It’s Worth The Effort
Friends are so special. I can’t imagine what life would be like if I had no friends. Given my personality and my need for friends, I’m not sure I could even survive without having lots of friends. One might say I’m using the term “friends” very loosely; and I suppose I am. I call people that I know fairly well, friends. I refer to people that I go to church with as friends. I refer to people I work around as friends. These people that I call friends are not people that I have in my home for dinner. For the most part I don’t associate with them outside the area for which we commonly come in contact with each other. In reality these people I call friends are actually acquaintances.
I have been fortunate to have strong enough feelings for a few people to consider them my best friends. Naturally these best friends came at different times in my life. When I’m teaching time management, I teach people that there can only be one most important thing that needs to be done in a specific time frame. The next most important thing becomes the second, third, and etc most important. Therefore we can only have one best friend. All other friends are at a lower level. I consider best friends to share a special unconditional love, respect, and forgiveness for each other. Always supporting each other through the good times and the bad times. I have considered someone as my best friend and for some reason, the friendship deteriorated. I suppose I misread the friendship or maybe I had more affection for them than they had for me. I personally think that people are lucky to have one real best friend during an entire life-time. Only time and endurance can determine the real depth of a friendship.Our choice of friends largely depends upon our priorities and needs. We decide what is most important to us and we generally select friends who have a common interest with us that can help us achieve our goals. I need friends who can help pick me up when I’m down; who can inspire me to do more when I really want to do less. I need the encouragement that comes from the competitive edge of a friend. I need a friend that believes in me when I don’t believe in myself. I need someone I can share my thoughts with that won’t jump to conclusions or be judgemental. I am grateful for the close friends that I have that inspire me to be the very best I can possibly be.
People don’t like sales people as a general rule. They don’t want a pushy sales person trying to force them to buy something they don’t want. When possible, people buy from people they have some sort of relationship with. This relationship is often described as a friendship because there is at least a certain amount of trust that has begun to develop. They can communicate with each other to the point the consumer trusts the sales person to tell them things they need to know. Relationships are the birthing grounds for friendship that may or may not follow. Relationships are a necessity for any sales person to achieve success. The importance of relationships is overlooked by so many sales people. They are so focused on making a sale; they forget the importance of the consumer’s best financial interests. The sales person, who works toward establishing and enhancing a relationship with the consumer, rather than focusing on making a sale, will ultimately enjoy much more success.
We sales people need to slow things down during our initial conversation with a prospective buyer or seller of real estate. We shouldn’t take for granted that the consumer fully understands the buying or selling process. I’m referring to a step by step process. We deal with it every day so we understand it and we assume everyone else does but they don’t. To make it worse, they have too much pride to ask. Besides, they don’t want anyone to know that they don’t know. If we’ll simply say something like, “I’m sure you already know the process of buying or selling, but please allow me refresh your memory. It may be important to your financial interest a little later.” Can you see how this type information helps establish a relationship that when enhanced over time might turn into a friendship? Providing free services establishes relationships and friendships that can last for a life-time.
Should you have specific questions concerning various issues, please let me know and I’ll research the answer for you. I also want to encourage you to subscribe to our “News & Updates” weekly report so you can stay abreast of issues that might affect you when buying or selling real estate. If you haven’t visited my website, please go to www.AlabamaRealEstateInstitute.com and view previous articles.