Winning Ways Magazine Q3 2022

WINNING WAYS

Price and

Time Loyalty

The Key to Keep Going

Choose Wisely

Keep Going!

BY GARY PITTARD

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Persistence is one of my favourite attributes.

Set goals, plan, study, apply what you learn, and persist at the right actions. Do this, and success for you is inevitable.

My late friend, Bede Donovan, used to say, “Don’t quit before the miracle happens”. I heard him give this advice often to people who were discouraged with some endeavour or another.

He was so right. How often do have we seen new salespeople prospect for months, generate few leads, become discouraged and quit. And then… clients begin calling and asking for that salesperson. They quit before the miracle happened!

I have heard of salespeople at listing presentations being told by sellers, “We never make decisions quickly, so we won’t be signing anything today”, and this line has put the salesperson off attempting to close the sale.

The correct response to lines like this is, “I promise I won’t ask you to do anything that is not right for you” and then proceed with your presentation. At the right time, close! Put the agreement in front of the clients, explain it to them and pass them a pen. Ask them to OK the agreement.

Persist!

Ninety nine times out of a hundred the clients will sign. Why? BECAUSE THEY WANT TO SIGN. You did a good presentation, answered their questions and filled them with confidence. You earned the right to close regardless of what was said earlier.

Even if the clients remind you of what they said earlier and say that you’re pushy, apologise and say, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to come across as pushy. It’s just that I thought you were happy that I could do a good job for you – was I right?”

They will say “yes”, and when they do you say, “And am I right in thinking that you do want to sell?” Again they will say “yes”. Then you say, “Would you like to have a salesperson working for you who is afraid to close buyers or to ask them to pay more money? I guess you want somebody who will ask for the order, don’t you?”

Again you will get a “yes” and you will earn their respect. “Right, so if you can OK the agreement just there, I can get to work finding a buyer for you”. Hand back the pen and smile.

What have you got to lose? Persistence will get you more business than it will lose you.

Ask another question. Try another close. Knock on another door. Ask for the order. Every time. Without fail.

Persistence pays. Keep going - you’re not a quitter.

BY MAYA BAILEY, PH.D.

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What does it mean to “sharpen your saw?’

According to Dr. Steven Covey, “sharpening your saw” means; “Increasing your personal production capacity by daily self-care and selfmaintenance.” Why is this important? In my 13+ years of coaching success minded entrepreneurs to help them maximize their success, it is so clear that those who neglect themselves will never reach their goals.

For example, one of my clients, Sandra, struggled with a sugar addictions for years. Her business was always in chaos, as she had roller coaster moods that would never allow her to focus on her business. By helping her recognize the addiction and how destructive it was being to her body and mental clarity, she was able to wean off the sugar and take more control of her life. Another client, Jane, never wanted to look at how her addiction to alcohol affected her business. Once she made the decision to limit her alcohol intake, she regained energy and strength and her business took off.

The four levels of “sharpening your saw”:

• The physical level - How good are you at getting enough rest, sleep and exercise? Is your diet healthy or do find yourself relying on fast foods? What about your water intake? Are you drinking 2-3 quarts a day? Very important: are you allowing yourself to breathe deeply? So many of my clients were in the habit of shallow breathing and depriving themselves of the needed oxygen for energy. How well do you take care of your physical body? The answer to this will determine not only the health of your body but also the

health your business and your ability to wisely market yourself.

• The mental level - What kind of thoughts do you entertain? Are you focused on what you don’t want or what you do want ? Your thoughts create your reality, so what thoughts are you thinking right now? Whenever you catch yourself in negative self talk, use the STOP Technique. Just say STOP, take a deep breath and change that thought to a more positive one.

• The emotional level - Are you doing things that make you happy? Are you around people and activities that bring you joy? So many times in our focus to achieve success, we deprive ourselves of a balanced life. Guess what? You attract the energy that you radiate. So if you want to attract happy appreciative clients, become happy and appreciative. Before you know it the business you had been struggling to have is now drawn to you like a magnet. Everyone wants to do business with people who are positive and uplifting.

• The spiritual level - What are you doing each day and each week to nourish yourself spiritually?

Whether you are religious or not, I have never met anyone who didn’t sense that there is a Diving Intelligence that created this universe. And this Divine Intelligence is abundant, just look at the trees and the flowers. The more you are aligned with this essence the more your have a solid spiritual foundation. Maybe your spiritual nourishment is church, maybe it’s the trees or the ocean. Find that place where you are in a state of awe and wonder and visit there often.

