After attending the R4 RE/MAX convention, I am reminded of the number of real estate agents that are not aware of the tools at their disposal. Most of the major real estate brands have spent millions of dollars attempting to give their agents an edge in the marketplace through a plethora of tools, systems and resources. At the same time, agents everywhere complain that their companies take their money and… Read More »Daily RICHual #28: Use Your Tools
When it comes to customer service, do your people perceive you as giving more or taking away? As we know, a huge part of customer service is perception. What does the customer think they see or think they experience? A group noticed two candy stores in the same neighborhood that offered, pretty much, the same candy. Kids, however, preferred one over the other by leaps and bounds. When asked “WHY?”… Read More »Daily RICHual #26 Customer Service: Giver or Taker
When it comes to customer service, do your people perceive you as giving more or taking away? As we know, a huge part of customer service is perception. What does the customer think they see or think they experience? I got thinking about this after reading an article on the website www.customerservicemanager.com. The group noticed two candy stores in the same neighborhood that offered, pretty much, the same… Read More »Candy Store Service: Are You A Giver or a Taker?
Without naming names, there are quite a few entities in the real estate business focused on delivering products, services, and methodology to obtain more sales. Some sell programs and apps, some sell their services, and some “employ” agents. As a trainer of real estate agents, I have seen it all and see more every single day. And while some of it is great, some of it sucks and some of… Read More »Daily RICHual #25: Train People to be with People
If you’re in sales or LIFE, you have heard the following word before…… NO. According to Theo Williams, the word no originated around 900AD. It combined “ne” (not) with “o” (ever) to give us NO meaning not ever. The word has evolved through the ages to include new phrases like no can do (I guess denoting non action) no problem (which actually means yes), and NOOOO WAAAAY. Because the average… Read More »Daily RICHual #23: What does NO mean?
Who invented the perfect sales presentation? Tommy Hopkins? Zig Ziglar? Benjamin Franklin? Benjamin Franklin? Maybe, he pretty much founded the oldest insurance agency in America and insurance companies led the way in early sales techniques. Nope. Not them, and not Thomas Watson of IBM, and not Dale Carnegie. Fats Waller. Who? Fats Waller. Thomas Wright Waller, born 1904, died 1943 in his landmark musical “Ain’t Misbehavin’” from 1929, wrote the… Read More »Daily RICHual #22: Who invented the perfect sales presentation?
Long, long ago, someone in a meeting in Beaverton, OR raised his or her hand and said, “I’ve got it, Just THINK about it.” Immediately the group idea expander said, “NO, Just DO it.” And so they did. That slogan has been used billions of times by billions of people who either want to take action or want to get someone else to do the same. We, as a society,… Read More »Daily RICHual #19: Just THINK About it?
I came across a book yesterday. It was written by Benjamin Zander, who if you don’t know was the world famous conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and called “The Art of Possibility.” It concerned (partially) leadership and our role as beings on the planet. Zander said, “Every single interaction between two human beings is always a matter of leadership.” At the age of 45, after 20 years of leading… Read More »Daily RICHual #18: Sales and Leadership
When it comes to sales, so many factors go into the trickiest of all equations: customer satisfaction. For many, customer satisfaction is simply making the sale without incident. For others, it’s delivering what the customer/client wanted and having the entire experience be good (or at least, not bad). I like what Harry Beckwith, best selling customer service guru said, “A customer’s satisfaction is the gap between what the customer expects… Read More »Comfort Does It!
It’s an election year. Milton Berle once said, “You can lead a man to Congress, but you can’t make him think.” Thirty years ago, I used to teach American Government to 9th graders. I can’t imagine having to do it in the last two decade given the complete disregard politicians from BOTH sides of the aisle have for us, the people, and for the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Centuries… Read More »Politicians, Sales People, and Riding Shotgun