Mission #3-8 Becoming Your Dynamic Self

Objectives:

• To understand the application of Andy's warrior spirit
• To be aware of the strong pull from the average majority
• To appreciate that success will come from self-education and self-confidence and self-discipline
• To translate all the stories to your story

Background:

In this story, we met Andrew Martin, a young man drifting from job to job looking for the right opportunity without realizing that it's not about the opportunity. As the story unfolds, Andy matures in his thinking. He begins to appreciate the power of his warrior spirit. He finally realizes that his goal of being a success will come from his warrior spirit and not his job description.

Initially, Andy expected big things from real estate, just as he had expected big things from computer sales and insurance sales before real estate. But, in drifting from job to job, there was no change in Andy as a person. All Andy found in changing jobs was a different routine.

When Andy finally arrived at Taylor Realty, he found a listless atmosphere of average real estate people going through the motions of daily business. Andy settled into his own routine. Thankfully, his warrior spirit wouldn't let him stay complacent forever. His warrior spirit gnawed at him to take decisive action.

Real estate brokerage is a commission business. You sell a home or an apartment building and you receive a commission. If you don't sell or rent anything, you don't make anything.

If you make $40,000 or $50,000 year, you are average. Because you are average, the majority of people, who are also average, accept you. Average folks don't make $100,000 or $200,000 a year so average folks have no frame of reference to judge your extraordinary potential. You are left alone. You must have the self-confidence to see beyond the ordinary. You must have the self-discipline to make and stick to your goals. Go out and find the few people who are making six figure incomes. If no one is, then you have also learned something important, do something else!

Commissioned selling is tough. It takes self-discipline to make a fresh, clean and enthusiastic start each business day. Today, you may work all day and make nothing. Today, you may make five thousand dollars or lay the groundwork for a fifty thousand dollar commission or begin the process of buying a five million dollar property.

Sports are a good analogy. You lose today's game. You can't sit and whine and complain. You have to get ready, physically and mentally, for tomorrow's game or you'll lose that game also.

Not many people, even in the commissioned sales ranks, have the power to maintain a positive mental attitude (PMA) day after day. But, those having PMA will find an easier road to financial success, presuming that reasonable ability and corporate support are matched with the positive mental attitude.

An important component of the Master Success Courses is to subscribe to the daily Action Principle® email. This is your daily shot of PMA.

It is not unusual in a commission driven sales office to find a room full of sales people, all supposedly doing the same job, but with some of the sales people barely making a living and other sales people making a handsome income.

What are the successful insurance salespersons doing? How are they dressed? What's their office schedule? Who are their clients? What technology are they using? And, most importantly, what are their styles and attitudes?

Figure it out. What makes an extraordinary insurance salesperson?

Let's continue with the insurance analogy. Maybe every morning, the "just getting by" agents spend the first hour of the business day drinking coffee, telling war stories, worrying about where to have lunch, and giving their opinions on why the home team won or lost last night's game. Perhaps every morning, the "successful' agents are using that first hour to plan their work days; to call back new customers and help old customers resolve problems with the claims department.

Maybe if you talked with the "just getting by" agents, they'd tell you that the economy was bad, that allowing banks to sell insurance was killing the business, that government interference was dampening sales, that interest rates were too low, that the claims department needed revamping, that the sales offices could do with some new carpeting and that the boss wasn't spending enough money on advertising. Now, listen to them. This is important. Listen because they'll talk and talk. They have most of the day to talk and talk. Are they saying that all of their problems are external to them? "If only someone or something else would..."

Do you think it's easy to choose "making money" over "being one of the guys?" It isn't. It isn't easy to resist the peer pressure of the majority, the average, and the ordinary, to conform.

But, like it or not, you probably will have to force yourself to resist. You have to do things differently. You have to be different to be extraordinary. Successful people are different. Successful people are standing outside the crowd because the way to gauge achievement is to use "the average guys" for comparison. The more of a success you are, the farther you are drawn away from the gravitational pull of the average.

