Professionalism is what you expect--Do you meet your expectations?

Recently, I've been working with a buyer who has demonstrated very high personal ethics. He says he will call and he does. He says he'll have a decision by tomorrow and he does. It blows me away! I have the expectation of my fellow REALTORS to have this same ethic. But, should I?

When I was just getting started in the business world, someone whom I had a great deal of respect for told me to keep my expectations high and people would perform to that level. I've discovered, of course, that this is not always the case, but it does keep my expectations of myself rather high. You see, when you expect a certain level of professionalism and it is performed, you build trust. Trust is one of the reasons we get referrals!

So, when an agent says, "I'll get back to you today." My expectation is that they will get back to me today. Too often, however, I have to call them the next morning. Is this an acceptable level of professionalism? If we are doing this to each other, what are we doing to our clients? Do our clients notice that we are not doing what we say?

I'm here today to say that this is not acceptable. Send me a text message if you don't want to talk on the phone or if you don't have an answer. And, if you think that our clients are not noticing, you are sadly mistaken. While I'm trying to build a high level of trust with my client, another agent is undermining my service by making a lower level of professionalism his/her acceptable level. Don't we serve others and put their needs first?

If I expect fellow agents to perform to my expectations, I would be out of business. Their performance cannot defeat me nor lower my level of professionalism. I must maintain my level when working with REALTORS and with clients. This is important to me first and then to my business.

I will make a point to thank this buyer for his ethics and for reminding me that I need to keep my expectations of myself as high as possible. I hope you will, too!