Are You Like A Fortune 500 Company

NUGGETS FOR THE NOGGIN

 

What Do You Have In Common With Fortune 500 Companies?

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, September 7, 2012 

“Someone with a job is never secure.  Someone with a calling is never unemployed!”

Joe Tye 

The answer should be obvious except for maybe you-know-who.  It’s that you both are in business but can you prove it?  I have always laughed at the statement:  “If the government made selling real estate illegal, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” 

Why reinvent the wheel.  Successful businesses such as those in the Fortune 500 have figured out what it takes to be successful.  In my opinion that is: 

• Start with a very clear Mission Statement
• Identify and establish Core Values for the company that supports the Mission Statement
• Have a business plan in place that is under constant review and revision to adapt to ever changing conditions
• Create a company training plan and courses that support professionalism, the Mission Statement and the company’s Core Values
• Then hire quality individuals that think and act in accordance with the Mission Statement, Core Values and the Business Plan
• Track and evaluate the actions they take such as advertising campaigns such as are they productive?
• Create an image and logo for the company and stick with it
• Identify the company’s wealth builders and do whatever it takes to maintain contact with those wealth builders such as employees, customers and business relationships.
• Finally from Gary Keller, LEAD WITH REVENUES; NOT WITH EXPENSES!

I want to emphasize that this Nugget is my opinion and that I truly believe that a majority of real estate agents and probably other types of sales people do not understand that when they decided to go into sales that they at the same time consciously or unconsciously decided to “open a business” - their business.  Even though they may be working under the banner of a parent company, e.g., Keller Williams Realty and Keller Williams Realty Professionals, all sales people are actually businesses unto themselves.  Therein lies the problem. 

If you were truly in business for yourself and you are, why would you not follow the path that other successful companies have already proven to work? 

Keller Williams Realty International has established a mission statement:  “To create jobs worth having, businesses worth owning and lives worth living.”  Admirable to say the least.  I would prefer to think of it as “To create callings worth having, businesses worth owning and lives worth living.”  As the emphasized in the above quote from Joe Tye: “Someone with a job is never secure.  Someone with a calling is never unemployed!”  What is YOUR calling? 

Selling real estate is an intermediate calling not an end result.  It is a means to achieve your life’s calling whatever that may be.  Jeffrey Gitomer states it best:  “To get everything you want in life, help someone else get what they want – FIRST!”  Therefore if you believe that - then selling real estate would help people to achieve their American Dream by helping them achieve home ownership.  Once that is accomplished you have taken another step to achieving YOUR personal dream of (you fill in the blank).  It could be something as simple as financial freedom, college education for your children and grandchildren, a trip around the world, charity work, etc.  It can be whatever you desire. 

I read somewhere about the rocking chair test and I apologize for not knowing who wrote it.  The rocking chair test involves envisioning yourself sitting in a rocking chair on your front porch looking at a view you have worked all your life to achieve.  You then ask yourself questions such as if you could do it differently what would you have done differently?  Any regrets? 

Personally I have two regrets.  The first is that I did not take the time to train myself on money; how to earn it, how to spend it; how to invest it; and, how to make it work for you.  The second is what this Nugget is all about, I did not think of myself as being in business for myself – a business owner.  Instead I always felt I was working for a company. 

As each situation in life and business reveals itself to you the questions then become: 

• If I am a successful business owner, what would I do or want to have one of my employees do in this specific situation?”
• If the situation involves a customer, what is the best resolution for the customer?  Remember what Gitomer said, “To get everything you want, help someone else get what they want – FIRST!”
• What would I or my employee do that would be in keeping with my stated business mission statement?
• What would I or my employee do that would be in keeping with my stated core values?
• What would the best course of action be that would take me towards my goals and objectives?

The most useful tool I have ever discovered in this regard was created by Joe Tye.  It is the Direction-Deflect-Question (DDQ).  “Is what I am about to say or do consistent with me being the best I can be?”  The answer should direct you to the proper actions to take. 

With all this said, sitting in MY rocking chair, this is what I would do if I were given the opportunity to start over: 

Use the Direction-Deflection-Question (DDQ): 

IS WHAT I AM ABOUT TO SAY OR DO CONSISTENT WITH....... 

• My life’s Mission Statement
• My personal and company Core Values (*)
• My personal and company Business Plan (*)
• My personal and company Training Plan (*)
• Being my ideal self or ideal employee (*)
• Being REACTIVE or PROACTIVE in my spending and tracking my activities
• The IMAGE I want to be known for
• Supporting, interacting, and maintaining contact with my personal and company’s Wealth Builders
• Leading with revenues; not with expenses!  Maybe the most important of all.

(*) Note:  Remember when you are in business for yourself you are not only the company owner, you are the company employee, the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Financial Officer, The Chief Marketing Director, etc. etc. etc. 

Yep, that is what I would do.  What would you do?