I read something earlier that got me thinking about  balancing professional distance and friendship. A blog suggested that it is  wrong to have very many listings because it would take away from the time you could devote to a single client. According to  him, all your time should be spent on this 'friendship' and it's development is the ultimate goal.

Think about it. Sure, some  of our clients are friends. That's why they listed with us or are viewing properties with us in the first place. But do we cultivate true friendships with every client? Spend all our  time on the phone with them? Invite them over for drinks and dinner? I don't think so. It is always better to develop a friendly relationship, true. But true friendship? We owe our clients honesty in the first place. Sometimes, many times, true friends don't hurt our feelings by telling us that our avocado color scheme is dated and the beer bong  collection is in poor taste.

Limiting your listings so you can sing Kumbaya with your few clients is unproductive and worse a disservice to the clients you do have. Activity breeds activity and volume breeds volume. Having multiple listings provides many  opportunities for networking which  will  help all of your clients. It does take organization and dedication to the job. It does take an effort to provide for the clients needs and some are needier than others. It does take professionalism and courtesy. At a certain level, it does take some help/support to make sure all the T's are crossed and I's dotted and nothing falls through the cracks.  

We absolutely have an obligation to our clients to understand their needs, desires, wants & goals and then to help them achieve them. Warm cocoa & Kumbaya ain't gonna get it done. Hard work and professional  effort will.

Happy Closings,

Chris :)