The Alimond Show
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The Alimond Show
Matt Cheney - Serving Clients, Not Selling Houses: A Realtor's Philosophy
From selling 1,000 condominiums over a decade to building a thriving luxury real estate business at Cheney & Co. at Compass, Matt Cheney's unconventional path offers valuable insights for anyone navigating the competitive real estate landscape. With remarkable candor, Matt reveals how he built his business without a mentor—"the hard way"—and learned crucial lessons about removing ego from client interactions.
At the heart of Matt's philosophy lies a refreshing client-centered approach. "Every client starts with a blank canvas," he explains, describing how he tailored his business to focus on individual client needs rather than specific markets. This shift unlocked greater abundance and business growth than he initially imagined. Instead of using formulaic questionnaires, Matt relies on active listening and genuine relationship building, allowing him to adapt to each client's unique timeline and objectives.
The conversation takes a heartwarming turn when Matt shares how his chocolate lab Duke—who has his own Instagram handle—led to meeting his wife while walking through the neighborhood. Their teamwork enables both to balance demanding careers with raising two daughters, demonstrating the importance of coordination and clear communication in both personal and professional spheres.
Matt's marketing approach emphasizes consistency above all else, particularly with video content—something he initially resisted but embraced after seeing positive feedback. For those hesitant to appear on camera, his advice is straightforward: "Your competitors are doing it. If you don't, they'll get the business." He notes that clients aren't judging us the way we judge ourselves, they're simply seeking connection.
Perhaps most valuable is Matt's guiding principle: remain polite, professional, and positive while avoiding discussions of religion or politics with clients. By maintaining calm during what is typically a stressful life event, he provides the steady guidance clients need to navigate complex real estate transactions successfully. For anyone looking to build lasting client relationships that generate referrals and repeat business, Matt Cheney's journey offers a masterclass in client service excellence.
My name is Matt Cheney and the name of my company is Cheney Co at Compass. So I have a team set up. It's called Cheney Co and a brokerage I'm at is Compass and we sell real estate, so we help folks. Actually, we don't sell real estate. Our clients buy and sell real estate.
Speaker 1:There we go so we serve folks coming into the market in Northwest DC, bethesda, maryland, mclean, virginia who are buying and selling properties. Occasionally we might help someone who might own an investment property lease out a property as well, but we help folks with the real estate needs.
Speaker 2:Beautiful. And now, what first inspired you to build a career specializing in the luxury real estate market in DC, maryland and Virginia.
Speaker 1:I started in real estate in 2003, but I did not start in the side of the business we call general brokerage or the resale business. I started off working with real estate developers selling large condo developments. So I just moved back from the New York City metro area, wanted to get into real estate. I knew I just kind of liked real estate. I've been working for companies like Xerox and I wanted to get off corporate sales, started doing informational interviews with real estate brokers so I was thinking I was going to get into commercial real estate and I had a family friend who was a real estate developer, went out to lunch with him, stayed in touch with him and he knew a fair amount of people in the brokerage community.
Speaker 1:And in 2003, there was a reduction of interest rates. So interest rates always come up. But back then interest rates were coming down to 5% and the developers had built a lot of brand new apartment buildings and the market was shifting to own versus rent and they had a bunch of inventory and they saw the opportunity to take these brand new buildings, not lease them but just sell each individual unit and sell out the building and make a fair amount of money. That's where I came into the picture. So I had followed up with my family friend saying, hey, I just got my real estate license. Do you know any builders who need someone to work on the weekends? He said, matt, send me your resume. Actually, send your resume to these folks. Anyways, it didn't work out exactly. Actually, send your resume to these folks. Anyways, it didn't work out exactly how I like that. He said call these folks. I called them. They said send me your resume, sent them my resume. They had pretty much lined up half the developers in town to get these developments and we're talking buildings of 200 units and I went to go work with them in 03. And I was there for approximately 10 years selling about 1,000 condominiums.
