Never make assumptions

In 1984 sitting in the front of my office with my colleague drinking coffee waiting for somebody to pull up and head to our window/door, a brand new Mercedes pulls up and out gets well dressed couple.

Jockeying for position at the front door, my colleague wins-out and secures clients.

Sitting in my office sulking, the receptionist calls me to the front desk where there stood a guy about 30 years old, wearing jeans and T-Shirt driving EH Holden.  He asked to see our land list.  Because l always enjoy a drive in the country on a sunny day, l grabbed a the print out of our properties and said to the guy ‘lets go’.

What I didn’t know on first glance was that this man had just secured a job as a purchasers agent for one of the largest developers in the country and he was getting paid on securing signed contracts. And l was one of his first ports-of-call.

Ten offers later, for ten different properties, walking into the office – I had secured one of our biggest ever clients. My colleague, still griing after his Mercedes encounter said he might have an offer in a couple of days! My reply was great drive around the countryside. The secretary was busy in the front office typing up my stack of new contracts.

Moral of the story, never judge a book by its cover.

P.S. He is still a great client 38 years later.

Old Dog