The Difficult Client and the Difference It Makes

So often I forget that I can choose how I respond or react to people, and my choice says more about me than all the marketing material I put out there. I have a short story about that very point. Here's what happened today.

I got an email from a new client and that client was not happy about what appeared to be an error I'd made.

From my perspective, it was a minor event, and in fact, was not an error I had made, but an error in some previous legal paperwork. The client fired off a short, terse email to me and carbon copied another agent who referred this client to me.

So, I did what I normally do--I wrote an email back immediately, and then I didn't send it. Instead I walked away for a few minutes, and came back, re-read and re-wrote the email after I let some time and other events pass.

Of course, right then my husband came in and said "What's up, Baby?" (his sweet voice!) So, I told him and read the email to him. What a dramatic change from his sweet side to the grouchy old retired Sergeant Major that comes out when he's a little ticked off!

"Look," he said, "you tell that client that you don't need..." Well, you can guess the rest.

I had to laugh (to myself, of course) and then read him my response, which I'd taken the time to compose, letting the client know I wasn't going to be bullied, but also letting the client know I understood how important the matter was from the client's perspective.

And that's my point. So often, what seems like a matter of no consequence to us often means a lot to someone else. And, it's an opportunity to show them that we care as much as they care, and isn't that really what a client is looking for in their real estate professional, or any other professional for that matter?

Our actions as professionals are more than the difference between the way a man and a woman would respond, it's more than a personality trait or a learned behavior.

It's a choice, and as Steven Covey taught us long ago, we really need to exercise integrity in that moment of choice. Choosing to turn a problem into an opportunity seems like a pretty good choice to me.