Be as Honest as an Emoji
A quick story of transparency, trust and texting.
Here’s a lesson on how not to “upgrade” your relationship with clients. Facebook is updating its terms of service to be easier to understand. Gee, thanks but maybe they could make them honest, first?
Let me explain.
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Honestly, Facebook…
Is being honest so difficult? Apparently it is for the world’s largest social network, which is upgrading its terms of service for 2025. But it seems to me that they can’t be this obtuse in their terms of service without really, really trying.
For example, in the second paragraph, they say:
“We don't sell your personal data to advertisers, and we don't share information that directly identifies you (such as your name, email address or other contact information) with advertisers unless you give us specific permission. Instead, advertisers can tell us things like the kind of audience they want to see their ads, and we show those ads to people who may be interested.” (Facebook Terms of Service, updated, December 2024)
To an ordinary human being, who doesn’t speak legalese, the second sentence contradicts the first one.
Sure, Facebook doesn’t sell your personal data specifically — with your exact name or email address. But they are still selling your personal data. Otherwise, they couldn’t know which ads to show you.
In other words, You say tomato; I say tomahhto.
Ah, Silicon Valley! If you want to know why nobody trusts you, read your own Terms of Service. And if you want to know why the average daily time spent on social declined globally this year, start with something that still disturbs people worldwide: Mendacity.
Why is honesty so difficult these days?
When I started in this business, my earliest mentor, Susan, once told me: “Do what others won’t. Not what they can’t — what they won’t.” I think of that lesson every day.
Years before, in my first job at Sears selling service contracts, my first boss repeatedly said, “Offering someone a square deal is the sign of a successful person. They will always come back.”
Heck, I’m so old, I remember being taught in kindergarten, “Honesty is the best policy.” I still believe George Washington could not tell a lie.
Yet these days, every click we make tries to turn that sentiment against us.
I got an email the other day
But don’t you believe that’s “just the way things are” these days!
It may be harder to find lawyers who will write a contract with clarity, leaders who act with transparency, or businesses who will do deals with mutual responsibility, but it still exists.
How do I know?
I got an email the other day.
I have received this email (sometimes it is a text) every year for over a decade. It always arrives about this time of the year. It’s always short, sweet, and so very reassuring. And it always goes like this:
“Hey, hey! What a year! I’m checking on your calendar for an in-person event in February. Tuesday the ????”
I reply with: “Yes, a crazy year indeed, but looking forward to lots of opportunities. The best is 2/4 and 2/18. You pick.”
“February 4th works for us. What’s your fee? Can you incorporate some coaching after the presentation?” 🕺🕺🕺
I reply with my fee and include, “😊 Happy to hang out all day. I won’t book an early return flight; I can’t wait!”
Client: “Confirmed! ❤️”
Me: “Fantastic. I assume you don’t want a contract, since we’ve never done one; but I always ask just in case.”
Client: “Nope. All set. ✅”
Me: “Gratefully!”
A two-sentence inquiry; and three-sentences to confirm a few details. No contract — don’t need it — just some hearts, a smiley, three dancing men and a green checkmark.
There’s an Opportunity Here
Last year, the real estate industry was decimated by a class action lawsuit even though no single contract was ever in question. Multiple organizations lost nearly a billion dollars based upon a legal supposition, and not once were the terms of a service from a contract ever in question.
So even when clear contractual terms exist, sometimes it just doesn’t matter.
Yet something must matter. Because those losses didn’t stop more than 4.5 million consumers from signing contracts again this year with real estate brokers. And they will again, maybe more times, next year. There must be something that goes beyond the terms we use in contracts to explain our value.
There definitely is — and it has nothing to do with the endless insinuation that we must Uber-ify the housing industry to the lowest common denominator. Like my email “contract” reminds me each year, it takes something more than updated forms with the latest terms of service to earn —
Be An Honest Emoji
That SOMETHING is whatever keeps clients coming back to you, with just a couple of emojis.
There’s an opportunity here for you to stand on a different standard: A chance to change the terms of your service. To make honesty, clarity, transparency, and mutual respect the center of the path to winning friends, influencing talent and attracting clients for life.
You don’t win by having the best clauses in a contract, because your value isn’t determined by your commission amount but your co-mission commitment with others.
What clients have always wanted is the invaluable portion of a contract: That’s called You. The human behind the squeeze page the lead funnel and the techno-terms that must be signed in quadruplicate.
As if that would make any difference in a court of law.
The truth is: You’re on trial every day — but you’re not worried. You don’t need a new Terms of Service. You already know how to give clients the one thing that matters beyond their ability to sue:
An honest handshake.
A heartfelt hug.
And a terms of relationship so strong,
every contract is signed by an emoji.
❤️
#alwaysinspiring
Seems so simple, but itʻs not so thanks for reminding us that real estate is a relationship business, has always been a relationship business, will always be a relationship business. If you arenʻt honest, I donʻt want to be in relationship with you. Period!