Complaint Season - How Best to Avoid it

 Complaint Season: The Hidden Productivity Killer in Real Estate (And How to Beat It!)

After 27 years in real estate and over a decade in leadership, I’ve seen a lot of patterns emerge. But one of the most interesting (and frustrating) trends I discovered early on in my leadership career was something I call Complaint Season.

What Is Complaint Season?

It’s that magical time of year when agents, instead of focusing on building their pipeline, suddenly become experts on office coffee selections, bathroom air fresheners, and (my personal favorite) the ideal ply count for toilet paper.

It took me a while to realize what was happening. My first year in leadership, back in 2010, I noticed that once summer ended, the number of agent complaints skyrocketed. The strangest part? The same exact thing happened the following year, right after Labor Day.


The Root Cause of Complaint Season

It wasn’t that our coffee selection suddenly became offensive or that the toilet paper went on strike—it was that agents weren’t busy.

When the market slows down in the fall and winter, agents who had been too busy closing deals in the summer suddenly have time to think about everything else. And when they don’t have business to focus on, they shift their attention to things that don’t actually move the needle.

The Real Estate Productivity Hack You Didn’t Know You Needed

Here’s what I learned: An agent in motion stays in motion. An agent who slows down starts to nitpick.

The solution? Get them busy again!

When I noticed Complaint Season rolling in like clockwork each fall, I started proactively engaging my agents in activities that actually mattered—prospecting challenges, accountability groups, new marketing strategies, and skill-building workshops. And guess what? The complaints disappeared almost overnight.

Why? Because agents who are focused on growing their business don’t have time to worry about coffee pods.

Focus on What You Can Control

Years ago, one of my coaches challenged me: Why do you watch the news?

I had some half-baked answer about staying informed, but he hit me with the truth: “Does it impact what you can control?”

That moment changed everything for me. I stopped focusing on things I couldn’t change and started doubling down on what I could—my business, my mindset, and my daily habits.

The 80/20 Rule of Success

In real estate (and life), 20% of what we do drives 80% of our results. The key is spending more time on the right 20%—lead generation, client relationships, marketing, and skill development—not toilet paper analysis.

So if you find yourself in Complaint Season—whether it’s you or your team—shift the focus back to business-building activities. Because nothing cures negativity like momentum and success.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reflections on 2024

Image
Reflections  on 2024 I was dreaming when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray.   But when I woke up this morning, I could have sworn it was Award's day. I believe it is safe to say that for most of us, 2024 is a year to forget.   A down year.   Honestly, not a lot to be thankful or hopeful about, but for others - it was their best year… their first year… their breakthrough year… their 24th year…   there was some magic in 2024. This is who we are celebrating today! Regardless of whether you are in the first group (that never wants to be reminded of 2024 again) or the second group (where something magical happened) - you deserve to be celebrated.   Whether you came in like a wrecking ball or you limped in like a biscuit and your goal was to simply survive 2024 - the fact remains - you are here.   You didn’t give up like so many others did.   Anyone who has been in the business awhile can remember the recession of 2008-2011.   T hose of yo...
Read more

What they don't see...

Image
They see the photos at the finish line, the medals, the t-shirts, and group pics. They see the hats, bibs and occasional placing trophy, but there is a whole lot more that they don’t see… They don’t see the 4 AM alarm going off to make it to a 5 AM training run almost every day. They don’t see the 4 AM alarm going off to make it to a 5 AM training run almost every day. They don’t see the countless hours running hundreds of miles training for our next race. They don’t see the “track” days where we run repetitions and push our speed faster than we ever have before. They don’t see the hills that we trained on to get stronger. They don’t see the tempo days where we run faster to increase our endurance over an extended time. They don’t see the Saturday long runs where we run anywhere from 10-20 miles. They don’t see our sacrifices in the kitchen, where we have to make choices that sometimes conflict with what we really want. They don’t see the 7-10 hours a week spent at the gym on ...
Read more

STOP! Be Honest With Yourself: Are You REALLY Hungry?

Image
  I’m not talking about kind-of-hungry. I’m talking about the kind of hunger that makes you willing to eat soup with a fork . Yeah— that hungry. I first heard that phrase from Kenny “The Jet” Smith on Inside the NBA, and it hit me hard. He was talking about the kind of players he wanted on his team. The ones who would grind, hustle, and show up no matter what. That same mindset applies to real estate. Because the truth is— hunger separates the top producers from the pack . Every year, I meet with hundreds of agents and I always ask: How much do you want to earn next year? The most common answer? $100K . But here’s where it gets interesting. I always follow up with one simple question: Why is that number important to you? That’s when the truth reveals itself. The agents who know their why —the ones chasing something deeper—are the ones who hit that goal and blow past it. But if the answer is “because it sounds good” or “I’ve never made that much before,” chances are… they ...
Read more