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Talking politics: Is it good for your business?

by Jason Porterfield

Handling tension

Even when agents do their best to change the subject when political topics come up, clients can be persistent. In other cases, an agent might feel that he or she needs to say something in response to a client’s comments.

Rodriguez is mindful that when clients ask her opinion on a particular topic, they may not agree with her position. Her strategy is to express herself in a professional manner so that she can have a healthy relationship with them.

“I think it’s a slippery slope,” Rodriguez says. “If we start doing a litmus test of everybody’s politics before we agree to do business with them, we put ourselves in jeopardy of losing important connections to one another. We lose the opportunity to learn from one another and appreciate one another in the areas where we have common ground.”

Irace has been in a position in which she ended a relationship with a client. In that instance, she felt that the individual in question was going over the top with his social media comments.

“I can generally respect someone’s rights to have an opinion different from mine,” Irace says. “I might share my view with somebody in a conversation. I can talk and explain to you why I feel the way I feel, and I can hear why you feel how you feel, and I don’t see the need to try to change your mind. This particular client was always trying to change people’s minds. They just got so negative that I took him off my Facebook account and stopped sending him invitations to events. I took him off all my contact lists. I don’t know if he even realizes it.”

Anzalone says that while clients are asking about his political views more than ever, it still happens less than 20 percent of the time. He doesn’t anticipate losing clients or ending professional relationships over his views.

“I feel it is my duty to be at least aware of and ideally involved with shaping the direction of my community,” he says. “I welcome suggestions from everyone on what they want with their community, too. Discourse is meant to be productive and healthy, as long as it’s civil.

“I have many friends who disagree with me across the board politically. It doesn’t mean I don’t like them or think less of them. To the contrary, I personally respect the man or woman who stands up for what he or she believes in more than someone who keeps quiet for fear of offending someone.”

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