attitude

Common Sense

Scott’s Thoughts: The Genius of Common Sense
Genius isn’t complicated… sometimes it’s doing simple things well.

“Common sense is instinct. Enough of it is genius.”
–George Bernard Shaw

What makes a garden grow? Daily attention. Observation. Watering and weeding and minding the weather. Slow and steady, with an eye on the pests, you bring a garden from a seed in the ground to a bush full of ripe tomatoes. Sure, you can make it as complicated an endeavor as you like, investing in expensive technology and expert advice and experimental nutrients, but if you’re not consistently hitting the basics, tomorrow’s salad bowl doesn’t have a chance.

What makes a marathon possible? Putting on the shoes and running. Incremental mileage increases. Attention to injury, rest, and nutrition. You can buy that Garmin 405 and invest in cutting edge shoes and hiring a running coach, but unless you’re dedicated to the common sense tenets of training, you’ll never cross the 26.2 miles to the finish line.

So why do we often seem to think exceptional client service is any different? If you truly want to work by referral, it’s not a rocket science marketing program you need… you simply need the basic tools and presence of mind to consistently reward your clients and remind them (both past and present) how much you care. A note, an interesting article shared, a small gift out of the blue… they all serve to make you a remarkable real estate professional in a sea of “next shiny marketing trick” amateurs.

All of the tools and tips we feature should be applied in service of the common sense basics of uncommon client care. Add up enough common sense and it starts to seem like genius.

When the world seems to be moving too fast to keep track, keep in mind that the underlying principles of great building exceptional relationships has never changed. You have the power to grow your garden and go the distance.

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Handling Insults

Scott’s Thoughts: How Do You Handle Insults?
What do you do to deflect your detractors?

“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.”
–Oscar Wilde

As you probably imagine, I receive a lot of email after Tuesday Tactics goes out. I spend a good part of Wednesday and Thursday responding personally to feedback. Most of it is positive, constructive, interesting feedback that helps us improve. I love it.

Last week, though, I received the following message:

“Oh please… Have you not any original thought…any critical thinking…this kind of meaningless ‘positive thinking’ is total fiction, false thought and just pure bunk.”

Wow. Just… wow. I took a moment to reflect: Was Tuesday Tactics off the mark? Were our free ebooks and tips all fluff? Sure, we do it for free, but we don’t use that as an excuse to skimp on the quality. Had we strayed from our mission to help the real estate community with truly useful information?

It was the first time we’d heard a nasty word about our work, and for a moment I wondered if there weren’t more people out there who felt the same way. Was this all a waste of time?

Fortunately, I didn’t allow those feelings to last long. We hear from people every week about how helpful they’ve found the newsletter. We have no intention of calling it quits, that’s for sure.

But it made me wonder: How do you handle insults? What’s the best method for reacting? Should you react? In this case, I wrote back a polite note asking for constructive feedback. What were we missing? How could we improve? (Of course, I didn’t hear anything back.)

In the spirit of this experience, I thought I’d share this useful article by Tammy Lenski, from her blog “Conflict Zen.” It’s titled “Zen and the Art of Dealing With Insults.” It’s brief, entertaining, and shows you three great perspectives on handling insults:

http://conflictzen.com/zen-and-the-art-of-dealing-with-insults/

Enjoy… and thank you all for the positive feedback. Know that your words make a big difference to me and my team.

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Remain Cool and Make More Money

Scott’s Thoughts: Anger is Expensive
Keeping your cool means cold, hard cash…

“The test of good manners is to be patient with bad ones.”  –Solomon ben Yehuda ibn Gabirol

As a real estate pro, you’re more familiar than most people are with the bizarre behaviors that come out of stressful situations. Buying or selling a home is an emotionally charged transaction, and how you react to your clients’ stress is a vital component of whether or not you will receive future referrals as well as how well the overall transaction will go.

Even small, rude behavior on someone’s part may push you to say something you might regret later.

The key is to be aware and be prepared. Be on the lookout for situations with heightened tension, and know how to diffuse them. Check out these “10 Tips to Help Get Your Anger Under Control” by the Mayo Clinic for some pointers:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/anger-management/MH00102

Imagine what a difference anger management could make in your bottom line if it landed you one or two more deals a year. Is losing your cool really worth future commissions?

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Trusting Your Gut Instincts

Scott’s Thoughts: Your Good Gut
Practice trusting your instincts

“Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth.”  –Katherine Mansfield

There is a time for consensus and a time for bold action. A time to survey everyone you know, and a time to embrace the voice within. While you are often right to ask about others’ experiences, you must also hone your ability to be decisive and execute quickly.