Focus your efforts on continually improving yourself, being kind to yourself and remembering to ask yourself “What do I want?” Stop complaining and be proactive! Do something that increases your skills, helps your fitness, or brings you joy. Remember that you cannot effectively help your clients and build your business if you can’t take care of yourself first. If you can do that, then there is very little that you sharp saw won’t be able to cut through.

Maya Bailey, Multiple 6 Figure

Income Business Coach for Real

Estate Professionals, integrates her 20 years of experience as a psychologist with 15 years of expertise in marketing. Her powerful transformational work creates a Success Formula for Real Estate Professionals ready to create a Multiple 6 Figure Income. To get your free report: “7 Simple Strategies to More Clients in 90 Days” and to apply for an Initial Complimentary Consultation, go to www.90daystomoreclients. com.

Do something that increases your skills, helps your fitness, or brings you joy

Dr.

BY CHRIS WIDENER

The Key to Loyalty II

I love being a professional speaker. I love inspiring people and traveling all around the world to speak to people committed to their personal and professional growth. The last eight years or so, my main topic has been The Art of Influence, from my book of that name.

I love teaching leaders and sales people how to influence others. It isn't trickery, or techniques, but something deeper that creates a nearly unbreakable bond between leader and follower or between seller and buyer. It is really about the character of influence.

One of the main points in my presentation is how to create loyalty among employees, customers, and co-workers. Loyalty is so important in influence because it creates the strongest bond. It is what takes you through the hard times. Everything is easy and everyone is on board when the going is good, but when the going gets tough, loyalty is the glue that holds things together.

So what creates loyalty? Service. Being a servant of those you are leading or to whom you are selling. Or, as I put it in my speech, consider other people's interests more important than your own.

This doesn't mean that you don't consider your own interests. You should. But it means that rather than being selfish, you act with selflessness. The decisions aren't based on what's good for youbut what is good for others, for the team, or for the client.

Service is demonstrated over time. The longer you can show that you are working for them, the more loyal they will become. People are skeptical. They expect you to be self-serving. Prove them wrong.

My mentor and co-host of our television show True Performance was the late Zig Ziglar, the epitome of the motivational speaker. One of my favorite quotes by Zig was, "You can have anything you want in life if you just help enough other people get what they want out of life."

In other words: Serve others and you will achieve what you want to achieve.

I've always found it fascinating that on the McDonald's signs they put "Over a billion served." Not sold, served. We aren't called to sell. We are called to serve. We aren't called to dominate people with our leadership, but to serve others. And in doing that, we actually achieve our goals.

So, are you a servant? Do you consider the interests of others more important than your own? Are you always looking out for the other guy? If not, focus on being more attentive to the needs of those around you. Doing so will create the loyalty you are looking for from your employees, customers and co-workers!

Price and Time

BY GARY PITTARD

TTTwo winners were talking. They discussed the sale of a property one had for sale. The winner said, “In this market, if we don’t have it sold in two weeks we’re in trouble”.

From the perspective of both lister and seller, this has interesting connotations. In previous times price was all important. Thanks to the speed of digital marketing, there are now two factors to consider: Price and Time.

The winner explained it this way: “Buyers show up whether you’re priced right or not. They view and move on. If your listing is overpriced you might not get them back”.

In cooling markets this could become more relevant as buyers have more properties from which to choose.

The implication for today’s sellers is simple: leave a property languishing on the market for too long and you can lose the best buyers.

And for today’s listers, “List and hope” is not a strategy (if ever it was), neither is “List very high and take your time reaching market price”.

More than ever, listers need to consider whether the sellers they are about to list are deadly serious about selling, and whether they are prepared to meet the market sooner rather than later. After all, they have to meet the market if they are going to sell, so why waste good buyers and time?

Work with your sellers and help them understand the urgency in entering the market at or near a fair market price. Remind them that if the property goes stale, they have missed their best chance to sell at the highest price.

Stale properties often require a massive drop in price to get them sold.

Don’t put your sellers through that.

BY GARY PITTARD

A A

All leaders want high performers, but sometimes we should be careful what we wish for. That high performer could be a 600 Pound Gorilla. You don’t want one of these!

High fee production is a must-have ingredient for all real estate salespeople, but it is not the only must-have ingredient.

Salespeople must also demonstrate:

• A dedication to real estate training and to building skill

• Team spirit and not ‘lone wolf’ behaviour

• Support of the real estate agency leadership

• A willingness to prospect when necessary

• An understanding that the leads belong to the company and not the individual

No doubt you can think of more, but if you have a person who writes the figures, but who contributes little else to the company, who is demanding, and who terrorises the other team members, you have a decision to make:

1. Tolerate the 600 Pound Gorilla’s bad behaviour; or

2. Fire the Gorilla and build a real team – one where cooperation is the norm

Don’t Tolerate Bad Behaviour

As scary as this might be, you must understand that the 600 Pound Gorilla is holding your company back and keeping good team members down. No amount of fee production is worth tolerating this selfish behaviour.