You probably want to say that you'll be different and that you could do both. You'll be able to have breakfast and lunch time to chew the fat, joke and gossip with the guys, to be one of the guys, and you'll still have time to be a super-salesperson. You think that you can be a regular guy super-salesperson. You probably won't be able to. Until you build a very strong client base, you'll probably have to choose between the guys and success. If you don't choose, you will fall naturally in with the regular guy pack and earn regular guy income.

It's about you, stupid! Find people who are doing what he wanted to do and then do what they are doing. Who, what, where, when and why? Don't copy mediocrity, copy success.

Let's get to Andy who has spent six months on the job. Andy's warrior spirit tells him that he should model himself after the one winner in the office, Don Nardo. At least, Andy knows that the way to make money in the real estate business is not spending the day doing crossword puzzles.

Andy talks with Mr. Taylor. And, Mr. Taylor frankly tells Andy that becoming a master salesperson like Don isn't automatic. To be like Don means that Andy has to learn the business from the ground up. You have to know more about your product than do your customers. You have to know your customers needs. Why and how will your product benefit them? Research. Research. Learn the product you have to sell. Never presume that you can or should stop learning. In this case, Andy needed to learn about investment properties.

Your knowledge will instill confidence in your customers. Many times it will be your confidence that will be the deciding factor in a customer making the decision to buy from you. When buying, many people look to the expertise of the salesperson to lead them to a buying decision. People want to be convinced that they are making a wise decision, the best decision. A primary role of the salesperson is not to be a company/product robot but a confident convincer.

The experienced salesperson first establishes a rapport with the prospect and then leads the prospect to the buying decision. In words, it's, "Mr. Franklin, having listened to your needs, I know you're looking for the best lawn mower you can buy for less than $400 and having researched all the models, I would recommend the Green Top LX50 with the turbocharged shredder as a strong best buy."

Andy's warrior spirit allows him to see that in doing months of research, he is investing in his future. Andy is fortunate. Andy is fortunate that he can see beyond the tip of his nose. He can see that eventually there will be a pay-off for this day after day after night after day after night of work. Perhaps the results will not come immediately, but they will come eventually. Andy invests research time in his future.

When you research you are investing time in your own future.

This is a key point. People with the warrior spirit, don't sit back and let life just happen to them. They are pro-active. They invest in their futures. And, they have the patience to realize that the rewards of investing may not be immediate. The rewards may not come tomorrow or next week. If the rewards come in six months or next year, that's all right. Time passes quickly and six months and next year come quickly and, then, those who have made study and research investments start to reap the benefits of those investments and so on and so on as they continue to invest in the future.

Read books. Find mentors. Study the competition. Join associations. Surf the Internet. Embrace technology. Take classes. Attend seminars. Talk the business. Listen to advice. Try, fail, get up. Try, succeed, move forward. Repeat.

The insurance salesperson who invests by helping an "old" customer with a claims problem may not have the "old" customer as a new customer for another three years until renewal but, maybe, in the mean time, that old customer will be referring other customers who become new business.

What do you think?

Andy does his weeks and weeks of research only to find that, really, he's less than half-done. He takes a deep breath. He keeps his chin up. He invests some more. He goes back to his Find people who are doing what he wanted to do and then do what they are doing. Who, what, where, when and why? Don't copy mediocrity, copy success.
research.

How many people would have balked at doing all this work, which remember, is all voluntary work? You can decide to forego the research and sit in the office and knit and wait for your time to be the "up" person, which means that you get your chance to answer the next telephone call. How many people would have looked at Andy's research project and, at some point, have said,

"Hey, I'm wasting my time here. This isn't making me any money. I've got to be doing something that's going to make me money, now. I need the money now, not in six months. Who's going to give me any guarantee that I'm going to make any money from all this work in six months anyway? No one else has to do all this work just to sell real estate. The economy is bad ... We aren't doing enough advertising ... These buyers will drive me crazy, they can't make up their minds. Maybe I should be working for Brown Realty. Have you seen all the listings they're getting? Where are we going for lunch today?"