Surely one of the shortcuts to success is avoiding common mistakes, but perpetual caution can lead to “decision paralysis.” If you are prone to procrastination, one way you may be disguising your procrastination is in the habit of “gathering all available opinions” on a subject. There comes a point where getting good advice provides diminishing returns. Surely you must act at some point!

Cultivating the ability to trust in your own instincts comes from practice, and practice you must. In real estate, you will often find yourself in situations where there simply isn’t time for a company-wide survey on an issue. Plus, your self-confidence will soar when you make a habit of exercising your decision-making muscles. If you don’t, you’ll become susceptible to “crowd thinking” on every issue, and often the crowd is simply wrong. (I’ve touched on this in the past in my post on “Ignoring Your Critics“).

Yes, you’ll make bad decisions at times. But you’ll also make bad decisions after the best advice, too. So what do you have to lose?

Embrace your good gut more often.

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Accept Happy Accidents

Scott’s Thoughts: The Art of Letting Go
Prepare yourself to accept happy accidents…

“Dare to be naive.” –Buckminster Fuller

If you look back on some of your greatest successes, you’ll probably find that “pure chance” played a role somewhere along the way. Maybe you met a friend of a friend at a kid’s soccer game who turned out to refer you new clients. Perhaps you stopped to help someone with a flat tire and it lead to a lifelong business relationship.

On those days, did you set out thinking, “Today I’ll make a game-changing discovery”? Probably not. It just happened.

We talk a lot about setting goals, creating a plan, and working towards our goals. Without a doubt, this is a crucial component to attaining our objectives in life. But if we’re overdetermined to only accept activities which obviously contribute to our end goals, we’re going to miss out on a lot of those “good luck” opportunities.

You might know someone in your office who is continuously struggling. They work hard, but their struggle is so intense and consuming that they project waves of negativity and anxiety. Privately, they measure every single opportunity against a strict, “what’s in it for me?” attitude. Control means everything to them. (These are the same sorts of people that end up plowing their car into snow banks by overcorrecting, by the way.) If you perform this type of rigid cost/benefit analysis on every opportunity presented to you, you’re going to miss out on the happy accidents that can be surprise contributors to your success.

Creative pathways to meeting our goals start in unexpected places. This month, try to be more open to activities you might normally reject. Invest a little time in the unknown– experiment with a few “time wasting” activities. Try something with the open attitude kids have. Don’t expect results, but be attuned to that which peaks your interest and those people who you feel a natural rapport.

Remember: You can’t be pleasantly surprised if you’re straining to predict the future.

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Focus is the Resource that Precedes Success.

Scott’s Thoughts: Focus Precedes Success
We can prepare to make the best use of our time…

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” –Michael Althsuler

Success is not one of those things that happens magically one morning. A series of “typical” days don’t give way to one miraculous hour when everything you’ve wished for just drops into place. You accrue success by degrees. Success for some is one pound off the scale, every week for a year. Short of a one-in-fifty-million lottery ticket hit, success isn’t on the flip side of a singular, magic moment.

Time does fly by. It’s easy to look up and say, “Wow, where’d March go?” We’ll never be able to change that. But what we can change is how we spend the time in service of our goals.

Focus is the precious resource that precedes success.  If we can’t slow the clock down, we can certainly work on making sure that the minutes we spend are spent in laser-precision focus on the goals we want to achieve. Focus means pouring 100% of your concentration into the present task at hand that is one yellow brick in your road to success.

The more you allow your attention to become fragmented and divided, the quicker your time will pass without adding up to success. What you must become is mindful of how you’re spending your attention. Become the pro who’s able to step outside of yourself and ask: “In this moment, am I focused on the right thing?”

Write it down and tape it to your monitor, your dashboard, your refrigerator, and your bathroom mirror: Focus Precedes Success.

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attitude

Avoid Using These Phrases

Communication Upgrade: Two Phrases You Should Avoid
Learn to say tough things a smarter way…

Productive communication is a skill you can develop to help smooth relationships, build trust, and overcome challenges. Here are two phrases you should avoid saying and effective alternatives:

Phrase #1 to Avoid:

Bad: “That’s not really my job.” / “That’s not something I handle.”

Good: “I’m not sure that should be my priority right now.” (Then follow-up with a conversation as to why.)

Reason: If you’re asked to do something, either by your boss or a client, telling them it’s “not your job” is a surefire way to broadcast that you’re simply unwilling to help them. If you don’t know how to do the task requested, or it’s truly beyond your ability, you need to have a conversation that helps them reach their desired goal without shutting them down.

