Lynn Briskin was reluctant.
The veteran real estate agent had out-of-state clients who were curious about a particular property but couldn’t get out of work to travel to see it themselves, so they asked Briskin to go through and take as many additional photos of the place as possible. She wasn’t sure how much it would help, but she tries to go the extra mile for her clients, so she arranged for an informal showing with the listing agent. When she arrived, she met the current owners — an elderly couple who’d lived in the house for 46 years — who said she was free to walk around and photograph anything she wanted.
Briskin quickly made her way through the first floor, not wanting to be an inconvenience. She snapped dozens of pictures so her clients could feel like they were inside the home themselves. She made her way upstairs and into the primary bedroom. She got pictures of the room, then opened the closet door to snag a quick picture.
At least, she thought it was the closet door.
Instead of seeing boxes and hangers with shirts and pants, Briskin came face-to-face with the elderly husband, his pants at his ankles and his bare bottom on the toilet.
Mortified, she slammed the door and left the room. She finished her pictures and left the house as fast as she could, embarrassed beyond belief. But the embarrassment paid off. The clients loved the photos and ended up buying the house.
For Briskin, who is a broker for @properties and has more than 20 years of real estate experience in the Chicagoland area, the story is not only an indication of the lengths she’ll go to for her clients, but it also is a tale she routinely shares to make the home-buying process a tad less stressful.
“My goal is always to make my clients feel at ease,” Briskin said. “That story is an ice breaker, for sure.”
The comfort of her clients has always been a primary concern for Briskin, and the results speak for themselves. She’s received Quality Service Certification Platinum Designation — signifying 100% client satisfaction — for the past 15 years, and for the last 10 years was selected as a Five Star Real Estate Agent by Chicago Magazine. In her office of more than 200 agents, she is consistently in the top five.
When it comes to making her clients comfortable, Briskin often turns to stories.
“I frequently incorporate stories from throughout my career,” Briskin said. “It helps give them important information that can help with a decision, and sometimes it just helps them understand me better.”
Briskin’s found that those stories help build a relationship between her and her clients, and in her line of work, relationships matter. First-time home buyers have always been her niche, and she feels she excels in that area because she takes the time to sit down and get to know her clients. It’s about more than how many bedrooms they’re looking for. She wants to know who they are, what they do, and what they’re interested in.
“The relationship building is much more than how many bedrooms they’re looking for,” Briskin said. “Getting to know them and understanding who they are, how they live, and what they like helps me become a better agent. It helps me hone in on finding them their home.”
The awards Briskin has won over the years are impressive, but what really makes her proud are the random phone calls, text messages, and emails she receives from former clients. They ask if she’d meet them for coffee to talk about possible renovations or new moving opportunities. They value her opinion, and they trust her — two signs of a healthy relationship.
A relationship, Briskin reiterates, that always begins with stories.
“My stories are funny, and I share experiences that I’ve had, which brings clients closer to me as a person,” she said. “It makes the process less scary. It makes them feel more at ease and makes the experience a million times better for the client.”