To thine own self be true...

“To wish to be the person you aren’t is to waste the person you are.” (John Wesley) from the Jack’s Winning Words Blog. How apropos as I agonize over that person that I’m not. That person is unafraid of cold calling as a prospecting activity. That person is out there socializing around town and making new contacts everyday. That person is out front, in your face and probably wildly popular at bars or in certain social circles. I’m not that person and the truth is that I’m not wishing that I was.

I don’t like cold-calling, so I just don’t do it. I get out in a few social circles, but I’ll never be mistaken for the most popular guy at the bar. I’ll likely never get “in your face” about very much, but I’d enjoy a good discussion with you. I’m not “that person” and I’m OK with that.

I’m pretty comfortable with the person that I am. I seem to do well with people whom I meet in the circumstances that I’m comfortable with. I enjoy working with them and they seem to enjoy working with me. We have fun if we’re house hunting and we even have some fun with the sales process, assuming that the sellers have a sense of humor and aren’t too depressed about the market. I’ve even managed to become friends beyond the real estate relationship with a few and that’s kind of nice, too.

The real estate business, like lots of other sales jobs, is populated with people who are self-confident, outgoing and sometimes a little overbearing. There are big egos in real estate. Especially among the so-called super agents or teams. That’s OK, I guess, so long as one doesn’t just have ego and nothing else going for them. I have won more than one listing after one of the super agents was in and totally turned off the clients with their self-centered pitch. My approach is that it’s not all about me; it’s all about the clients – their needs and wants – and not my ego and its need to be stroked.

So maybe Shakespeare’s line “to thine own self be true” is the best advice. I’m happy with me and I think you would be, too. Give me a call if you want to buy or sell a house and let’s find out.

Making choices to alter ones self...

“There are two ways of meeting difficulties. You alter the difficulties, or you alter yourself to meet the difficulties.” (Phyllis Bottome), from the Jack's Winning Words Blog. The only true way of meeting difficulties is obvious in that quote, since none of us have the power to alter the circumstances (difficulties) that we find ourselves in, especially the real estate market that we are facing right now. So, the question really becomes one of "How can we alter ourselves to meet the current difficulties?" I choose to double up on Jack's Blog quote today by using another - “The trouble with life isn’t that there is no answer; it’s that there are so many answers.” (Ruth Benedict - anthropologist).

I've certainly opined here enough times about things that I should be doing differently; however, I think that I'd add to that last quote a second sentence, "Find the answer that works for you." In my Blog two days ago, I talked about the need for change - to my routine and approach; so this is a follow-on to those thoughts. For me there are just some things that I know I won't do; so, saying that I'm going to change things by doing them is just lying to myself to make myself feel good. Sometimes I do that because others around me will say something like, "Oh, you should be doing this or that." I hear them and I understand that what they are saying is a viable answer that might work, if it were the right thing for me to do. Often it's not. No matter how many times I try to convince myself to do more cold-calling, deep in my heart I know that I'll find some way not to do it. I hate it and I just won't do it.

So, rather than continuing to beat myself up over things that I won't do, I'm spending more time trying to find things that I will do that will work. I like meeting and working with people, so holding open houses is something that I enjoy doing and I'm pretty good at them and at converting visitors to clients. This Blogging and other SN stuff is something else that I enjoy doing, as well as working on my Web sites and some of that is starting to gain some traction with potential clients. I do a bi-monthly newsletter that I mail out to over 500 people and that seems to be something that they enjoy and that they respond to - I get 2-3 listings a year off of just that. I get 1-2 leads a month from my company that come from people visiting the corporate site and requesting help and I do very good with those, although a high percentage end up not doing anything. I'm also starting to get some corporate relocation leads, after 2 years of being on the relo team waiting list.

My sense is that in a more normal market the things that I'm doing to attract clients that I'm good at would likely produce enough results that I'd be OK. But, we are not in a normal market, so I have to add to or supplement that things that I'm doing basically to increase the opportunities that I get to interact with potential clients. If I can just get more opportunities, I know that I can be successful once we start talking. My challenge then becomes picking from those many alternatives that are out there and allocating the time to try new things that might work for me. Stay tuned and I'll let you know what I find and what worked. Just don't expect a cold-call from me.

Change is good...

