Million Dollar Listing: When Being Nice Comes Off as Less Confident

Bravo has a show called “Million Dollar Listing”. I was not inspired to watch the show because the previews made the show out to be this playboy dramatic show. But I have been watching the show since the last three episodes. I must say… I am hooked. For the hour, you will be exposed to amazing properties, client/ agent drama, and the ways in which the agents work to sell, buy, negotiate, and run their business.

I am writing this post to talk about Madison. He is a young real estate agent on “Million Dollar Listing” and he sells in Malibu. He tends to wear business casual clothing to sell his properties, which I find annoying because I believe you should look presentable for your million-dollar property. Aside from that, Madison is very nice. In fact, he is too nice. In the episodes I’ve seen, Madison has come across a pushy buyer who fired him, a seller who would not accept that his property was not worth the price it should be listed as, a seller who expected Madison to sell a property in a month, and a prospective buyer whose very low offer was barely contested. In almost all situations, Madison would make a statement or two about the reality of the deal in today’s market, but he would do it with a “kind of” tone. He barely would put the client in check (respectfully). On the other hand, the other two agents, Josh Altman, and Josh Flagg, would boldly inform clients of the reality of the market. Generally, if a client insists on selling a property at a too high price, you can’t stop them, but the other two agents, make their point that it is delusional.

Coincidentally, I am reading the “48 Laws of Power” and the last power I read was “Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness”. The book gives a lot of advice that historically makes sense but, for this day and time, is not for the nice at heart. Law 28 is something everyone can learn from. Madison comes off timid and too nice. Considering his success, he knows what he’s doing but, as a viewer, it seems some clients take his timidity as a lack of confidence in his speech and a ticket to walk over him. There is nothing wrong with being a nice, sweet person. The problem is when a situation calls for boldness in your speech and it lacks it. I am not saying to become disrespectful. But from my experience in my current job, when people do not understand you because they are being difficult, they tend to respond better when you speak with confidence and boldness. After all, these clients hire him; he must present himself as a confident agent.

p.s. I watch most real estate reality shows but this post would have been long if I mentioned all.