Excerpt – Part Two: The Eight Potential Vices

IMBALANCE
Learning Temperance

Continued

It was the early nineties. The Bay Area real estate market, like the rest of the country, was deep in a recession. I had a great listing – a home in the Haight, previously owned by Graham Nash – but with no activity for six months. That day, like many days before, I dressed for success, put on a positive attitude and told myself there’s a perfect buyer out there somewhere who wants a home just like this one. I was rewarded when a casually dressed short black man appeared at the door and extended his hand to me with such self-assurance that I thought, Hmmm – am I supposed to know who this guy is?

“Hi, I’m Bobby,” he said.

“Hi, I’m Paula,” I said, shaking his hand.

After a quick walk-around the first level, I took him downstairs to the sound studio which Graham had built in the seventies when he owned the home. I usually guided people up the stairs to the bedrooms, but had a hunch that this guy would appreciate this special feature.

Bobby was enthralled. “Do you mind if I test out my voice in here?” he asked.

“No… ahhh… not at all… sure go ahead,” I said.

Bobby proceeded to sing – not in words – but in varied combinational vowel sounds. I moved to one of the back rooms to give him some privacy. Who is this guy, anyway? I wondered.

After about twenty minutes he was ready to see the rest of the house. Bobby breezed through it while here and there I gave him gossipy tidbits of information to keep him interested. I showed him the hundreds of popsicle sticks on the sloped attic ceiling. “Supposedly glued on by the band members of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young,” I chuckled, “after their jamming sessions.” I then pointed to the huge Georgian Colonial on the double lot next door, telling him it had once been owned by the Spreckels “Sugar” family, and chirped, “By the way, I just sold that house to Danny Glover a few months ago. I understand he’s doing a huge remodel and putting in another full level for a gym. He could have bought anywhere and he bought here.” I hoped this gentleman, whoever he was, could see the value of this location – directly across from San Francisco’s beautiful Buena Vista Park.

The next day at the office I asked my fellow office mates who he could be – this short black man with long dreadlocks, who sang in weird vowel sounds, and whose first name was Bobby.

“Bob Marley,” Kevin O’Connor answered, always the Irish smart aleck.

“Come on, really! This guy came into my open house yesterday. He was singing in all the rooms.”

“Sounds like some impersonator deadbeat to me,” he rallied. “After all, Paula, it is the Haight – all kinds of riffraff there.”

“Nope – you’re wrong,” I answered. “This guy is someone famous – I can just feel it in my gut.”

My colleagues walked away, shaking their heads, probably thinking what a nut I was for being so gullible. Well, I thought, I will just have to wait for him or his agent to call me. He did seem really interested.

Sure, enough, his agent calls later that day, thanking me for taking such good care of her client and not fawning all over him, because of his fame.

“And your client is…?” I asked sheepishly.

“Bobby McFerrin of ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ fame.”

“Really? That is one of my most favorite songs. I use it kind of like a mantra.”

“Well, he wants me to bring his wife through tomorrow. And just off the record,” she snorted at her pun, “he’s very excited to live next door to Danny Glover.”

A few days later we sealed the deal. I secretly thanked my body for telling me that this person was a well-known artist. If I had not taken my hunch seriously, I might have treated him like some Haight Street nut, who just liked to sing on a whim at open houses, driving agents crazy.

RULE #12-4: PAY ATTENTION TO BODY CLUES Your body absorbs information just as the mind does. Pay close attention to what it is telling you, because it may make a difference in how you communicate with clients and may even secure a sale.