Advanced degrees can cost tens of thousands of dollars.Many life-long learners are surprised at just how much a good education can cost. Most real estate agents would balk at the thought at spending $100,000 on continuing education.
It’s time to rethink just how expensive the learning process is for professional agents. Consider the following scenarios:
- You’re working with a buyer on a $500,000 home, and you recommend a price that turns out to be offensive to the seller. Negotiations fall apart and the buyer ends up working with another agent. POW! $10,000 of potential income is gone.
- You forget to call a listing prospect back and they end up listing their $2,000,000 with another agent. Eight days later it goes to contract. OOPS! There’s another $40,000 down the drain.
If you think about it, it’s unbelievable just how much our mistakes can cost us. I think we’d all agree that given the cost of our education, it’s important to make sure we never make the same mistakes twice. The best way to do this is to create a “wall of shame” using wall space in your office. The process is simple. Every time you make a mistake that costs you money, print out information about the home, the buyer or the seller involved, write the mistake that was made and in bright red ink, write down the amount of lost income and circle it.
By having a written reminder of what you did wrong and how much it cost you is very painful and will help ensure that you don’t make the same mistake again.