Relationship Management:: 6 Bad Client Behaviors You'll Encounter

From the hard-to-please to the angry customer, difficult clients can make your job tough. Learn how to break the tension and salvage the relationship for six bad common client behaviors.

Do you have a client driving you crazy? Emotions can charge in a real estate transaction — especially nowadays — and you may increasingly find yourself working with nagging, impossible to please, overly negative, or know-it-all types that, well, might be starting to drive you a little nuts.

Sellers are upset over falling home prices; buyers may be dissatisfied with stalled negotiations or blaming you for their financing fiascos. Whatever the case, there’s a lot of unhappiness out there among buyers and sellers in a transaction — and you’re caught in the middle.

Complex short sale transactions, in particular, can understandably have your clients on edge. For example, Renee Sabath with Realty One Group in Las Vegas says she once had clients tell her, two days before closing on a trustee sale, that their friends had been advising her that the transaction could be handled differently. She had to provide plenty of reassurance to her questioning clients that she had their best interests in mind and were guiding them in the right direction.

But sometimes plenty of reassurance just won’t work. Sabath also has had clients she actually had to “fire” during the past two years.

“Doing a short sale is hard work and the payoff for me can take six months or even longer,” she says. “If the client does not return my calls or does not provide me with the necessary paperwork, I will tell them they are tying my hands, and I have given back listings when the seller is not performing. … Some people just need our guidance and patience, while I strongly feel there are people who we would be helping more to walk away from.”

Meet Six Difficult Clients
While you might not be able to win over every client, you can improve your client relationships — no matter how impossible they seem to please — by blending your communication styles and with lots of understanding along the way, says motivational speaker and bestselling author, Rick Brinkman who has written several books on dealing with difficult people, including Love Thy Customer (McGraw-Hill, 2005).

Here are six common difficult client behaviors that Brinkman has identified and strategies for winning over each:

1. Think-They-Know-It-All
How to identify them: You tell the sellers that their house should be listed at the price you’ve identified, but these clients know better than you. In fact, they know everything — at least they think they do. These clients’ know-it-all attitude has their ego front and center.

How to deal with them: Ask a lot of questions about what they say. “What will happen is they will quickly hit bottom,” Brinkman says. “They don’t have depth to their knowledge.” So, the best thing you can do is take a curious attitude and ask more and more specific questions until they start making big generalizations. Eventually, they’ll realize they don’t know as much as they’re professing.

However, be careful not to step on their ego. You want to derail bad ideas, not embarrass them. So, for example, refer to documentation in a nonthreatening way (e.g., “Have you seen this article?”) to make your point.

2. The Yes Person
How to identify them: These customers are highly agreeable but slow to deliver. Their people-pleasing tendency may get in the way of providing you with honest, valuable feedback to move forward in a transaction.

How to deal with them: Make it safe for these customers to be honest with you and show them there will be no relationship consequence if they say something negative. For example, say, “If none of these houses work for you, Mr. Buyer, it’s totally OK to tell me.”

You’ll need to make guesses at what they’re thinking so you can then provide such reassurance to them that it’s safe to provide honest feedback. By doing so, you’ll actually create a customer for life — they’ll perceive you as being sensitive to their feelings, Brinkman says.

3. The No Person
How to identify them: They’re discouraging and pessimistic. They’ll probably find something wrong with every house you show them or any idea you present for selling their house.

How to deal with them: Break them out of their negativity. Take out a piece of paper, draw a line in the center, and ask them to list positives on one side and negatives on the other about the house they’re viewing. Ask for the negatives first, since that’s more on their mind, Brinkman notes. Once they’ve exhausted the negatives, refocus their attention to list a few positives.

Remember, the No Person tends to zoom in only on negatives — so a No Person who sees three things wrong with a home thinks everything is wrong with it and will be unable to focus on any positives. The paper-pen method will help you to refocus the No Person’s attention on finding something positive. Plus, after a few homes, you’ll be able to develop a list of criteria to show deal-breakers and what the client really desires in a home.

4. The Nothing Person
How to identify them: They tell you nothing, providing no feedback, verbal or nonverbal. You may grind to a halt with a Nothing Person because “I don’t know” is often the first response to practically anything you ask.