Sure, we want high performance, but if this is the only attractive feature, cut off the supply of bananas to your 600 Pound Gorilla. By the way, I know that bananas aren’t natural gorilla food, but I liked the analogy. Sorry.

The 600 Pound Gorilla

Handing Over Control

Did you build a business only to hand control over to somebody else? Keep a Gorilla and that is what you are doing. And you’re handing control over to a person who, fundamentally, even though he or she may be charismatic, they are not very nice.

It takes character to dismiss somebody who writes the figures, but who is lousy in attitude and team cooperation. But it has to be done if you ever expect to build a team of high achievers, and not a group of individuals with one high achiever who holds everybody else down.

Keep a Gorilla and that is what you are doing

You Pay for Action

You pay for action. Every person in your agency is expected to do what they are paid to do. This must include salespeople.

BY GARY PITTARD

A A

Almost everybody on the team knows what they have to do – Property Managers, Receptionists, Secretaries, BDMs; etc.

The reason they know what they have to do is because these roles have clear job descriptions. The people in these roles know what they have to do and they know that any competent leader will not accept paying salaries to people who do not perform their roles competently.

But what about salespeople? It is clear that many either do not know what is required of their roles, or if they do, they are refusing to do the actions required of their roles.

Could the problem be caused because leaders do not give their salespeople clear job descriptions? Have you ever seen a job description for a salesperson?

How often have you heard salespeople say, “I know what I’m supposed to do – I’m just not doing it”? I have heard this many times, and always the salespeople who said it did so in a tone that indicated they thought this was acceptable. It was as though they wanted you to feel sorry for them.

Since when did Sales become a democracy?

Salespeople enjoy a lot of autonomy. But this does not exempt them from performing duties specific to their roles. Since when does an employee get to decide what tasks in their job description they won’t do? I bet you they didn’t tell you that at their interview!

You pay for action. Every person in your agency is expected to do what they are paid to do. This must include salespeople.

Smart real estate agency leadership gives salespeople two options only:

1. Do the actions you are paid to do, or…

2. Resign

You run a real estate business. Are you serious about results? If so, then you will be serious about actions. Salespeople must:

• Prospect – talk to people. Look for new business every day.

• List – competently and honestly.

• Coach sellers so they come to understand the market and price their properties accordingly.

• Show properties priced to sell in today’s market to qualified buyers

• Negotiate and close sales

To salespeople who say, “I know what I’m supposed to do, but I’m just not doing it”. I say,

“Do what you are paid to do, or leave”.

In the days when I presented real estate agency profit webinars, I polled many leaders. Almost always, eighty percent of responding leaders said they would like their salespeople to do more prospecting. Often this figure was 100 percent.

Some leaders have said that I’m too radical by insisting that salespeople do what they are paid to do. But recently I saw two offices close their doors because the leaders of those offices were too weak to fire people who did not do what they were paid to do.

Going broke is pretty radical, too, wouldn’t you say?

Almost always, eighty percent of responding leaders said they would like their salespeople to do more prospecting

Plan a trip and you begin to look forward to it. Plan a successful career and you become inspired to work toward it

Destination First,

BY GARY PITTARD

T T

Think about the last time you planned a journey. Perhaps you are planning one now. Question: What is the first choice you make? Answer: You decide WHERE you want to do. You decide upon the destination.

Never would you plan a trip beginning with the itinerary – flights, hotels, transfers, tours. The destination is the first decision.

Planning a successful career is similar to planning a holiday: the destination comes first.

Decide what success means to you. This is your destination and it’s an important decision.

Be clear – you don’t plan a trip to Europe without first deciding which countries in Europe you’re going to visit. You can’t buy a plane ticket to “Europe” without being asked “whereabouts in Europe?” and likewise you can’t define “success” without clearly deciding what “success” looks like to you.

Too often, people believe that money defines success. Don’t get me wrong, money is important and I want you to have lots of it, but it’s WHAT YOU DO WITH THE MONEY that should be a major consideration for you.

Think about it: would you like to be the richest person in the world but have no friends and your family hating you? Nothing but hangers-on after your money. Would you call that a success?

Long term success requires us to decide what we want and then consistently work toward it. What does success mean to you? Decide. Once you have a clear well-rounded picture of success in your mind. Plan your success ‘itinerary’. For many, the joy is in the journey.

