Pittsburgh Realtors and Mortgage Brokers–Have you tried bartending?

Pittsburgh Realtors and Mortgage Brokers–Have you tried bartending?

October 7th, 2008

For over two decades every time we see the real estate markets crash our schools see a lot of realtors and mortgage brokers.  It makes a lot of sense.  Bartending enables you to make daily money.  It takes the place of commission income when that dries up.

Once they have taken the course and gotten bartending jobs, we invariably hear this feedback;  I sold a house (to/for) a customer at my bar.

One of the neat tricks about being a bartender is that you very quickly become “best friends” with your customers.  Okay, not necessarily BFF’s texting and talking all the time, but customers and especially regulars get to like and “trust” their bartenders very quickly.  Serve up a couple of beers, a gin and tonic, or a well aged scotch to a customer across the bar….and suddenly they like you.

Realtors know that one of the biggest hurdles is winning the trust factor from customers, whether it is buyers or sellers.  Realtors compete for this in the professional environment and look for all sorts of different ways to network and connect with potential customers.

Bartending is an easy way to do that, and “here is the kicker”…you are making money while you are networking; earning tips while getting to know your regulars.

Once realtors get comfortable behind the bar, sooner or later the conversation might turn to real estate, homes, the neighborhood or community, work, etc…..and a bartender with his realtor card available can quickly make a customer aware of your real estate expertise.

We usually suggest realtors get bartending jobs in either upscale restaurants or bars, bars frequented by young working professionals, or upscale to medium restaurants in your target communities or neighborhoods.

When push comes to shove, the best tips I ever made came from serving up a few tall cool ones to customers that later became my real estate customers.