Thoughts on Consultations with Professionals and Real Estate Agents
In the real estate industry, especially when working at a sales office, Wednesdays are often a regular day off. I am the same.
Why is Wednesday a day off?
A long time ago, a senior colleague told me as a joke that it was because "contracts would be washed away like water if we worked on Wednesdays." I remember being strangely convinced by that at the time.
So, today is my day off. I was watching YouTube while eating lunch.
My goal was a video by an administrative scrivener I am a fan of and whose content I always look forward to. What I want to write about today is the topic of
**"Should customer consultations be free or paid?"**
.
After watching the video, I was struck by the realization that my way of thinking until now might have been wrong.
## Common Sense Regarding "Consultations" in the Real Estate World
I have lived in the real estate world until now. My days have been spent listening carefully to individual customers and repeating trial and error to make the best proposals for them. In that time, I have never once received a so-called "consultation fee."
Real estate brokerage is basically a "success-based fee (brokerage commission)" business. In fact, receiving money just for a consultation is highly likely to be a violation of the Real Estate Brokerage Act. This is because this fee is interpreted as including all sales activities (brokerage services) leading up to the contract, such as property research, guidance, and consultations.
(*Strictly speaking, there are exceptions for rental advertising fees and the settlement of actual expenses in sales, but the absolute principle under both the Real Estate Brokerage Act and compliance is "success-based fees.")
Therefore, customers can consult easily, and sales staff have almost no concept of "receiving a consultation fee." No matter how long the customer service time is or how many properties we show them, it is all "free sales activity."
As someone who hopes to make a living in the future with a dual license as an administrative scrivener and a real estate agent, I assumed that even when I opened my own office, I would continue to provide consultations on a free basis, keeping this "real estate industry mindset."
However, after watching the video, I strongly felt that when viewed as an administrative scrivener, "that is not necessarily the correct answer."
## The "Two Reasons" That Convinced Me
The teacher in the video prefaced his remarks by saying, "I'm not saying my way is absolutely correct," but he raised two points that I deeply empathized with.
### 1. Can you be entrusted with work by someone who "cannot even pay a consultation fee"?
When working in the real estate industry, it is an everyday occurrence to go around to government offices to check outlines or ask about permit conditions. Since the government office is the other party, naturally, there is no consultation fee.
The teacher said this: "If an administrative scrivener's consultation fee is free, it's faster to go directly to the government office than to rely on an administrative scrivener. If that is the level of their enthusiasm, they will never go out of their way to pay money to entrust (commission) work to an administrative scrivener."
I was impressed by this.
### (2) It takes 'high sales ability' to get clients who come for free consultations to hire you
I couldn't help but say, 'That's certainly true!' out loud. People who come for a consultation knowing it is paid are very serious about the problems they are facing. Because they want to 'solve it quickly' or 'ensure the application is completed,' they are prepared to pay for professional expertise. If you can win their trust there, the probability of them entrusting you with the work increases.
On the other hand, many people who come because it is free are often not that serious yet, and connecting that to a paid 'work request' requires highly advanced sales talk or relationship building.
This resonated with me the most. While professionals currently working in these fields might take this for granted, I feel this made me realize a perspective different from the real estate industry.
By the way, that professional also spoke about the line between an 'inquiry' and a 'consultation.' A confirmation like 'Do you handle this type of work?' is, of course, a free [inquiry].
However, if it becomes a concrete discussion about 'how to actually execute that,' it becomes a [consultation (paid)] that carries responsibility.
I thought I understood this, but seeing it put into words like this made it very clear.
This is not about the level of knowledge, but rather a story of professional resolve that 'if you are going to work as a professional, you must take responsibility for your own words,' and it makes me want to straighten my posture once again.
Having gained this realization, I actually feel happy that there is so much I still need to learn. The days of study will continue for a long time.
