LOST IN THE TRAVEL SECTION

LOST IN THE TRAVEL SECTION

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, May 25, 2012

 We are born (point A) and then we die (point B); a pretty stark reality when you think of it.  In between however, there is a lot of traveling to be done.  The questions that need to be addressed are:

• Have you ever been lost, without direction?
• Are you lost now and without direction?
• Could you possibly be lost in the future and without direction?
• Do you care that you might be lost and have no idea where you are going let alone where you might have been?
• Are you lost in the travel section of life?

Consider what Larry Winget would say IF he were asked to speak at a graduation:

LARRY WINGET’S ADVICE TO GRADS

As seen on Fox & Friends

(and of course annotated by yours truly, that would be me) 

Congratulations on earning your degree (REAL ESTATE LICENSE). But the truth is that the degree (LICENSE) alone isn't going to be enough to assure your success in the real world (REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY).  (Gymbeaux Note:  Obviously I added the part about real estate.)

In the real world employers don't care much about your degree, your happiness, your income or really much of anything that has to do with you. They care about what you can do for them. And from this point on, that's how you have to think. Businesses exist to be profitable.  It is your job to help make them profitable. If you know how to do that, how to be worth more than you cost, then you have value in the workplace. If you don't know how to be worth more than you cost, then employers will pass you over and find someone else.  (Gymbeaux Note:  Is is not enough just to show up for work, you need to know where you want to go, how you are going to get there and the core values you believe in that will serve you on your journey.)

Look at what it really takes to be successful in the real world.

You have to take responsibility. Your life, your results, success, happiness, health and your prosperity are up to you. When it turns out well, you get the credit and when it doesn't work out the way you wanted it to, you get the blame (Gymbeaux Note:  You may also get fired, laid off, or downsized). It isn't up to anyone else to make sure you are successful, it's always up to you, so be responsible.  (Gymbeaux Note:  If it is to be; it is up to me!  William H. Johnson)

Others. Respect your employer enough to be on time and give them your personal best every day because that is what they are paying for. Respect your boss, even when you think he is an idiot because he is still your boss and deserves your respect. Respect your coworkers so they will respect you and your customers because they pay you.  (Gymbeaux Note:  Implied in this statement is the Golden Rule:  Do unto others as you would have done unto you.  Before you get mad, angry or want to retaliate against someone, ask, how would I want to be treated if the roles were reversed?  In most cases you WOULD act or react differently if it were happing TO you instead of BY you!)

Clear priorities. Your time, your energy and your money will always go to what is important to you.  (Gymbeaux Note:  Can you say GOALS!)  If looking cute is important to you then you will spend all of your money at the mall. If being financially secure is important to you then you will make sure that you save, invest and live on less than you earn.  (Gymbeaux Note:  And the most critical of all – you create a plan and then work your plan and always be aware that the plan will occasionally need adjusting or tweaking to meet current circumstances.)

It's about work and excellence. Regardless of what others may tell you, it's not about your passion -- I know people who are passionately incompetent. It's not loving what you do or being happy every day. You aren't paid to be happy on the job; you are paid to do your job. Success always comes down to hard (smart) work and excellence. And it takes both. Hard (smart) work alone won't cut it. I know people who work really hard yet aren't any good at what they do so it doesn't matter. And I know people who are excellent at what they do but they don't work hard (or passionately) enough at it to make any difference.

So work hard (smart) and be excellent at what you do. And remember, if any one can do it then anyone can do it!

What was NOT said in this presentation (except for my note) was the need to personally have core values and strong beliefs. If the current political scene reinforces one fact it is that most politicians have no core beliefs or values; they say what appears to be the most expedient at the moment and change what they say frequently usually to secure votes or to appear to “go along with the crowd.”

NEVER COMPROMISE YOUR CORE VALUES OR BELIEFS!   For this to happen you must first KNOW what your Core Values and Beliefs are; do you know?  Do you know what the Core Values and Beliefs are for the company you work for?  But wait you say, I am an Independent Contractor; I work for myself – EXACTLY! 

