Baroque - World's Best Kept Secret

NUGGETS FOR THE NOGGIN

BAROQUE

WORLD’S BEST KEPT SECRET

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown

Be honest, have you ever heard the word Baroque or better, Baroque Music?  Could you identify Baroque Music if you heard it?  Most, certainly not you, would say that they could not identify Baroque Music when played.  Yet if you ever attended a wedding, you most certainly heard at least one very common Baroque work of art; The Canon!

Here is the deal, so to speak.  Baroque Music for some mystical reason can and does open pathways to the brain that enables the listener’s brain to become more receptive to ideas while reading, watching something or generated from deep within the brain.  That is the Gymbeaux definition of Baroque Music.  If you really are interested in a more scientific explanation, go to http://brainbasedbiz.blogspot.com/2007/04/baroque-music-helps-you-focus.html where you can learn all you ever needed to know about Baroque Music and studying than you probably will ever use or wanted to know.

Here is the real deal:  IT WORKS!

Today it is a beautiful Sunday morning and I took the current book I am reading out to the patio and two things happened.  First I turned to Chapter 7 of Jeffrey Gitomer’s new book, 21.5 Unbreakable Laws of Selling.  Second, I put my I-Pod on to Spotify and then selected the Playlist I created entitled Canon.  Here is what happened next.

As I read the Chapter on “Be Assertive and Persistent” I could not help but to think of how I approached the opportunity to work with a buyer or seller of real estate in 1980 when I first became a licensed real estate agent.  I should have taken notes!  For whatever reason and on my very first listing appointment, I did as I have since preached, I arrived about 10 minutes early and then sat in my car in front of the home to be listed.  I turned off the radio, sat perfectly still, closed my eyes and did my best to totally clear my mind.  Remember this was 1980, long before any of the so called sales guru’s had a chance to mess with my head.  I had little to no real estate sales training not to be confused with the training required to obtain your license which has very little to do with actual sales training.  So there I was, my first listing appointment, sitting in my car, untrained and with my now clear mind.  What next?

I actually created a very vivid picture of me sitting at the owner’s kitchen table with both owners sitting with smiles on their faces and each one signing the listing agreement.  I had obtained the listing!  Time to celebrate!  Then a small miracle happened.  I went to the front door to meet the owners for the first time.  I can assure you that they probably had better things to do than to meet a stranger who after all was selling something, at least in their minds.  As they answered the door I was unusually calm and proceeded with my plan.  It went far better than I could have even envisioned in the front seat of my car.  Fast forward to the end, I obtained the listing and eventually sold the home.

I have told and taught that story to hundreds of real estate agents but I fear that for most the lesson fell upon deaf ears.  Since then I have also learned of the value of listening to Baroque Music because that activity enabled me as I am sure it will you to see things more clearly than you can believe.  For some strange reason it just causes you to think clearly, be creative, or in the words of Gitomer, “be assertive and persistent” because Gitomer described exactly what happened to me in 1980.  I became assertive and persistent without being overly aggressive; I became self-confident in what I was about to do and it worked.  I just didn’t know what I was doing until much later in my career; I only knew it worked.  The key here is that it was my very first listing appointment.  I had no sales credentials; I had only me and my mind and what I truly believed I could do for the owners.  I specifically remember answering a question they posed when they asked why they should list their home with a brand new agent.  I said something like:

“Mr. & Mrs. Seller, that is a great question and I would ask the same of me if the roles were reversed.  Let me explain.  You will be my first listing; I have no other listings to market and sell and while that may sound like a detriment let me explain why it is in your best interest.  You see because I will have only your listing, I can promise you that you and your home will have 100% of my efforts to get it sold.  Other agents with many listings have their attention divided amongst their various listings; that is not the case for me.  And think of this.  If you list with one of the more experienced agents in the area your name will go on their list of satisfied customers.  You, on the other hand, will go on my list of satisfied customers but more importantly, several years from now when you see just how successful I have grown my real estate business, you can tell your friends and family just how you helped me to get started in the business.  What do you say; can I count on your help?”

I made that up on the spot and every time I think about it I can’t help but think that I meant every word of it and far more importantly the owners believed it because they listed the home with me.

Linking 1980, today, and this Nugget:  It was partly what Gitomer had written in Chapter 7 and it was partly because I was listening to the Canon playlist that caused me to think back to 1980 and the above incident and how important that day became in my life and career.  Sometimes we tend to forget some of the most important lessons in life because we get so busy or so consumed with what is happening today that we forget yesterday and all of yesterday’s valuable lessons.

ACTION STEPS:

1. Read 21.5 Unbreakable Laws of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer.  Whenyou finish reading Chapter 7, think of me and my story.  If you are in sales, and who isn’t, this book should be considered REQUIRED READING!  (www.JeffreyGitomer.com)
2. If you have not already done so, go to www.Spotify.com and sign up for a free account.  Then create a Playlist entitled Canon.  Go to the search box and enter the word Canon.  You will see several options but look for the heading “Tracks”.  If you click on one of the tracks you can play it to hear what the Canon sounds like and I can almost guarantee you that you have heard it before but just didn’t know its name.  Then you can place your cursor over the track that is being played and drag it over to the left where you have created a Canon Playlist.  You can also put your cursor over one of the tracks, hold your shift key down to highlight more than just the one, and then release the shift key after you have selected the last track to be copied.  You can then drag all of the selections over to your playlist at the same time.
3. Just try it.  Pick up a book or sit and listen.  You will be amazed at what happens to your thinking process.  It is quite possible that you will think of something that could turn into the world’s next big idea or just something that will help you.  Either way, you win!
4. The free version of Spotify is great but only lets you listen while you are on your computer.  If you pay the monthly subscription fee of just $10.00, you can listen on your phone, your I-Pod or whatever your pleasure is with no advertisements.  That is what I have done.  I plug my phone in to my car radio while driving and listen to the kind of music I like without no advertisements or interruptions.
5. Added SPOTIFY Benefit.  I searched online for music that would enable me to walk at a certain mile per hour, example, 3 miles per hour.  I then went to Spotify and created a Walking playlist, searched Spotify for those specific tunes and copied them to the Walking playlist.  Now when I go to the gym and get on the treadmill, I play the Walking playlist on my I-Pod (because I subscribed to the service) and the music helps me stay on pace to achieve my goal of walking at 3 miles per hour.  I have created many playlists.  Another benefit of creating an account is that you can share playlists amongst other Spotify members.  So if you would like to listen to the music I listen to, send me an email to JimBrown@gymbeaux.com and let me know you signed up on Spotify.  I can send you access to my playlists to help you get started, like the Canon Playlist; the one I am listening to as I write this Nugget, or a playlist 1963, the year I graduated from High School; cool songs.

 Now you will have to pardon me; I’m onto my next great idea.