From his research, Andy has a list of the real estate investors in town and he has learned different things about each of them and their buildings. Now, he has to put the research to work. He doesn't want to wait for the off chance that one of the investors may call him. At this point in the story, the investors don't even know Andy. He's the new kid in town. Andy has to find a way to tell these investors, "Hey, I'm here, I'm special and we can do business together."

A website is a good catalyst to start things bubbling. A website is a means for Andy to open up a dialogue with the town's investors. The website contains general information on real estate investing and specific information on area rentals and sales. Let's talk.

"Mr. X, did you receive our monthly e-newsletter? Have you had a chance to visit my website? Great. What did you think about that article on historical rehabs?"

And, gradually in the conversation, by listening, he can learn more about the particular investor's objectives, goals and philosophy on real estate investment. When the appropriate time comes in the conversation, Andy can introduce his rental and brokerage services. These calls are handled as no pressure K.I.S.S. work, which means "Keep It Simple, Stupid." Andy isn't trying to force anything to happen. Andy can end the calls with,

"Any time I can be of assistance, sure, thank you, bye."

Make contact. Keep the contacts going. Establish name recognition. Reinforce the services offered. And, listen.

Read and think about the words of Lao-Tzu again, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step." This is a defining moment. Start your journey now and you need never look back.

Mr. X may not be Andy's client for one month or two months or six months or two years, but ...

Andy is a young man. He is one of the youngest people in his field ... eventually...

A website and e-newsletters give Andy a means to separate himself from the crowd of other investment property brokers in Newton. Presumably, Andy is different. He does more work than the other brokers. He offers a new service. And, he cares enough to keep following up. The first contact may not do it, or the second, or third, or fourth, or eighth or the eighteenth, but, eventually...

What is the real objective of a commissioned salesperson?

The car salesperson can't worry that much about the car. The car is there. Really, the salesman can add some icing on the cake, add some sizzle to his or her presentation, but the majority of buyers in today's market aren't that coercible that they will buy a car and accessories that they don't want. The successful car salesman is really trying to do two things. First, he wants a shot at showing as many cars as possible to as many buyers as possible. The more he shows, the more he sells. Secondly, he wants the opportunity to sell himself and the dealership to the buyer. The auto salesperson might say,

"You can buy another car somewhere else. You can even buy this exact car somewhere else. But, if you buy this car, here, from me, you have me backing up the purchase. I want you to think of me as kind of an insurance policy for buying this car at this dealership from me. Here's what I want you to know: I want you to want to give me your business now and in the future. I want you to want to refer your friends and family to me." The car salesman sells himself, his confident enthusiastic positive mental attitude self.

You are extraordinary. When a customer does business with you, they are dealing with an extraordinary salesperson who will try to make every aspect of the purchase and the after-purchase as good as it gets.

Andy's real opportunity, what he can do, is to have many investors, whom he knows on a first name basis, to present the property to, and, he can tell the buyer that he will be around after the sale, if he is needed. And, by knowing his individual investors, he can try to make the best investor/building match.

Now, let's change the story. Perhaps Mr. Taylor wasn't the fatherly guiding figure as portrayed in the story. Reconstruct the scene. Mr. Taylor was an old grouch who was set in his ways and didn't want the office to change at all. Andy still has his warrior ability. Andy still has his research. Andy still has his ideas. Maybe, Mr. King at Crown Realty or Mrs. Simmons at Tri-Star Realty or Miss Stuart at Century 21 would like to start an investment property division with Andy at the helm.

 Again, to be successful, you need the warrior spirit, you have to have a positive attitude, you have to know what you're doing, and, if you're working for someone else, you have to have the right corporate support.

The e-newsletters and, later, the Roundtable and New Investors meetings all help to build Andy's image and generate business for him. Andy succeeds. Andy succeeds big. But, Andy was ill prepared for early success. He becomes self-righteous, domineering and full of himself. Andy knows. And, Andy's friends at the hotel lounge should know that Andy knows. And, the investors in Newton should know that Andy knows. Just ask Andy. Andy will tell you that Andy knows.

After working so hard to climb to a solid position, Andy puts himself on the edge of the cliff. He teeters on the edge. One deal goes bad. A second deal, worse, a personal deal almost goes bad. He teeters. So hard a climb up and so fast will be the fall down.

