realtors

Transparency & Integrity & Business.

The only times in my life–ever–that I’ve been uncomfortable–truly uncomfortable–have been the times that I’ve either (a) had something I was afraid that someone else would find out about or (b) misrepresented the facts (i.e. lied) about something. Generally, (b) I didn’t do for personal gain, but to spare myself the pain of going down every possible option. Still, a black mark on my character and something to learn from.

So, right now, every tense situation I have is from me worrying about what people think if they find out that….(fill in the blank).

Every failed project I’ve ever worked on has failed in part because there was some type of undisclosed kickback or relationship going on. Every one, no exceptions. Mortgage lending: Realtors® that wanted a kickback? All of ‘em who approached me are out of the business or part time. My guess is that every major brokerage with a kickback arm (title/mortgage) is not going to survive, and the few that have figured out how to last without one may stick around.

What the ‘kickback’ mentality does, always, is it keeps you mediocre. Undisclosed kickbacks, say that there are limits to the amount of business that can be done, that there’s a ceiling somewhere and that you’re not good enough to win honestly. Asking for or offering them makes you instantly mediocre & limited.

So–going forward, I’ve got to develop a standard of practice that governs what I am to do. This is a selfish action. I’m doing it because it’s always in my own, long term, best interests to tell the truth and be transparent. It’s in my long term, best interest to keep things 100% disclosed.

All of the messes I’ve made are because I tolerated some sort of chicanery, kickbacks, or other intellectual mediocrity. I have no problem with finders fees. I have no problem compensating someone that helped me find work. I do have a problem with anyone on the team not knowing about it, not giving it approval and not seeing it’ there. The political game I briefly played was rife with that at every single level….and pay to play blows.

So–the basic wire frame is that everyone in the deal knows everything they need to know, knows the incentives of the rest of the team, and knows what their incentives are. They don’t have to know exact numbers, but to have folks know more, and then to get them in gratitude is the challenge of the team leader.

I’ll flesh the rest of this stuff out as I can–I’m short on time and wanted to get this public.

From now on, everything I do is legal, fully disclosed, and fully understood by all the players in the game.

The other thing I won’t do…I won’t ever, under any circumstances, have ‘show-off’ integrity in a heated situation. Someone can pitch whatever they want, I’ll just keep notes. Transparency is the new minimum. It doesn’t solve every problem.

Perfectionism, Learning F–k Therapy.

By chris Filed Under: miscellany

Permission to think your thougths. That’s what Teri called F–k Therapy, the new book that I’ve got coming out in just about 36 hours. I’m excited about it because I’m proud of it. I learned the mechanics of making an e-book with LO Survial guide (buy it because I AM taking it down). This time, I’m going to learn how to promote it, as I go. I’m excited about it.

Beyond the kitschy BS that we used to make, Steve and I gave every effort to make some good advice. And it’s a blast, saying that your basement doesn’t need to look like Brutus Buckeye’s asshole, and making money doing it. It’s going to be a blast promoting this over the holiday break, and doing what it it takes to sell this thing. And it’s going to be a blast to do this.

Stay tuned compadres. More f–king goodness is available.

Also–for those of you that read me, I’m going to give away the 1.0 and 2.0 stuff that gets me more freelance business than I cn handle. I want to make sure that I keep freelancing alive and kickin’ and thus, in the sidebar is a way to get my e-book. Yes, I want to build my mailing list, but yes, I also think that permission rented is permission destroyed. So sign up, especially if you’re a freelancer.

Passion…What Is Your Highest and Best Use? (pt. 1)

By chris Filed Under: Achieving Goals, Start Here

Fix/Sell/Close

When to quit vs. when to stick.

And–what do you do for money, and what do you do for love?

I’ve said it before: there is nothing that I adore inherently about the Real Estate/Mortgage business. I DO love the fact that it’s an awesome playground for entrepreneurs. I do love the fact that it is largely a meritocracy, and there are few barriers to entry. But I’m not a ‘born’ broker, not like Dan, and not like Brian. I love my customers and I love my Realtors. I love helping people, and I love testing and measuring marketing.