Decide what you have to produce in order to manifest your success picture. From these production figures targets will emerge. Next, plan the competent action necessary to achieve those targets.

Clarity is paramount in goal setting, target decisions and planning.

If you simply start with targets and plans and you will most likely not follow those plans, nor will you achieve those targets, because you have no compelling goal – a compelling ‘why’, a reason to do so.

You need a destination – goals – to ‘pull’ you toward higher achievement.

Plans and targets alone will not do this.

John Wooden said, “We have to make a living but we also must make a life with our family. It’s easy to lose sight of that when we start chasing money and its travelling companions, fame and power.”

Plan a trip and you begin to look forward to it. Plan a successful career and you become inspired to work toward it.

Begin with a clear destination, then plan the itinerary. Enjoy your life’s journey.

Hire People Better Than Yourself

BY DRAYTON BIRD

than me in some way. One was Brian Thomas who came into our Covent Garden offices in 1980 and said "Do you have any jobs?"

I asked why he had come in. He said, "I've been reading your house ads, and you sound like the kind of people I'd like to work for."

In 2003, the Chartered Institute of Marketing named Drayton Bird one of 50 living individuals who have shaped today’s marketing. Other names included Philip Kotler, Tom Peters and Theodore Levitt.

During his career he has also worked in PR, research, telemarketing and franchising and run exhibitions. Over the years he has helped sell everything from Airbus planes to Peppa Pig.

III confess: this is not my idea. I have no idea who came up with it.

But I know my old boss David Ogilvy's dictum, "If we hire people better than ourselves we will become a company of giants; if we hire people worse, we will become a company of dwarves."

However, David (like a lot of good people) had no qualms in stealing stuff.

Nevertheless it is a natural failing - through insecurity, I guess - to hire people that aren't as smart as we are. That way we feel less threatened.

But I can think of more than one occasion when I have taken on people who I thought were better

(Hint: remember that your ads are certainly read more by your staff than by prospects, and also by possible employees.)

I spent ten minutes talking to Brian and realised he knew more about the mail order business than I did, so we hired him. Within a year he was the managing director (I couldn't run a fruit stall).

More recently I hired a partner, who certainly has a better analytical mind than I do (As indeed she should, being a Doctor of Philosophy).

So remember, try not to be daunted by clever people; you're a lot better off hiring them than trying to do everything yourself.

Best, Drayton

His book, Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing, out in 17 languages, has been the UK’s best seller on the subject every year since 1982. Advertising immortal David Ogilvy described it as “pure gold.” He has written 4 other marketing books, including How to write a sales letter that sells, now in its 3rd edition, and well over 1,000 columns for publications around the world. In 2007 he founded the European Academy of Direct and Interactive Marketing.

Forget About Setting Goals. Focus on This Instead.

BY JAMES CLEAR

Prevailing wisdom claims that the best way to achieve what we want in life—getting into better shape, building a successful business, relaxing more and worrying less, spending more time with friends and family—is to set specific, actionable goals.

FFFor many years, this was how I approached my habits too. Each one was a goal to be reached. I set goals for the grades I wanted to get in school, for the weights I wanted to lift in the gym, for the profits I wanted to earn in business. I succeeded at a few, but I failed at a lot of them. Eventually, I began to realize that my results had very little to do with the goals I set and nearly everything to do with the systems I followed.

If you’re a coach, your goal might be to win a championship. Your system is the way you recruit players, manage your assistant coaches, and conduct practice.

If you’re an entrepreneur, your goal might be to build a million-dollar business. Your system is how you test product ideas, hire employees, and run marketing campaigns.

If you’re a musician, your goal might be to play a new piece. Your system is how often you practice, how you break down and tackle difficult measures, and your method for receiving feedback from your instructor.

Now for the interesting question: if you completely ignored your goals and focused only on your system, would you still succeed? For example, if you were a basketball coach and you ignored your goal to win a championship and focused only on what your team does at practice each day, would you still get results?

I think you would.

The goal in any sport is to finish with the best score, but it would be ridiculous to spend the whole game staring at the scoreboard. The only way to actually win is to get better each day. In the words of three-time Super Bowl winner Bill Walsh, “The score takes care of itself.” The same is true for other areas of life. If you want better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead.

What do I mean by this? Are goals completely useless? Of course not. Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress. A handful of problems arise when you spend too much time thinking about your goals and not enough time designing your systems.

Problem #1: Winners and losers have the same goals. Goal setting suffers from a serious case of survivorship bias. We concentrate on the people who end up winning—the survivors—and mistakenly assume that ambitious goals led to their success while overlooking all of the people who had the same objective but didn’t succeed.

