The Way. How to Meet People and Show Homes
Article 1: Greeting. Remember Playing Kick the Can? There was once a way. There still is.
Before You Even See a House — How Real Agents Set the Stage
Buying a home is not about racing to the front door of the first property you can find on Zillow.
It’s about setting the stage, earning trust, and actually preparing for what will be one of the most important decisions of someone’s life.
The Our Buyer Process starts with four simple but powerful steps:
Greeting - We do not have to script this. There is a proper way.
Meet - Once greeted…you have to meet to listen and learn and indeed to make sure they are aligned to you as well. “If you are everything to everyone then you are nobody”
Let the questions flow from their answers. But you do want to know Who, What, Where, Why, When and How. This is a bit deeper than the old commission breath LPMAMA.
And today you need to Clarify Agency and Expectations
Sounds simple. But here’s the part most agents get wrong: they skip all of this and go straight to “Let’s go see houses.”
🏡 The Pro Way: Neutral Ground, Not the Driveway
For a real agent, this isn’t a script — it’s just in their nature. You greet people a certain way because you know it matters.
And you don’t meet someone for the first time standing in the driveway of a $5M home they found on Zillow. You sit down first — over coffee, in an office, in a quiet spot. You meet them as a person before you meet them as a client.
You ask:
Who are they?
What do they want to do with their life?
Where do they live now? Where do they want to live? Where do they want to be when they’re with friends, family, or colleagues?
When are they really ready to make this move?
Why — what’s the reason? Kids grown? Wife ill and wanting to live differently? Retired? New business?
And How — what’s the plan for making it happen?
By the time you walk into the first property, you’re not strangers fumbling introductions — you’re partners with a purpose.
😬 The Wrong Way: “Oh Hi, I’m Your Agent!”
🚫 Wrong Agent Approach
Meets the buyer for the first time in the driveway.
Hopes Zillow has already “pre-qualified” the client.
Rushes through awkward introductions at a luxury showing.
Confuses activity with trust.
I’ve seen this play out in real time — and it’s painful.
First case: The buyer arrived before their agent. They turned to me, shook my hand, and said, “Hi, I’m [Name]. Good to meet you.” I thought, wait a second… did this buyer just mistake me for their agent? Yes — because they had never even met their supposed representative until that very showing. That story has a happy ending… let’s just say that buyer ultimately found someone else they preferred to work with 🙂.
Second case: The agent actually beat the buyer to the house. When the client walked up, that agent rushed over and said, “Hi, I’m [Agent’s Name], nice to finally meet you!” For the first time. At the door of a multi-million-dollar property.
My jaw dropped. Both times.
And the outcomes? Exactly what you’d expect.
In the first case, the buyer moved on quickly.
In the second, that buyer never purchased anything at all.
Because here’s the truth: if the very first experience of “representation” is confusion and awkward introductions, the rest of the process is already broken.
🎯 The Lesson
✔️ Pro Agent: Meets in neutral space, asks the right questions, and learns who the client really is.
🚫 Wrong Agent: Meets in the driveway, skips the hard questions, and hopes for the best.
If your agent is meeting you for the first time on the front porch of a showing, you don’t have an agent — you have a tour guide.
A pro sets the stage before you ever see a house.
The other way? It kills trust before the process even starts.