not tell the truth about the beautiful property, and they forgot to mention that they have a duck on the water, and it's the only one on the block. So those are the things that they have to analyze. And he was just totally lost and frustrated. And let me tell you, it was like the hands were rising and everyone was screaming at him, giving him suggestions and, and, and and he is a seasoned agent. It's he it was not his first listing. So, um, that confusion really kind of like stirred a whole big mess at that office meeting. But it was fun.

Lance Pendleton: Okay, so I go back to my original question, though. Why does he feel that way?

Lucy Edwards: He feels like he failed his client, right?

Lance Pendleton: But how did he get into the position of failure?

Lucy Edwards: First of all, from the very beginning, in my opinion, if I were an agent who doesn't have any showings and phone calls on day three, I would start looking into what's going on and why in today's market when there is no inventory.

Lance Pendleton: I get that.

Lucy Edwards: Okay, but.

Lance Pendleton: We're talking about the actual psychology here, not the actions. Why did he get to that spot where he feels like he's failing? What created that?

Lucy Edwards: The lack of attention to his property so that it just really scared him that he's he's going to fail. He's going to lose the listing. Right? And he's doing everything Wrong.

Lance Pendleton: And I want for everybody listening to this. This is why I, I just you are such a treasure to me of wonderfulness because of your honesty in what agents feel, right. Everything that you just said, if you if you go back and listen to it, what you're going to hear is. Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee. Now, besides being the Pillsbury Doughboy when you poke them. Hee hee! Like it is. Here is the problem. That gentleman did not set healthy, proper expectations right up front with the consumer, with the potential client about what his role is. You see, all of the feelings that you describe that this gentleman have or has is simply nothing more than the idea that because he didn't really have an actual quote value proposition other than my marketing, my marketing, my marketing, what did he end up with? No one's looking at the house. So who's to blame?

Lucy Edwards: Well, obviously the agent.

Lance Pendleton: Right. Which guess whose fault it is?

Lucy Edwards: It is agent's.

Lance Pendleton: Fault. No it's not. See, this is the biggest. No it's not. It actually has nothing to do with the agent. His fault was for not helping the customer or a consumer, whichever you want to call them, right up front. Understand? What is my role in my relationship to you? What is my job? I do not sell houses. That's not what I do. I don't he doesn't sell houses. Houses sell themselves. That's the truth. If you put the price low enough, it's going to sell. That has nothing to do with me whatsoever. Right? So here's what happens, Lucy. What our job is, what makes a great agent is one that can help somebody understand that we are consultants, educators, advocates and advisors. That is the role. But under being a consultant, an educator, an advocate and an advisor, I am not responsible for your shitty choices. You see, the consumer has to be given freedom of choice and with freedom of choice by me operating as an advisor and a consultant and an educator, if they choose to make a bad choice, that is not my fault. I. You just said it. The house is overpriced. I literally could take a house that on paper, you could look at a photo of it and it smells like cat pee and sadness through the photo. That's how bad the house is, right? And you put the price it's going to sell. So at the end of the day, one of the most important things, I think, for what makes a great agent is one who can begin to understand that our role and responsibility is to help people to be a sherpa, a shepherd, and a guide through a process with them, but that I am not responsible for something here in terms of the sale of a property.

Lucy Edwards: So I agree and disagree. Absolutely. Uh, you have to set the expectations on your very first date, very first moment with your client, buyer or seller, whoever it is, you have to set the expectations. And let's say you both agreed on everything I am offering, from marketing strategy to any strategy. I surround myself with a team of mortgage, loan. Loan officers and inspectors and I have back up here and back up there. However, something's not working. And I personally, let's say I believe the house is slightly overpriced, but not a whole lot. And at least it's good enough for me to get some offers in and then we can negotiate. So all that is in place and then nothing happens. Then in this case, I believe the agent should take action. And immediately on day two, three, four at the latest. Definitely not waiting for two weeks with no action, but immediately jumping in, trying to figure out what went wrong. And it just there is nothing wrong to make a mistake.

Lance Pendleton: But give me the example. You said 2 or 3 days. Jump in and do What?

Lucy Edwards: Analyze analyze. Analyze. Do you have any? Do you have any views online? Okay.

Lance Pendleton: We've got 3000 views online.

Lucy Edwards: Yeah. So that is out of the question. Uh, is your is your marketing right. Is is is your photography good quality? And you can really see the difference between kitchen and bathroom. Beautiful.

Lance Pendleton: Hold on. You brought the photographer in and you uploaded the photo, so technically you shouldn't. Have you known that already?

Lucy Edwards: You should. But let's review again. Let's. Maybe we should rearrange. Okay. There are different statistics and analytics that you can get to see that the kitchen has 25 views and the front of the house has three views. Maybe rearrange the photos, adjust something, maybe have open houses, uh, have more, uh, networking events where you can invite more other agents.

