Real estate authors urge client first principle in best-selling book

Putting clients first is a philosophy that most Realtors® hold on to but sometimes need a little reminder.

In the New York Times bestseller Clients First: The Two Word Miracle, JoAnn and Joseph Callaway take what they have learned through years of working in the real estate industry and condensed it into their new book. The book details how the client is kept at the center of the transaction and gives readers step-by-step advice on how to put their own customers first, as well as why each one works.

The authors offer these 11 client-first methods:

Step 1: Make the commitment. For many people, “commitment” is a scary word—and for good reason. It implies that you have accepted responsibility, that you are “locked in,” and (sometimes) that you have given up an aspect of your freedom. For all of those reasons and many more, most commitments should not be taken lightly. But here’s the good news: Because sincere commitments require you to step up and take a stand, they often lead to great things.

Step 2: Speak the commitment. Step one—Make the commitment—won’t ultimately mean much if you don’t share your intentions with others. If you say nothing, your commitment will begin to wither like a potted flower that isn’t watered. However, speaking your commitment gives you strength, and it’s instrumental in affirming (and reaffirming) to yourself what your goals are and why.

Step 3: Keep the commitment. Some days, you’ll want to say, “To heck with this difficult person! He can fend for himself from now on!” Or you might just be so tired and overwhelmed that you’re tempted to cut some corners and let some non-priorities slide. According to Callaway, you must try as hard as you can to resist the temptation.

Step 4: Get yourself out of the way. When it comes to being successful, having a healthy ego can be a blessing and a curse. Yes, you need a strong sense of self in order to avoid being trampled on and marginalized by competitors and by clients. But when you start to believe that winning, recognition, and accolades are “the point” of what you do, you’ve veered off onto a destructive path.

Step 5: Set the monkey down. …the monkey that’s riding your back in the form of responsibility and pressure, that is! If you’re like most people, you probably feel burdened with a myriad of worries, fears, and obligations. You assume that “it’s all up to me,” and you might even lie awake at night fretting over what isn’t right and what could go wrong. However, if you want to successfully care for your clients, you can’t be expending the majority of your mental energy on yourself.

Step 6: Put your faith in others. According to Callaway, this has two meanings: serving others and then letting others serve you. Serving others means separating the service you render from the paycheck you receive. No, don’t give your services away for free; just make sure that padding your bank account isn’t your primary motivation. In other words, do your job because you genuinely want to help your clients, and don’t worry about what you’ll get in return. (When you have this mindset, you’ll probably find that your clients feel just as strongly about compensating you fairly!)

Step 7: Trust the truth. If someone accused you of not being honest, you’d probably have the same reaction the Callaways did before discovering Clients First: “How can you even ask that? Of course, I’m honest!” And by most people’s standards, you probably are. But it’s also likely that you aren’t being totally, completely authentic in the way you handle relationships and do business.

Step 8: Let the work be the reward. In the real world (and especially in a tough economy), you can’t always follow the popular graduation day advice and “do what you love.” But what you can do, regardless of how you spend your nine-to-five hours, is choose to take pride in your work. When you consciously decide to put forth your best efforts, you’ll experience greater rewards and you’ll get better at what you do!

Step 9: Learn to like people. Even if you already consider yourself to be a people person, chances are you still need to learn to like them more. Think about it: Do you see your clients as business opportunities and sources of income, or do you see them as actual human beings with likes, preferences, quirks, and stories? To truly put clients first, your number one goal at each meeting should be to invite them within arms’ length and make them less of a stranger.

Step 10: Turn it around. You, not the customer, are the expert on your business. You are the one who knows how to sell real estate or market a product or properly install a heat pump. But does that mean that yours is the only opinion that matters? Of course not. No matter what industry you’re in, you need to turn your viewpoint around and make a sincere effort to see yourself and your business as your client does.

Step 11: Give to get. We’ve all heard the expression, “The more you give, the more you get.” And we understand its meaning when it comes to things like love, smiles, and kindness. But how does it relate to business? Well, you can give your clients honesty, competence, and care, and hope to get those things back. But if you give away your expertise, time, energy, and (gasp!) money, won’t you just go broke? “Understand that giving to get isn’t like a financial transaction where you give and get right there and then,” Callaway said. “There is no up-front agreement on what you’ll receive or when you’ll receive it. It may take time. But rest assured, whatever you give will come back to you with interest.

As you’re implementing each step, remember that Clients First—like life itself—isn’t so much a destination as it is a journey,” Callaway concludes. “If you commit to it, Clients First is a path you’ll be traveling for the rest of your life. It will fill you with pride, clarify your perspective, and promote your business’s prosperity. Most of all, your clients will love you for it—and you will love them.”

About the Book:
Clients First: The Two Word Miracle is available at bookstores nationwide, from major online booksellers, and at clientsfirstbook.com.