Email Elizabethfailure to meet expectations
Assessing an Accurate Picture to Manage Expectations
Elizabeth Weintraub and niece Laura Burgard at Al Vente in Minneapolis
My sister Margie says I have an aura about me, a presence, she says, that makes people want to do nice things for me. If it is true, and I am not certain that it is, I wouldn’t know it, I suppose, because it’s awfully nice, I have to admit, to have things go your own way most of the time. It could also be because I am completely grateful when nice things happen out of the blue, seemingly for no reason. But I also know that I can’t force good things to happen.
My niece Laura says people instinctively realize when they meet me that they should go out of their way to make certain I am happy. She thinks I have a magic touch. I’m not sure where she gets that impression. Although, at dinner last night, at this lovely French restaurant, Café Levain, near 48th and Chicago in south Minneapolis, our server, noticing we had finished our bottle of Rothschild white bordeaux dashed breathlessly to our table, carting a mostly empty bottle of the same wine, “Look what I found in the kitchen!” She poured a bit into our glasses.
See, I’ve never had that happen before. But my niece doesn’t know that. We all have our views of the world. And it’s our views that shape our expectations and help me, especially in my real estate business, to help manage expectations of my clients. In order to do that, though, you’ve got to accurately assess the picture. You can’t pick an isolated circumstance and figure that is the norm.
Experience is what gives me an edge. I can often accurately predict a future happening based on the present circumstances because I’ve been through so much a million times. When a person hires me to be his or her Sacramento Realtor, they are also gaining my experience. It’s a unique experience, unlike anybody’s. But I rely on it and my clients can too. I manage expectations well.
When People Do Not Do What They Say They Will Do
Part of my secret to success in Sacramento real estate is due to the fact that I am consistent. When I find something that works, I continue to do it. I do what I promise to do. I pay attention to things that don’t work and I don’t do those things. You can see it’s a pretty simple philosophy but one that is difficult for many real estate agents to perform. When I try to share this philosophy with other agents, they sometimes mumble, “Yeah, thanks for nothing.” It’s as though they do not appreciate its profundity.
I also follow up. If I promise a person I will call at a certain time on a certain day, I do it. Because I do what I promise to do. Again, something that sounds so incredibly simple, yet some people just can’t do it. It’s not as though we don’t have a task reminder on our cell phones, in our email programs, through online software or, for the non-technical, a hard-copy calendar on our wall and even sticky notes with clever messages about dogs loving you unconditionally and cats demanding your resume.
We live in a world where many people do not live up to our expectations. They set those expectations themselves and then fail to deliver. This can be irritating or annoying for the rest of us. They might say, Oh, I will call you tomorrow, and then they don’t do it. You can’t shoot them because under those circumstances they will never call you again. You can’t change somebody else’s behavior; you can only control how you react to it.
Besides, they have excuses. They justify, reason, explain. It doesn’t mean they will change their behavior and, if you continue to expect them to live up to their word, they may only disappoint.
I am not suggesting that we need to lower our expectations by any stretch to interact with other people, just that not everybody else in the world plays and lives by the same guiding principles that we may set for ourselves. Sometimes, you have to let it go. Direct your attention elsewhere. Other things are more important. Just continue doing what you promise to do, and you’ll be OK, even if everybody else is not.