But the real truth? I like the mortgage business. Always have. I’ve never loved it. I’ve made a great income, but I’ve never been absolutely gung-ho about being a mortgage lender. I’ve never said that this is my career. I’ve held back. I never thought that it was the….”Highest and Best,” use of my time, energy and talent. I never thought that the mortgage (or real estate) business was the last job I’d ever have. Oh, it’s a perfect job in many respects. It’s a high income job that allows a lot of latitude over scheduling. But it’s not the end all and be all, never was.

We’re often embarrassed to say what our big damn dreams are. Our family members tell us to ‘be realistic,’ sometimes, and that’s not always good advice. If you are passionate about something–so much so that it feels like a privilege to work 18 hour days–it will be hard to keep you down. They call things ‘labors of love’ for a reason. You’d damn near do it for free, and wake up happy that there is a market (even one you’ve created) for what you are doing…and the minutes pass like seconds, and you can’t stop thinking of ways to get better, and you thank God for the opportunity that you have.

…or you wake up in your late 40′s crying about the chances that passed you by, and the fact that you never had the guts to take your shot. To give homage to April, you don’t want to be screaming out the window, “What about my prime, Mick? At least you had a prime! I had no prime, I had nothin’!!” Of course, not everyone finds themselves in work. The human impulse to define people by their work is too limiting. We all have different roles: I want to be a better imitator of Christ, a great Dad & Husband, a great friend, a good student and a good teacher…all before I want to be summarized by my job. The former roles that I want to apply the first fruits of my labor, and those are things I want to do with fervor and zeal…and yet it’s easy to get distracted by the urgent.

Road #1: Job as a Means to an End

Since it’s 100% ok to not be defined by your job, then it’s OK to have a job to fuel the rest of your life. If being a Real Estate Agent isn’t your calling, but there’s no stable market for hang gliding, using a Real Estate job to be a world class hang glider (or Dad, or whatever) is 100% OK. It’s never OK though to be engaged in an activity without doing it right, so even if you find yourself at Starbucks, do it right, do it well, and keep your mind turned on so you can do it better, and then leave it be so you can do what you want to do. I’d guess people in this role will still blog about their jobs, still do things for advocacy’s sake (the wonderful things you learn from Todd),

Before you think “I’d never sell out like that,” let me offer an example of the company you’re in. Bono is a “Job as means to an end,” guy. For him, being a Rock Star is a cool job, but it’s just a job at this point. He does everything that he can to keep it interesting, but he’s just leveraging the influence he has so that he is able to serve people and do what he feels is right to do. (And his passion also fuels his rock-star ness). There is no shortage of passion in Bono, he appeared on American Idol to get his message out, because his message is more important to him than anything else.

Road #2 Job as End

The other good road is having a “job as end route.” It looks like this: you find, or create, a job that is the best thing you could ever imagine doing, you do it well, and you share your knowledge of how to do it. If you would almost give up anything to be doing what you’re doing you’re in that role. You’ll acquire the tangential skills easily because they support you in your dream role. You’ll do the things that you need to do to become the world’s best whatever. Almost every activity–done as the best in the world–will support you at a six figure lifestyle. Even inane pursuits, like Poker or World of Warcraft create ridiculous incomes for people.

I’d betcha that Bruce Springsteen sees being a rock star as the highest, coolest and best use of his time. He seems like a guy that would still be playing clubs in Jersey and Philly for free, even if he never had been able to release “Born to Run.” He might have a day job somewhere, but he’d still have his hungry heart. He does an occasional turn as the ’cause guy,’ but for the most part, he’s digging his role as a rock star and couldn’t understand why he hell anyone would do any other job.

Most people take neither road, they take the mushy middle. “It pays good,” without really realizing that they are selling out, like Owen Wilson did. They live lives of ‘quiet desperation,’ Most people won’t have the guts to pursue any course with zeal and abandon. Most people take a job, and hope to find fulfillment without embracing any role that they have to any degree of meaningfulness. They are tepid, neither in or out of their jobs, lukewarm about everything that they (we) do.

A Daily Checklist Spreadsheet for Starting Your Day, Your Way.

