Here’s some safety tips compiled from various sources.
Getting there
• Never pull first into a driveway. Your ‘client’ then can block you in. If you park on the street, make sure the prospect doesn’t block you in.
• When you unlock the front door, do it without turning your back on your “client.”
Valuables
• Do not carry your social security card in your wallet or purse; a social security card allows people to open new credit card accounts.
• If you’re a site agent, keep your purse out of sight and, if possible, locked up.
• Female agents should lock their purse in the car — better yet, the car trunk. If you need to carry valuables, do it in a pouch worn under your clothes.
• For men: Your wallet belongs in your front pocket, not the back pocket. Slim down the contents.
Showing the house
• Your goal is to show the model or open house to its best advantage and be safe. Other factors that play into how you will behave with potential customers is the volume of traffic you are having (weekdays are usually slower than the weekend), whether you are alone, whether you have someone else who works with you or if the potential customer is accompanied by a Realtor.
• In a two-story home, don’t go upstairs with the people. Know your product well enough that you can answer questions about any room upstairs without having to go there. Now, if someone has come to see the model several times, and you “know” them, use your best judgment of the situation.
• Don’t go into a room first. Always let the potential customer(s) go into the room and you stand by the door. You can “lead them” into a room with gestures or words that will make them look at a specific item in a room. For example, “Notice that from the corner of the family room you have a great view of the yard.”
• When discussing the home, stand near the front door or in your office near a door or panic button.
• Always lock the model if you leave to show property.
• Just because you work with a partner, don’t let that lull you into a false sense of security. You will be alone at some point. Working with a partner provides you some degree of flexibility, but you still must practice your business as if you are alone. It is not usual for one agent to go and show a potential customer a lot or inventory home while the other agent is at the model.
Safety tips
• Carry pepper spray on your key chain at all times, it is effective, legal and doesn’t cause any permanent damage.
• Pepper spray also comes in a container that that looks exactly like a pen. So, an agent can walk through the house holding a “pen” and still be protected.
• Follow the mandatory “check-in” procedure that your office uses. (Don’t think “It won’t happen to me” Think again, it can and it does!
• Pre-program your cell phone to call your office and 911.
Always remember ...
• There are different ways to react to different situations. If someone is very demanding, you have to handle it in a certain way. Your goal is not to threaten anyone or turn them off. But, you have to be in control without letting them know you are in control.
• Take time to check your client out, if possible. Always ask questions to know them better.
• Do not allow yourself to be caught in compromising situations.
• Whatever you do, do it on the prudent side. It’s OK to be paranoid sometimes.