The Savvy Agent: Increase Your Referrals-Eliminate Liability
TWO TOP TOPICS DISCUSSED BY REAL ESTATE AGENTS ARE:
HOW TO INCREASE REFERRALS, AND HOW TO ELIMINATE LIABILITY.
FINALLY, A CLEAR AND SIMPLE PLAN TO DO BOTH!
Exposure to risk and associated liability tends to center around the subject of lawsuits. Truth be told, the number of actual lawsuits filed against real estate agents is quite low. And of those the number of suits with merit such that a payment is quite is minuscule.
If the facts support the idea that the real risk of a lawsuit is quite low and the risk of a payout even lower, why then is there such concern about lawsuits?
The real risk faced by real estate agents is NOT that of being sued. The real risk is in the damage done to future referrals by the feelings of the customer that the agent has not served them well.
Nathan Thornberry grew up in the risk management business. Nathan is not an attorney, nor were his parents. Nathan’s mother, Patty, was a top-producing real estate agent, and his father, Phil, was a home inspector. Who says love doesn’t happen in strange ways?
Growing up, Nathan had an up-close and personal view of life as a top-producing real estate agent, as well as the life of a home inspector. He vowed that his life would be different.
Having heard the stories of liability and lawsuit fears in his formative years, Nathan sought to solve the problems of his parents. As soon as he was of legal age, he took action.
At the tender age of 18, Nathan Thornberry became the Founder and President of Residential Warranty Services, Inc.
Now barely into his 30s, Nathan has built a juggernaut of a warranty company, which operates in all 50 states and in Canada.
What Nathan discovered early on — and it’s superbly articulated in his book “The Savvy Agent” — is that the risk in real estate is not in what the agent does or does not do, nor is it in what the home inspector does or does not do; The risk is in the “gaps” between what the agent and inspector can do to reduce risk AND the expectations of the home-buyer. The role of agent and inspector is to reduce risk; not assume it!
Nathan shares that the expectation of the buyer is that they are shielded from risk based on the their trust in their agent and inspector. After closing, the new homeowner seeks relief.
What goes wrong in the home is most often small in actual expense. What’s huge is the angst, frustration and fear that they have been sold a money pit by the agent, and the inspector must have missed something, or NOTHING would ever go wrong.
What goes wrong is seldom covered by homeowner’s insurance and often not covered by traditional warranties. The agent did nothing wrong. The inspector did not miss it. It’s just that something is wrong NOW and there is a gap between what the need is and what the expectation was. In his book, Nathan shares how to bridge those gaps.
When gaps are bridged and the homeowner is made whole, the referrals can continue and risk is reduced. The secrets to bridging the gap between the joy of home-buying and the joy of homeownership is what “The Savvy Agent: Increase Your Referrals-Reduce Your Liability” is all about.