When you work for yourself you may, as Larry Winget states above, be working for an idiot!  One thing I am certain of is that when you affiliate with Keller Williams Realty as a lot of readers of this Nugget have, the Core Values and Beliefs needed to be successful have already been identified and promulgated by Keller Williams Realty.  All you have to do is live by them, promote them and teach your customers and spheres of influence why they are important to you.  They are known as the WI4C2TS!  Do you know them?

·      Win-win; or no deal (someone does NOT HAVE to lose for others to win)

·      Integrity; do the right thing (ESPECIALLY when no one is watching)

·      Commitment; in all things (do and give your BEST, ALWAYS!)

·      Communication; seek first to understand (and THEN be understood)

·      Creativity; ideas before results (there is no such thing as a bad idea)

·      Customers; always come first (but first you must recognize exactly who the customers are; they include teammates, cooperative agents, vendors, buyers and sellers.  Would you think a little differently if you thought of your customers as WEALTH BUILDERS?)

·      Teamwork; together everyone achieves more (all boats rise with the tide)

·      Trust; begins with honesty (takes a lifetime to develop, and only a second to destroy)

·       Success; results through people (no one ever achieved anything alone)

Zig Ziglar said, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there!”  Knowing where you are going not only includes a destination but also the route you will take and how you will act and/or react along the way.

Suggested Reading:

·      The Speed of Trust by Stephen M. R. Covey; www.SpeedofTrust.com

·       Master Your Traits by Bob Burg; www.BobBurg.com

·      The Little Gold Book of YES@Attitude by Jeffrey Gitomer; www.JeffreyGitomer.com

·       The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way by Jeffrey Gitomer; www.JeffreyGitomer.com

WHERE ARE YOU GOING?

High in the Sierra Mountains lives an old man

Who from his hermitage looks down in pity

Upon other men of higher mental aspiration. 

One day he rescued a little group of Swiss mountaineers

Lost in the mountains’ vastness

When told were they were they exclaimed in disbelief,

“But how did we get here?” 

To which the old hermit replied,

“If that question ain’t got no answer attached to it,

I ain’t got none that fits.

If you is goin’ anywhere in particular

Up here, yu’d better figger fust how to get thar.

Cuz by jest goin’ afore ya know where yere agoin’

Ya can get to a powerful lotta places ya might not wanta be.”

Author Unknown, pity

Is Is True?

IS IT TRUE?

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, May 18, 2012

Three simple words that when asked of yourself, could change the direction of your life.

We have been told since time began that “we can become anything we desire to become.”

Is it true?

If today I decided that I wanted to become the Pope, is it true?  I suppose it could happen but is it realistically true?  Of course not.

If today I decided that I wanted to play in the National Basketball Association, is it true?  Again it “could” but extremely not very realistic.

Let’s consider our own self-talk which many folks will respond to by saying “I don’t talk to myself.”  If THAT were true, who said, “I don’t talk to myself?”

“I could never talk in front of an audience!”  Really?  Is that really true?  If someone put a gun to your head and told you to talk or else, do you think you could talk to an audience?

“I am not a creative person?”  Really?  Is it true?  You never created one thing, one thought, one relationship, etc in your life?

“I can’t be as successful as so-and-so?”  Really?  Is it true?

“So-and-so is only successful because he or she was lucky, knew a lot of people, fell into it, was helped by a spouse, a work relationship, etc, etc, etc.”  Really?  Is it true?  Or did so-and-so enjoy success because he or she decided success is what was desired and then set out on a course to pursue it?

Mooring lines are ropes that hold a ship to the dock.  They are real.  They can be massive and imposing.  They are typically dirty and smell like fish and they usually take more than just one person to handle.

Your beliefs, real or imagined, are YOUR mooring lines.  They hold you back and they are extremely effective in doing so.  They too are usually dirty and if you look closely they usually smell as well.  IMPORTANT FACT:  Most personal mooring lines are imagined, they are NOT true; you only think they are true.  Could you talk in front of an audience if you had to?  Absolutely.  Therefore your belief is not true.  You may be nervous.  You may stumble on your words.  You may forget what you wanted to say.  In fact you may be absolutely horrible but is it true you can’t speak in front of an audience – NO WAY!

