BUSINESS 101 GYMBEAUX'S RULE

 

BUSINESS 101,

GYMBEAUX’S RULE!

By Jim ‘”Gymbeaux” Brown, October 24, 2024

“Never, I repeat NEVER EVER,
piss off a
POTENTIAL PAYING CUSTOMER!”
Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown

With that said, I took two or three principles I learned in all that study material and operating a real estate company and came up with the title of this Nugget: 

“NEVER, EVER, PISS OFF A POTENTIAL PAYING CUSTOMER!” 

It’s important to understand who is saying things, who is writing things, who is posting things and does the person who says, writes, or posts  the information YOU read or watch, qualified to do so?  What are my qualifications for writing this Nugget?  I attended only two years of college majoring in marketing and advertising when I decided that since I felt like a square peg in a round hole, I needed to go elsewhere to create my career and life.  I turned to the military and spent 20 years in the U. S. Coast Guard.  During my last several years, I worked on (1) obtaining a real estate salesman license in Louisiana (that was 1980).  I continued to study real estate while on active duty by taking classes and attending real estate seminars.  I earned a Real Estate Broker’s License from the State of Louisiana in 1982 and I retired from the Coast Guard in 1985.  I spent the time from 1980 to 2012 as a real estate salesman, real estate office manager, real estate broker, real estate trainer, co-owner/broker of a real estate franchise, and that is where I learned the very basics required to run a business: SUCCESSFULLY!  From 1982 to the present, I spent a lot of my free time reading books, eBooks, articles on real estate, business and business success principles.  As a result, I can proudly say I have read over 1200 books and an unknown number of articles/papers on real estate and business since 1980.

The key word in that quote is PAYING followed in the quote and in its importance, the word – CUSTOMER! 

Today is October 24, 2024 and I heard and saw Hollywood actor Michael Keaton, who posted a video of him saying how former President Donald Trump along with Elon Musk considered “young men as being stupid” (his words) and he also said that Trump and Musk “were laughing behind their backs and that is why they should vote for Kamala Harris.”   WARNING;  THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL NUGGET SO DON’T STOP READING IF YOU THINK THAT IT IS! 

Michael Keaton and other celebrities and professional athletes are both IN BUSINESS and they also create A BRAND!  They all get paid to do what they do.  But when they venture into the world of politics like Keaton did today, THEY JUST PISSED OFF A VERY LARGE NUMBER OF FUTURE POTENTIALLY PAYING CUSTOMERS!  What on Earth was he thinking, or NOT?  Anyone who supports Trump and not Harris is immediately pissed off.  Does Keaton care?  Obviously not.  Is it possible that some or a large number of the people who heard him say what he said, may decide that they will NEVER attend (paying customer) one of his movies ever again?  Will one or more of the people he just offended take a public political stance themselves and spread the word as I am now to whomever will listen?  ABSOLUTELY, I JUST DID!  Will I ever watch or more importantly PAY TO WATCH A MICHAEL KEATON MOVIE?    Probably not; provided I have an alternative choice which I most assuredly will.  By taking a very public political stance, he is saying to approximately half the population of America that he knows what is best and you are stupid if you don’t listen to what he has to say and then do what he suggests you do as if you really are too dumb to figure it all out.  The same applies to Elon Musk and his many business ventures.  When he took a public stand for Donald Trump, he turned off a lot of potential paying customers.  Did he care?  I seriously doubt it since he was one of if not the richest person in the world already.  

If Michael Keaton and Elon Musk took the stands they did out of principles, then more power to them.  But…they still pissed off upwards of half the country since the country seems to be split about 40% to the Left, 40% to the Right and about 20% somewhere in the middle.  If people like Keaton and Musk did do what they did out of principles, then they KNOWINGLY did so in spite of a potential loss of revenues! 

This Nugget is not about Michael Keaton, Elon Musk, Donald Trump or Kamala Harris.  It is about opening you mouth or writing flowing words on subjects that are KNOWN to cause a divide amongst the people who hear, watch or read what you have to say.  Therefore, in the real estate business (my former business) I would teach my real estate agents of all ages and genders that they should NEVER DISCUS OR DO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING WHEN IN THE PRESENCE OF PAYING CUSTOMERS: 

Politics!

Religion!

The Competition, tell them what YOU can do for them, not what your competition cannot do

Anything sexual in nature or that might be construed as being sexual

Any of YOUR personal likes and dislikes, it’s NOT ABOUT YOU, IT’S ABOUT THE CUSTOMER!

Talk on your phone without telling how the conversation will benefit the customer, otherwise, STAY OFF YOUR PHONE!  PERIOD!  In fact, TURN YOUR PHONE OFF in the presence of the POTENTIAL PAYING CUSTOMER and tell them how THEY are far more important to YOU and YOU do NOT want anything to interfere with your meeting.

Wear a watch to an important meeting, any meeting but especially one with a POTENTIAL PAYING CUSTOMER!  If during your meeting you even glance at your watch, you are sending a horrible message to the potential paying customer that you have a more important place to be.  Proof?  Consider the damage President Biden did when he just glanced at his watch as they were taking the remains off an airplane and the deceased family members were in attendance.  Who knew that a WATCH could send such negative messages?

Always dress for the occasion! 

In real estate, ALWAYS drive a clean car but especially the inside!  No food, no toys, no bags – CLEAN!