Phrase #2 to Avoid:

Bad: “This might sound crazy / stupid / lame / like a bad idea, but…”

Good: “I have an idea I’d like your opinion on.”

Reason: Don’t set the stage for a suggestion to fail before it’s been considered. If the idea is worth sharing, it’s worth sharing confidently. If you present your perspectives with confidence, you’re more likely to have an honest conversation about your ideas. This, in turn, increases the value of your input to clients and co-workers.

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Your Value as an Agent

Scott’s Thoughts: Justifying Your Value
Your value now is higher than ever…
“If you think hiring a professional is expensive, wait until you hire an amateur.” –Red Adair, Oil Well Firefighter (1915 – 2004)

Red Adair is best known for his uncanny talent at putting out the most dangerous fires in the world: oil well fires. You can bet than when the owner of an oil well sees a plume of raging fire and black smoke where an oil well used to be, he doesn’t break out the garden hose to try and do it himself. A professional is well worth the money.

As a real estate professional, you’ve probably had to justify your value to skeptical sellers from time to time. From your neighborhood FSBO shopping for free help on CMAs to the college kid who believes everything can be learned on the internet in ten minutes, you’re sure to find yourself backed into a corner now and again.

In a boom market, it might be more difficult to justify your value, especially when the good old days of overbidding and multiple offers were the norm. But what we’re in now? This is an oil fire market, and it calls for professionals.

More than ever, sellers need sniper-accurate pricing advice. They need someone who can help protect them legally. And without a doubt, they require someone who can act as a steady, emotional buffer when the house is on the market. Without a smart, level-headed professional, a listing in this market can turn into a full-blown disaster.

Don’t let a down market fool you into devaluing your professional skills. Now, more than ever, your clients need your guidance.

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Ignore Your Critics

Scott’s Thoughts: Ignoring Your Critics
Success resides in supporting your fans, not soothing your critics
” ‘Can’t please everyone,’ isn’t just an aphorism, it’s the secret of being remarkable. ” –Seth Godin, Marketer & Internet Guru

Imagine you’re at a cocktail party, and out of the blue, someone begins insulting your skills as a real estate professional. They’re rude. Their complaints are unfounded and their accusations are inaccurate. Nonetheless, you feel compelled to defend yourself, so you try to do so without making a scene. Before you know it, it’s become a knock-down, drag-out fight, and everyone at the party is watching, mouths agape.

It seems like a far-fetched nightmare, doesn’t it? The funny thing is, it’s almost a daily occurrence online… especially on blogs and social media sites.

There’s something about being protected behind a computer screen which makes certain people become loudmouth critics, set on complaining and detracting from everyone else. These people love drama. They love arguing for argument’s sake. Your job, as a real estate pro, is to ignore them.

It can be very tempting to jump in the fight and defend yourself or your company from a lot of negative noise, but this is precisely what you should avoid doing at all costs. There’s so much vying for our attention every day that engaging these “trolls” in negative dialogue will only serve to draw more negative attention.

The right thing to do is ignore the detractors, and focus on reaching people with the positive news– your expertise, your local market knowledge, your unique ability to guide buyers and satisfy sellers. Tell the story of your most satisfied clients and shine a light on their appreciation for your services.

Squabbling with your critics is a waste of your time and energy. Cater to your fans and your influence in real estate will grow.

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How Learning Influences Luck

Scott’s Thoughts: The Relationship Between Learning & Luck
Can learning create good luck?
“Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can – there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.” –Sarah Caldwell (1924 — 2006), opera conductor & stage director

When times are tight, the cries to “do more with less” and “get a return on every dollar” get louder. When left unchecked, this perspective puts a premium on linking every minute of your work day to activities which contribute somehow to the bottom line. Some of this is natural and sensible, but taken to an extreme, it’s counterproductive to preparing for future opportunities.

Seneca, a Roman philosopher, is widely credited with the quote “luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Looking for opportunity is the easier half of the equation. What about preparation? What is it, exactly? How do we prepare for opportunities we don’t know will come? What will they look like? How should we get ready?

I think the answer lies in permitting yourself the luxury of learning new things without a rigid vision of how they will connect to your business (or even your daily life). You may, for example, not see the point behind new web technologies, such as Twitter. And it may never be relevant to the way you do business. But I would suggest that you give yourself permission to learn about it, even if you think the time is ill-spent in the short term.

Learning, for its own sake, helps your brain learn to make connections between things which might not ordinarily be obvious. The concept or skill you learn today for “fun” may not equate to a higher income or a better quality of life next week. It may, however, be the little detail in the future which makes grabbing hold of a new opportunity possible.

Learning for its own sake may be one of the essential ingredients in good luck. Be open to it.

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