Every Olympian wants to win a gold medal. Every candidate wants to get the job. And if successful and unsuccessful people share the same goals, then the goal cannot be what differentiates the winners from the losers. It wasn’t the goal of winning the Tour de France that propelled the British Cyclists to the top of the sport. Presumably, they had wanted to win the race every year before—just like every other professional team. The goal had always been there. It was only when they implemented a system of continuous small improvements that they achieved a different outcome.

Problem #2: Achieving a goal is only a momentary change.

Imagine you have a messy room and you set a goal to clean it. If you summon the energy to tidy up, then you will have a clean room—for now. But if you maintain the same sloppy, pack-rat habits that led to a messy room in the first place, soon you’ll be looking at a new pile of clutter and hoping for another burst of motivation. You’re left chasing the same outcome because you never changed the system behind it. You treated a symptom without addressing the cause.

Achieving a goal only changes your life for the moment. That’s the counterintuitive thing about improvement. We think we need to change our results, but the results are not the problem. What we really need to change are the systems that cause those results. When you solve problems at the results level, you only solve them temporarily. In order to improve for good, you need to solve problems at the systems level. Fix the inputs and the outputs will fix themselves.

Problem #3: Goals restrict your happiness.

The implicit assumption behind any goal is this: “Once I reach my goal, then I’ll be happy.” The problem with a goals-first mentality is that you’re continually putting happiness off until the next

Having a system is what matters. Committing to the process is what makes the difference

milestone. I’ve slipped into this trap so many times I’ve lost count. For years, happiness was always something for my future self to enjoy. I promised myself that once I gained twenty pounds of muscle or after my business was featured in the New York Times, then I could finally relax.

Furthermore, goals create an “either-or” conflict: either you achieve your goal and are successful or you fail and you are a disappointment. You mentally box yourself into a narrow version of happiness. This is misguided. It is unlikely that your actual path through life will match the exact journey you had in mind when you set out. It makes no sense to restrict your satisfaction to one scenario when there are many paths to success.

A systems-first mentality provides the antidote. When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy. You can be satisfied anytime your system is running. And a system can be successful in many different forms, not just the one you first envision.

Problem #4: Goals are at odds with long-term progress. Finally, a goal-oriented mind-set can create a “yo-yo” effect. Many runners work hard for

months, but as soon as they cross the finish line, they stop training. The race is no longer there to motivate them. When all of your hard work is focused on a particular goal, what is left to push you forward after you achieve it? This is why many people find themselves reverting to their old habits after accomplishing a goal.

The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game. True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It’s not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement. Ultimately, it is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress.

Fall In Love With Systems

None of this is to say that goals are useless. However, I’ve found that goals are good for planning your progress and systems are good for actually making progress.

Goals can provide direction and even push you forward in the short-term, but eventually a well-designed system will always win. Having a system is what matters. Committing to the process is what makes the difference.

This article is an excerpt from the New York Times bestselling book, Atomic Habits. Reprinted with permission.

James Clear writes about habits, decision making, and continuous improvement. His first book, Atomic Habits, is a #1 New York Times bestseller and has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. For more information, visit www.JamesClear.com

Choose Wisely

BY GARY PITTARD

P P

Life offers us many choices. We should choose wisely.

We can choose to be happy or sad. Spend too long being sad and it becomes a habit, and you can become a toxic person.

I know people who can’t wait to get upset about something – outraged even. They seldom ever say anything positive about anybody. Their arrogance is amazing: everybody but them is stupid.

And they’re always making themselves out to be victims. Everybody, it seems, is out to get them. No doubt you know the type. Personally, I get them out of my life as quickly as possible.

We can choose optimism or pessimism. I don’t mean blind optimism, a “She’ll be right” attitude in situations when it probably won’t be right and you’d better start thinking of ways to deal with the situation. But life is good, IF you look for the good in your life. If you look for bad things in life, and the world, no doubt you will find them. But this can also become a habit and make you miserable.

Abundance or lack perspective. We can choose to be a ‘glass half full’ type of person or a ‘glass half empty’ type. I love focusing on abundance these days, but I had to practise this. We grew up in a typical struggling fifties family where we didn’t have much money.

Don’t get me wrong – we never lacked what we needed and we never lacked love. But we weren’t endowed with material wealth. As our financial situation began to improve, our prosperity consciousness needed to improve with it. What you focus on expands. Focus on abundance and you enjoy more abundance.

Action or inaction is a choice we must make. Sitting and waiting for business, or working hard on the wrong actions, is a career killer for people of all professions. You can go to real estate school, attend real estate courses – any real estate training you like – but at some point you have to get to work, and work hard and on the right actions. It’s a choice.

