Baseball & Real Estate
Baseball & Real Estate
Recently I was watching the baseball playoffs when the sports announcer said, “All great hitters wait for the right pitch. They don’t chase the balls outside the strike zone”. What can a real estate agent learn from great hitters in the game of baseball?
If a great batter must wait for the right pitch, a great real estate agent needs to be selective in the clients they work with. Most top producers are selective in the buyers and sellers they choose to retain. The purpose of a listing appointment is not to get the listing. The goal is to interview the seller, determine if they are serious about selling, and worth representing.
When I was new in the real estate business I "chased balls outside my strike zone". I wanted to be the lister of the month. Those awards filled not only a space on my wall; they filled a place in my soul where more important things belonged. On one occasion I listed a linen supply business for a client in a town that was over 100 miles away from our office. That listing was way outside my "strike zone". I recently had a listing in Florence expire. What was I thinking when I took that listing? Strike three.
Ted Williams, at age 42, slammed a home run in his last official time at bat. Micky Mantle, age 20, hit 23 home runs his first full year in the major leagues. Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times, but he also hit 714 home runs. These baseball greats didn’t worry about their failures. There secret was they were very patient, and waited for the right pitches.