Speaker 1:Wow, so with that experience, I was not a neighborhood agent. So oftentimes when someone gets into general brokerage they'll start off in the neighborhood. They live in a neighborhood, they put up a sign in that neighborhood or they get their neighbor's listing and that's kind of how they build their business. They kind of farm in their neighborhood. The way I had started is I'd been working with these developers going around from large development to large development 14th Street, logan Circle in downtown DC, tenleytown in DC, white Flint area out of Maryland, arlington, and I moved around the major metropolitan area. So you asked me how did I get interested in selling luxury real estate in the DMV in places like DC, maryland, virginia? It came from my condo background. So my condo background had me moving around and I knew a lot of the large agents, the top producing agents throughout the metropolitan area and I knew I was not going to be necessarily a neighborhood agent to start off with. So that's kind of how this kind of evolved. Okay, and that's how I got there.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, and did you have a mentor or anything? I know you said you got to be around the top real estate agents.
Speaker 1:So, were any of them possibly mentors for you, I would say, if someone is listening to this right now and they want to get into real estate, I would say you want to find a mentor, and if you can find someone that you can find a way of helping complement their business while you learn the business, that's a great way to start. I didn't do that, wow. I did it the hard way and I can tell you from experience, doing it the way I've done it is not what I would recommend to anybody else. It's a lot harder. So when I came into the resale side of the business in 2014, I was going to do it all by myself.
Speaker 2:Wow, oh my God, that's unheard of nowadays.
Speaker 1:So hustle, Hustle is how I got started. Now I've had relationships through the years where I've been friends with other agents who might have been more senior than me, but I never necessarily had a true other agent being my mentor, kind of bringing me along and helping me through the different trials and tribulations that she faced Yep trial and errors.
Speaker 2:You did it yourself there. That's pretty impressive, though, so I'd say you've got a pretty unique background in that way.
Speaker 1:I would agree. Yeah, that's not how most folks would do it no.
Speaker 2:And that, besides this, what lessons from your early career have had the biggest influence on how you lead Chaney and Co today?
Speaker 1:When I made the transition, what I just said now, that I was going to do this all by myself, I was leading with ego, so I wouldn't go back and change how I came into the business. Ego, so I wouldn't go back and change how I came into the business. But as I've evolved, as all humans evolve, and as we get better at things and we mature, we realize that we need to take ego out of things, and I've, I would say, one lesson I learned is leading with ego, or allowing your ego to be um, get to be the better of you or get the better of you and have you make decisions that are more based upon ego than what's the most strategic, smartest decision, what's the best thing for your client. So that's one lesson I've learned is taming your ego.
Speaker 2:Taming that ego. Yep, sometimes it's got to just take a seat in the backseat?
Speaker 1:Yes, I love that, thank you.
Speaker 2:And then, when you first started, what challenges did you face breaking into the luxury market and how did you overcome them?
Speaker 1:Biggest challenges coming to luxury market would be. Well, oftentimes the hardest challenge is having the clientele proving yourself and consistently proving yourself that way, and that just takes time. That's the way you overcome it. Now, if you're mentoring with another agent who might already have clientele in that space, so that's fair. That might make it easier for you. Another way you can do it is surround yourself with other agents who might be in that space. Another way you can overcome that challenge is learning that space really well. So study every major luxury product that sells. Go to all the broker opens. Go to the open houses. Help other agents by holding open houses for luxury properties. Those are the things you can do to overcome those things, All of which I've done. Yeah, so those are the things I've done.
Speaker 2:Awesome, thank you. Now I want to talk about your branding. Your branding is so polished and professional. I took a look at it.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're welcome. How important do you think branding and marketing are for real estate success today?
Speaker 1:it's very important, but I don't put so much importance of it up and above other things. I'd say the more important things are basic blocking and tackling when it comes to um, taking care of your clients, serving your clients, making sure you're adding value for your clients, stay in touch with your clients, stay in touch with your sphere. Those are all great things. And then having consistent marketing. My consistent marketing, I would say, is part of the brand, yeah, and just the consistency of it. The relentlessness, the relentlessness, the relentlessness.