You can also choose gratitude, or feel the world owes you a living. Do you know any people who never stop whingeing about the state of the country, the health system, the cost of living? Go and get sick in most other countries in the world and you may come to realise how good we have it in Australia and New Zealand.

With so much to choose from in life, we should be careful what we choose. Choose to be happy, to work hard on the right actions, to take good meaningful breaks, to focus on abundance and to be grateful for our careers, families, and lives.

Happiness is a choice and it comes from a good attitude and choosing wisely. Enjoy life –the other alternative looks pretty grim to me!

Happiness is a choice and it comes from a good attitude and choosing wisely. Enjoy life – the other alternative looks pretty grim to me!

BY BOB BURG

The More Things Change… Or, Do They?

However, that advice was not particularly recent at all! According to Ron Chernow, in his fantastic book, TITAN: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., this counsel was actually given to John D. Rockefeller, Jr. by his confidant (and future Canadian Prime Minister), Mackenzie King regarding handling a tragic and fatal mistake at a family-owned company. While Junior was much more involved in the Rockefeller Foundation, the charitable foundation established by Senior, the advice held for all aspects of the business.

TRANSPARENCY. Y Y

“…{You} must recognize that we are living in a different generation than the one in which {your} father had lived, and that it was possible, in building up an industry such as {his}, to maintain a comparative secrecy as to methods of work, etc. and to keep business pretty much to those who were engaged in it.

“Today…it {is} absolutely necessary to take the public into one’s confidence, to give publicity to many things, and especially to stand out for certain principles very broadly.”

Obviously, this advice must have been provided fairly recently to a business leader who hadn’t yet caught on that things are significantly different than they had been. Now, instead of operating in secrecy, even a major, multi-national corporation must be — what’s that word we so often hear — transparent, right?

I mean, this is the 21st Century. With the Internet, search engines, social media, and review sites, there are many ways a company can have it’s reputation ruined and its customers, shareholders, and stakeholders angry at them. Now, corporate leaders must — they simply must — adopt this most recent way of conducting their business.

Junior’s father and his associates at Standard Oil were famous for being extremely secretive about their operations. And, this secrecy — far from helping their cause — resulted in very negative public opinion of their business and set the stage for future legal difficulties and eventual threats of imprisonment. Later in his life, even Senior eventually came around and realized his mistake in this regard.

The point is, while the public now has many more avenues for determining what a company truly stands for, they’ve always had a much higher regard (and, trust!) for those companies that not only show their true colours, but communicate them, as well.

Mega-corporation or small business; solo practitioner or non-profit charity; early 1900’s or 2000’s, the principle itself never changes…only the media that expose it for what it truly is.

Internationally-known speaker, Bob Burg is co-author of The Go-Giver and Endless Referrals. His newest book is Adversaries into Allies. Visit www.Burg.com

BY GARY PITTARD

III was talking with some winners, real estate agency business owners, at one of our Winning Ways seminars. They mentioned hearing some industry speakers who all shared one common theme: “Work hard”.

One of them said something telling: “Work hard? That’s the entry level to success. If you want to be successful at anything, you have to work hard, but you must work hard on the right things”.

The world is full of hardworking plodders who never achieve any real material success in their lives. I am not saying that true success is all about material success, it is not, but let’s face it, life is so much better if you have some material wealth to contribute to your enjoyment of life.

Is anything holding you back?

Some people have a Poverty Consciousness. They cannot bring themselves to believe that they deserve any of life’s little luxuries. This is usually linked to low self-esteem.

Either one on their own is enough to put the brakes on anyone’s journey to greatness, but the two together make it even tougher to succeed.

Such people are most often the ones who never set goals, never formulate plans and, even if

they do these things, do so half-heartedly so that when they inevitably fail to reach their ‘goals’ they can say, “See, I tried that but it didn’t work”

Serious About Success

Over the years I have seen many people come and go from the real estate industry. I have seldom seen any who were serious about success over the long term. They allowed something to hold them back, but in many cases it was not the willingness to work hard.

I agree with my friend’s comment about hard work being the entry level to success. There is a saying that says, “Take an incompetent person and get that person to work hard. All you have is a hardworking idiot”. Harsh, I know, but oh so true.

Never let anyone put you down, convince you that you cannot succeed. You CAN succeed, but it takes more than hard work.

Design your own vision of success. Make it a complete picture – not only material wealth, but also the things that truly contribute to a full and happy life.

Now plan that future – to the decade, year, quarter, month, week and day. Set goals, write Affirmations, and now work hard, every day on actions that take you closer to your vision.

Success won’t just happen. And hard work won’t get you there UNTIL you know where ‘there’ is.

