Our Jerry Maguire moment as Realtors June 3, 2013

My husband Scott and I recently went on our annual week vacation; by the way Scott is also a Realtor. We prepared all of our clients, title agents and our fellow Realtors that we would be going on a Cruise and unable to be contacted. We were very diligent in thinking of every possible scenario that could become a challenge in our absence and we put in place steps for parties in the transactions to follow if they were to occur. We stepped on the ship and shut down our phones, put on our sunscreen and we were in Cruise mode.

As Realtors we all know how necessary vacations are. As Realtors we all fear something will go wrong with our Pending transactions while we’re on vacation. So how does this work, how can we enjoy our vacation that is overdue and needed to maintain our Family life? You just do!

It was when we were on our Cruise that both Scott and I had a Jerry Maguire moment. It was on this vacation that we both solidified we are doing things right. Not by making money right but Right meaning by people right. Let me explain.

The Cruise has an Art Auction which my Husband Scott had encouraged me to attend, having never attended an Art Auction and a lover of Art we attended. We had the best time; we enjoyed the Art, the stories behind the Artists and energy in the gallery. The auction lasted about an hour and a half, we had champagne and were given a auction paddle for bidding and bid we did. I have to admit we were caught up in the Art, the emotion of the artist’s stories and the energy from the auctioneer. Next thing you know we committed to $380.00 in Art, which we couldn’t have been more thrilled. After the auction a member of the Gallery comes to you and scheduled a time for you to come in and settle the payment. No problem we said they had 6pm available. When 6pm came we were there and the $380 turned into $2300 with framing and shipping. Still fine about it, we left about 7pm.

Fast forward to the last day of the Cruise and yet another Auction and another $5000 later, yes we bought more Art. We went back at 6pm to settle, then to the Customer Service desk to add another credit card then back to the fun. We went to dinner and gave our well wishes and tips to the dinner team and we were off to the Casino. We played penny slots and on our 3rd spin we won $983, I know right? We couldn’t believe it, we were so excited and our server was excited too and behind us was also our Gallery Rep who didn’t seem excited. We’re all smiles and he just tells us he had the ship service dept track us down by where we using our sign and sail cards last. We’re like HUH? He goes on to tell us the 2nd credit card could not be charged without removing the first credit card on the account and he had to balance the books. The gallery rep had a tone and insisted we go to Customer Service to handle this immediately. Scott said we have plans for the comedy show and it will have to wait until we return. The gallery rep once again insisted we take care of this now and again with the tone. We were both firm and said after the show.

So we went to the show, it was hilarious the comedian was new to the ship and we never laughed so hard. When the show was over we stand up to leave and who was behind us, you got it the Gallery Rep. Enough was enough, Scott and I looked at each other like are we being stalked? Again the Gallery Rep with his tone and insistence. This was enough, we told him to cancel the 2nd auction items and we’ll just take our 1st day pieces he would not take no for an answer and asked us to come to the Gallery with him. Keep in mind, the money at this point was not the issue. We did go back to the gallery, and it just went from bad to worse. We told him again, we’ll take the 1st day art and cancel the 2nd. The Gallery rep went on to tell us how he had to get up very early and had still to balance his books. At no point was the conversation about us, our love for the art, our last day of vacation and it being 2am. For a fourth time we told him to cancel the 2nd order and he made the fatal mistake of calling me “Sweetheart”. My husbands said don’t call her Sweetheart and I also said DO NOT call me Sweetheart. I gave him a lecture about how to treat clients and about what was right, what he did wrong and how his condescending words made me feel belittled. Ending my speech with Cancel everything! Scott and I exited the Gallery at 2:30am on our last night of our vacation feeling frustrated, angry and disappointed.

Sleeping was difficult; we just couldn’t understand this type of treatment from someone. We understand sales; we’re in sales we get it but like this. Never!

The next day, my Husband Scott and I talked about it some more. This is when we had our Jerry Maguire moment. We always knew we were doing things right by the families we worked with, but we never gave ourselves the credit we deserve. We put the money aside on every transaction and put the people first. The pay will follow once the family is taken care of and the job is done. We understand that when you’re Business Owners like we are the bottom line is important for the company to thrive and grow. We understand that a Company can’t stay in business unless it profits. We understand the economics of Business Development. But….. we also see how many families we help, with our competence and caring attitude. Scott and I are giving ourselves a big pat on the back because we are in it for the right reasons for our values, our families and our Clients.

It took Scott and I to be treated poorly to really understand what is most important to us as Business Owners and Realtors. It took our vacation our one week that we allow ourselves per year to finally get it and say to each another, “You’re doing it right!” “Good Job!” and “Keep up the good work”!

When you hire an agent ask them to show you their approval letters or some of their closed sales. You want to have an expert on your side. At Asset One Realty, Wendy and I have this knowledge and we have the documentation to back it up. Remember foreclosure is the last resort. Contact us at our Web Site or Short Sale Answers this site has videos of the 5 most asked questions regarding a short sale and video testimonials from our clients. Email us direct at paganorealtor@gmail.com or assetonebroker@gmail.com

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