Why Being Late Is Costing You More Than You Think

Steven L. Burch (00:00)
All right, welcome to the Leading Lane podcast. We're going to start with one of my pet peeves. It's easier to come up with topics about pet peeves, but this seems to be happening more and more and more and it drives me flipping nuts. So we get a vent about it for a second. People being late, right? People not being on time. We have an appointment starting at.

2 o'clock, whatever that appointment time is, that's when it starts. That's when you move forward. That's not when you arrive, not 10 minutes after. It's wild to me. Is it just me or is that unacceptable?

Ashley (00:41)
it unacceptable, but I also feel like it's the new norm.

Steven L. Burch (00:47)
Like, what makes it the new norm? Like, why? What's the reason that people think that's okay?

Ashley (00:53)
I don't know. I don't know, maybe generational, potentially. ⁓ Maybe not feeling or seeing the consequences. I think a lot of people try to also be like understanding, if you will. And let's be honest, things happen right. I get that. But also, if you maybe plan accordingly for the things that could happen, then you...

Steven L. Burch (01:01)
Yeah.

Ashley (01:23)
would still be on time. I think that sometimes I think it's like a, it's not like a character reflection, but it's a, sure what the word is, but it's kind of like, how are you showing up every day type of situation? then like, is that how you are with clients? Is that how you are like for a showing or for a listing preview? And then what does that?

Steven L. Burch (01:39)
Okay?

Ashley (01:49)
reflect back as far as if people choose to work with you or not. ⁓ So I think that it's a really simple, simple thing that people take for granted.

Steven L. Burch (01:59)
And I think it also to like life does happen. totally understand that traffic. I get it. But maybe we should have planned differently. But if you walk in and you have a fresh Starbucks, you know, you're 15 minutes late and now you're disrupting what I'm doing, what everybody else in the meeting is doing. And now we have to, you know, we all stop look and we get to see that you have Starbucks.

Ashley (02:05)
strange.

Steven L. Burch (02:25)
But the rest of us made the commitment and we're determined to be here at time or on time and start on time. But yet you get a nice little treat. I think it's just extremely disrespectful. There's no common courtesy or compassion with that whatsoever. I think people are extremely dismissive with it. And if you really think about it, if they're late by 15 minutes and you have 10 people that are sitting there in a meeting, right? That we're all waiting on you.

You just, you just wasted 10 multiplied by 15 people's time. That's, that's rude. Time is valuable. Um, one of the quotes that I pulled up is 15 minutes early is on time on time is late and late is unacceptable by Billy Porter. Yeah. Unacceptable. Be early. Like I always think if you're going to show up late to me or for me from the company perspective, is that what you do and represent our company for other people?

Ashley (02:59)
Thank

Steven L. Burch (03:23)
Because if you're willing to do it to me, I know you're definitely willing to be late for other people too.

Ashley (03:28)
Oh, I recently did a whole bunch of interviews and I thought that that was just an interesting like watching people when they show up. So I would say that most were 10 to 15 minutes early, which I appreciated, but there were I think maybe two or three when I think like, you know, let's say the appointment was two and it was like 159 and then I would be like, you think they're coming today or not? Go ahead.

Steven L. Burch (03:50)
Okay.

No, like one of the things for me, like when I interview people, ⁓ I tell this at the broker retreat all the time. If we, if we have our appointment at whatever time and they come in five minutes after, I won't even interview with them. I'll tell them, thank you. You're not a good fit. Have a great day. I'm not going to waste my time. Like again, if they were to notify me and there there's different things of communication on the front end that I might take, you know, taking into consideration, but

for your interview, that's how you're gonna show up? Like, I don't want that as part of my company.

Ashley (04:28)
I wonder if it's like repetitiveness type, you know, like obviously for us, like we're always running. So sometimes we'll be late for each other and I'll be like, I need to pee before we hop on or right. Can we allow that time? But sometimes I think like if it's besides interviews, if it's like a brand new appointment, do people then go out of their way to make it on time? Where if it's like a repetitive weekly office meeting or weekly training or something is then does it somehow become more acceptable to be

Steven L. Burch (04:38)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Ashley (04:58)
later.