Lance Pendleton: Oh, because that's you're right. What we need in the industry is tea, sandwiches and more agents coming to a house to enjoy free lunch.

Lucy Edwards: I am all for networking, and I believe that when you have an open house and you invite other agents, as long as you are not selfish, that I want to be on both sides of the transaction. And my goal is to sell the property at the right price and as soon as possible. There is nothing wrong with sharing the information with other agents and have open houses. I don't I don't disagree, but the most important thing is to have those reviews and then talk about the price reduction, if that comes to it. But I can tell you, I was just at NYC Expo just a couple of months ago, and one of the panelists, one of the speakers, he was saying he was selling his condo. Condo was totally just like no showings again. And that is just recently we're talking about a few months ago, no showings, no positive experiences, nothing. And he so he had two different agents representing him from two different brands. Both of them were saying, drop the price, drop the price, drop the price. Actually, eventually rain came and he said, no price changes, we're going to sell it as this. And he brought a different strategy, which was all about social media. And you can like social media or not. Ryan is great at social media and he sold it and he sold it not immediately, but pretty quickly and for the for the asking Price.

Lance Pendleton: Yeah. Well, again, who's more popular Ryan Sirhan or those other two agents?

Lucy Edwards: Well, Ryan Sirhan is more popular.

Lance Pendleton: So somebody got excited by the idea that they were going to buy a crappy property, but it was a Ryan Sirhan property, so that made it better. Come on, Lucy, you and I both know that that's not a fair apples to apples comparison.

Lucy Edwards: Well, but he but he changed the strategy. At the end of the day. Lance Pendleton: If by strategy, he used his social media and his platform that he has of a bazillion people off of his reality show to go market a property.

Lucy Edwards: But at the same time, if the property is not worth it, I don't care if it's Ryan selling it or whoever, I'm not going to pay extra $200,000.

Lance Pendleton: You and I both know Lucy, and even you would agree with this that there are people out there. If Taylor Swift, right, started bottling her own butt toots and putting her label on it, the amount of sales would explode through the roof, right? It's all about branding. It's all about those things of what that person's perception of that actually is. But I want to pivot back to to the thing what makes a great agent? Because not every agent has the popularity of a television show, right, to be able to leverage as part of their thing. But I want to get into some details here because it's important as we roll through this, you just said to me, you know, that there's all these things that an agent has to be doing. And what I want to focus more for an agent is, from what I hear from the consumers, you need differentiation in the conversations of what you're doing with people. So one of the things that I, that I talk to people a lot about and we and and again, I want to stress this idea that these are all things that can be done. They may not want you to do them, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be talking about them. Right? So if I'm able to take a property and right from the word go, say one of my points of differentiation is that I'm doing a matterport tour of your entire property, because I can now digitally enhance and highlight particular areas of the property with key features that I think would be incredibly interesting and compelling to somebody who may not notice those things based on static photos, no matter how good those photos are.

Lance Pendleton: And I can leverage that as a little bit of storytelling as part of that property flow and engagement. That is a single, simple high end point of differentiation. Because I know because I've seen the numbers, that I can get somebody to stay inside of a property for up to 3.5 minutes, compared to 18 seconds when they're going through a carousel of photos. Right. So it's important for me, I can leverage another option with the same thing and say to somebody, look, we don't even have to put this Matterport tour as part of the property. One of the things that I can do that other agents don't do is I, on my listing, can say, if you'd like access to a private, three dimensional tour of the property with highlighted areas of interest. Email me at this email address. They can click on that. Now there's going to be a little form where they fill out a few things.

Lance Pendleton: Now remember this gets pushed out through all of the aggregators. So the average person on Zillow looking at that will click on that link. Now they're going to put in three pieces of information, and I'm going to send them that link to the Matterport tour. Two things. One, I've got their info. So I can actually now again work with them to understand what their wants and needs are. So I'm benefiting my consumer or my client in that process. And two remember Lucy, I now have access to see. Did they go? How long have they been there? What are they doing here. Right. And that is a high touch, high level opportunity for me to be able to engage differently. So these are the types of things that I'm talking about when we talk about what makes a great agent is what are the small, simple little things that I can do and demonstrate to my clients that the work that I do, because anybody can take photos. You want a drone? Let's get a drone. I could get a drone. We all can get a drone, right? These are not unique value propositions to anybody anymore because they're standard practice in operating. Remember, we're talking to the top 10% of agents.

Lucy Edwards: And I was just going to say that is standard practice for 10%. The rest would not spend the money. They would not even they would they won't even spend $120 on photos.

