Category: Attitude

Moving Forward, Good Citizenship and the Upcoming Technology Summit

January 17, 2010:  we have arrived — which means, I guess, we’ve survived, we’re alive, we’re ready to thrive.  We’ve come through a very tough period of market collapse, huge changes and corporate chaos.  I salute those of you who continue to carry the Help-U-Sell banner high and are setting your sights on the next hill ahead.

We’re crafting a new kind of real estate franchise here.  All of us — there is no ‘them’ — are participating in its creation.  We are evolving to a place where franchisor and franchisee have the same objective, the same customer, the same soul.  I can’t tell you how rare that is.  I’ve worked for several of the national franchises and I assure you, behind closed doors they are very clear who their customer is:  it’s the franchisee.  And their objective is generally to sell as much stuff as possible to their ‘customer’.

Our customer, the customer of both the franchisor and franchisee, is the buyer and seller of real estate.  Our mutual objective is to serve as many of them as we possibly can.  We are in the real estate business first; franchising is just a strategy we are employing to reach the largest number of buyers and sellers.  We are partners with our franchisees and, as in every partnership, there are expectations on both sides.

Our franchisees expect us to protect the brand, the business model and the operating system they are working so hard to establish in their individual market places.  They expect us to be open and accessible to them, to communicate and to listen.  They expect us to anticipate and react to changes in the market and the real estate business.  They expect us to be as close to the cutting edge of our industry as possible without getting cut.  They expect us to constantly look for and find new and better ways to make our business model work.  They expect us to deliver training and tools that help them build profitable businesses.  They expect us to establish a forum where they can share ideas, brainstorm and solve problems.  They expect us to recognize achievement and reward it.

We have expectations, too.  And they all have to do with being  Good Citizens. (Truth is, we all share these expectations.  We all want to live and work in a society of Good Citizens).

I’ve said it so many times:  Help-U-Sell is a culture:  a unique, way of looking at he real estate business with its own values, goals and definitions of success.  It’s also a family: we care about one another and move together as a unit.  Our history includes periods of dysfunction in the culture and in the family, times when we were at cross purposes, where we couldn’t trust each other, where we lost our way.  We never want to go through that again.

We expect our franchisees, our partners, to participate, to attend meetings, events, seminars and teleconferences where we come together as a team.  We expect them to be open, to share ideas and to ask challenging questions.  We expect them to use the tools and stay true to our core identity:  that we are a set fee real estate company and we save consumers money.  We expect them to respect the Help-U-Sell marks, logos, colors, and other identifiers.  We expect them to report their transactions within 24 hours of closing.  We expect them to be current in their accounts or to make arrangements to become current.  We expect them to be truthful, not just with us, but with everyone.  We expect them to attack their business with passion and a sense of mission.  We expect them to speak up when they need support.  We expect them to reach out when others are in trouble.  This is all part of being a Good Citizen.

The Big Technology Summit is coming up the first week in March.  We’ll be in Sarasota March 1 & 2 and Las Vegas March 3 & 4 (by the way, the Vegas hotel is still not firm, but it’s looking more and more like the Palace Station, a very nice place with lots of dining options, great rates and even a free shuttle to the airport and the strip).  The meeting is very important to all of us as we take a giant step toward becoming a dominating force on the web.  The new Broker websites will be introduced and attendees will learn how to customize, localize, optimize and make them attractive to search engines.  The new websites will be one of the biggest tools we have and this meeting is where we’ll learn how to use them.

We’ve made the decision that attendance will be by invitation only.  And the invitation will be extended to Good Citizens in our Help-U-Sell family.  We have a good group now, a set of franchisees who all can be Good Citizens. Most already are.  But we still have some who don’t report their transactions and/or haven’t made arrangements to take care of their financial obligations.  Most of them are waiting to see what happens, waiting to see if the new company will survive, waiting to see if we will move forward.  To them, I have to say, the wait is over.  It’s been over for months.  We have a vision, we have a plan, we have tools and we are moving forward.  It’s time to get on-board . . . or get out.

Interesting.  Though we are not actively marketing franchises at the moment, our website kicks out new franchise leads on a fairly regular basis.  Last week we got 8.  In 2009 we received over 100.  These are outsiders who see the power of Help-U-Sell, who recognize the positive change and who may want to be involved in our next stage of growth.  If they can see it, why can’t you?

The train has left the station and it’s time to scramble to catch up and get your seat on-board.  Many Smiles . . .

U R Reality TV

I got home last night with a handful of things to do.  Television is rarely a distraction for me (though I do admit a minor addiction to Survivor and old black and white movies), but last night, dinner was ready just at 8 and I flipped on the mush-box for no good reason as I ate.  What glimmered on the tube was a whole new season of The Biggest Loser.