Steven L. Burch (04:59)
Right. Maybe, maybe that's valid. Like maybe it's no longer a priority for them to where if it's a one time appointment, they're on time. But now that's because it is on repeat reoccurring. It's not a longer a priority. And I think that maybe that's where leaders step into place that, you know, you don't want to be. Perceived in front of everybody, like as an asshole or whatever you want to call it. Like, but you're the leader.

If you are showing everybody else that it's acceptable and you're allowing them to interlate like that, that means that you're telling everybody else there, it's okay. There's no consequences here. We're not going to hold you accountable. That's not something that me as a leader that I want to be able to do whatsoever. I want them to know that it is important to me that we start on time and I value everybody else's time. So I want to be respectful and start on time as the leader.

not just been the rules for the one person out of the 10 that, you know, you're supposed to be here. That's not fair.

Ashley (06:03)
Yeah, I think a lot of times like in trainings or whatnot, think the, think about like conferences and whatnot too. think people bend the rules cause they're, you know, like waiting for people to come in or whatnot, but I don't know. I guess I look at it that like, if they miss something really valuable in the first five or 10 minutes, like that's just kind of what I get for not showing up on time. think a lot of it goes to like actually preparing your day to start with. So I recently read the

Miracle morning. I don't know if you've read that or not, but it just really talks about like that like one hour and what that does for setting up your whole entire day. And I think that so many people just get in the routine of like rolling out of bed and flying versus like getting up early enough to literally think about where you're supposed to be and when and how it's going to be. And I remember during COVID, like our calendars were back to back to back to back, which right like

didn't have time to pee, you had to like, try to think about how much it took from one side to the other. And you always had to like, try to buffer yourself. And so even for me, like, I know the town inside and out, but I still put like a appointment that I'm going to in my GPS. So I'll still be like, maybe it's only 10 minutes away, but like, I'm going to put it in, make sure that I know exactly where it's at and that, you know, make sure on the map, it looks like it's the right side of the road, et cetera. ⁓

Steven L. Burch (07:15)
Mm-hmm.

Ashley (07:26)
Maybe I thought like I've had this before, like right there's different towns Spencer, Strafford, whatever. Well, it's like a 15 minute drive. Well, maybe it's on the other side of Spencer. It's still Spencer address, but that's just added 10 minutes. So if I only give myself a 10 minute buffer. Now I just made it so that I might be late. I mean, I've had those circumstances where like a client walked in right when you're walking out, right? And then you got stuck or whatnot. But then I will always like call whoever wherever I'm going and be like.

I just want you to know, like, I got stuck, I'm on my way, and then, no big deal, but right if you just happen to show up three minutes late, I think that they would take offense to it.

Steven L. Burch (08:04)
So, and again, life happens. It's about the communication. It's making sure that they understand. We went to Kansas City yesterday to go get our, our haircut and we got stuck in traffic because of freaking, ⁓ construction. Everything is under construction here. And I had a, messaged our barber. I was like, Hey, this is like an hour before because we got stuck. I was like, I know this is going to put us back behind ⁓ on time. I'm 15 minutes behind schedule. ⁓ so just wanted to let you know.

He was like, yeah, no problem. Totally fine. And then when I got there, he was like, you know, people don't actually do that. Right. I was like, what? He's like, people don't actually tell you that they're running late. They have an appointment two o'clock. They show up at two 20 and then because it's in 30 minute window block and they're mad because I told them that they're late and I can't get them in. Even though they have 10 more minutes left in their appointment time. He's like, can I do a haircut in 10 minutes? Yeah. But.

I then can't turn over and, know, my station and everything else. So why am I going to put myself under pressure when it wasn't a priority for you to be here or communicate with me that you were running late? I was like, never thought of it that way. Like I would personally wouldn't think that my, I have 10 extra minutes here or you had 10 minutes to get me in and demand it. think that goes into the, you know, entitlement type of side of things. And that's not kosher with me either.

Ashley (09:13)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I mean, I think I was supposed to go to a chiropractor appointment and yes, something I think a client walked in like right when I was walking out. So was like, like I needed to talk to him quick. so I called and said like, hey, like I just got stuck on my way. She's like, great. The person that's after you is already here. So we'll sink them in and then you can take their right. Like just simple communication of letting someone know so they can readjust.

Steven L. Burch (09:52)
Yeah. So I mean, with this too, we're talking a lot about like leadership and how we do things. Let's shift it to where like clients are showing a client property and we're meeting them there at the property and they're always running late. How do you manage somebody that might be a repeat offender of running late to your showing appointments?