More importantly your own personal mooring lines also take more than one to handle. Help, support or discouragement?  Unfortunately there is an over abundance of people who will believe they are helping you or are supporting you by reinforcing THEIR belief that you cannot do something or achieve what you desire.  Those folks typically start with family members who may have the best of intentions – don’t want to see you get hurt or fail – but in reality may be your strongest mooring lines.  After all you want to cement good relations with family, you don’t want them to think you are nuts or over the top, correct?

Then there are your friends.  Your co-workers.  Your boss.  Your social group.  Your golfing buddies (sorry had to put that in), you name it there are any number of people for all kinds of different reasons will suggest you are about to embark on something that will eventually hurt you and cause you to fail.  Really?  How do THEY know?  Have they done what you want to do or are they just guessing?  Is it true that you will most assuredly fail?

I believe it was Joe Tye who suggested that when you get three “You are crazy” opinions, you know you are on the right track.

Terri Cole-Whittaker wrote, “What you think of me is none of my business!”  Think about that for a minute.  Does the opinion of others really matter?  Are they going to be doing the work, or not?  Are they going to be investing their time, or not?  Are they going to be investing their money, or not?  One thing for sure, except for family members, they also will not be reaping the fruits of your labors.  It is not about them.  It is about you, your dreams, what you want in life.

You may not agree with this Nugget and frankly that is fine.  It really doesn’t matter.  What you think of me or what I do is none of my business unless what I am doing is illegal. Writing Nuggets is hardly illegal – they may be poorly written, they may not apply to you, in fact they may not have any value to anyone except for me of course and that is okay.

An opinion is a valuable commodity – it’s yours (and mine)!  You are not in my shoes and I not in yours.  You have no idea from where my opinion was formulated or why and I have no knowledge of the development of your opinion.  What I know is that I can respect YOUR opinion and beliefs and hopefully you mine. 

Here is an opinion (mine) about America.  Today if someone has a differing opinion (than you), they tend to demonize those persons who have a differing opinion (you).  Therefore, listen NOT to the opinions of others when it comes to fulfilling YOUR dreams.  Surely take in their council but only for consideration.  The ONLY opinion that truly counts is YOUR OPINION!

YOU CAN’T (INSERT WHATEVER YOU WISH):

IS IT TRUE?  REALLY?

NUGGETS FOR THE NOGGIN

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM KOREAN AIR?

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, May 8, 2012

Actually a very valuable advertising and marketing concept.

How often do you think of Korean Air?  Before their most recent television commercial I would think – never.  At least for me it was never.  Then I watched their commercial. 

I remember vividly the first time I saw it.  It was not that men and women were over sized and superimposed on natural settings appearing as giants, it was because of what appeared to be three airline attendants walking side by side.  If you have seen the commercial surely you must have thought as I did, no one walks like these three women.  How stupid is that? 

Surprise, surprise, stupid maybe, memorable – absolutely.  I am writing about it am I not?

Think about Stephanie Courtney, whoops, I meant to say Flo.  Who is Flo you ask?  You know who she is.  Flo is dressed in all white and sells insurance.  Which insurance company?  Progressive Insurance.  Love her or hate her you know about Progressive Insurance because of Flo.  In fact if you look Flo up on the Internet under her real name Stephanie Courtney you would not recognize her.

“How much wood can a woodchuck chuck?”  Does GEICO come to mind?

“Things go better with – COKE!”

Here is one that ages me, LSMFT.  If you know what that means you are older than I thought but I remember it as if it were on the tube just last night, Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco.  Do they even make Lucky Strikes anymore?

Just as old, “Timex, takes a licking and keeps on ticking.”  John Cameron Swayze

One more example, Cadillac.  Have you seen the television advertisement where they talk about how their new model can wipe rain drops away from the windshield at 190 miles an hour?  Who drives 190 miles an hour?  Who would want to?  How stupid is that ad?  Is it?  I am talking about it.  I have thought about it.  Did the advertisement work?  At least for me it did – I am recalling Cadillac am I not?