Speaker 1:I can't say it either the well, maybe I made up a word, Maybe it's not actually a real word Sweet, we'll use it. Yes, relentlessness-ness of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's not a word.
Speaker 1:I love it that one, that one Just continuing marketing. I got to say that's part of our branding. But with our branding you'll see through the as we've gone and I'd say that definitely helps with marketing in the luxury space.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and for anybody who is in real estate, and maybe they're a little bit shy to get on camera or they're like I don't know that I can be the face or I could do this, but they kind of have to be because they are the face.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:What advice or tips would you give to them? Were you just like, yeah, just put me on camera, let's do this. Was it easy for you? Were? Or tips would you give to them? Were you just like, yeah, just put me on camera, let's do this? Was it easy for you? Were you?
Speaker 1:nervous in the beginning. Did it take time for you to get what? How did you how well? I had a business coach. My previous business coach was very much into social media and video and he pushed me to start doing FaceTime. Was it Facebook Lives? We call it Face Lives, or whatever?
Speaker 2:Face. We call it Face Lives or whatever Face Lives.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what was the name of it? It's kind of phased out, but you would go live on Facebook.
Speaker 1:Just probably Facebook Live, so I would do that during open houses. And he kept on pushing me to start doing videos and I just kept on doing it and I just kind of got better at it. So that's how I kind of got pushed into it. I don't think I at the time I actually found an obstacle because I thought that that was an unluxury thing to do and I thought that was something that we don't do the DC area and that's something we do kind of in Northwest DC, kind of the stuffy market, for lack of better terms. But the more I kept at it, the better I got and the more feedback I got that folks liked it and it was just appealing to folks. So I kind of leaned into it, I liked it. It's awesome, yeah.
Speaker 2:And just by doing it over and over again, and you had somebody who was like also, I think you having an open mind to it, you know, because you could have easily just have been like no, it's not for me, but I appreciate it, but the fact that they were pushing you're like all right, let's do this.
Speaker 1:You have to do it because if you don't, your competitors are doing it. That's right, and your competitors are going to get the business and you're not. It doesn't matter if you're not as polished as you would like to be, you just need to be doing the videos. You need to have a presence, because when folks are on social media and they look at your videos whether or not you're a Hollywood actress or what have you they're going to get a feel for who you are and you're looking for people you want to have a unique connection with. So you want to get quote, unquote your tribe, the folks that are going to want to work with you. So you're leaving an untapped market out there by not doing it, that's right.
Speaker 1:And people aren't judging us the way we judge ourselves.
Speaker 2:No, absolutely not yeah.
Speaker 1:They're not like oh your colors. I look at the video, I probably see my colors out of place or something along those lines.
Speaker 2:Nobody's seeing that. We're reading those captions, right?
Speaker 1:there. No one else is noticing those types of things. Right, that's right, exactly.
Speaker 2:No, well said, and now you have a quote and it goes every client starts with a blank canvas. How did that philosophy shape the way you approach client relationships?
Speaker 1:Well, everybody's unique and everybody needs to be served, kind of where they're at. So, coming at folks with just kind of a boilerplate approach, the way in which you approach them as far as real estate's not going to necessarily click or work for them, the way we handle our real estate, the way in which we've built the business, is not actually saying we're going to be big in these certain markets. It's actually been more focused as of I'd say, the past three or four years, is focusing on clients and what clients need and we found with that that there's a more, there's more abundance. With that it's grown the business. And that gets back to the fact that it's not I'm not selling houses. I'm not.