Ashley (10:18)
So that happens quite frequently. And I think that they've had to learn because then I'll be like, you know, you haven't a lot of time normally. So maybe you have a 30 minute time frame to look at the property that's been okay. So if they show up 15 minutes late, I will literally say like, yeah, so we're going to have to basically dart through this house. And I was like, we literally have 15 minutes. We are have to be out of here at 1230. And then they kind of look at me and I'm like,

I mean, that's what we're set for and we have to abide by that. And the seller's probably waiting for us. I think that normally once you like tell them like, this is it, we got five or 10 minutes. think they think that same thing, like a hairstylist, like, we can just add on a half hour or whatnot. And it doesn't work that way. ⁓ There's probably been some clients that I've started to, if they, if I know they're habitually late and let's say it's going to be noon, like I just make it for 12, 15. Right.

Steven L. Burch (11:12)
⁓ one of the things that I do is I send them a freaking calendar invite and I make their, I adjust their notification settings on their side. Like I get them too. ⁓ but I'll do an hour before, right? 30 minutes before 15 minutes before five minutes before. And I had somebody be like, I mean, that's a little excessive. E but if you showed up on time, I wouldn't have to do that. And this is to help you make sure that we are, you know, adhering to our schedule of what we're making these appointments for.

Ashley (11:40)
Think about the

amount of times that like you have had a showing with someone and then they didn't show up and then you text message them and then they say they forgot and then I mean right then that just messed up my whole next hour and a half. I could have turned someone else down for something like now you got to find another time and everyone's schedule that matches like that just I think that's a really good idea is a simple calendar invite or a simple text like beforehand. Okay, see you in 30 minutes.

Steven L. Burch (12:06)
Yep. I'm already putting it, you know, for me, I'm already putting it in my calendar. So adding an email, like that's not difficult whatsoever. So that's something that I, I incorporated, ⁓ you know, ⁓ quite often on those people, ⁓ and definitely the buffer, like making sure that I have a leeway either direction if we're running early or running late. So I try to set our appointments to hit right in the middle of those, those type frames. So, and I'd be intrigued, like, what is your opinion of that? Like,

Ashley (12:15)
Great.

Steven L. Burch (12:36)
from an agent perspective, scheduling through showing time or whatever the scheduling platform is. If I schedule from four to five and I show up at four 30, is that acceptable?

Mm-hmm.

Ashley (12:52)
that yeah, that they're going to come at any point in time between hours. So if it's between four and five, they might show up at 415, they might show up at 430, but that they have to be out by five. I think where that comes into play, which a lot of people don't think about is that it's normally not just one property that you're showing. So it's normally at five or six. So when we're scheduling those showings, like we're making a best guess that this buyer might take 30 minutes in this house, they might take.

15 offered, you know, 15 in this house. So was like, I think that that's tough spot to be in. But I that's actually part of our listing, not agreement, but in our additional information is it literally says like, showing might be scheduled from four to five. However, that does not mean that someone will be there at four, because sometimes they'll get a seller and they'll, you know, they're just waiting around the block. So they'll call you at like 405. And then they'll say, I haven't seen anybody yet. ⁓ You know, and same thing to that can be hard, though, too, in that

Maybe they come right at four and they're done at four fifteen, right? You know, we have, I think it's an everyone's joining time, but you can do like notify that you're done, you know, and I think that that's a really good option that more people, you know, could use. But I just try to prepare again. It goes back to communication. If you're telling your sellers that to begin with, there should be less of a shock. But I will say for me, it's frustrating when they're scheduled from like four to five and then they'll

the seller will call you at like 530 and say like they're still in the driveway. Like to me, I think that that's disrespectful as a agent. Sometimes I'll get an agent that'll be like, Hey, we're running late. Can you ask your seller if we say if we can stay 15 minutes like that's easier. But you know, if someone wants to chit chat or whatnot, I'll normally say like, let's just go down the street a little bit. You know, the seller might be wanting to come back or like, let's go to the office and have this conversation more. But I think just staying in someone's

driveway, pass her a lot of time, it's not really respectful.

