Commercial Real Estate Lessons, Commercial Real Estate Prospecting

A Better Way to Say Goodbye to your Haters

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I have them, you have them, heck we all have them. The haters. You know, those folks within your lives that complain, are negative, or simply enjoy criticizing. In your world, it may be your friends, prospects, clients, affiliates or, hopefully not, even family members. Know what to say to haters and do not let their actions nor their words get to you.

What To Say To Haters | Never Let Them Haters Get To Me

In this article:

Shake It Off With A Laugh
To The Haters: You’re Not Bringing Me Down
Handling A Hater With Class
Haters Aren’t Worth A Debate
Bye, Felicia

Shake It Off With A Laugh

This is especially true with social media today, where any bully or coward can hide behind a pseudo name and share with the world how bad you are. Unfortunately, haters gonna hate.

The key to this is you must laugh it off. You know you are good, you know you provide a valuable service and you are in a position to change people’s lives. This is true. Being a professional in commercial real estate, you provide your clients with not only sales, leasing, management and valuation services, but more importantly, peace of mind, comfort, choices, income opportunities and greater margin for them to do more.

To The Haters: You’re Not Bringing Me Down

Never let the haters stop you from being great. Don’t hate them back, just get rid of them. Below is an example of a hater I seemingly deserved to procure last week (at least in his mind) on what he said, and how I have learned to handle it.

Over the last nine years, our company has coached over 1,000 commercial real estate professionals, and I have written 2 books, Brokers Who Dominate and Teams Built to Dominate, which have fortunately sold thousands of copies. Although I never feel I have reached a level of satisfactory success, probably an internal issue I need to work on, I am confident and comfortable on the contributions we are making.

Handling A Hater With Class

No doubt, I have my critics, but I especially loved this email I received last week.

“I purchased your book and it really didn’t tell me much. I just wasted my money. So, I’m wondering if I should even bother with you or your products.”

To his credit, this person did not hide behind social media. He shared his honest opinion, and I personally find constructive criticism a greater teaching tool than praise. However, it’s the praise that reinforces the value of what we do; of what you do. That is never easily forgotten.

In the book Hug Your Haters by Jay Baer, I learned a core rule of handling criticism that seems to work the best. First, acknowledge it. Respond to your critics and let them know you heard them, but only once.

Haters Aren’t Worth A Debate

Never get into a debate with a hater. There is no good to come of it. Second, get rid of the haters. That’s right, even if they are a prospect or client, get rid of them. They are not going to let you grow, and will not be a raving fan.

To the hater who emailed me last week, my message was simple:

“{First name}, I am sorry you did not find value in the content. I have asked my team to remove you from future marketing efforts as it is obvious you are not a candidate for our services. You will be missed.”

Bye, Felicia

I recently read a blog that shared the story of Herb Kelleher, founder of Southwest Airlines, on how he responded to a particularly dissatisfied critic. His message was straightforward. Whereas most companies would have apologized to a disgruntled customer, given some form of gift or compensation and chastised the team for their poor and inappropriate behavior, Herb didn’t. He sent a short, three-word response to the lady. It said simply, you’ve guessed it, “We’ll miss you!”

Internally and externally, work will always bring you haters. Here is Isaiah Hankel’s take on how to deal with haters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bRqgwUTl_Q

The key is to simply stick to your core values. To all your haters simply say “we’ll miss you,” and focus on those who support your vision, your culture, and your growth.

Do you know the 4 prospecting questions prospects love to answer? Trying to figure out how to get your prospects to open up to you? In this free webinar session, Massimo Group COO Bo Barron shares the 4 golden questions you can use to take control of the conversation, and up your prospecting game. Watch the webinar here.

Up Next: 10 Survival Lessons from ICSC RECON

One example of a client who supports our culture is Bob Knakal. Bob is one of the world’s top producing commercial real estate brokers. Recently we sat down with Bob to discuss his secrets to success. For a free video series, as told by Bob Knakal, please click here.