Lance Pendleton: But you know why they won't. But you know why they won't. Here's why they won't. I'll tell you exactly why they won't. Because I've actually studied this. They won't because their compensation is hypothetically 2.5%. They won't. And my whole thing is no, no, no no no. When I sit down and say you're comparing me to somebody else, my compensation in that same listing is 3%. And I have no problem going head to head with somebody else at 2.5%. Why? Because I, in my listing conversation with somebody. Because I give them a listing workbook, a listing guide, I have seven different points of differentiation that no other agent is doing for them at this point in time. And every one of those points focuses on what I know is why they should be hiring and why they do hire me to begin with, because my job is to help remove the stress in the process. That's my work and my job, right? My job is to be what? A consultant, an educator and advocate and an advisor. So, Lucy, when I look at this point, this is incredibly important for agents because it's not enough anymore just to say, oh, well, I'm going to do.

Lance Pendleton: I'm going to look at the data to find out why 2000 people have been and seen the property, and they've moved on, because that puts the blame back on me, right? Because that's if you front load. That is why it didn't work. Then it's putting the blame back on me versus, look, the property will be out there. It's visible to everybody. We're going to do a great job. Marketing is all fantastic, right? But when I do an open house, Lucy, I don't just do an open house because everybody does an open house. You see, what I do is if the open house is from 1 to 3:00, between 130 and 230, I'm having a guest speaker come in to talk about brain health, brain health. What things can we do to maintain our cognitive memories, to prevent some of the aging things that happen? What type of supplements might be good? Which ones are BS, and what is the reality of how we eat and things like that to improve our brain health?

Lucy Edwards: So your brain basically what you're bringing value, additional value, why someone should come and uh, to your open house not value.

Lance Pendleton: Differentiation.

Lucy Edwards: Differentiation.

Lance Pendleton: Differentiation. Because here's what happens Lucy I now go around and I invite all the neighbors to come to this mini Ted talk that's happening. And I get all these folks, 30, 40 people will come into this house between those times. So what do you think happens when the average consumer, as they've gone and seen 12 other houses with paper signed in sheets and all the thing, what do you think the perception of them is when they show up and see 30 people all excited being in this home?

Lucy Edwards: Well, it's very valuable. And especially like you're saying, neighbors, that neighbor can be another seller in another week. So that is also very important.

Lance Pendleton: Got it. But do you see how I point out what differentiation in what I do? This is what makes great agents are the ones that can think about if an open house is what everyone's doing, how do I differentiate what I do from everybody else? Right? It's not enough anymore to invite a bunch of agents over, because there's no one that's going to come back to me and say, Lance, you didn't do enough to be able to help support and sell this property. I'll give you another one, okay? Families with kids, that whole process of an open house or sorry, a showing coming up is stressful. We know that those things are stressful. They're stressful for the kids. The whole moving process is a little weird and freaky for them in general, so it's real simple. Easiest thing to do is when I meet with people, I tell them, look, we want to make this as less stressful or least stressful to the kids as possible and to you in that process. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to give the kids a little list that goes in the back of their door, okay? And it's called the showing Time list.

Lance Pendleton: And when you tell them, hey, it's showing time, they have to do the five things that are on this checklist. What's on that checklist? They have to pick up the things off the floor. They have to make their bed. They have to wipe off the the sink in the bathroom. No toothpaste bed all over the mirror and the walls and all the other stuff that goes on in there and clean up the stuff that's on the floor. They have to go to whatever area they play in, or watch TV and pick up all the things and clean up all the stuff, and then they have to check in with mom or dad. Once they do those five things in advance, what I do is I give Mom and Dad gift cards to the kids favorite candy or ice cream shop, and what their job is when they check in with mom and dad and they've done their things, and mom or dad go and validate, we're good. When the showing starts, as they leave, guess where they're going? Candy and ice cream makes sense.

Lucy Edwards: Well, that makes sense. But it's not. All kids are are as good as yours.

Lance Pendleton: What do you mean?

Lucy Edwards: Well, some kids, they just. They will do half assed job. Uh, you know, it will still be done through, you know, like pulling teeth and so on. So, but but I love the idea at least to bring that, to bring that as a suggestion. That really is differentiation.

Lance Pendleton: I'm not here to discuss poor parenting because I gotta tell you right now, like if the kids are like, yeah, whatever, Ma. Like we got a whole different conversation we're going to be having.

Lance Pendleton: Okay.

Lance Pendleton: But I will say the point that that we're making here is.

Lucy Edwards: Yeah, to me.

Lance Pendleton: That is that is what to differentiation. Right. And so what those are the things that you need to be able to incorporate. And that's why I get 3 to 3.5% on my things when everyone else is getting 2 to 2.5%. Why? Because those are points that people understand. They see. Again, simplified process. I know what I'm doing. And again, these are minimal things of bigger things that I do in that whole element. But as we wrap for this week, what I want to think about is this. Lucy, it's been a fascinating conversation around this idea where when I've said or I even ask you, like any agent, what do you do? Right. That's different. And it's like, well, I analyze the data. Okay. But then what?