Speaker 1:It's not me who's out there writing the checks and purchasing this house and moving into it. It's not me, having had a house for 10, 15 years, fixing the house up, getting ready for the market, getting the landscaping done and then putting it on the market for sale. No, I'm, I'm. If I'm, I'm doing a fiduciary duty for these folks. I'm a conduit for folks to buy and sell real estate. Yes, so when getting back to the ego, yeah, you take your ego out of it, but that it's about the clientele. So if you're focusing on the clients and what they need and what's their goal, how are they looking to succeed, then that's ultimately what we're getting at. So it's all getting back to the clientele.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. You can have said it better. I saw on your Instagram you've got two daughters and you've got a chocolate lap. I'm going to assume that's a chocolate lap. And your wife. She was wearing a cute little white coat. Talk to me about how you make time for them and how you're balancing everything.
Speaker 1:Well, if anybody's had little kids and a wife and a dog, it's challenging, yes, and it's nonstop. Yes, we had a sick kid last night at like what One o'clock in the morning, oh my gosh. Yes, so these things just happen and you just kind of roll with it. That's right. How do we balance it? Well, I've got a great wife.
Speaker 2:Shout out to the wife.
Speaker 1:Yes, natalia. So Natalia has a demanding career as well. She actually has a career in consulting and she also does a side hustle where she teaches some classes as well athletic classes. So she has a demanding schedule. We just figure it out by teamwork. That I guess we're getting at really the core of it.
Speaker 1:How do we manage having two kids, a dog and both very busy? Yes, we're on the same page, we coordinate with each other and that comes. That's just a muscle. You have to work on being in a relationship and you just kind of work at it and if you don't let it atrophy, you don't kind of just as a, as a, as a as a entrepreneur, I can't just make all these decisions and then have my wife just figure things out. That's not, that's not going to work. So we both have to figure things out. We have to figure out the game plan of how we manage schedules based upon certain things arising, and we already kind of figure out how we're going to handle that stuff. We're well-coordinated. And then I guess, getting back to the kids, they're great kids. He's a great dog, yes, what's his name?
Speaker 2:His name is Duke, Duke. Okay, Shout out to you Duke and the twins. Are they twins?
Speaker 1:They are not twins. But getting back to Duke first. Yeah, duke, if someone wants to know me, duke, I was a bachelor for many, many years and my younger brother's, like you, got to get a dog, get a dog, get a dog. I finally got a dog, introducing Duke, and I was walking Duke around my neighborhood and that's how I met my wife. Good job, duke, and that's kind of how the whole thing comes together. So if you're going to have me here talking, I have to give props to Duke for creating the family.
Speaker 2:That is incredible. I did not see that online, so this is why these podcasts are great because you get to find out more about the person behind the business, more than just the about me. And now we know Duke the Chocolate Lab.
Speaker 1:Duke the Chocolate Lab. Yeah, duke the Puppy, dc is what we used to call him. He had an Instagram handle. At one point, though, Not anymore. It kind of fell off Too busy.
Speaker 2:Okay, it's fine Too busy. Yeah, it's okay, I'm sure he's living a great life.
Speaker 1:He's living a good life. Yeah, beautiful. A smoothie was spilled on the floor today, so he got to eat half of it Perfect. Look at that Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And now, what do you think differentiates an extraordinary real estate experience from an average one, especially at the luxury level or just at any level in general?
Speaker 1:The average. Being an average realtor is going to be challenging because you're going to be running from getting something under contract to its closing than trying to find other pipeline, and without having systems in place and not having an above average business, then things can be challenging from time to time. When there's a shift in the market and things slow down, then you're going to have some time periods where you're going to be, I think, a little cash strapped. So it's in your best interest as a realtor, as an entrepreneur, to push yourself to get to the next level, because as it grows, it grows that much more.
Speaker 2:Thank you, love it. And then, how do you approach understanding a client's true motivations when buying or selling a home? Is there any technique or any questionnaires that you use, maybe to get to the true, I guess reason of why they're looking in a certain neighborhood or what they're looking for?
Speaker 1:I don't use a questionnaire. I don't have an internal questionnaire, I do not have tricks. There's no manipulation that goes on there. I go through a process and it's it really is quite fluid and it's it's. It's able to pivot based upon what the clients are are are thinking or doing.
