I often see articles and advertising in which real estate sales associates refer to themselves as “professionals”.
Often I see arguments about how “un-professional” we are and that we should act more like professionals. Recently I read an article in REM saying that we need to stop selling and start “helping families find a home”.
Another article suggested that we dress “like a professional”.
In opinion forums I have heard salespersons say that we are like doctors or lawyers and should be treated as such. They ask, “Why can’t our client pay us for an appointment?”
Selling and salesperson have become dirty words as they relate to the real estate industry.
Is this why we try and disguise ourselves as being a “professional” rather than a salesperson?
The Real Estate Council of Ontario does not recognize our title as a real estate professional but as a real estate salesperson.
In the U.S., the National Association of Realtors published results of a survey years ago that listed the top answers to the question of what the public is expecting of us. They are:
- Trust
- Honesty
- Knowledge
- Hard work.
The word professional was nowhere to be found, which surprised me. So, I went to look for a definition of the word profession and this is what I found: “A paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification.”
Wait a minute.
“A paid occupation” – Are we getting paid when we list a property, advertise it, do open houses, follow up on showings… and the listing ends up expiring?
Are we getting paid if we work with a buyer for months and they end up changing their mind and not buying or we lose a deal to multiple offers, and then the buyer representation agreement expires and they sign up with another sales rep? Are we getting paid for all the work we did for them?
As far as I am concerned, this part alone is enough to say that we do not fit the definition.
The second part states an occupation that “involves prolonged training”.
I found various advertising pieces by companies that tutor wannabe real estate agents that say: “I will help you pass the licensing qualifying courses within four months.” Another ad says: “You don’t need to read the textbooks, I will highlight for you what the questions are going to be on.”
Professionals?
So what are we then? We are salespeople.
What do we spend most of our time doing? Prospecting (trying to find buyers and sellers).
Presenting ourselves to them so they pick us to do the job.
The end result of prospecting and presenting is having a listing or a committed buyer who we are now going to service and hope for a successful result – for which we will get paid.
Let’s face it though, without salesmanship there will be no listing, buyer, offer or sale and hence no pay for our work.
An eye specialist doctor once told me (in a country where you pay for medical services) that a patient came in to have an irritation in his eye checked. The doctor looked at his eye and quickly determined that it was a simple irritation and told him, “Nothing needs to be done. The irritation will go away in a day or two.” Then he added, “That will be $100.”
The patient was very surprised and said, “Why $100? You didn’t do anything.”
The doctor answered, “Not doing anything in your case is the result of 10 years of studies.”
We are salespeople. Salesperson is not a dirty word.
A good salesperson is trustworthy, honest, knowledgeable and hard working.
We ought to conduct ourselves “as professionals” – dress nice, behave nice and constantly enhance our knowledge through related education. But without sales skills we have nothing.
Michel Friedman has been a real estate broker since 1990. He is the author of STAR AGENT, the path to 50+ real estate transactions per year, available on Amazon, and was rated as #1 in hot new releases in the real estate profession category when it came out. Michel is currently senior manager at Re/Max Premier Inc. in Vaughan.