What can we learn from these companies and others? 

Whatever you do, give it time to work.  Do you think people remembered Coke because they initially came up with the slogan, “Things go better with Code” or did the message stick because they stuck with it?  Obviously because they stuck with it. 

Korean Air probably had no idea that the 2 seconds of their commercial would cause the ad, stupid as it appears, at least to me, would cause me to remember the air line.  Therefore, you never know what might click.  In fact Korean Air may not even know and then again maybe it is just me that found it unbelievable to the point of remembering it.

What are you doing to get people to remember who you are and what you do?  Are you thinking outside the box or are you simply doing what everyone else is doing and expecting different or better results?   Doesn’t that describe insanity?  Hmmmm?

Can we agree that the Internet is here to stay?  Do your own study.  Focus on television and print ads for just a day and count the number of times you see a company’s web address prominently identified in the advertisement.  I can save you the time – they don’t include it except for very few.  That is mistake number one.  Mistake number two is that when they do advertise a web address or an email address it is typically so small that you cannot readily read it.  Mistake number three is that the web address is so long or has so many words in it that again, it is difficult if not impossible to remember.

Correct me if I am wrong but just about everybody have cell phones and they keep it at their side constantly.  Most if not all of these phones have a built-in camera.  Put the phone/camera in YOUR hand.  You are reading a magazine or watching television and there appears an advertisement that catches your eye.  What good is your camera at this point?  If the company had included a QR code on their ad AND you had downloaded a FREE QR AP, you could use your camera to scan the QR code, yes even on your television set and immediately be taken to the company’s web site, or YOUR web site, hint, hint, hint!  Eventually everyone will be using a QR code at least until something better comes along.  If you want to be different, start using QR codes before everyone else does and especially on your yard signs where buyers passing by can obtain detailed information on your listing.

On being different and remembered, I initially did it just to be funny.  I was checking in at a convention and the registration lady asked me what name I wanted on my Identification Card that you wear around your neck.  Don’t know what made me say it but I said “Gymbeaux” a phony Cajun take off on Jim Bo.  That was 1992 and the name stuck with me; one of the better things I have ever done.  Who remembers Jim Brown except for the football player?

And the kicker?  I took a photo of a bottle of Lemon Pledge and Pride the furniture polish.  I put the photo on the back of my business card.  When I gave someone the card I would explain;
“This card is special; you will want to keep it in your wallet/purse.  Whenever you are around people talking about their ‘pride and joy’ (usually kids, grandkids, dogs and/or cats), show them your pride and joy!”

There are people to this day that still have that card in their wallets/purses because there was a reason to keep it.

What reason do you give people to remember who you are and what you do?

ANY QUESTIONS?

Jimmy Is The Only One In Step

Nuggets For The Noggin

“Look, Jimmy is the only one in step!”

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, April 30, 2012

As the band marched by it was not difficult to hear Mrs. Akers comment to her neighbor sitting next to her, “Look, Jimmy is the only one in step!” 

Mrs. Akers could be considered an optimist seeing only the good in all things not necessarily a bad thing. 

Someone else might call her visually impaired.   

Jimmy as seen by the Optimist – in step

Jimmy as seen by the Pessimist – out of step

Jimmy as seen by the Realist – might need to teach Johnny the difference between Left and Right

What does this have to do with sales in general and real estate sales specifically? 

It is impossible to please everyone.  Sales people who think they can please everyone are obviously the optimists in the business.  Sales people who think this way will most assuredly be hurt or extremely disappointed when a customer or other agent rejects their services (or product) for no apparent reason.  Sales people who constantly expect the worst from their customers are definitely pessimists.  Sales people who KNOW they cannot please everyone and accept that premise are what I would call optimistic-realists.  They do what they can for the people they can do it for and move on beyond the people who reject their efforts.  You cannot please everyone all the time.

