Texas Real Estate Blog
“On This Date” (SBA)
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Now I really feel old. On this date in 1978 (one year after I graduated from High School) the “Susan B. Anthony” dollar coin went into circulation. I actually remember the great fanfare that went into its debut and the promise of how this new “dollar” would revolutionize financial markets and save the US Mint tons of coin. Well, as you and I now know, it was a total failure. The coins were initially circulated to the Post Office (first bad marketing idea) and then circulated to us who then tried to pawn them off on unsuspecting vendors who obviously did not get the message and refused to accept them. (I remember getting one as change and promptly throwing in my closet as a memento where it remains less than worthless today). It was smaller than the Eisenhower dollar so it was often mistaken as a quarter despite the Post Office’s slogan “Carry Three for Susan B.” The slogan was later replaced with “B a pal and take these damn things off our hands”. (kudos to Chris Regan for that one). Any way, what the heck does any of this have to do with marketing? Well, I’ll tell you how! As lawyers, one of the ways we exhibit our higher intelligence and vast expertise is through speeches and other live events. We schedule conferences and lunches and put on exquisite legal presentations that typically impress no one except ourselves. Why? Because the “content” we choose is the “content” we choose, rather than (can you believe it?) the content the audience wants. What a frigging revelation? We wonder why we get 10 rsvp’s from 100 invites. The most basic consideration in any presentation is to find out what the audience/customer wants and needs to hear. While our clients and contacts love to hear us speak on topics that interest them and that give legal solutions to their business problems (essentially free legal advice), this advice is not really free if it is basically worthless. This BASIC principle applies to all businesses and professions. So, before going to the time and expense of organizing your next event, take about 5 minutes to shoot out an email to a few of your expected invitees and ask them what they want to hear. This simple act will virtually guarantee a successful event ( free food, booze and CLE/CPE doesn’t hurt either)!
Go-Giver:Law V-“Receptivity”
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The last law in the GG book is the Law of “Receptivity”. This law may seem obvious but, in reality, it is often overlooked. In short, a key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving with grace. We need to be ready, willing and able to receive. We must continually practice an “attitude of gratitude”. We must remain in a position to allow people the privilege to give back to us as we have given to them. So often givers tend to be reticent, even embarrassed, to accept gifts, praise and recognition. The art of receptivity brings the gift giving, GG, circle to a complete close. We also need to replace our prayers of “petition” to prayers of appreciation and thanks. One of the neatest parts of giving and spreading our influence is that we will receive gifts at moments and in places where we least expect it. We cannot speculate where our gifts will come from because we can never really be certain where our influence has spread. Gifts don’t come out of ‘ nowhere”; rather, gifts come from everywhere! Also, goal setting can be over rated because no matter how big our goals and aspirations are, God‘s are bigger and better and, believe it or not, God is wiser than we are. Be ever perceptive to problems because problems are simply opportunities in work clothes. Don’t ever turn a deaf ear to the whispers of intuition (God). Sales is ultimately a business of becoming a confident and friend of others. As a GG we are also Go-Getters with limitless energy to do God’s will. Remember too, that sales is like farming (not fishing). We prepare the soil and plant the seeds and by faithful watering, weeding and cultivating we let God provide the harvest in accordance with His good plan for us. As we conclude our review of GG, we can sum up the message as follows: Create Value-Touch People’s Lives-Build Networks-Be Real-Stay Open-Plant, Trust and Harvest!
Go-Giver:Law IV-“Authenticity”
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As we continue to roll through GG, we come to the Law of Authenticity which I believe is key to building effective relationships (bear with me-we are almost done!). The bottom line is that the most valuable gift we have is “ourselves‘. We simply need to be ourselves in all of our interactions. Remember when we emphasized that we must strive to get people to KNOW US, LIKE US and TRUST US before we can expect them to pay/hire us? Well, the law of authenticity covers the first three prongs of this mantra. Facts tell but stories sell! Good presenters ask these questions: What does this person want/need the most? Who is this person? What is this person searching for? Why is this person here? What is the single most valuable thing I could convey to this person? Always strive to undersell as it is always better to under promise and over deliver. The real secret of great communicators is not their talk but their empathy and by listening, we honor the other person. My favorite part of this section of the book is how to address an objection and close a sale. Instead of countering an objection, we should “turn into the skid”. In other words, take the opportunity to empathize and stand with the other person and look at the objection with them from their point of view. When attempting a “close”, go ahead and ask for the business opportunity but apply no pressure and be ready to offer an escape route. We tap the greatest value and authenticity when we are silent as the most important words that pass between us and our prospect are theirs not ours.
Book Review: “Go-Givers”
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Cover of Go-Givers Sell More
I just finished reading “Go-Givers Sell More by Burg and Mann. It is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. It takes the concept of “sales” and inverts the process. While we tend to think of sales as a process that convinces people to do what they don’t want to do, Go -Givers teaches that sales is about learning what people do want to do and helping them do that. Sales is not about getting something from others, it’s about giving. Sales is about giving “value”. In the service industry we often struggle with “adding value” to the relationship in coordination with our primary services. GG emphasizes that the value should come before the realtionship as well as after the relationship is sealed. This book may be a business book but it essentially teaches important principles that we should use in all of our relationships. Over my next several posts, I am going to be sharing exerpts for the book that were meaningful to me and that I hope will benefit your career and personal relationships as I am a firm believer that, no matter what we do in life, we are all in “sales”.
Steve Watten
Real Estate News& Views
Steve Watten
Texas Real Estate Blog 