Speaker 1:Let's say, buyers. Um, buyers say they want to go buy a house. Here's our certain budget. Generally speaking, the budget they're going to tell you is not going to be the exact dollar amount. They might be looking for more, but they want to see what else is out there, what they can get for a lower price point. They will kind of look at one little area, then they'll shift to another place.
Speaker 1:The thing is to be flexible and not all buyers are the same. Some folks will make a decision very quickly. Other folks could take years. And if you're patient and you understand that your job there is to be a fiduciary and that you're going to serve them, and, on top of that, if your business is such that you're not dependent upon that sale so, getting back to being a regular agent, If regular agent, they're going to be pushing a lot of these folks to make decisions, make decisions, make decisions.
Speaker 1:Seller, I need you to sell this house. You're my only listing. I need this commission, mr Buyer, you need to buy this house. If you're putting a lot of pressure on folks because you need the commission, because you don't have a lot of business going on, then you're going to be putting the wrong energy into them. You're probably going to get some of them that are going to fire you and are going to move along or they need an agent who's? That's not part of the equation. So if you're working with a buyer and they're ready to buy right now, great, this is what we need to do.
Speaker 1:There's another buyer says or another buyer says they want to buy, but you've been working with them for two, three years, more years. You're not going to be putting the pressure on them that you might be doing subconsciously, because you're being patient, because you know at some point they're going to purchase. So that's just kind of a process you go through With buyers. I would say another key thing is to actively listen, and that is to listen when you're going through houses and they'll start saying certain things and then you pick up on that, and when they might bring up another house, let's go look at this house. Oh, but do you remember the house we saw about a month ago and so, and so, neighborhood, this one looks like it's going to be the same type of situation. Oh, that's right. Thanks, we let you go look at that. Yeah, so these are the types of things that you.
Speaker 2:I don't know why. I asked as a questionnaire because that sounds so robotic. But thank you for clarifying that. But you're like, I don't have a questionnaire in my head.
Speaker 1:Well, there are questionnaires for rookie agents that they give. You go to these coaching programs, you go join some brokerages and they're like ask these questions, these tips will get you the best. Yes, but if you sound, if it sounds fixed, if it sounds like you're just going through these questions, you're not going to have the great, I don't think, a very good rapport with your clientele. No, absolutely not.
Speaker 2:No, you're right. So thank you for sharing for that, and now you kind of shared that it's kind of just talking to them, building that relationship being an active listener, not cutting them off, not thinking about like oh, I got to make the sale, I got to make the sale. You're like no, put that aside, Putting that ego to the side, like we talked about. And just listening to their needs. That's it's really simple.
Speaker 1:It is. You think there's another thing that I bring to it. So if you're looking to build rapport and you're looking to build a relationship with a client, you're building this relationship with this client for them potentially to give you referrals in the future, for them to speak well of you, which is a major currency in being in this type of industry right, if you're doing that and you're approaching your clientele that way, it's going to grow, it's going to build more things. So just approaching things from wanting to be in relationship with the clientele is one way to look at it, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I love that Reputation or just people being you were pleasant, they were like that guy was awesome, he was nice, he listened to me.
Speaker 1:And he's smart Like let's go Love it.
Speaker 2:And you often emphasize art, craftsmanship and design.
Speaker 1:How does your appreciation for aesthetics play into the real estate work. So when I first got into industry I was quite in love with like design and all these elements. Now, as a realtor, the more you get into it. You're not necessarily designing the houses, but that's where that's coming from. So when I came into real estate, wanting to get into residential real estate, so I was at that crossroads where I was talking to these commercial real estate brokers and had a friend, a family, who was a developer and the developer was like give me your resume, I'm going to give it to this guy who's selling these kind of developments.
