How to Know It’s Time to Fire Your Client

Being a real estate agent is hard. You start each transaction by working hard to attract leads. You convince these leads and convert them into your clients. You then try to fulfill their demands by identifying properties matching their requirements or by finding buyers for their properties. You genuinely care for your clients and firing a client is not something that you really look forward to. But sometimes, it’s the best option to keep from wasting your time - time that could be spent on other, more profitable clients. Here are some of the signs that it’s time to let your client go.

Client does not respect you as a professional

If you feel you are not able to satisfy your client despite your best efforts, and that the client does not respect your advice as a professional, it is time to part ways. After all, you are a respectable agent and work for free until you have closed the deal for your client. There is no need to stick with a client who does not take you seriously.

You feel you are wasting your time

You will come across buyers and sellers who will make unreasonable demands and refuse to compromise, which leads to frustration and wasted effort on everyone’s part. As an agent, your time is costly, and you have limited amount of time to spend on a client. If you feel a client is being unreasonable and only trying to waste your time, it is better to fire them.

When a seller is not happy with the asking price

As a realtor, you spend a lot of time and energy researching and understanding the dynamics of a housing market. You study the comps to arrive at the fair market value of the property of the client. If the client wants a higher price for his property and refuses to settle for a more realistic price, it is better to leave the client because you know it will be very difficult to sell an overpriced property.

When buyer places unreasonable demands

Your client is dead-set on buying a property with a swimming pool, but he has a small budget. You try to reason with him that properties with swimming pools are priced highly but he refuses to listen to you and insists on finding a home with a swimming pool inside his budget. You will only be wasting your time and energy on such an unreasonable client with no results. It is better to get rid of that client so you can redirect your efforts towards other prospects. It’s never easy to tell a buyer or seller that you think they should work with someone else; however, it’s better to rip off the proverbial band-aid and end the professional relationship before there are too many negative feelings involved.