Every once in a while, I’ll hear a newer agent say they’re trying to build their real estate business. I know exactly what they mean because I know I said the same thing myself years ago. But the longer I’ve been around this industry, the more I think we’re describing the wrong business.
Yes, we help people buy and sell homes. We negotiate contracts, solve problems, and work our way through inspections, financing, and board approvals. Those are all part of what we do. But when I look at the agents who have built careers that lasted twenty or thirty years, I don’t think those careers were built on transactions and expertise alone.
They were built on the relationships they created and maintained.
The transaction was simply the event that introduced two people to one another.
That’s a different way of looking at our work.
When you’re new, it’s easy to think every day is about finding the next client. You spend a lot of energy worrying about where the next lead will come from, how many people attended your open house, or whether your marketing is producing enough opportunities. There’s nothing wrong with those questions. We all ask them.
What I’ve come to appreciate is that those questions should become less important as your business matures.
At some point, something changes.
Instead of wondering where the next client will come from, your phone begins ringing because someone remembered you. A past client mentions your name to a friend at dinner. Someone you’ve stayed in touch with for years finally decides it’s time to move. A former buyer calls because their sister is looking for an apartment.
Those moments don’t happen by accident.
They’re the result of dozens of small interactions that seemed almost insignificant when they happened. A thoughtful follow-up. A phone call after the closing just to see how things were going. Remembering that your client had a new baby or started a new job. None of those things create an immediate commission, but together they create something much more valuable.
They create trust.
I sometimes think newer agents underestimate how much people simply want to feel remembered. Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest events in someone’s life. If you’re the person who helped them through that experience, they’ll often remember you for years. The question is whether you’ll remember them.
That’s why I don’t think we’re really in the transaction business.
I think we’re in the relationship business, and every transaction is simply an opportunity to begin one.
Once I started looking at real estate that way, the business made a lot more sense.
The closings were still important, but they stopped feeling like the finish line.
They became the beginning.
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