REALTOR and REALTOR Association Kindergarten

Thoughts about REALTOR® and REALTOR® Association Kindergarten

Alice Martin, RCE, GRI, AHWD

Partner, Martin and Downs, Association Consulting Solutions

Introduction. In these days of division – from the government to the board table and organizations everywhere, it’s important that we stop to think about how our words and actions can increase or decrease those divisions. Thus, this article that I first wrote in 2007 when I was at the Arizona Association of REALTORS® is still relevant – even more so - today.

We’ve all read or at least heard about Robert Fulghum’s All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten. The message Fulghum imparts transcends across all walks of life and all professions, including real estate. I have made an attempt to draw some analogies to Fulghum’s list of kindergarten rules to the world of real estate and REALTOR® associations. These tips aren’t new, but we all need to revisit them once in awhile. Take a few minutes out of your busy day and think about how real estate might be if kindergarten rules were consistently applied.

Share everything.

Share your ideas about marketing a listing with brand-new agents and old pros. Share your compliments with your co-workers, your competitors, your spouse! Many of us think nice things to ourselves but never say them aloud. You can change that. And with associations, sharing ideas, templates, and more with other associations is sometimes the best way to achieve your own goals.

Share your lives with those close to you.

Both real estate and associations thrive on its practitioners’ and volunteers’ abilities to work together and to share their many talents. Remember what it was like the last time another shared something with you. Get to know each other – it helps when conflicts arise.

Play fair.

Don’t take advantage of your competitors. The real estate business and even associations can be very cutthroat. When was the last time you did or said something to a competitor that you wouldn’t want your mother to know about? You need your competitors to be successful. The Golden Rule still applies: treat others like you would like to be treated. If applied all of the time, what a changed world we would live in!

More importantly, don’t take advantage of your clients and customers. You know more (at least you’re supposed to) — so be patient, be considerate, and be fair! (And, above all else, return their phone calls and emails!!!) The payback will be enormous.

Don’t hit people.

“Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you.” Remember that one? Most of you aren’t hitting people anymore (I hope). But you may say things that feel like hitting. Being unnecessarily aggressive just makes enemies. Be even-tempered and calm. Your name will stay out of the headlines and ethics hearings.

Remember that it’s okay to be right without having to prove it to the other guy. It’s also okay to be wrong once in a while. (Alas, those who know me well will now remind me of one of my favorite phrases: “I have my faults...being wrong isn’t one of them...” But don’t do as I do, do as I say.)

Put things back where you found them.

How many of you have borrowed something from a co-worker recently? Did you put it back or replace it? Or did your co-worker borrow something from you and didn’t return it? And, when you were ready to use it, it wasn’t there? Didn’t it bug you? Don’t let yourself play that game.

Clean up your own mess.

When you make a mistake in a transaction or anywhere, whether it affects another, do you apologize? Do you learn from it?

Don’t take things that aren’t yours.

Like listings and buyers, for example. Make sure that you don’t do things that interfere in someone else’s exclusive relationship or their business!

And keep your hands off their personal association or real estate tools, too, unless you’ve been given permission to use them.

Say you’re sorry when you hurt someone.

Tough competitors (like most real estate practitioners and many association volunteers) don’t often take the time to think about how their actions or words can or do affect others. Think about what you do and what you say, especially to your clients and customers. Your dreams may not be theirs; your taste may not be theirs. A loose tongue may do irreparable harm to your relationship. Take time to think before your speak or act. And, if you blow it, say you’re sorry. It can mend many fences.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Take necessary steps to reduce your liability: get good, quality education; use consistent procedures and forms; don’t guess an answer when you have no clue; and don’t make assumptions for your clients.

Flush.

It’s kinda like cleaning up your own mess. Stay clean — take responsibility! (Okay - it’s a stretch, but you know what I mean...)

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Go back to the basics once in a while. Remember those things your broker or mentor taught you years ago about the ABCs of real estate or association management. Those include staying in touch, putting your client (or member!) first, being honest, etc. Going back to what works sometimes needs to be remembered along with all the new stuff. It’s good for you!

Live a balanced life -- learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

I love this one. REALTORS® and some REALTOR® volunteers and AEs are often consumed by their jobs. They live it, breathe it, talk it, dream it and drive everyone else in their lives who aren’t in their business crazy. Take time out for yourself and your family and friends. They’ll be there when you’re done with your job not the other way around. There’s so much more in this world outside your job to learn about and share and experience. Your family and your clients and your co-workers and competitors will appreciate your less stressed and preoccupied self, but not as much as you and your emotional and physical health will!

Take a nap every afternoon.

Okay — this one might be tough. How about a 15-minute break away from the phones and the computer and everything else? What a surge of energy you’ll feel!

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.

No other words are needed here. Just do it!

Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

Be a kid again. Don’t be that cynical, hard-nosed competitor or leader all the time. Remember what’s out there that you don’t know about. Ask dumb questions. Have fun! Enjoy life at the gut level!

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup -- they all die.  So do we.

Life is so very, very short. Don’t blow it. Enjoy what you do, enjoy the people around you. If you don’t, do something else.

And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all — LOOK.

Look for the good in people and in yourself. Pay attention to the little things, but don’t sweat the small stuff. All the clichés are here, but most of them work.

Now, go take a nap.