MUMMY’S HAD A HEART ATTACK

And her agent is ready to do a deal.

Article originally published AUGUST 4, 2004 –Reviewed and approved.

By Neil Jenman

The yellow and red sign with the little girl cuddling the teddy bear is a cute marketing tool heavily pushed by the LJ Hooker network. It’s an image of real family warmth.

But in the Brisbane suburb of Bayview the image is being used somewhat differently. Just above the little girl’s smiling photo, on a sign belonging to the Hooker office at Cleveland, are the bold headline words, “Wife Has Had A Heart Attack.”

Nah, come on, the agent must be kidding.

Surely no real estate office would use such a ploy. Not after agents were recently blasted by the Minister for Fair Trading for following up death notices.

Where did they learn those scurrilous methods? In a government approved training course, that’s where. The Minister, to her credit, vowed to strike the death-chasing technique from the real estate licensing course.

So, following all that publicity, no agent would be so – what’s the word? silly, dumb, ignorant, arrogant (take your pick) – to use a mother’s heart attack as advertising bait.

Well, meet Trevor Hesson whose name and phone number (0428 794 518) is on the sign.

Yesterday Trevor confirmed that the heart attack was genuine. Something about a mother’s leaky heart valve and her being in a lot of pain.

But look, now that he’s got a response to his For-Sale sign, it’s time to talk money. After all, things are tough in Brisbane for many agents these days.

“I’m doing my darndest. I want the business,” said Trevor, adding that the owners were financially over committed because they had bought another property.

“This is a steal. You could sit on it and make money,” he told the caller. “I just wanna make a sale and you just wanna buy, so it’s not where we start it’s where we finish.”

Er, no thank you Mr Hesson. We’ll finish it right here, if you don’t mind. Goodbye.

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FOOTNOTE: It was suggested that this office and Mr Trevor Hesson had once attended Jenman courses. Yes, that’s correct. Yesterday, another salesperson at the office said, “We used to follow the Jenman philosophy 100 per cent, but now we follow it 50 per cent.” Well, the heart attack bait is not a Jenman idea and we doubt it’s a Hooker strategy. So, perhaps it’s a Trevor Hesson original.

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