How to deal with them: Try to guess at how they feel in a situation and offer statements to pry something out of them. Using the paper-pen method suggested above, you’ll likely need to guess the pros and cons to put on the lists about the houses rather than rely on them telling you (e.g., “This home has the open floor plan with the kitchen and living room. I’m guessing that’s a positive for you, right?”). They’ll be more apt to provide you with feedback on whether your guess is right or wrong. Don’t worry about guessing wrong — the aim is to get them to open up and externalize their thought process, Brinkman says.

5. The Tank
How to identify them: They are pushy, ruthless, and loud. They rant when something upsets them. They demand action. For example, “How dare you suggest listing my house for such a low price. You have no clue what you’re talking about!”

How to deal with them: Give the Tank 60 seconds to vent, no more and no less. If you allow a Tank to go longer, the verbal attack will escalate and it’ll be difficult to refocus. So after the 60-second tirade, interrupt using your client’s name and highlight some of the rant to show you were listening and reassure that you’re on the same side (e.g. “John, John. We both care about getting the most for your property. I heard you say ...”)

Then, repeat three of the statements you heard, Brinkman says. Why three? Brinkman, a naturopathic physician, calls it the generalization point, in which after repeating three statements back to a person that recounts what the customer said that person then subconsciously truly feels heard.

After you do a playback of what they said, offer your bottom-line solution, but make your solution direct and to the point. Tanks appreciate assertiveness.

6. The Grenade
How to identify them: You’ll feel like you want to take cover. The Grenade provides unwarranted tantrums that seem disproportionate to the circumstance. Unlike the Tank, who usually has a focused argument, the Grenade surfaces as explosive rants on anything and everything.

How to deal with them: Don’t give Grenades any time to vent: They feed on their negative energy, and it’ll only make them more angry. Immediately raise your voice to interrupt, using their name (e.g. “John, John. I care, I care ... You don’t have to feel this way. We’re going to work this out.”)

Don’t tell them to calm down; you’ll only make them more irate. Instead, you calm down: Take a breath and relax your tone, Brinkman suggests. Say: “Let’s take a moment and talk about it.” You want to create a break in the conversation to allow them time to calm down so they’ll be able to refocus on what their true concerns are.

Article written by: 
Melissa Dittmann Tracey is a contributing editor for REALTOR® magazine. She can be reached at mtracey@realtors.org Click here for full article and resource: click here

How Congress Has Changed

Although congress can be seen by the American public as the gathering of a set number of individuals united for an optimal cause, however, congress have made huge changes since its creation in late 1700s.  The main purpose of the paper is to discuss how congress has changed over the course of its creation by comparing its priorities today to the reason for its creation.  From a close observation of today’s congress, it has become eminent that individualism, partisanship and special interest have plagued the legislative body; thus contradicting the ideas of representation that the founders had in mind.  In addition, another aspect of congress that needs to be evaluated is how well it carries out its assigned duties by the constitution like taxing, balancing of budget and balancing of power etc.            
In 1789 during the creation of the 1st congress, the apportionment of seats in the house of representative and senate was based on the terms made in the Article 1, Section 2 Clause 3 of the United States constitution for the purpose of representing the people.  One major concern about government to the founders is to avoid any branch of government (executive, legislative or judiciary) from being absolute.  As a solution to deal with this concern, also in Article 1 Section 2 Clause 3 of the Constitution is the provision for term limits for congressman, which reasserts the power back to the public to curb the government if ambitious.  The objectives and symbolism of congress is to make laws and represent the United States citizens, but starting from the 1950’s there have been a great deal of individualism and intense partisanship that have characterized the senate and the House (Sinclair 18).  Members of congress become individualistic because they feel that they have to submit to their own self-interest and the interest of their party instead of the well being of the people.  Furthermore, this means voting in line with their party if in control.  For example, in today’s government is has become evident that a republican as president and a congress with liberal democrats wouldn’t have the same set of approval for legislations.
           
