Last year, I completed all the coursework for my GRI training. There’s a lot of Realtors out there who think those Realtor designations are a bunch of hooey – and maybe they are, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with trying to better oneself with a little education. It may be that most of what they taught in the the training was fluff, but how much of the time you spent in your University classes was really time well spent? Exactly.
One of the GRI classes I took, I forget which, talked about how it’s a good idea to wear “branded” clothing. Like, if you are a Century 21 agent, you should go around in a spiffy gold sport coat (muffled laughter). The idea being, people see you in your Realtor garb, and they say, “Hey, you’re a Realtor?” and you get to talking, and end up listing their house or helping them buy one.
The gold sport coat would be a little…how you say…alien here in Santa Cruz, and I don’t work for Century 21, anyway. However, I did attend a GRI class up in Sacramento (a useless one on Technology in Real Estate, I think I’ve got that part covered), and they had a pretty cool “Realtor” shop with a bunch of swell knick-knacks like yard signs, closing gifts, and…a huge selection of Realtor shirts.
I picked up four – just polo shirts in different colors with the Realtor R on them. I often wear them when I am showing property, or doing various errands in my professional capacity. Yesterday, I had one of my Realtor shirts on as I was walking around the Tapestry Arts Festival in San Jose. And there, in a booth selling clever T-shirts, a guy asked me, for the first time in a year: “Hey, are you a Realtor?”
In the GRI class, they even said, “And if even just once a year, someone asks you if you are a Realtor because of the clothing, is it not worth it?” And here it had happened, pretty much just like they said it would. The T-shirt guy and I talked for about 15 minutes. I ended up giving him my card. Unfortunately, he’s in San Jose and I don’t really specialize in San Jose, but if someone wants to buy a house over there and use me as their agent, I’m game. There’s enough San Jose agents selling Santa Cruz Real Estate, and turn about is fair play.
So the next time you see me sportin’ my Realtor shirts, please be sure and muffle your laughter, too. 🙂
