Is Your Definition of Success The Same As Your Clients?

And other lessons learned while being snowed in…

Today was Ryan’s fourth day without school this week. Tomorrow stars mid winter break, so he’s pretty much never going back to school.

The first few days were great. We took the boys to the gym each day where they spent about 4 hours playing basketball and having lunch with friends. As a parent, 4 hours without screen time on a snow day is a HUGE win. But today, Alex was back in school and I caved. Ryan spend most of the day melting his mind playing video games. #parentfail.

But then Ryan gave me the biggest smile and the sweetest hug and said “thanks for letting me have so much time to play video games today”.

One person’s fail is another person’s day of awesomeness.

It’s the same with our clients. Sometimes we think we nailed it, and they don’t.

Here are some examples of what I mean:

For Buyers:

You write an awesome contract and the Seller signs it without countering. You are super excited because it means your client has secured the home and doesn’t have to worry about another offer coming in during the counter offer timeframe and potentially bumping them out.

Your client, on the other hand, might feel let down. Like maybe they didn’t ask for as much as they could have.

For Sellers:

The house sells in less than a week for full price. You are doing a victory dance because it means they don’t have to deal with the hassle of having people come through their house. And it was a full price offer, so they got what they wanted, right?

But maybe your seller wonders if they could have gotten more. Maybe they wonder if they should have started higher, even if it meant a longer market time and doing a price reduction, because then they know they “tried”.

Not fun. You put your heart and soul into helping your clients, and want them to have a great experience. Which includes feeling good about the outcome as well as the process.

Granted, there are plenty of Buyers who are thrilled to have their offer signed as is, and Sellers who will do a victory dance with you when it sells right away.

But not all. Because we all have our own definition of success.

It’s important to get really clear with your client, from the beginning, about what they view as a successful transaction. You might have to dig a bit on this one. Talk through hypothetical scenarios in the offer negotiation process to find out what’s important to them.

It doesn’t mean that you can guarantee it will go that way, but at least your client will feel heard and know that you are working towards the same end result.

To your success!
Nicole