By chris Filed Under: miscellany

I didn’t quite get through my blog facelift this weekend. I did, however, clean up a lot of old content, organize it better, and made everything searchable. Instantly, I noticed hits from it, which is fodder for a future guest post somewhere else. It’s almost time for me to go to the gym–the Challenge will be in effect shortly. But, the sidebar with the metrics is up, and that’s working now,so you’ll see more from that.

The two things I have left to do are my schedule and my checklists.

My schedule is when I’m doing things; my checklists are what to do in a given day. Again, I return to Google (something about Google wants to make me give them information on my life), and again I put forth what I’m doing on a daily basis. I have some definitions for each task, and this is not quite ready to share, but since it’s web 2.0, everything is in ‘pre beta,’ so, a sharing we will go.

A lot of the stuff is self explanatory, and I’ll post about “affirmations,” “mission statement,” and more a little later.

(click to embiggen)

The gist is to wake up intentionally, and get my engine fully fired up. I don’t have it in me to act correctly in an innate way like Ayn Rand’s cardboard heroes do, so I have to decide what I’m doing using this kind of stuff. If I was left to my own devices, i’d probably hit the drive through at Objectively, I know it works because when I was most closely aligned with this stuff, I was having the most outrageous success of my time. The routine above takes a couple of hours to accomplish; I need to leave the house by 7:15 to get to the gym by 7:30 (new goal).

The only ‘work’ thing I batch in the beginning is to update clients and realtors–this saves me oodles of time down the road. This will become part of the dashboard when I’m partly or mostly done with this thing. I’ll get the formatting done…but really–this keeps me from forgetting to do things that enhance my day.

So today, I’ll be making contacts and updating it. I may call you, who knows.

8 Things You Can Do To Prevent Career Obsolecence In Real Estate

By chris Filed Under: Start Here

It’s Getting Worse. It’s All a Matter of Degree.

Every time my attention is called to a post like this, I get a confused. Realtors are sitting together in some sort of lunatic echo chamber reassuring people that things aren’t as bad. They point to innacuracies in the media, however small, and say “Gotcha, the sky is not falling.”

Meanwhile, we see a trade association that is doing everything it can to make sure it’s members don’t know the truth, don’t have to react to the truth, and are obsolete. If renting is cheaper than owning, why own an asset that’s currently depreciating? Do they think we’re six? And then Realtors cling to antique information without being ready to face reality.

OK, OK What Can a Realtor or Mortgage Guy Do?

Well, there will be people that want hearth and home and want to pay for it. That’s a reasonable choice. The best neighborhoods are more available to renters than owners, and even if there is a loss of equity, quality of life may be better than in a rental. That is what we’re selling right now. We’re in the “appreciation” mode, and that’s not where we should be. People are natural consumers.

Acknowledge the problems with the market–and it’s true that people aren’t buying at the peak prices we saw in 2005, the prices will continue to go down, and the advantages the trade associations have enjoyed will be shrunk. That doesn’t mean people with a give/serve first mentality can’ win.

Average fee will go down: So focus your operation on low cost, and try to get more deals. This might mean that you get rid of some services, but the key to focus on is efficiency. Can you make a living if your average fee is down to 35%.
Your business requires units more than anything. Focus on as many units as possible. If you did 40-80 units last year, assume you have to double it.
Don’t be attached to one deal. A lot of Realtors and Brokers would have one giant deal a quarter, or three a quarter. Don’t ever be in posiion if of having one deal make your quarter. 20-25 deals/quarter not 5-8.
Over document: for a number of reasons, if you can become unconsciously competent at documenting things–at sharing information, and at having procedures, your business will have much less resistance. You will have to have systems in place.
Focus on less work, more service. If you have a workflow that makes sense, is uniform, that you can get good at, the client benefits from increased information. The way that we communicate is important. Focus on emails in the morning to enhance efficiency.
Have lots and lots of leads all the time. Don’t settle for the leads that will make you have a good month. Have 10-15-20 viable, closable leads.
Don’t take the holidays off. Traditionally, Real Estate Agents wandered off from October 20th for the end fo the year. LOTS of business can get done in December, in January, all throughout the year.
The bonus: ALWAYS ALWAYS BE LEARNING if it’s learning WordPress, or whatever keep learning, on purpose. 20% of your professional time is spent learning, 20% pursuing your muse, and 20% improving your processes, and 40% doing your job. Keep learning, consider education, part of your job description.