What saves Andy? Andy can go astray. Anybody can go astray. But, his warrior spirit saves Andy. The warrior spirit makes Andy pragmatic. The warrior spirit acts as a mirror, which allows Andy to see his true reflection. Basically, Mr. Taylor tells Andy that he's acting like a jerk. The warrior spirit allows Andy to see that, yes, he has been acting like a jerk. Andy can see what's right and what works. And, equally important, Andy can see what he's doing wrong and how self-destructive his actions have been. The warrior spirit allows Andy the luxury of being able to blame himself for his miss steps and quickly put himself back on track.

No success plan is foolproof. Every success plan is going to have hurdles and obstacles and time losing and money losing offshoots. Most people quit and go home where it is warm and comfortable. A few brave souls venture on.

The warrior spirit gives Andy the opportunity from his mistakes. He learned about a financing technique to save his personal deal. He learned the importance of "old boy" contacts, when Don called the bank president on his behalf. He learned what happened to Don and how one accident of fate could bring anyone, in a flash, back to square one. But, he also learned that being a successful businessman positioned Don to provide his daughter with the best possible care.

Andy helped Don; Don helped Andy. Don showed Andy how, through the use of limited partnerships, he could begin to purchase much larger properties. Andy could move into the big time.

In moving into the big time, buying multi-million dollar shopping centers, Andy takes on new risks. This is new territory. After doing all the work to build up a strong investment property brokerage business, and succeeding, Andy switches a lot of his energies to another activity, limited partnerships. Is this right? Is he possibly overextending himself? Remember that on top of all of this, he's committed himself to quite a bit of charitable work. And, on top of that, he'll be buying and managing the entire Taylor Realty business. Andy is a good salesman but will he be a good manager? He wasn't very adept at inner office politics before in dealing with the secretaries. At some point, the support system of Mr. Taylor and Don will be gone. Andy will have to build a new support system for himself and the company. He will chose to be guided by the Military Action Principles^™.

These are all great challenges for Andy. But, if successful at each of these endeavors, by hiring and managing the right people, Andy could end up the owner of a large thriving business worth many millions of dollars. It will be someone, why not Andy? Could you be Andy?

Operational Limitations:

• Most people are thinking about themselves and not you. What you do or don't do is your own business. Until you succeed, no one is going to pay much attention to your ambitious plans. They don't get it. That is correct, they don't get it. However, it really only important that you understand your goals and your plans. You must be self-confident and self-disciplined. You must be the warrior.
• As you move from plateau to plateau, you will face new opportunities and new risks. How high do you want to climb? Will you be content to be just a little better than average or are you going all the way?
• Have you figured it out? The type of business really doesn't matter. The economy and outside influences really don't matter. What is inside you matters, your warrior spirit matters.
• Have you figured it out? You will never count yourself among the weak and the pampered, the whining and the befuddled. As a warrior, you are extraordinary and you deserve success.

Seeds for thought:

• What type of people tend to be good at commissioned sales?
• What is your idea of a good positive mental attitude?
• Why is a positive mental attitude alone not enough to ensure success?
• How do you find the division of income in many commission sales offices?
• Do you think that it's possible to be a regular guy in the office and a super salesperson at the same time?
• What kind of money can you expect to make if you follow the regular guy's example?
• What does it mean for a person to invest in research?
• Who or what do many people blame for their lack of success?
• What is meant by K.I.S.S. work?
• Why do you think Andy went astray?
• What do you think helped Andy get himself back into the success lane?
• Do you think that Andy now has the necessary qualities to be a good business owner as well as salesperson?

Jargon:

B2B - Business-to-business marketing and commerce.

Brick and mortar - A traditional business operation that commonly deals with its customers face-to-face in an office or store that the business owns or rents.

From Jump Street – From the beginning

Geek - A person who is proficient in one or more technical areas, especially in hands-on utilization of technology.

Going great guns – Doing very well

Hard copy - A physical document, usually text on paper.

