"It's too small for me to bother with.....or is it?"

In Real Estate I have often heard other agents talk about a buyer in a lower price point or a low price point listing as "too small to bother with".  Also many brokers just tell people who call them on rentals that they "don't handle those". 

I have taken a bit different approach.  There are of course things I cannot do for clients I am just one person and I do need my transactions to be profitable.  And still, I often do things I have seen others avoid.  I do CMA's regularly just so people know where their values are.  I send rental listings to folks who are looking to rent and I refer them to property managers.  I work with lower price point buyers and homes ( yes I may charge a slightly higher percentage for these so I can stay in business.) When someone tells me the under $120K listing they called on is "too rich for their blood" I do not assume it's not worth persuing and just hang up.

Instead I do all I can to serve these folks.

Sometimes as I have struggled increasing the volumn in my business I ask myself if this policy is a good policy.  I do know it feels right.

Recently I observed the effect of another business taking a totally different approach from mine and the results.  My husband works for an international company.  He is often called upon to test things, design things before they are used in larger applications and so on.  With out going into details too much here is what happened.

  He contacted a local company to make an item for him to test.  They had all the materials available to do so and it is not even a difficult thing to make ( he could have made on the spot at home if he purchased one tool that the company he contacted has)  After telling him they would have it done in 2 days they then contacted him to tell him it was "far too small an order" and they would not be doing it for him.  Mind you likely they could have made it in under 15 minutes and shipped it just as easily.  His company did not even care what they were charged for it, they mostly just did not want to lose a day's work from an employee who would have to search out and buy the tool to make the item and the supplies.

Ok, so they saved themselves maybe 20 minutes of labor.  What did they lose?  Well....the vendor my husband was working with that needed to have the part tested for his company's application is also a multinational company.  If the part worked well, my husband would have recommended that the vendor get their supply of this item from the company locally.  Literally 1000's of the item would have been part of their first order and the orders would have been ongoing.

I think doing the 20 minutes of work on the spot would have been worthwhile, if they felt that would not work they still would have had the new account by supplying and mailing it to my husband.  However they did neither.  Wonder just how much in marketing they will have to pay to make up for that lost order.

So....the next time someone asks for something small, why not do it.  Don't expect anything in return ( except your pay if applicable) and see what happens.  My largest commission checks have been the results of referrals and contacts made doing small things.

Oh, and if you as a client have something small for me or large, I will give it my best. Even if it's "tiny",

if it is something I am not the best person to do, or I am not in a position to do it, I'll find you someone who can.  I just ask that you refer me when someone else you know ( and like) needs the same level of service.

Looking forward to meeting you soon!