Rapport: You Don’t Matter. You Are Here To Add Value

By chris Filed Under: selling/marketing, Start Here

First the X broker has a post about how to run a mortgage company, then I see a Blown Mortgage post about how mortgage shoppers lie.

I’ll say this: those people that say ethics and integrity don’t enhance your business are wrong.

Those people that say they are at a competitive disadvantage when facing down with the used money shills are wrong.

The people that say that you have to lie to be truly successful are wrong.

It’s easy to say, “oh, poor salesman” the buyer lied. It’s easy to say, “yup, they went with another provider because that provider lied.

But look: when you lose the game it’s because of selling skills. On every single call, I tell people that they have many options for doing this, and it’s all a matter of preference. I gain a commitment to use me, and tell them that I have all the programs. I rarely offer quotes, and I have never worked with a lead. You’re whining because someone offered a program you didn’t.

Make it part of the pitch. Learn that this is what buyers want, and this is what is needed to…win the game. Don’t give your power to the shills and chop shops. Claim it for yourself. Win with a better process, which INCLUDES a sales process that makes people comfortable, AND makes them committed to using you (in part by touching quickly on every product).

Anyone Who Relies On Rapport Alone is Disconnected From Reality.

Write that five times. Sure, people DO buy the product because they like you, but seriously, as Matthew Ferry says: if people could swallow a pill and be done with us, they would. Nobody has recreational conversations with accountants, mortgage brokers, Realtors (oh, God, Realtors!).

That’s why the Xbroker says that sales monkeys are worthless. Because it’s tedious.

We are paid handsomely to perform a specific service. We have enough friends, our clients have enough friends. Sure, we want relationships, but we have to achieve basic competence first.

In the time it takes to build rapport, you can be halfway done with the work that you’re doing, and it’s a more authentic experience that customers will like more.

There’s a REASON for the saying: familiarity breeds contempt. If you are preternaturally competent, there is no chance that a shill can get you, over the long haul.

Salespeople Are Morons!

Salespeople, get over yourselves. Especially you mortgage brokers. You don’t matter! You are facilitating the process, and tellin’ em about your cat, your education is no more relevant to their mortgage needs than what you watched on TV last night.

It’s imbecilic and ego centric.

It’s insulting to your customers and dishonors their intentions.

For every second you spend spewing bile about yourself, you’re NOT LISTENING TO YOUR CUSTOMER.

Let’s consider something: Does every 3 toothed hillbilly that applies with you have a lot of common ground? Heck no. Should they be served by you? Heck yes. Do you owe it to them to honor their intentions? Abso-friggin-lutely. You sure as heck do. But do they care about your personal preferences?

In life, you’re truly lucky if your wife gives a shit, why presume that some stranger will.

This does not mean that you don’t seek relationships and real connection.

But it’s in the context of your buyer’s intended purpose.

Rapport comes throughout process as the people realize how good you are at what you do.

Rapport comes by demontrating your intent to serve, and using that as a common ground.

Rapport comes after you help.

So what do I do instead?

I’ll get after the Xbroker’s new business model in a minute. He’s on to something that makes a ton of sense–especially getting rid of the low value salespeople.

Plan- We do the same 7 or 8 things over and over again (in my business: take an ap, prepare a package, present program options, choose a lender, submit a package, meet conditions, and close). Be world class at the tasks that matter, and every nuance to best case scenario.
Rehearse and Practice: Rather than checking bloglines or reader.google.com, why not practice with a buddy taking an application, or look over the loan file that we did. What went right? What went wrong? When you take an application, what do do right? What do you do wrong?
Document: It goes with #1, but write down what you’re going to say, write down the information that the customer needs. Listen to what the cusotmer says, and handle the same ten or so questions to the best of your abilities. Have what you need handy, at your fingertips.
Gain a commitment: If you’re a professional you’re either working with a client, or you’re not. Not a lot of in between there. Even if they say they are shopping, gain a commitment to come back to you BEFORE you quote them.
Explain the process: In my business, the price is an hourly concern. If you get a quote at 10 in the morning, it may be better or worse at 3pm. It’s like asking how much a particular stock is. People can beat me due to timing, and offer a deal I can lock people in at.
Stop caring if they like you. The money talks. They close with you? They like you. Happy customers don’t need intimacy.