Speaker 1:That's kind of how I entered the residential side, what we had talked about earlier, yeah, when I was talking to the commercial brokers because having a background of business, business sales, I thought it might be a better fit for commercial brokerage doing leasing I wasn't finding that very appealing because we're talking about square footage and you're talking about like what's the q size of a cubicle? And you're gonna be talking to the office managers and I'd already done plenty of years of working with office managers, get them to lease copiers and I was like, okay, there's that residential. There's an emotional component to residential that you just don't see in the commercial side. Folks are gonna live there, they fall in love with it, the architecture I feel that it's more appealing, it just is more exciting, right. So I feel that's kind of how that happened and that's part of the reason why I'm in residential real estate is just, I found it more appealing.
Speaker 2:Okay, beautiful. Is there anything that I have not touched on that? Perhaps you want to get out there to your audience, or you just want industry people to know about you? Anything at all? You have the floor.
Speaker 1:I have the floor. Oh, that's like an open-ended question. Yeah, I'm supposed to talk like 10 minutes now.
Speaker 2:Well, I have these things I need to talk about. Sorry, you threw me a fastball there. Yes, you did Just put you on the spot?
Speaker 1:Yeah, whiff, I did not hit that one. No, I did not hit that one out of the park.
Speaker 2:I'm good at that.
Speaker 1:Well, I'd say, if you're getting into real estate, you need to be patient, you need to give it time, you need to put in a really good foundation and realize in a really good foundation and realize that putting in a good foundation isn't necessarily going to show you rewards today, but it's going to show you rewards five, 10 years down the road. For example, I have a client I'm working with right now that I've been following up with for 11 years. Sometimes it takes time, sometimes you just have to give it time for things to grow.
Speaker 2:Being patient with that.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely. If someone's looking to get into luxury real estate, I'd say you just got to keep plugging away and you got to put yourself in the right spot. So go to those broker opens, learn that market and just kind of get yourself. There is one way to do it, absolutely. And who else is going to watch this? Is it primarily going to be other realtors?
Speaker 2:Other realtors, entrepreneurs, potential clients. I know some people are just like Ooh, what realtors are there? I'm curious Um and even just your audience.
Speaker 1:They might want to see that, absolutely Definitely.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, I also wanted to ask you some rapid fire questions, just as we're getting to the end of this, so hopefully you you are open to that.
Speaker 1:Okay, what's one word your clients would use to describe working?
Speaker 2:with you, I hear calm all the time. Calm, calm, I like that.
Speaker 1:And I think it's important because oftentimes my clients are going to be going through a situation where they're having trouble being calm, and these are folks who are often professionally doing a lot of very big things, but when it comes to their own buying a house, buying and selling a house it's hard to be calm. So I add that element and I think it's helpful. It's helpful for the transactions, it's helpful for the client.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Helps them sleep at night, things like that Absolutely.
Speaker 2:You don't want to have someone who's like panicking oh my God, me too, I'm panicking this. You don't want to have someone who's like panicking oh my God, me too, I'm panicking. This is a terrible mix that doesn't help. We both don't sleep. And if you could list any iconic property in DC, past or present which one would it be?
Speaker 1:Iconic building, past or present? In DC, there's so many great buildings. Most of them are still here. Iconic building in Washington DC Well, we would talk about the DC monuments and all that, but those aren't residential, no. And there's some great properties in Georgetown, but now their names are coming to the top of my head right now.
Speaker 2:There's that house that has the exorcist stairs. It's that iconic. Yeah, you're like no ma'am, no I would not name the exorcist stairs.
Speaker 1:No, that iconic. Yeah, you're like, no, ma'am. No, I would not name the exorcist stairs. Um, I would say, just in dc, if we're talking about iconic, then we're talking about a historic house in alexandria or georgetown and it's kind of, you know, uh, 18 like 20s row home, red brick, um maybe painted white, with um iron railings. I think just those are the iconic buildings. I think of our, of our era or our area. That is Yep.
Speaker 2:What is the biggest lesson you've learned in real estate that school never taught you.