Steven L. Burch (14:49)
I totally agree. think you have to be very conscious that there's multiple different parties that are involved on this and making sure that you're looking at it from their perspective. And then having grace to be able to make sure that, yes, there is going to be some leeway here, but that going back to that entitlement and then that lack of communication, if that's happening, like to me, those are things that you can change quickly that will have a drastic.

change in how you handle your business. And I think honestly, probably the perspective that people have about you. ⁓

Ashley (15:23)
One thing you

mentioned your calendar. So like one thing I've started doing is right. Same with like the alerts is that if my showing is at, you know, 10 30, like I'll block my calendar off as of 10 15. And then what like 10 30 showing or whatnot. So at least blocked off. No one else is scheduling anything. It's reminding me then actually 30 minutes before that I need to get to somewhere. Um, I mean, I live and die by my Google calendar.

Steven L. Burch (15:38)
Hmm.

Hmm.

Ashley (15:52)
invites and whatnot. So I literally have a warning on like, where am I going? And sometimes I'll adjust them because I'll be like, I did not give myself enough time in between or I want to buffer that. So I think it's really just being like aware and again, think a lot of people are just running by the seat of their pants without planning their days structurally. And that's where I think you end up being late to meetings and appointments where if you could just, you know, spend the five minutes in the morning, like readjusting and calculating for drive times and traffic and whatnot, you could

probably be a lot less stressed throughout your day.

Steven L. Burch (16:25)
I could not even imagine the amount of chaos that I would be creating if I just went with the flow and not use my calendar, not use systems and tools to make sure that everything is staying on track. Like it is legit no structure whatsoever. And let's face it in this business and life, right? Like we don't know what's going to happen. So we need to make sure that we're planning for what we can control or where we are supposed to be going so that

Then when life does happen, something traffic or whatever else, you now know everything that you need to adjust versus trying to keep everything in your brain or, um, on that, you know, little notepad that you have next to 24 seven. So definitely it's a huge topic that sounds so small of just beyond time, but there's so many different ways and views to being looking at this and how it really compounds together on other aspects of your business.

⁓ And that one, again, small thing has huge, huge impact for everybody around you.

Ashley (17:29)
So if someone's really struggling with being on time, they're habitually late. What is one suggestion that you have for them?

Steven L. Burch (17:38)
I think it's really. If you know that you are right and let's face it, typically people laugh about it and like, ⁓ you know, I just ran into Starbucks. I just did this, just did this. Like if you know about it, really evaluate how does that make everybody else fill in there? Write down each person's name that is in that meeting is in that room at that appointment and write out for each person how you think by you being late impacted them.

And then tell me if that right there, if that can't help you change to try to be on time or to implement different things, then I don't think anything's going to change at all because it's all about you and you don't care about other people's feelings. So it's truly what I think about that. Yep.

Ashley (18:28)
I

think you know what I think just trying to change your routine. So like if you're always under 15 minutes late, like what does it look like if you get up 10 minutes earlier? Like what does that really look like if that means you know like if you are gonna be that stressed in the morning if you just got up 10 minutes earlier would you then not be that stressed? Like not forget your lunch, not forget.

You know, your computer at home, like those types of things, like is not sleeping for 10 minutes more worth the non chaotic part of that. and I think that's just where people have to like figure out their priorities as to like, is showing up for someone on time, you know, the best thing. think I gave the example one time, but a really good client and we were meeting like 35 minutes away. And like I said, it.

Whatever the traffic, threw me off a little bit. And so I just texted him and said, like, my GPS, I'll be there at XYZ, which was still before our showing time. And, you know, his wife later told me like that sealed the deal for them working for me forever. And it was like a simple text, be like, I'm on my way.

Steven L. Burch (19:33)
Communication, simple. People don't know that it's that freaking simple. Talk to people, let them know what's up. Don't leave them in the dark. Done.

Ashley (19:43)
Yeah, I think it goes up to

showing up for yourself as showing up for others.

Steven L. Burch (19:47)
I like that. I like that a lot. Yep. Absolutely. Cause again, if you're willing to do it, do it for yourself, you're to do it to everybody else. So love it. Good topic. Thank you again for allowing me to vent today because there's been a lot of pet peeves here recently, but that's okay. Getting through it, using this as my little vent session. So thank you everybody for listening. If you have a topic or if you have a guest that you would like to have on our podcast, please reach out. We'd love to hear from you.