If I Was The Best Salesperson In The World

BY GARY PITTARD

IIIf I was the best salesperson in the world: I would set goals. I know that in order to focus for the long terms, I have to be working toward something worthwhile. Goals give me focus.

I would plan. Mediocre people drift through their days, weeks, months and years. They are unfocused and have no direction. These people are often heard saying, “I can’t believe we’re almost at the end of the year!” Did they plan their poor performances, or was poor performance the result of failing to plan?

I would write daily Affirmations. I know that whenever I want to take my performance to a higher level, I must believe that I can do it –even more, I must feel as though I am ALREADY DOING IT. Affirmations make me feel as though I have already achieved my desired success level. I am more likely to act in accordance with what I believe.

I would work hard. But I would work hard on the right actions, by following my clear plan every day.

I would keep my promises. Beginning with those I make to myself. If I say I am going to do something I do it. If, for example, I promise myself to speak with 40 potential sellers each day, I keep that promise, as I do all promises I make.

I would spend every working morning searching for new business. My desired success level requires me to make more sales. This means I need more stock to sell. Losers sit and wait for business to walk in the door. I don’t.

I would study. An hour a day devoted to studying my craft, I know, will help me to accomplish more in less time.

I would practise what I learn. From study comes knowledge, but from practice comes skill. I need skill to turn leads into listings, then into sales, and always into happy clients.

I would guard my time. People don’t steal my time. I choose whether or not to give it away. I choose to give my time to people who want to buy my product or service, or who may need my help to get into a position to do so. Clients who deal with me treat me with the same level of courtesy and candour as I do them.

I would try to do what is right in all situations. To put money ahead of doing what is right chips away at my integrity. Short term gain must never be at the expense of my reputation. My good name is my brand.

I would work with my sellers to help them understand the market. I do this gently and with understanding and honest advice, never resorting to conditioning and pressure tactics. This does not mean I will be soft, however. If a client’s property is overpriced for the current market, I am honour-bound to point this out.

I would work with my buyers to help them buy the right property under the right terms. This does not mean helping them to get the property at a low price, but it does mean ensuring that the transaction is fair, with no information withheld.

I would take pride in my team and my company. Even if I don’t own it, I will always represent my company with enthusiasm and never commit the company to anything that will cause it to lose profit. Giveaways are substitute for skill. I never resort to discounting my fee, or to giving away ‘freebies’ in order to win business.

I would ask questions. I may make the odd assumption, but I always test those assumptions before making recommendations. To make recommendations without first knowing what your clients need and, to a lesser degree, want, is irresponsible. I make informed recommendations because I am a professional.

I would close. I will ask for the business at every presentation. I will ask more than once, five times or more. I will ask buyers to buy and sellers to list with me.

I would allow plenty of family time. True success is a complete package. How sad to be wealthy but to have your family despise you. I don’t call that success. My family is the bedrock of any success I enjoy. They will never take second place.

AND, ABOVE ALL…

I would turn “I WOULD” into “I DO”. If I want to BECOME the best salesperson in the world, I must change “I would” to “I do”. One is a statement of intent. The other is action – “I am” means that I am actually doing these things.

So often we know what we must do, but fail to do it. Purposeful action is the difference between success and mediocrity.

Decide what must be done and do it. Every day.

And then, one day, somebody may just call YOU, the best salesperson in the world.

Somebody has to hold that title. Why not you?

BY GARY PITTARD

Maintain a healthy respect for your competition: it’s the height of arrogance to call them stupid and it is dangerous to underestimate them.

Competition N N

No doubt you have heard people complain about their competition – cutting their fees, over-quoting to ‘buy’ the business and such. It happens. But complaining will not cause this behaviour to cease.

We are powerless over the behaviour of our competition. Respect them, sure, but don’t allow them to occupy any of your headspace.

I learned decades ago that we are powerless over the behaviour of others. The only person we can control is ourselves. By doing so, we choose our direction and do not allow our competitors any say in our destinies.

Understand their strengths and weaknesses and use that understanding to work at bettering yourself so that you can beat them at every listing presentation.

It matters little whether a competitor is skilled or desperate. The formula for beating them is the same: work on improving yourself.

Look at what they do. Are there any areas where they do better than you? Analyse how they do it and work toward beating them in those areas. Analyse their weaknesses. Make their weaknesses your strengths.

We should be grateful to our competition because they give us the opportunity to do better.

Complain about competition? Never!

Send them a thank you note, I say!

