Many Come Close

Every Christmas, we send out more than 5,000 handmade ornaments to agents with whom we have completed a transaction. Many put their clients first and have become dear friends. Agents compete for clients, but once they have a seller’s listing or a buyer in the car, the agent community works together in a spirit of cooperation to bring buyers and sellers together. In negotiations, JoAnn relies on that other agent to be completely forthright, and she expects the other agent to feel the same way about her. It is a small world, and agents who do not honor this code are quickly purged from the fraternity.

Many agents come close to Clients First, but it is a rare thing indeed to find a person who holds all three keys, whole and complete.

Before that dark and stormy night, JoAnn and I were good people. We tried to be good parents to our children and good children to our parents. We worked hard and tried to do good jobs. We gave time and money to those who were in need. We supported our government. We voted and went to church, though not enough of either to avoid occasional feelings of guilt. But until we committed to Clients First we were not completely honest, totally competent, and unwaveringly caring.

How much of each key we possessed on any given day varied with the situation. We were normal. Then we were changed, and our clients became our advocates, and we gained the respect of our fellow agents and the respect of all those with whom we did business.

You must possess ...

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