Entry by Mollie Wasserman

The Value of Our Time

One of our ACRE enrollees, Bonnie Cox, signed up months ago for ACRE but due to trying to finish ECO Broker and other things, has not yet taken her exam. She posted the following on another list-serv and I promised, in the way of giving her additional incentive to finally finish her exam and join us, that I would post this to the Exchange, and she wouldn't be able to see it until she passed her exam and joined us.

Actually, her post is good food for thought for all of us, especially after yesterday's call. Please note my response at the end and then hers.

Hi Mollie,

As anticipated, I finished the ACRE reading on our trip from Denver to Santa Fe. All that is left is to finish the exam and I can join the listserv.

As with you, much of our business is established by contact and nurturing via the internet. Often, we deliver a lot of unpaid service prior to establishing any type of relationship. During the past couple of weeks, I have been working with a gentleman coming to Denver with a major pharmaceutical company. He and his family are excited about moving to Denver and he has had lots of inquiries. Some of it has involved questions on particular homes. He has yet to come in for his first consultation. Monday, he emailed that he is coming to Denver on this coming Monday, June 11. He will arrive in Denver at 2:30. I answered his request for a consultation appointment with an estimate that he should be able to arrive at our office, 30 miles from Denver International, by around 4:00 and that in this instances we request that he call us to let us know his schedule when he is actually on the highway exiting the airport. Given airline schedules, none of us ever know when one will actually arrive.

Get this, this morning he asked if either Jim or I could pick him up at the airport and deliver him to his hotel after our meeting. I saw RED. What the hell is this? C'mon, we are not freaking taxi drivers and most especially when there has been no relationship established. This guy is NOT stupid. I have spoken with him on the phone. My feelings after reading the ACRE material are no different than they would have been prior to reading the material. What is different? That I have a lot more power in my handling this. Before, I would have made excuses for why this would not work. I might have felt just a little guilty, after all, we are people pleasers in this business. Now, no excuses necessary. No guilt! We are busy. We cannot accommodate this request. We will be able to meet with him at 4:00. My strong feeling is if this does not work for this gentlemen--NEXT. No remorse. Too, busy. NEXT!

No, guilt. NEXT! Hire a cabbie. He will know nothing about real estate. Hire a good Realtor, we can guide him, educate him and protect him. We also can drive. We do not do that for hire.

Can't wait to join the listsev to read all of the other's experiences. Thanks for writing a course that I believe should be REQUIRED reading for every new agent to fully understand their worth and what their job description really is. Only two courses that I have ever taken have I felt this about. CRS 200, running your business as a business, and now ACRE!

Thanks for making a difference in my life. I will be giving our first prospective listing this alternative pricing on Saturday.

Bonnie
Bonnie Cox, ABR, CRS, GRI,
e-PRO Certified Professional
RE/MAX Masters

Bonnie, I am so PROUD of you and the evolution in your thinking.

As I have said to many agents who have taken my course live or now, taken the ACRE course, even if you NEVER actually do consulting, I will guarantee that once you figure out what your time is worth and start setting up your fee schedules which requires you to start listing all the things you do, you will never give your time away again without thinking hard about it first.

Now, Bonnie, I am going to give you one more "carrot" to finish your exam and get on the Coaching Exchange - I'm going to post this email on the ACRE Exchange and you won't be able to see it until you finish your exam, so hopefully that will give you the last push you need. : >

Looking forward to you crossing the finish line,
Mollie

Hi Mollie,

We are in Santa Fe and will not be leaving until Friday. We are really busy the whole time we are out of town and still juggling all of our files while away.

Taking the exam is a slam dunk. The course is well written, thought-provoking and I absorbed the information like a sponge. Theres a progression to everything. I was so ready for this well-presented enlightenment. Much of it was read to Jim as he drove. I am a true believer.

Bonnie

This page contains a single entry by Mollie Wasserman published on June 6, 2007 11:27 AM.

My First Paying Consulting Job was the previous entry in this blog.

Consulting with past terrific clients: How do you approach it? is the next entry in this blog.

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