HTML - Hypertext Markup Language is the authoring software language used on the Internet's World Wide Web. HTML is used for creating World Wide Web pages.

Impression The delivery of a single online ad to a single viewer one time.

It won't fly – It won't succeed or be approved

Not your cup of tea – Not what you're interested in

Trademark A name, symbol, or device used by a manufacturers of goods to identify its goods and distinguish them from goods manufactured and sold by others.

Tweaking – A slight adjustment.

Up person - the person in a sales office who will receive the next lead.

Visitor An individual who visits a Web site.

WHOIS – A web search to find the register owner of a domain.

Zero sum game – When somebody wins, somebody loses.

Questions and Answers:

I'm an Airman First Class and I do a lot of the work to publish our Base newspaper. I like the work especially the graphics arts component. I'm thinking about graphic design as a post-military career. Where do I start?

You research. You read. You go online and to the libraries and bookstores and get all the books that you can find on graphic design, on the graphic design business, and on famous and successful people in the graphic design industry. You go online and find all of the magazines and newsletters and trade papers in the graphic design field.

Whenever you have the opportunity off base or online, you meet with graphic design companies and you talk with everybody who will talk to you, from the designers to the photographers and artists. You talk with the account executives who get the business, and to the owners who sign the checks. You find the top people in the field and you ask if you can interview them. You find people who have retired from the business and you ask about their careers.

Keep doing what you're doing and do an excellent job. Make your base paper your calling card.

After I leave the Coast Guard, I'm thinking about moving into commission sales, probably real estate. But I'm curious - my wife works for a real estate company where some of the agents make $20,000 a year and some $200,000. Do the high achievers just work longer and harder?

The high achievers probably do work longer and harder. However, the $200,000 earner does not work ten times harder than the $20,000 earner. There's got to be something else. The top earners have got to be working smarter and not just harder.

They surely concentrate on principle #2 - Appreciate your customer. They know how to qualify their customers. They listen to the customers' wants and concerns. They keep in touch with the customers with good news, bad news, or no news. They are honest and keep promises. They work hard on the customers' behalf. They pay attention to details. They follow up after the sale. They say thank you. They ask for referrals and testimonials, and for the opportunity to work with the customers again.

At the office, super salespeople arrive with objectives, goals, and a daily plan. They arrive to work and not to get involved in office chit-chat. They take their daily lists of things to do and they do the toughest thing on the list first, so that the rest of the day is a breeze. They take classes and courses and they read books. They build and maintain great websites. They become active members of their trade associations so that they can meet and learn from other successful salespeople.

They are people of action.

I want to start a picture framing business and I think that I have a good business plan, but I've been to four banks and gotten four rejections. Should I try four more banks?

Banks are businesses. Their business is to lend money, and they can't survive without lending money. Banks want to lend money to anyone who they feel confident will pay them back with interest. Most banks will want to establish a good initial relationship with you so that as your business grows, and as your financing and banking needs grow, you will stick with them.

This isn't happening. Why? You have had an opportunity to speak with four lending officers and have hopefully solicited their opinions. Listen to them. At this time, are your plans too ambitious? Is your financial contribution going to be too small? Is your plan too thin on details? Is your experience in the framing business lacking?

In the process of talking your business with industry leaders and other successful framing company owners, you will ask them how they started and which banks they use.

Action Plan:

• Write a brief description of where you think Andy will be, personally and professionally, in five, ten and twenty-five years.
• Do you have a clear vision of where you want to go and how you will get there? Are you following the Military Action Principles^™? Have you written your Mission Statement? Have you signed up to receive your daily Action Principle®? Are you reading a business biography?

Support:

• Directory of Blogs for Small Business: http://www.blogsforsmallbusiness.com/directory/
• More Blogs for Small Business: http://www.iblogbusiness.com/
• Still More Blogs for Small Business: http://www.businessblogs.org/
• From the American Management Association: http://www.amanet.org/
• From the Deming Institute for Management: http://www.deming.org/
• From IOMA – Business Intelligence at Work: http://www.ioma.com/
• From the Small Business Manager: http://www.smallbizmanager.com/

Inspirational Insights: