Run away!
I struggled with who would be first. I have a list of over 100 names of the people who have taught me something of value. I’m sure the list will grow but for now I had to pick who would be first.
That spot goes to Merrill Parvin. He was my business coach and I love the lessons he taught me. This story is about one of those lessons.
I was struggling with a client. She was doing things that I was afraid were going to get us both in trouble. She owned her home outright, wanted to sell it and buy another for cash so it was two deals back to back in a market that was really hard to get anything done. Best I remember it was about 2008.
She kept going around me to see houses to buy, would call the listing agent to get inside and then call me to work out the deal. That puts us at a disadvantage in negotiating since I was representing her but she would share things with the other agent and expect me to fix it. It’s expected in this business for me to show the house and spend my time rather than the listing agent doing it because that’s what I’m being paid for. It was frustrating me to explain that over and over. It kept happening.
She also wanted to try and conceal issues about her house for sale and expected me to hide them but that would not be ethical and bottom line it challenged my integrity and could cost me my license if I went along. It was tough but I really wanted to help her and I was trying to “figure out a way”
I called Merrill and my attorney one afternoon and hoped to talk to one of them to get it sorted out. My attorney got back to me first.
We discussed the situation and after about 30 minutes on the phone I was calmed down and had a plan how to proceed. It involved some emails, signing disclosures and having tough conversations to get things on track. My integrity was intact and I had a plan.
Then Merrill called me.
I explained that I had talked to my attorney and had it settled but Merrill said “I blocked out some time, tell me the story” so I told him what was going on. After about 20 minutes Merrill stopped me and asked “have you ever seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail?”.
Now that is one of my favorites and I said sure but I was puzzled as to what that had to do with anything. He said “good, you’ll understand when I say Run Away!! Run Away!!”.
If you’ve never seen the movie it might help to watch this clip.
I tell this story and there are folks who don’t get it because they’ve never seen that movie so another clip that makes sense in the tale is Forrest Gump, Run Forrest Run!
Either way, I think you get Merrill’s message. We discussed the best way to fire this client and return her back to the market. I called her after I got off the phone with Merrill and explained that we were not a good fit and I thought she would be better off finding another agent. That was the first time I fired a client. It wasn’t the last.
I’ve learned from that experience that we can’t help everyone. Some people don’t want to be helped and it’s best to just let them go. The result for me was a freedom that is hard to describe but it was a release of some real negative energy and I remember getting 4-5 new clients in very short order as a result. I gained more peace and that is worth the price of 2 deals for sure.
When you’re trying to “figure out a way” I suspect that is a clue there is a bigger problem. For me I was looking for a solution that kept my integrity intact but still help someone who lacked integrity. There isn’t one. If you will remember that it can save you a lot of trouble.
Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson