How to work with several agencies without losing the client

The answer, straight away

You protect the relationship by recording the introduction and putting in writing who represents whom, before the parties speak. Not by secrecy: hiding the client slows everything down and protects nothing.

The fear of losing the client is reasonable and always comes from the same thing: nothing is written, so it comes down to somebody's word.

What to write, beforehand

Who represents the buyer and who the seller. How it splits. How long the introduction stands for. What happens if the buyer buys a different property from the same agency.

That last one generates the arguments: a buyer you introduce for one villa who then buys another from your colleague is exactly the situation to settle in advance.

How to record an introduction

A two-line email: I am introducing this buyer for this property, today's date.

Ten seconds. Whoever has the record never argues; whoever does not, always does.

What to share about the client and what not

Before qualification: profile, budget, area, timing, reason. No name.

After mutual qualification and the agreement: the name, because you cannot complete without one, and withholding it beyond that point is distrust in disguise.

How to handle several agencies on one search

Tell them all that the client is represented, and ask each to report what they send. It stops the same property arriving from three directions.

And keep a list of what was shown by whom. When an offer arrives, that list decides.

The awkward case: they already knew the buyer

It happens, and sometimes it is true.

It is settled only by the date of the documented introduction on that specific property. It does not matter who has known the person longer: what matters is who showed them the house.

Why opening up is worth it anyway

Because a buyer represented by one agent sees what that agent holds.

A buyer whose requirement circulates, in protected form, among twenty agencies sees twenty files. The risk is not losing them: it is finding them nothing and losing them anyway.