Lucy Edwards: Well, you bring the so you you bring your recommendations. Your your strategy is flexible. If something is not working out, you are switching gears and you are adjusting to to the market or to certain conditions. Whatever you have to do, you have to be on, you have to be on top of it. Basically, I think that's the biggest differentiation is to be on top of everything you're supposed to do and understand the process. And if you have to change it, you have to change it. Yes, you have six months, but it doesn't mean that in three months you have to, uh, you have to redo the whole marketing strategy. You okay? You you get Metropole in the beginning. You Your seller didn't want metapod because for the security reasons, which is nonsense. But some of them do feel this way. So then you are convincing them we need 24 over seven open house and so on. Communication.

Lance Pendleton: Yeah. And also keep in mind, just to answer that one thing, because I always love when people say that too, because that's also the biggest bunch of horse hockey. Um, yeah. For the security thing. I still do a matterport tour, even if we don't use it. Keep in mind you don't have to use it if you don't want to. It's also part of the floor plan. It's also part of you see what I'm saying. So there's like different elements of parts that we can talk about separately. But you know, again, if you're an agent today, you're part of the top 10% of agents out there doing 90% of the volume. Your pool is shrunk down and you are already one of the best agents out there. Just that's a fact. Okay. And if you're not focused now on what are the points of differentiation that you have to drive and separate yourself from everybody else, then this is a big miss. Because in in the current market in the world that we operate in. What most consumers say that they want are things that offer support, that are understanding where the actual needs lie, because it's not making the beds or pooping the lawn or all the other things that act like the help, right? It's knowing that when I talk to somebody and I say, look, you all have said to me over the years, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I've talked to lots of people and I've done a lot of transactions. And people always say to me, Lance, oh, the most stressful part is going to be, you know, the negotiations or it's going to be the offer of the part or getting it ready.

Lance Pendleton: No it's not. It's not. The move is the most stressful part. Moving is the most stressful part because it's difficult both emotionally, it's difficult psychologically, and there's a lot of things that are involved in it. So one of the challenges that you're going to face at that point in time, Mr.. And Mrs. Seller, is how do you process that in a way that reduces the amount of stress? So here's one of the things that I do. I'm going to give you a detailed moving checklist. There are things that you can know in advance that can be done eight weeks out, six weeks out, three weeks out, and the day before because we want to space that out to reduce the burden on you. Additionally, I'm going to send you moving supplies, all the moving supplies that you're going to need. I supply I send you all of that in advance, three weeks in advance, so that you have all that. It's one less thing you need to worry about. Additionally, on top of that, the night before you're going to move, I will provide you with dinner because the last thing that you need after you've been eating out of Chinese food boxes and stress and getting everything wrapped up, is to worry about meals. I'm going to send you dinner. And on top of that, on moving day, right on the day of for closing, I pay to have the house cleaned and I'm going to have the house that you're moving into. I'm paying to have that cleaned as well, because I understand that this is going to be the most hectic and stressful part for you.

Lucy Edwards: And I love your strategy, you see. But that is the strategy. And we spoke about it before. I have agents who walk in and they say before we put the house on the market, and again, here is everything by date. We have to paint those ugly purple walls and they are going to be white. It will increase the value of the property. You disagree with me in that? But that is a very successful agent I'm talking about. She has a team now and she's on Long Island. I'm not.

Lance Pendleton: Disagreeing. And again, I want to be clear, I'm not disagreeing. What I want to make sure is that we're asking the question of the consumer. I believe this would be very helpful. Do you want to do that? And if the answer is no, guess what?

Lucy Edwards: Well, if the answer is no in this particular case, if the answer is no to to majority of her recommendations, she doesn't take the listing because she doesn't want to invest her energy. She she knows that she's going to fail and she's not even going to fail. It's the seller who is failing. And then she will have all those negative conversations and negative energy for no reason, because the seller is going to blame her regardless and won't remember about the purple walls.

Lance Pendleton: And all of that. All of that is simply because she didn't set healthy rules, boundaries, limitations, and expectations right up front. Because I will follow up with an email that says, here is a list of recommendations based on the things we've talked about that you've chosen not to do these right. Please be aware of the fact that if we run into problems down the road, these might be things that we need to take care of in order to have a better outcome. And once you put that out there, you're not blaming me anymore, because guess why I told you you made a choice, and now I don't need to attach to it because it's not my fault anymore. Which, by the way, Lucy brings us full circle today as we wrap up.

Lance Pendleton: Right.

Lance Pendleton: To I am not responsible for other people's feelings. I'm also not responsible for their crappy choices. That's the magic of being a phenomenal agent. And really, again, resetting with the expectations of real estate are these days. It's not my responsibility if I do the right thing to set the expectations right up front, because that is what makes great agents in this day and age.

Lucy Edwards: Totally agree with that.