A Candy Dish Deal
April 23, 2014
By P.R. “Randy” Cooney
Publisher, Arizona Journal of Real Estate & Business
In memory of a sweet real estate transaction, I am writing this article on Valentine’s Day, 2014. The story takes place twenty seven years ago within my very first brokerage which is upstairs in a business complex on the NE corner of Lincoln and Scottsdale Road.
Standing at the window, just after 5:00pm, I am looking down on the parking lot, observing numerous well-dressed individuals walking to their vehicles at the end of their business day. As each drives away, I am thinking, they are obviously employed. This means they may own a home or be qualified to purchase one – just the kind of folks a new real estate licensee should be greeting.
The next day, following-up my observations of yesterday, I walked around the business complex taking note that there were at least forty different offices within a golf-shot of my office, any one of which may employ potential buyers and sellers. I committed to visiting each office and introduce myself as the agent conveniently located in the same business complex. With Valentine’s Day approaching, to make a memorable first impression, I delivered to each office a candy dish with my business cards. The plan is to now drop monthly replenishing the dish and of course re-introducing myself and services.
Three months into the candy-dish campaign, while stopping by one of the offices to restock the candy dish, the receptionist says to me, “Good timing. My boss was just asking about you. Can you wait here? He would like to meet you.” Five minutes later her boss, Frank, was shaking my hand explaining to me that an executive will be flying in from New Jersey next week with his wife; and would I be willing to show them some homes. Well of course I would! Thanking him for the opportunity to be of service, I returned to my office uttering SWEEEEEET!
Well as often happens in real estate, one weekend turns into many weekends over several months. Previewing over 80 homes with this couple, I have invested over one hundred hours, five lunches, and multiple tanks of gas with no tangible results. Given the investment of time and expense, I am now having second thoughts about them, buyers in general, my real estate career and even those ‘bleep-bleep’ candy dishes. I am about to throw in towel, when to my surprise they finally said yes to a property in the lovely community of Fountain Hills. The home they chose was a builder’s spec on a hillside lot. After a long escrow with many challenges in which I frequently communicate with the builder, the deal finally closes. The builder invited me to lunch to thank me for selling his property and for seeing the sale through to the end. To my surprise during the lunch he asked if I would consider being his agent for his current and future properties. After lunch I was returning to my office uttering SWEEEEEET!!
So in time, this relocating couple from New Jersey, through whom I eventually met a builder, led to many more sales. Important to remember is how it all started … with the candy-dish campaign at offices in my business complex. Given the delightful outcome, I elected to nick-named this transaction the “Candy-Dish Deal”.