What I’ve learned…from my wife
Welcome to another installment of “What I’ve Learned.” This one is a bit trickier, because I’ve learned a lot more from my wife than what I’m writing about here. Yesterday was Father’s Day. I’m not a big fan of getting gifts; I just never seem to know how to properly react and I always feel a bit awkward for some reason. My wife, on the other hand, is a great gift giver. She loves it, and it really makes her happy. It’s the way that my wife gives gifts that has taught me a valuable lesson about life and business.
For starters, my wife is a great shopper. She’ll pick up things at garage sales and from thrift stores that totally buck the stereotype. Things that look (and often are) brand new, she’ll find for $1-$2. Saving money is a gift in itself to me; I tend to be a bit cheap, so knowing that not much money was spent on me makes me pretty happy. But the gifts that she gives are pretty amazing, too. When asked, I’ll always say I don’t want anything, because that’s generally true. That puts my wife in a tough position, because she wants to get me something I’d like, but I don’t offer any help. So she listens, and watches, all the time. I’ll get gifts that I really do want, but didn’t think to ask for (like a fertilizer spreader, or a high powered lawn sprinkler). How’d she know that I wanted those things? At little points in seemingly insignificant conversations, I mention them, mostly just in passing, and she listens.
That’s a good practice for life and for my real estate business. Many real estate agents have the saying, “Buyers are liars.” I think that’s horrible–and bogus. Often when a buyer tells you want they want in a home, they don’t really know, or can’t think it all the way through. “Well, we’d like at least 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms would be nice, I’d like a big garage, and a nice yard would be good.” That’s standard, and many agents rush out to find that house. But WHY? What would a big garage do for you? Would a workshop be as nice? What would having a nice yard look like for your family? Would being next to a park do the same thing? Really listening to home buyers and learning what they want is a skill. Not just listening to what they say when they tell you what they want, but listening to what they say when they walk through a house, or drive through a neighborhood. Giving my home buyers the gift of the perfect home is a great aspect of my career. I don’t know that I’ll ever be the gift-giver that my wife is, but I do know that I always give my full attention and best efforts to match my clients with a great gift…the gift on the perfect home.
Dad’s day gift photo courtesy of Nadia308 and Flickr. Gift house photo courtesy of H Dickens and Flickr.
