“Edward!” She exclaimed. “I don’t know what to do! I’ve never been in this position before! I’ve been an agent for 3 years now and this is my first time being a dual agent. How do you do it??”

So this question earlier this week got me thinking.... how do I do it? I’ve been doing it for so long that dual-representation has become the norm for me. I don’t even think about it anymore. But after putting some thought into it here’s what I have come up with.

1. Transparency

Whether I am representing the buyer or not, I always disclose all the facts. Period. I figured a long time ago that since most of our clientele are astute investors, they’re going to find out anyway, so might as well get ahead of the ball.

I’ve heard other people in the industry say “I’m not going to disclose that because then they’re going to ask for a discount. It’s not my job to do their job for them”. But see that’s the thing, I kinda feel like it is. And because sleep is so important to me and I always want to get a good nights sleep. I don’t want things like “omitting facts” hanging over my head.

2. Understanding

A car salesman once told me that he would tell his clients “Ok we’re going to get in that room and we can either cry and complain like babies, or we can compromise and get shit done like men”. For some reason that stuck with me. Because it made me realize that a client is never going to get every single thing they want. Because even when they do, they want more! Therefore it’s a never ending story.

So with that in mind I started approaching clients differently. I work to understand what is most important to them and what is least important to them. So I can focus on getting them what really matters, and compromise on what doesn’t. Every negotiation requires compromise. But a client always walks away happy when they get what they really wanted.

3. Fight for Your Client, and Then Tell the Story

After helping a client achieve a record price for her triplex in Silverlake she tells me “Edward... I just feel like you didn’t fight for me…” Even though I did! She felt like I didn’t! So it made me wonder... what does that even mean?? And what did I do or not do to make her feel that way?

I quickly realized that she felt that way because every time I would call her to negotiate I would only explain what the buyer wanted, but I never spent any time telling her how I fought for her. If the buyer was asking for a $50k discount, I didn’t explain to her how first he originally wanted $75k but I brought him down.

This is when I realized the power of stories. People don’t know how hard you work for them unless you tell them the story. Think about it. You could be busting your ass working 50 hours a week for them, but they don't see that so they will never know that - unless you tell them the story. After that I made it a point to become the best story teller ever.

Of course you want to be honest and ethical and look out for everyone’s best interest. But I feel like all those things go without saying. I used to think I had to get the buyer the lowest price ever and the seller the highest price ever. What does that even look like? I would stress out trying to figure out how that equation works... until I realized that’s not what the goal is.

Win-Win

The goal is to get everyone the best deal possible. Just because the buyer feels he got a good deal doesn’t mean the seller didn’t. There’s always a win-win situation as long as you’re committed to both sides. If you can help everyone get what they really want, everyone will always walk away happy. Everyone will always say it’s price but if you dig deep down you’ll tend to find there’s more layers to it.