When I worked at the bookstore (Ballenford Books, Toronto's specialty architecture bookstore that I owned for 12 years) I always looked forward to a special order. If a customer was looking for a book by a publisher I had never sourced before, from a country I had never shipped from before, in a language I had never tried to communicate in before, I loved it. I looked forward to them in fact, and the weirder the better.
I embraced special orders, recognizing that if I was willing to do the difficult, I would be worth seeking out. I never begrudged them, no matter how unprofitable that one particular order of a small little known book from Finland that only one person would find of interest, would be. My responsiveness to special orders is how I continually discovered new things - an author, an architect, a publisher, a shipping process. I welcomed the learning it provided and as a happy result, it is also how I earned my loyal clientele.
I guess I could have approached it differently. I could have instead pushed onto customers what I already had on the shelves and knew inside and out. It would have been a far easier and faster way to make a sale. Encouraging customers to limit their interests to what I had already sourced, tried and knew, would of course been an easier and efficient way to work.
But I didn't. I respected the individual too much to work it that way.
The manner that I approach my work in real estate is no different. A client asked me recently, "how do like this listing, now that you are aware of how challenging and time consuming it as been for you?" Upon reflection, this is my answer. Her listing was more than a much appreciated work and learning opportunity. It was an honour to act as her realtor on such challenging terrain for a person I grew to respect and admire greatly. I'm a much better realtor now for having accomplished the feat and am proud of my contribution to her greater good.
She hired me because she appreciated my utter commitment to the process - make that HER process. She had a hunch that my diligent, patient and empathetic handling of her move was a rare thing to find. As I intuited my way to help her daily, distilling her next best steps, she was repeatedly reminded that she had made the right choice.
Perhaps you didn’t know that your real estate deal could be special ordered? Well ... you do now.
Place your special order here > sdelean@sutton.com / 416.966.0300
