What makes Sammy run? Well, if Sammy is a full-time Realtor(R) who depends on selling homes to make a living and support his family, it may be money. Sadly for some Realtors, it's their only way of keeping score. But there may be better ways to keep score.

From what I've seen, the most satisfied Realtors place their ability to "serve" others as the paramount gauge of how they're doing. And I've noticed that for almost all of these Realtors, there's a very high correlation between their serving skills and a high income, even though high income was not their highest priority.

Such Realtors serve many different groups. Not only do they provide womb-to-tomb caring service to their clients, but they also serve residents of their community through their participation in many non-profit clubs and organizations. For a long time I thought that these Realtors just joined groups so they could meet more people and thus sell more homes. I noticed that many of them ended up holding executive positions in the organizations, or heading important committees. And of course that made me suspect that they took these top spots just so they'd be far more visible in the local newspaper, and thus in the community.

Looking at this further, though, I realized that if they were interested solely in making money, giving many hours weekly to "do-gooder" causes would be counter-productive to such a goal. And when I checked on them even further, I found that their record of serving went far back in their history. Most started serving their community while still in elementary or high school. Most told me that they enjoyed serving because it was in their blood. Every single one told me that their parents also had a history of serving their communities. So I changed my mind.

These agents who serve also have strong family ties. While some "cash-oriented" Realtors work constantly and seldom spend prolonged quality time with their loved ones, Realtors who have high incomes AND "serve" seem to always be doing something with their families. I suspect that the love that they give to and get from their families actually fuels their efforts in serving others, both their clients and the people they serve in the community.

I know Realtors who care only about keeping score of their lives by counting the money that they make, and some of these also belong to community groups. But people in their groups can see them coming a mile away. Their participation is nominal and they are usually hard to find when projects are at hand.

What kind of Realtor(R) are you? How do YOU keep score? If you're always off chasing the buck, you might step back and take a breath now and then. Better yet, ask yourself the question, "If I died tonight what would they put for my epitaph?"

Let's hope it would not be, "Made a Lot of Money." Better would be: "Served the Community."

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Published: February 28, 2000

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Bill Koelzer is a Web marketing consultant to web-proficient agents nationwide. He is co-author, with Barbara Cox, Ph.D., of the Prentice-Hall books, Internet Marketing in Real Estate and Internet Marketing. Bill is also webmaster of Orange County Real Estate, among the most-awarded known Realtor® sites. Visit his website, Koelzer.com or e-mail him at .