The Recession is Over. | What Are You Going to Do About It?

In my youth I sold 3m Copy Machines, the Secretary 2 weighed over 200 pounds, had to be wheeled in on a dead body gurney; and it would start on fire if you got a paper jam during the presentation.

The reason I share this is to draw parallels: it was not long before there were Savin, Rico, Royal and a host of other competitors breaking down every door challenging 3M (who invented the copy machine) in their marketplace. Just as this market has changed, so has Real Estate.

Stuff changes:

• If there is fat on a hog (market), somebody will show up to do the butchering
• Price competition always increases
• Ebb and flow in this market, the construction business, any market: are constants
• The playing field has been leveled - home court advantage removed
• Increased competition confuses the market - consumers are confused
• Many Baby Boomers have failed to adopt to new technology, making their clients fair game
• A major changing of the guard is underway

Some stuff never changes:

• The young are quicker, smarter, healthier and more educated with technology
• Doing the same thing yields the same results: perpetual decline
• Innovators win
• Followers work for innovators
• There is a dollar somewhere in the world to chase every dime over here!

Please bear with my parallels: there are many:

• The top salespeople do not share their secrets until they no longer work
• Beware the self proclaimed consultant/trainer!
• Call reports have been falsified for so long that good office politics involve who can falsify the report to satisfy the boss and get away with it
• You cannot do everything all the experts tell you to do and succeed
• News flash: nobody makes 24 cold calls per day and does it well
• The market is huge, constantly growing, constantly changing
• I never made more that a few cold calls per day, although QUOTA was 24!
• The system was messed up to where it was impossible to be honest and still win - terrible
• I never did what everybody else was doing
• You are sitting on a gold-mine that nobody is working!
• I was number 1 out of 150 reps in nine states selling Savin copiers two months after I 'jumped ship'

The rest of the story: very relevant

• In those days they gave us keys to the office
• Being an ex-logger (healing from broken ribs and a broken back) I woke up at 4:00 am every morning
• With the rest of the world sleeping, I had nothing to do
• The office was full of old files, some them dead for years, of past customers records
• The 'old clients' were what I like to call 'warm calls'
• By 8:00 in the morning when the others started showing up, I already had a hit list of past clients to call
• By 9:00 AM I was on the phone
• By 12:00 noon I had appointments
• They wanted us to sell four machines per month to keep the job
• I sold 20-30 copy machines per month
• I did not have time to chat, share war stories, or otherwise lolly gag - I was busy

Ok now I am hitting closer to home, hmmm? Now some you can use:

• You cannot compete by doing what everybody else is doing - especially true online!
• Most raining is outdated, regurgitated crap with the best stuff left out - again especially true online and in your industry
• Technology is outdated before it hits the market - think if this in terms of technology training!
• Everything you learn from self-proclaimed coaches is outdated by definition, because everyone is doing it
• Doing things the same old way is like betting on the stock market by following the crowd: you will always loose by definition
• If you are a follower you need to realize that and join a team with a leader: you cannot lead from behind

Now the challenge:

• What are you doing different that will make you excel?
• What is the top producer in your office doing that they are not telling you or anyone else about?
• When are you going to wake up?
• Who are you going to call today?
• How is your phone call going to be different so that they do not hang up?
• Why should I choose you over all the alternatives? If you do not know the answer, who does
• What are you doing to maximize your exit traffic: how big is your list?

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