Speaker 1:That is a good one. Well, I didn't learn finance and managing your books in college, so I think that is a crucial thing to do and to learn as a realtor, because, as any entrepreneur, you need to balance your books, and if you can't balance your books, at the end of the day, all the other stuff is for nothing.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:So that was not something we were taught in school.
Speaker 2:Yes, Dropped a bomb there.
Speaker 1:No, I'm just kidding your go-to strategy for recharging after a long week of negotiations and showings. They would be decompressing. Sometimes what you need to do is block off a little time period. To not do something is helpful. Block off a little time period to not do something is helpful. Other things are going for a three or four or five mile run at kind of like 5 am and getting that out of the day, going to the gym and working out and getting a steam. That helps. All these things help. Doing a podcast on a Wednesday On a Wednesday.
Speaker 2:A random Wednesday morning this is always fun. Wednesday On a Wednesday a random Wednesday morning this is always fun. Good, I'm glad. Okay, last one If you weren't in real estate, what dream career would you be pursuing right now? Or maybe this is already it.
Speaker 1:If I were having a dream career, it would be real estate related. It just probably would be a different scale than I'm doing it right now. Okay, beautiful, love it.
Speaker 2:So you kind of already where you want it to be.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So still in real estate? Okay, and now this is my final question. I promise I swear I could keep you here all day, but I know you're busy. If you could leave us with an inspiring quote, or maybe a mantra or something you like to live your life by, or maybe somebody told you something that resonated with you, what would that message or quote be?
Speaker 1:Well, I was I, so I'm on this like pot. It's not a podcast.
Speaker 2:I guess it's a podcast I speak on a podcast about once a week.
Speaker 1:Is it your own? It's not my own. It's like this group. It's a 5 AM call we do it's. It's called the catalyst call.
Speaker 1:Uh, so I'm often coming up with stuff like this for my calls and I was thinking recently because I'm getting ready to do one again tomorrow and I was thinking about just kind of mantras that we should, as real estate professionals, we should live, and I was thinking about how it's important for us to be polite, professional, positive.
Speaker 1:To do that and also, at the same time, these are things that I live by is I don't speak about religion and I don't speak about politics with my clientele and if you look anywhere on my social media you don't see any whiff of that Because ultimately, what I see as realtors is we're here to serve clienteles or serve clients, and they're coming to us at a moment where they're looking to buy or sell house and they don't necessarily need my other distractions. What else is going on in my life, what I'm thinking, my other energies. I'm here to serve, just like an attorney or a doctor, and my job is here. So if you're a doctor and you're going in for ankle surgery, you don't need your doctor being very upset about something or trying to convince you of something that has nothing to do with your ankle.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So my job is to serve my clientele, to make sure that they're able to successfully buy or sell that house, and they've been able to achieve their goal. Now there's going to be circumstances out there where it's a tough market. Maybe they've brought on a house where the market's shifted and that housing type is not popular anymore, or the way in which they redesigned the house 10 years ago is not considered popular and they're having a tough time selling the house and they're in a financial bind. Or let's say they're looking to buy a house and let's say they're a federal employee and now things are a little tricky for them as far as getting their financing. So they don't need any other energies from me.
Speaker 2:And all the noise that's already going on everywhere, when they're going through that.
Speaker 1:What they need is positive. They need me to be polite and they need to help me guide them through that process and be calm. And be calm because we need to make sure that this is as stressless as possible. To be honest with you, real estate sales buying a house and selling a house is very stressful for folks. So what they need is for folks to kind of de-stress it for them.
Speaker 2:Yes, right, absolutely. That is key advice, great to me. Wisdom, and sometimes I think we do get lost in all of that noise and we get caught up in that, but remember that you're here to serve people and provide an excellent experience for them Right. Exactly so, I think that's great and thank you for touching on that, and thank you for coming on here today, Absolutely Well.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:No problem, anytime.
Speaker 1:Pleasure.
Speaker 2:Yeah.