According to Roger Davidson in the “Congress and Its Members”, the proximate goal for everyone in congress is to get reelected as much as possible (Davidson 5).  Davidson explained the dual nature of congress by emphasizing that members of congress vote in accordance with the hope securing their sit for the future or preserving the interest of their political party.  First, the primary goals of congress as Davidson explain does not include the interest of the people that help get them elected into office.  For instance, Davidson’s findings are evident in today’s senate because there are some senators that have held their seat for over 30 years.  Congress is the result of people with different points of view, values, and experiences sitting down together to reason with one another and search for common ground. This is precisely what Congress was designed to foster, and it is what we lose when Congress decides that supporting the party leader is more important than upholding its rights and duties as the institution that most fully represents the American people.  Thus, Roger Davidson pointed out the motives of the modern day legislative body but the primary goal of congress should be to enact laws for the nation and place the interest of the country first; before any political party affiliation.
           
Congress today is judged by the policies it adopts and the ends it uses to tackle the current situation.  For example, when congress raise taxes to fund a program or war, its approval ratings in the public decreases; as a result of this circumstance congress let slip of its responsibilities.  The fear that they might loose the favor with their constituents and as a result cost them their job in the government.  Furthermore, as it has been stated in Article 1, Section 8 of the constitution that congress has the authority to provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States.
           
From my own viewpoint, I think congress have made changes over the years since its creation because of various reasons. First, is the diverse ethnicity, theme of independence in every American and the misconception about what the people really want.  There are different race and ethnicity in congress today in contrast to when it was first created.  Diverse race means diverse opinions about legislation in terms of looking out for one own native community.  As the future nears, American citizens are becoming more independent with different goals and beliefs about social, economical and political aspect about their daily life.  For example, there are thousands of opinion on issues like gay marriage, minimum wages and tax cut; which makes it hard for the government to make a decision without having to offend anyone point of view.
           
Finally, congress to the public is a group of individuals united for the common good of the country but certainly since its creation congress have made several changes in its values as a representative and law making institution.  In the United States today, congress have deviated from lending credence to the true ideology that requires them to place the interest of the public over theirs – individualism.  Every member of congress today wants reelection because it’s the only way to continue the interest of its political party or his or her own interest, which would lead them to vote in accordance to their party if in power – partisanship.  according to the specification of what the congress are supposed to consider its top priority its very clear that the United States congress is not placing the interest of the public over theirs first.

Written By:  William Onyedebelu 


Work Cited
Davidson, R (2008). Congress and its Members. Washington, DC: CQ Press.
Sinclair, B (2005). Congress Reconsidered. Washington, DC: CQ Press.

Meet Bill Flagg

Bill Flagg has been a Real Estate agent for 28 years, and a licensed Broker for 24 years. Since 1992, Bill has been a REO/Corporate Specialist, dealing almost exclusively with foreclosures. In 1997, Bill was nationally honored as the overall REO Achiever of the Year by Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association). This award was given based on several critical categories relative to REO disposition standards, including valuation accuracy, days on market, timeliness of closings, and reporting. 

Bill received the Premier Award for being first in the Northeast Region in actual sales price versus Broker Price Opinion in 1998 awarded by Fannie Mae. He was also awarded by the New Jersey Association of Realtors with the Gold Level of the Million Dollars Sales Club ($10,000,000+) in closed sales from 1993 to 2009, which places him in the Top 1% of all Realtors in New Jersey. He has also been ranked in the Top 10 nationally in the ERA Franchise System for closed transactions, from 1994 to 2000, and was in the Top 25 in 2009. 

Bill was named to the Wall Street Journal/Real Trends Top 400 in 2009. Bill has spoken at a number of REO conferences across the country for organizations such as REOMAC, Fidelity National Asset Management Solutions,( now LPS), and DS News, (now Five Star).  Locally, Bill is actively involved in Leadership with the New Jersey Association of Realtors (NJAR), the NJ CRS (Certified Residential Specialist) Chapter, and most recently as President of the Greater Union County Association of Realtors (2009 and 2010).

Bill is a member of NAR, NJAR, CRB, CRS, NAREB, NAHREP, REObroker, NRBA, as well as REOMAC. He is married to his sweetheart Cecilia, and has one son Travis.