I’ve seen bits and pieces before and have been surprised at how noble and human all of that exercising seems to be.  Last night, five minutes after I sat down,  as I shovelled a pasta/chicken dish and Brussels sprouts into my mouth, I began to blubber like a little girl.  I finished dinner and reached for a Kleenex.  Next thing I knew it was two hours later and my eyes were all red and puffy.  Is that stupid or what?

Not really.  It’s a tribute to the power of production, direction and editing.  I think it is amazing how this kind of television can elicit such a strong emotional response from viewers.  And it’s accomplished very cleverly.  They do it by being very clear about the objective – which is to get that strong response, get it quickly and sustain it;  by arranging situations where the drama can unfold;  and then by editing, editing, editing until it all comes together in a big sob-fest.

Here’s what I’m thinking today:  Your life is a Reality Show.  There will be a winner at the end of it and at each little challenge that comes along.  Most of us are so busy participating in the action that we ignore the aspects that bring power to the experience.  Put plainly, are you producing, directing and editing your own reality show to get the response you expect and the result you want? 

Production occurs at the 30,000 foot level.  It’s where the producer gets clear about what he or she wants to do and maps out a grand schema to get it done.  Producers are rarely involved in the day to day creation of the show:  they define the bulls-eye and delegate the doing to competent others.  If they become involved in the day-t0-day it’s to make the call when decisions are tough.  You are the producer of your show (actually, I’d argue that you share production credits with God, who probably deserves the title, ‘Executive Producer’).  Are you clear about what you’re trying to accomplish?  Have you thought about what you want to see when you flip on the tube to watch the story of your life?  When the tough stuff comes, do you withdraw to 30,000 feet to consult with your Executive Producer about which decision fits best with what you’re trying to accomplish?

Directors craft the look, feel, plot, drama and orchestrate the desired response.  The director tells everyone what to do and how to do it so the producer’s vision can be achieved.  Funny about movies and television:  They almost never put anything on the screen that’s not important in moving the plot forward or creating the desired response.  Are you doing the same?  Are you so clear in your vision that everything that makes it into the movie of your life is relevant? Or are you running in ten directions at once, trying to do a passable job at dozens of things rather than a great job at one or two?   Is there a (self-disciplined) director sitting in the back of your head, guiding you to your goal? 

I knew a top producing agent some years ago in Northern California.  He was about 27 and grossed about $300,000 in commissions the previous year (this was 1989 — and that was a lot).  I asked him about getting started so young and if he had to overcome credibility issues at age 22. He said he did for a short period of time.  I asked what he did to overcome that.  ‘I had to make changes in the way I saw myself,’ he answered.  ‘I’d been in college and I was a daring rogue, partying too much and taking stupid risks.  I saw myself as a pirate.  I realized if I wanted to be successful — and I did — I needed people to see me differently.  Nobody wants to buy real estate from a pirate!  So I cleaned up my act.  Got a haircut, started shaving every day and bought some professional looking clothes.  Then I started listening to some good teachers:  Tony Robbins, Tom Hopkins, Danielle Kennedy.’  In essence, what this young man was saying was that the director of his show stepped in and had him adjust his performance.  Smart move. 

Finally, there are the editors — who I’d say are the real stars of shows like The Biggest Loser.  They take raw and probably very boring footage and slice it up so that it depicts exactly what the director wants to depict.  It’s like what the cartoon character, Jessica Rabbit said in Who Framed Roger Rabbit:  ‘I’m not really bad — I’m just drawn that way.’  Maybe Survivor’s Russell wasn’t really evil– he was just edited that way.  You have to become your own editor, too.

A couple of years ago I was interviewing people for a job.  One of my candidates was qualified, but she talked more about the trauma of her recent messy divorce than she did about her goals, aspirations, joys and abilities.  Of course I didn’t hire her.  But  it turns out the woman I eventally did hire — bright, energetic, capable — was also embroiled in a nasty divorce.  Nobody had any idea for weeks, and when it finally came out it was nothing she wanted to spend any energy on at work.  Later, after we’d become friends, I asked her about it. 

‘You know, I had no idea you were going through a divorce, and certainly not one this messy, when you came in for your interview,’ I said. 

‘That’s because I keep that tucked in,’ she replied.  I gave her a questioning look.  ‘I don’t want my life to be about my divorce, so I keep it to myself when I’m doing other things.  You weren’t hiring a soap opera, so I left that part of my life at the kitchen table that day, just as I do every day when I come to work.’

Editors sometimes get Emmys and Oscars . . . and they deserve them.

 

 

 

Accessibility Toolbar