We have all heard the phrase, “You get only one chance to make a favorable first impression.”  What goes along with that quote is, “When you don’t make a favorable impression, the impression only gets amplified.”  Do something right and you are indeed fortunate if a customer tells 3 other people how good you were.  Do something wrong and the ramifications will be vividly described to the world via letters, post cards, phone calls, casual conversations, internet and Emails.  I am guilty of this!  Provide me with bad service or an inferior product and I’ll immediately post it on Facebook® or send an email to the company president.  Sound familiar?

What do you think happens when you put your own needs above those of the public?  It is a mindset that only harms; nothing good.  It shows that the needs and concerns of others are of no interest to you.  What has been gained?  Satisfaction?  A sense of getting even?  A display of being superior? 

Anyone in sales KNOWS the customer is not always right but the customer had better be right in your mind if you want future business from that customer or the customer’s personal sphere of influence.  Words and actions matter!   A person’s “perspective of words and/or actions matter even more. 

I suggest that you come to grips that every customer, either consciously or unconsciously, asks the same question.  “Is this someone I prefer to do business with?”

Here is a better question, direct from my mentor Joe Tye, the Direction-Deflection-Question:

Is what I am about to say or do going to cause this person to want to do business with me now and in the future?

Or how about this one:

Is what I am about to say or do going to cause this person to want to do business with me now and in the future and will this person want to refer me to someone who will benefit from my services?

Think about some of the conversations you have recently had.  What was your attitude at the time?  Was it positive?  Was it negative?  Was it neutral?  Was it a conversation you WANTED to have?  Was it a conversation you HAD to have or a conversation that you GET TO HAVE?  Did you value the person you were talking with (notice I did not say talking to)?  Did you learn anything from your conversation?  (If the answer is no, you are probably talking to dead people.)

How many real estate agents do you know that other real estate agents would prefer NOT to do business with?  Bite your tongue!  Are YOU one of those agents that others would prefer not to work with or would not trust?

I learned a valuable lesson 30 years ago from Lee Shelton, author of “Creating Teamwork.”  Lee said that when you find it difficult to work with or be around people who are difficult to work with or be around, simply think thoughts of love for this person.  If I have to explain the different types of love, there is a bigger problem to solve.  Lee said to think, “I love this person, what can I learn from them.”  It is impossible to have two thoughts at the same time.  You can’t be thinking - I love this person - while at the same time thinking, “On, no here he or she comes; another day ruined.”

The Law of Expectations, from Tony Davies: The Law of Expectations tells us that whatever one expects, with confidence, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. When one expects with confidence that good things will happen, good things usually will. If, on the other hand, one expects a negative outcome to a situation, then the outcome will usually be negative. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/78769

What the law does not say is that “expectations” are really a two-way street.  You have expectations and your customers and other agents have expectations.  Who is doing the better job of living up to the other person’s expectations?  If you expect a smooth transaction, think smooth transaction and how glad you are to be working with this customer and/or agent.  If you think the transaction is going to be difficult, prepare yourself for what you expect because more times than not – it will!

“But I am my own man (or woman)!”  That’s great but you are in sales.  IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU!  It is about other people who you hope will buy or sell using your services or refer you to others who will buy or sell using your services.  You do not achieve that by focusing on YOUR needs.  As the great Jeffrey Gitomer writes, “To get everything you want in life, simply help someone else get what they want – FIRST!”

It cannot be any simpler than that.  Play Gary Keller’s Red Light/Green Light:

IS WHAT I AM ABOUT TO SAY OR DO CONSISTENT WITH MY DESIRE TO HELP THIS PERSON(S) GET WHAT HE, SHE OR THEY WANT?

NO – DON’T SAY OR DO IT!

YES – GO FOR IT (as long as it is legal and ethical)!

Notice; there is no YELLOW LIGHT 

Is your goal or objective to help other people get what they want or are you focused solely on getting what you want at the expense of others?   You do not exist in a vacuum.  Don’t be the ONLY one NOT marching in step unless being IN step with others is illegal or unethical.  Support your principals.