A Salute To All The Unprofessionals Out There

by Chris Johnson

Instigator, anthill kicker.

Author website

The word unprofessional has no meaning.  It’s designed to be vaguely insulting, and to be an ad hominem attack on someone that inconveniences a busy Realtor in the course of his or her day.  Nobody wants to be unprofessional. Folks sling it around on twitter on a daily basis.  Follow the #RTB hashtag for details.  It’s an insult below the surface: any agent  that doesn’t immediately cater to the irrelevant demands of a competitor risks being called unprofessional.  When I was a mortgage broker, I was first called “unprofessional” when I didn’t want to listen to the pitch of a dumpy salesperson that walked unbidden into my office.   I see it coming: another coercive assault on innovation, on hustle, on passion.    Anything that rocks the boat is to be called unprofessional.

Unprofessional.

What, then, is a professional?   Congenial, and cowed.  They wear the yokes of the big brokers proudly, making nice at the big agent meetings and the Barcamps and the other exercises in irrelevance that show that they are people people. These professionals sell but few houses, but dog gone it, they do it in a way that their other professionals don’t object to.  They attend their board meetings and they advocate rulings that help one another…and in the name of more standards (for others), they add paperwork and tedium to the job of representing buyers, sellers and borrowers.

And if you glance askance at any idea, you run the risk of being called unethical in addition to unprofessional.

The real aim, of course is to have a cushy job that requires little.  To not adapt and help.  To innovate so very slowly, and of course to prevent anyone else  from entering into their space.  Of course, they all stick together.  People are professionals because they say they are, not because they care about their clients, innovation or anything else.  What is a real estate professional?  Probably someone that sells 3 homes in a calendar year and returns calls 40% of the time.  That’s probably a higher standard than 80% of the NAR reaches.

Our #RTB movement (which other word often precedes “movement”) is attempting to “professionalize” the industry. Thank God.    This professionalism is coercive, first at the social level, and soon, at the government level.  Those that are in it now don’t have a clue that they are being used as pawns. The beneficiary of their work will soon be the State, as the burden of compliance and entry makes it all largely irrelevant.  First, we make the rules such that favor established people, then we get pissed when the scorpion stings us.

I had a fascinating conversation with an #RTB crybaby a few moments ago.  He apparently overstepped his permission to call.  A real estate agent, possibly at the end of a long day, called him a “F#@%ing spammer….via voice mail.    I asked him why he  cared.

To recap, and because I was apparently unclear, I added this:

1. Clint Miller had (or believed he had) permission to call an agent.
2. Agent wasn’t responsive/interested.
3. Clint kept calling anyway (which is fine)
4. Agent wanted Clint to stop calling, and used colorful language.
5. Clint’s feelings were hurt, and lacking the mental capacity to be introspective in that moment, he used a flimsy pretense to get offended.
6. He took the time out of his day to call the agent’s BROKER.
7. The agent’s broker was pissed.
8. Clint was so proud of himself that he bragged about this, and didn’t back down because of, you know #RTB.

People have rejected many of  my pitches.  My answer?  Make my pitches better.  Duh.  Then they like it better. I’ve been (sorta rightly) called a spammer.  Guess what I did?  I added more value and focus on helping other people.  They stopped calling me a spammer, and started thanking me for the efforts I made.   Hello?  Rejection is feedback, and feedback makes you better.

It would be moronic to say: “Hey, you were tired of my pitch and moved to call me a  spammer.  I’m telling.”   Instead: is she right?  Or is she full of it? Tattling is exactly what our Clint thought was best.   (FWIW, Clint you hustle and are salvageable.   I’ve been dead wrong a lot, and I’ve had the benefit of friends and strangers helping light the way for me.  I’m hoping to do that for you.  I know you’ll eventually come around, and I hope that it’s sooner rather than later….for your sake.)

Our Clint personifies RTB at its core: if someone doesn’t behave how you want, get coercive.  Let your base instincts out, and paint them with the “unprofessional” brush.   It’s not live and let live.  It’s live our way, right now, or we’ll trash you.  (Hint: I’m not attacking Clint, only his behavior).   This is proof. The sad thing is that our Clint is proud of this behavior–and not aghast.  How can he do differently? He’s got a goofy gaggle of groaning nincompoops telling him ‘atta boy.’  Improvement is hard.  Accountability, harder.

Fire up the wayback machine to 2nd grade, it’s time to tattle again.  It was a grave insult to be a tattle-tale when I was a child.   They were the lowest of the low.   Scum.  Now?  #RTB is giving us tattle tale training as if preventing “unprofessionalism” is something to aspire to.  First, we report to our RTB cohort, then when they are fully absorbed by the State we will be well trained to help police our fellow citizens and prevent crimethink. Can’t wait.

For more  fun facts about professional cowardice and #RTB Click here.