I was cruising through Facebook today, as I’m wont to do, and came across a fellow real estate agent who was sitting in a training session in some other city that’s not as great as New Orleans. Hey, gotta get in a plug for the ‘hood, right? Anyway, my friend posted a photo of a someone on stage who said the first rule in following up with real estate inquiries is to “annoy”. In other words, be an annoying REALTOR.

Annoying

Let’s let that sink in for a moment.

He’s out there instructing agents to annoy people who contact them for information. Whether it’s about a particular listing, or they just signed up on a website to learn more about home buying, his first response is to be an annoying REALTOR.

This is the industry stuff that makes me fume.

If you ask most agents what drew them to real estate, the answer generally goes along the lines of “I like helping people”. Helping, not annoying. Educating, not annoying. Making buying and selling easier, not annoying.

His second piece of advice, after annoy, was apologize. Here’s a crazy thought. If he wasn’t deliberately annoying potential customers, he’d have no reason to apologize.

That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works. Or it shouldn’t be, anyway.

You have choices

When it’s time to buy a house, you have choices. You have the right to work with any agent that you like. Maybe it’s the annoying REALTOR. Maybe not.

Maybe it’s someone who will treat you like a person, instead of a lead. Perhaps it’s someone who wants to know what drives you, not the one who will drive you to drink. Call me crazy, but I don’t think your agent has to be annoying to be effective or successful.

There’s a better way.

Start your New Orleans home buying journey here – no annoying REALTOR allowed