GOLD PLATINUM

GOLD

Caroline Chacksfield

Leader: Glenn Preston

Glenn Preston Real Estate

Gross $474,568

Sides 88

Time in Sales 4 years 1 month

PLATINUM

Nic Whyte

Leader: Adam Horth

Johnson Real Estate Ipswich

Gross $790,380

Sides 123

Time in Sales 1 year

PLATINUM

Glen White Leader: Ben Price

Caloundra City Realty

Gross $1,198,365

Sides 116

Time in Office 8 years 1 month

In Search of the New

BY GARY PITTARD

III like technology as much as the next person. I consider myself an ‘early adopter’. But there is one trap for the unwary: you can become so occupied with the search for the new that you can take your eye off the basics.

At a real estate training conference I attended, there was one theme common to many speakers:

TALK TO PEOPLE.

This is perhaps the most fundamental tenet of long term business success.

Yet talking to people is something many salespeople avoid as much as possible. I have seen salespeople become so consumed with

Never let your search for the latest technology, or the latest real estate tool, distract you from the most basic of essential actions – talk to people and win.

establishing a Social Media campaign that they become distracted from talking to people.

You might argue that they are talking to people, only via Social Media. But here is a question: do you consider sending texts, sending emails, or posting onto Social Media sites TALKING to people?

I don’t, and I know that winners will agree with me.

My friend, Nathan Brett from Real Estate Dynamics, says, “If an email runs for longer than a paragraph, PICK UP THE PHONE”. Sound advice.

Salespeople in search of the new can often be seen posting onto facebook, Twitter and Instagram when they should be making calls. Many of these Social Media gurus, upon examination, usually have few friends or followers. So their posts are not viewed by enough people to make a difference, to generate business.

Think about it – if you mailed 40 prospecting letters, would you expect much response? No? Well what kind of response would you expect if you posted to 40 followers? But 40 conversations with potential home sellers? You never know where those conversations will lead.

Don’t get me wrong, we need to embrace change, but some things never change and they should never be ignored. I’m talking about the BASICS.

I believe that if you wanted to get a massive audience to a seminar, simply give it this title:

“How To Make A Fortune In Real Estate Sales Without Having To Prospect”. People would flock to your door, but you won’t get that kind of advice from me.

Sales is about relationships. SALES HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS. This is not a new concept. We know that relationships are built through a SERIES of meaningful contacts. This means that to be successful, it is essential to talk to people.

For those in search of the new, this is not what they want to hear. They would rather hide behind technology in the hope of not having to prospect.

Do you want to know the ultimate secret of Social Media? Get a meaningful message to as many people as you possibly can as often as you possibly can.

Do you want the ultimate Social Media strategy: A set of knuckles applied to the outside face of a door.

When the door opens say, “Hello, I’m a real estate agent looking for work. When are you planning on moving?”

I got this question from Canadian sales trainer Bill Nasby and it’s a great question. You can’t get much more ‘social’ than talking to large numbers of people every day.

Never let your search for the latest technology, or the latest real estate tool, distract you from the most basic of essential actions – talk to people and win.

We know that relationships are built through a SERIES of meaningful contacts. This means that to be successful, it is essential to talk to people

Get a meaningful message to as many people as you possibly can as often as you possibly can

Seminar Schedule

2022

October

Agency Profit System, Gold Coast, October 10 - 14

November

Real Estate Agents’ Convention, Sydney, November 21 – 23

Australasian Real Estate Awards, Sydney, November 22

2023

FEBRUARY

Winning Ways: February 6th – 8th

Rydges, Parramatta

MARCH

The Management Seminar: March 6th – 10th

Rydges World Square, Sydney

MAY

Master Class Series

Royal On the Park, Brisbane (May 1st)

The Epping Club (May 2nd)

Sofitel Melbourne On Collins (May 3rd)

Hotel Grand Chancellor, Launceston (May 4th)

Leadership Seminar: May 22nd– 23rd

Cape Schanck Resort, Mornington Peninsular

JUNE

Winning Ways: June 12th – 14th

Sofitel Melbourne On Collins

JULY

The Management Seminar: July 24th –28th

The Langham Hotel, South Bank (Melbourne)

AUGUST

Winning Ways: August 28th – 30th

Royal On The Park, Brisbane

SEPTEMBER

Master Class Series

Rydges, Hobart (September 11th)

Sofitel Melbourne on Collins (September 12th)

The Epping Club (September 13th)

Royal On The Park, Brisbane (September 14th)

OCTOBER

Destination Management Seminar: October 9th – 12th

Sofitel Noosa Pacific, Noosa

NOVEMBER

The Annual Convention, November 27th – 29th

Sofitel Melbourne On Collins, Melbourne

The Australasian Real Estate Awards: November 28th

Sofitel Melbourne On Collins, Melbourne