Today, Michael Keaton intentionally damaged his business and definitely damaged his BRAND!  When you are in business you are also creating and nurturing a BRAND that people (all potentially paying customers) see, remember and share with their friends.  Even people who may think they are NOT in business, such as people in the medical field like doctors and nurses and anyone that works a reception desk, but they ARE in business.  People may come to them for the first time just out of chance or they may have been specifically referred to you and your business by a friend or another business professional; the best kind of new customer/patient.  Therefore, building your BRAND begins the moment the customer/patient opens the door to your business.  What will their first impressions be?  Will they be good or will they be bad.  Will they refer THEIR friends to your business or will they write scathing comments about it and post them on social media platforms?  The choice is yours! 

I know of a Chiropractor who owns his business and at least once a week, he arrives at his place of business early and gets in the mindset that HE is the CUSTOMER or in this case the PATIENT.  He makes notes about what he sees, what needs to be changed, what repairs should be made or in other words, what are his first impressions; the same first impressions a POTENTIAL PAYING CUSTOMER or  PATIENT would have upon first arriving and then entering his place of business.  I found that attitude very refreshing and enlightening.  How many businesses have you entered only to be disappointed at the uncleanliness, a place in need of painting; lights out or flickering; and/or insufficient lighting to read by?  Or difficult if not impossible seating arrangements where customers/patients are expected to fill out questionnaires?  Or have you ever been given a form made by the business and the form did not give you sufficient space or spaces large enough to write down everything you need to write?  The list is endless.  The THREE biggest detriments to being a successful business are: 

 FIRST IMPRESSIONS
LACK OF PROFESSIONALISM
BUSINESS IS KNOWN FOR TAKING PUBLIC  POLITICAL POSITIONS (Starbucks) 

You could add a less observable fourth category and that would be that a customer feels like the business is talking “down” to them as if they were a child.  This would result in an insult to the customer’s intelligence. 

There is a fifth subject that I seriously doubt most businesses are even aware of.  Simply put, what are your and your business’s rules/regulations/operating orders on working with customers that may be handicapped?  Have you ever thought about it in advance?  I was guilty of that as we had no policies in place, verbal or written. 

I discovered the hard way that my business had never addressed the issue when the receptionist took a call and the caller was very difficult to deal with.  Then the receptionist discovered that there was a third party involved.  Sadly, the Third Party did not adequately describe the situation.  She was talking to someone who was listening and then repeating something that originated by a person incapable of talking on the phone; the real caller could not speak.  Therefore, he was typing his part of the conversation which was received by the third party who then spoke to the receptionist.  There was an obviously long delay between speaking and then responding and this came as an unexplained aggravation to the receptionist as it would have to me.  We had no training to deal with such a call but we did AFTER the call had taken place.  The caller was upset, The Third Party was upset.  I learned very quickly that every business should be aware of the provisions of The Americans With Disability Act.  It should have said PEOPLE with disabilities because more than just Americans frequent your business.  

Like Michael Keaton’s video, these are the type of things that can DESTROY your business and/or your brand, not to mention your reputation.  By the way, I also learned the hard way about people with service animals when a customer came into the office with a monkey, that’s right, a monkey.  My first response was based on the damage I know animals like monkeys can cause including biting, urinating, and other horrible things and that brought on an initial thought of not letting the customer in with the monkey in tow.  It is obviously a much longer story, suffice it to say, you need to be prepared for the unknown, whatever that may be.  You are strongly encouraged to take a deep breath before you react instead of responding to an unusual situation such as the monkey that turned out to be a service animal. 

I don’t know Michael Keaton but I seriously doubt he truly considered the bigger picture of what he did today. 

If you want to avoid what Michael Keaton did, my advice would be to abide by my Business 101 quote/rule.  If you are a real estate agent, sell real estate!  If you are an actor, act!  If you are a singer, sing!  Unless you can afford to lose business and damage your brand/reputation, stay out of politics to the point of not even putting a political sign in your yard.  You do not want people to avoid doing business with you because you took a public political position!  “Never ever piss off a potential paying customer!  EVER!  Otherwise, plan to pay the consequences! 

For the record, I fully retired on December 31, 2012.  I no longer counted on “potential paying” customers for my income and no longer have to worry about what I say or do that may discourage people from doing business with me because I no longer am in business.  It is actually fun being free to do, say and write what I want but I can assure you, if you are in business of any kind or if you rely on people coming to you to spend money that goes to you and your family, abiding by my Business 101 Rule should be the rule of the day for you and all of your employees/agents!  Want proof?  I haven’t given Michael Keaton one second of my time since I saw him in Beetlejuice and that was years ago.  I understand he has a new movie on the market.  How many tickets did he just throw to the wind with his video posted today?  No one knows for sure but there must be more than he ever thought.  Sadly, he has made enough money during his career that he probably is unaffected by the potential lost of customers.  In Hollywood, they refer to it as having enough “f$#K You!” money so that the person having this much money simply does not care what they say and do.  I personally have never been in that position so I can only imagine what that must be like.  Unfortunately, most of the people I have come to know in my life, can’t afford to turn away a potential paying customer, can you?  Keaton may be to afford it but what about all the people that help make his movies down to the small business that may run a food truck on the movie set?  What about them?  Can THEY afford for Keaton to do what he did today?  Maybe some, but certainly not all!

REMEMBER! 

“People will do business with people they 
KNOW, LIKE and TRUST!”
Jeffrey Gitomer 

Don’t throw that opportunity away to make some political point to people who do not want to hear it!