In my last post, we concluded that every realtor must,
- first, act in accord with ethics and the law, and
- second, must do what he believes will bring about the best outcome for his client.
The second imperative raises the question, what counts as the best outcome for the client? The answer is, of course, highly individual.
The list of factors that can determine whether an outcome is the best for any given client is long, but it’s not endless. In fact, the considerations that determine whether an outcome is the best for a particular client can turn out to be surprisingly short once it’s been boiled down.
People almost always have certain considerations that they know matter to them and that they can express concisely (e.g. price). However, often enough, there are considerations that matter to a person, but that aren’t as easily expressed right off the bat (e.g. neighborhood aesthetics).
As such, it’s important for the realtor to be skilled in discussions about what matters to the client and about how much each of those matters: in order for a realtor to bring about the best outcome for a client, the realtor must know what the client would consider to be the best outcome.
Fortunately, there are effective, methodical, ways to have those conversations and to ensure that they’re productive. Your agent should know how to have these conversations effectively. Additionally, your agent should have this conversation early on. After all, it’s the job of the agent to bring about the best outcome for you. As such, that goal should guide her actions from the beginning of the relationship.
In sum, what matters to the client defines the best outcome. It’s the job of the agent to bring about the best outcome for the client. In order to do that, the agent needs to know what matters to the client. As such, when you start working with your agent, ensure that your agent understands what matters to you.
