Type an address or postcode and start the search for your new home...

Why being nice is no longer good enough!

Posted on Wednesday, March 1, 2017

When I was at primary school my teacher banned the word nice.  She informed us all that the word nice was no longer good enough.  She told us that everything and everyone was nice, even down to a make of biscuit.  We had to find different describing words.  The word nice was banned.  It’s something I have never forgotten.

High School

In high school, I discovered differently, the world wasn’t always that nice after all.  Everyone claimed they were nice, I had nice friends, many of whom I still have today.  But I also met people who maybe nice to your face yet in reality were nothing under than bullies, picking on other kids.  I was bullied, quite badly.  I was a spotty kid, I spoke too fast, other kids picked on this weakness.

 

Adulthood

In adulthood, this tradition of people being nice and of those trying to be nice has continued.  I have some genuinely great friends but along the way,  I have met people who just pretend to be nice, all in the aim of doing business with you.  You know the type, let’s meet for coffee, let’s eat cake, they flatter you but as soon as they have what they want, you are left feeling empty, as if the friendship that you thought was forming was for nothing other than a business transaction.  Trust me, it happens to us all, it’s happened to me, twice. Like most of you, I often take people on face value!

Over the years I have read blogs, books and training manuals in sales, all telling us to be nice.  I read Facebook and twitter posts telling people how nice they are.  Hello, shouldn’t niceness be something that comes naturally?!!

 

So how does this relate to choosing an estate agent?

 
In my industry every single agent who comes to your home will be nice, just like my primary school said.  After all we are all pitching for your business.  Training courses of years gone by tell us we should flatter you, find common ground so you like us and in many cases tell you want to hear.

 

I however disagree.  I find it very fake.  I believe being in honest, straight talking and in I believe in just being me.  If you like me, as me, that’s great but I want you to more like than me.  I want you to trust me.  I want you to trust that I and my team members will do our best for you.  I want you to have full confidence in our abilities.  I want you to feel that at anytime you can pick up the phone, call into our office.  When we meet, I want us to get on great  (after all, even a quick sale can take a couple of months to complete).  If you also think I am a nice, well that’s just great!

 

Throughout your home move, I’m not going to tell you what you want to hear, after all if you choose to use us, you want the best advice.  I’m going to politely tell you what you need to hear, whether that’s home staging advice at the beginning or help with solicitors queries and searches later on.  You see, at JDG we truly believe we are here to help and do the best for you.  We are here to help every step of the way.  We’ll be naturally friendly, it’s often commented on how happy our office is ( a client only said last week how she loves coming to our office! ) but beyond all we will be professional and efficient.  Once the sale concludes, we are still here to help, don’t think you can’t ask us any questions or pop in for any advice, everyone is still welcome!


So when choosing an estate agent, look past the “niceness and all out flattery”.  Concentrate on the following

 

  • Confidence in the person 

  • Do you trust them

  • Do they have a proven sales success

 

Let’s forget the word nice, in fact let’s ban at.  After all, if people have to try to be nice, they can’t really be that nice after all, can they!


Until next time

 

Signiture