From the Jack’s Winning Words blog recently came this gem - “I don’t fail. I succeed at finding what doesn’t work.” (Christopher Titus – sent by J.L.) Edison said something similar. “I didn’t fail. I just found 2,000 ways how not to create a light bulb.” If a genius like TAE can fail and still be a success, so can we. If at first you don’t succeed….(You know how it goes.) This seems to fit for a lot of different situations.

Every night my wife asks me the same question, “What have you got on for tomorrow?” Too many nights I kiddingly answer, “nothing, I don’t plan to to anything.” She’s lived with me long enough to know that I cannot do nothing, so she knows that I’ll be busy with something – updating one of my Web sites, doing flyers, working on CMA’s, something. The sad truth is that too many nights I go to bed without a real plan for the next day, without appointments and without a clue what I’ll really end up doing. I, too, know that real estate, like nature, hates a vacuum, so there will always be plenty of busy work to occupy whatever time I have. There always is. What’s disturbing to really think about is whether that busy work is actually helping me accomplish any meaningful business goals for the day/week/month or just taking up time? I suspect that the later is all too often the case.

So, at the end of those days I can truly say that I didn’t fail, I just found things to do that didn’t really accomplish anything towards furthering my business goals. I found another dozen or so ways to stay busy while not selling a house. These days, even when I’m out doing things that really seem to be directly a part of the house listing or selling process I can get done and realize that maybe it wasn’t ime wisely spent. Is showing 40-50 houses to buyers who can’t make up their minds and keep switching their criteria really all that successful? Is weasel wording a weak response to a client who wants to list his house at a price that I know it will not sell at really something that I can call success? Is finding a thousand reasons not to pick up the phone and make a few cold calls something that I should feel good about at the end of the day? I don’t think so. Yet they all happen, day after day and week after week.

So am I like the speaker in the opening remark, just very good at doing things that don’t work? Apparently, I’ve mastered that part and like Edison I’ve found thousands of ways not to list or sell a house. So, the challenge becomes one of finding a way to change – how I do things or me or both. Edison when on to invent the light bulb through sheer perseverance and hard work. But along the way he also changed some things – his approach to the problem the materials that he was using and other things. Change is the key. Recognizing that there is a problem with what one has been doing is a start, but without moving on the step of making change there is no different outcome.

So tonight, when my wife asks me what I’ve got on tap for tomorrow, I’m going to answer – CHANGE! So excuse me, I have to work on my To Do list for tomorrow.

Change with the times….

“Whoever desires constant success must change his/her conduct with the times.” (Machiavelli) from the Jack’s Winning Words blog. That Machiavelli was one smart dude and what he said back in his day certainly applies right now in the very changeable times in which we live. If there was ever a time in real estate that demanded a change with the times by real estate practitioners it is now.

I freely admit that I missed the REO boat. Initially it was because I didn’t want any part of what was then a fairly sleazy bunch of operators. Then it was because I just didn’t get how to make the connections with the asset managers that control who gets the REO listings. Maybe now I have to admit that I just don’t want to do the work required to deal with REO properties; but that is a bogus excuse, since there is work required in any listing. REO listings may be a bit more of a hassle, but likely not much more than a relo listing. I just haven’t made the effort to get in touch with asset managers who control this inventory, partially because I had convinced myself that they already had their agents lined up. That’s not always the case.

So, I need to change, I need to take on REO properties and I need to make the effort to got out an find and solicit business from REO managers. That’s one change that I must make. Another, is dealing better with short-sales, which make up another major category of sales these days. I have been reluctant to take on the work of negotiating with the banks myself and so I have a couple of partners that can do that work. What I need to do is a better jobs of explaining the process and why a dedicated professional is needed, rather than doing it all myself.

Finally, I must change my conduct to get better at calling prospects. I do a very good job of responding to calls and of calling back people who may have called into our Corporate offices and been referred to me. What I do a lousy job of is cold-calling or even warm calling - calling someone whose name and number I may have gotten through an internet referral service, but whom I have never met or with whom I have no real referral contact. I don’t like disturbing people with cold calls, because I don’t like being disturbed with cold calls. So, while some agents are great at calling expired listings or For Sale By Owner people, I just hate doing that, since I have no relationship with those people. I may never get good at that, but I’ve at least got to start trying.

I guess recognizing the need for change is an important first step, but I must admit that I have know these things for some time. Machiavelli didn’t go on with any words of wisdom about how to make the changes, so I’ll have to rely on another great thinker, this one of our modern times, Yogi Berra, who said, “In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.” I understand the theory, now I need to practice the practice. Yogi would be proud to have said that.