More later, this is probably part I and I’ll cut it up and push it out elsewhere.

You Simply Cannot Fake Autheticity

By chris Filed Under: Start Here

I get some criticisms about my “personality” a lot.

I’m abrasive.
I talk too fast.
I bulldoze over people.
I’m arrogant.
I don’t listen to other people’s point of view.

To that I say (in order)

You have stupid ideas.
You think too slowly.
You are a milquetoast.
Effectiveness isn’t arrogance.
Why would I listen to people that are repeatedly inept?

Nobody can stand anything resembling a display of ability. It makes everyone around mad, it hurts everyone’s ego. And, it draws ire and venom like nothing else. For too long I took to heart, the fears of the incompetent, and made them my own. For too long, I made the aimless and nebulous worries an excuse not to act.

It’s possible to be ridiculously good at many things. I apologized for ability, and let it atrophy. I appologized for clarity, and let it drift away. I let the attitudes of those who don’t impact me far more profoundly than I should have. Here: This graphic was passed out at our last meeting:

This is not an anomalous picture; I’m usually around half or more of the revenue; doing more than 4 others combined efforts. I’m not “raking it in, either.” I’m doing alright, but the rest of the people must be starving.

Why do I let their critiisms in? Why would I value their advice? What can they offer me? Why let them lecture me?

I’m not saying that we should not treat people without respect, but in that venue, they are no more qualified to give me advice than I am qualified to give Bill Gates advice on how to be an entrepenuer. But I have to listen, I have to validate, and I have to coddle…or else I’m an asshole.

I got a diatribe from someone about producing deals. I had to listen to this thing for ten minutes, about how my “service” wasn’t high enough. (About 70% of my deals are from referrals from Realtors, the rest, referrals from cusotmers….)

After the insinuation that I’m being dishonest (from a guy who I saw commit fraud) I interrupted: “I don’t want the business that you have, and so I won’t do the things that you do.”

The guy was looking for justification for his role in the businesss…IF he can’t outsell me, his ego requires the manufacturing of achievement-some metric where he’s better/stronger/more than me. His ego requires that he’s better at something than I am…and rather than compete with me, he does that!

It’s HARD to be uniquely valuable, uniquely insightful, authentic, productive, and different. It’s easy to swim across the grain and to swim upstream. And NOBODY ELSE wants you to do it because it’s an affront to them. Examples:

“He’s not really frugal, he’s a failure that has no money…”

“He’s getting his business because he steals…”

“He only had one idea/got lucky once” (i.e. the Mark Cuban attacks)

“Sure, he’s good at this, but I’m good at (non sequitir).”

“Nobody likes him.”

The danger of listening to (or even being around) the mediocre:

You become like them. You want to screw up your own life? Fine. But HOW DARE YOU OBSTRUCT PEOPLE FROM THEIR DREAMS! HOW DARE YOU, WHO WON’T TAKE A RISK, DISPENSE ADVICE ON ANYTHING?
You accept their standard! Look, I wanna compare myself to better people than me. I wanna reach and change, and grow in effectiveness, insight and value. How can I do that if i hang out with idiots? Sure, I can be king shit of turd mountain, but who wants that?
You lose the sense of never ending possibility and youth. Man, the unifying quality of the mediocre is that they are already old and set. Their goals might be to get
You start to self censor You have better ideas than most mediocre people. You censor the good ones.

Finally, four things to keep you from becoming medicore:

Look at real metrics to discern competence. If you’re a blogger, how many long term readers do you have? If you’re a salesperson, what percent of your industry does better than you or does worse?
Don’t let your ego lie to you. If someone out performs you, figure out why. Is it a connection they’ve made,skill or style they have?
Have a big damn dream. No matter what iti s, don’t settle. No matter what you’re doing, don’t lose the sense of endless possibility that goes along with having great dreams.
Build creativity from a base of consistency. First, crush the game that you’re playing. Then, go into blue oceans.