It’s the Going Not the Getting There for a Sacramento Agent

As a Sacramento real estate agent who works with a lot of sellers in the Sacramento area, I do basically 3 things during the week, besides brush my teeth twice a day.

• Take new listings
• Scrutinize and negotiate offers, and
• Manage existing escrows to the point of closing.

The one thing I really don’t do is spend a lot of time looking for new business. I don’t hunt for it because I get a lot of new business from the Internet and from referrals. Potential clients searching for a Sacramento real estate agent read my reviews and client testimonials, maybe they read about my extensive background and then decide to talk with me. Others might ask their friends or relatives for a referral and, since I’ve been fortunate to close hundreds of homes, I have many previous clients every year with good experiences to share.

Not having to spend any time scouring for new business lets me take that chunk of time — those 30% of hours another agent would spend prospecting — and put those hours into servicing my existing clients. That’s a lot of time to look for new clients — a third of your life. I bet if you asked a seller if he or she minds if a Sacramento agent uses their listing to advertise herself, a seller would object, but that’s what most agents do. There’s nothing really wrong with it because it brings the agent more business and it promotes the seller’s house, but it’s not an approach I employ.

I’m not the kind of Sacramento agent who says look at this house I listed, I can list yours, too. Because sellers don’t want a home listed. They want a home sold. They want a home sold for the most money they can get and not a lot of drama. Clean and efficient and professional. I will custom tailor a listing plan for my sellers because every seller and situation is different. I don’t have any qualms about grilling a buyer’s agent before my sellers accept an offer to discuss potential pitfalls and lay out expectations to see if a buyer is a good fit. How many agents do that for their clients?

Engaging in these types of conversations and providing quality service for my sellers is part of what my clients get with an agent who has almost 40 years of experience in the business. My experience is not one year times 40. I am constantly learning and trying to improve because I don’t care how good you are, there is always room for improvement. My career as a Sacramento real estate agent is a journey, not a destination. Like Harry Chapin said in Greyhound: it’s the going, not the getting there.