When the going

gets tough,

many Realtors grasp

at straws!

     A post on yesterday’s edition of the vibrant and proactive leading newsletter for Realtor professionals, the ActiveRain Daily Drop was entitled “How To Brand Yourself an Expert and Build a Six-Figure Real Estate Business.” The heading alone represents much of what is  wrong with many Realtors today who seek to quick-fix instead of innovate.

     And the guts of the article drag us deeper into a state of malaise.

     First of all, the posted article was nothing more than a thinly-veiled sales pitch to urge our nation’s poor beaten-upon real estate agents and brokers to rise from the rubble of a collapsed housing market by signing up for and attending a “virtual class” starring a TV “Apprentice show winner.”

    Though favored by Donald Trump himself, this winner may indeed have the “commanding knowledge of investment real estate” that the article proclaims, but my best guess is that this individual doesn’t know any more than anyone else who has ever bought, sold, or brokered real estate.

     Clearly, the enrollment spiel is clueless about branding. Those who understand branding know that you can’t “brand yourself an expert.”

     Branding is all about earning a reputation for authenticity. Self-aggrandizement hardly captures that flavor of genuineness.

     Being viewed and respected as an “expert” is something that comes from others, not from yourself.

     Granted that real estate as a business may host a fair share of egocentric types, but offering self-declarations of expertise is not a practice that most people find to be particularly endearing . . . certainly not property buyers and sellers who I’m quite sure prefer humility and low-profile sales attitudes. Assertiveness does not require aggressiveness. 

     Oh, the fantasy TV show winner also apparently has a book for sale (tell me you’re surprised!) which would seem likely to be implausibly unrealistic if it cornerstones the thinking that what sells best — and makes the most money — is for Realtors to (as my father used to warn against) “toot their own horns.”

     If you’re in real estate sales, and you’ve been fighting to survive this sucky economy, the last thing you need to do is follow some self-serving, self-proclaimed expert into the arena of thinking that you can do the same thing and make untold fortunes. All you’ll make are enemies, and enemies don’t help you make sales.  

     Those who succeed at making a living in real estate sales are those who recognize and appreciate the opportunities they hold in their hands to make a difference in this life by nurturing their matchmaking abilities. They are catalysts of change. Realtors are the entrepreneurial leaders of American small business precisely because they DON’T run around telling everyone how great they are.

     They let their people talents, and their communication and organizational skills speak for themselves. Satisfied clients who brand these real estate pros as experts will advance their reputations light years beyond the kinds of competitors who beat their chests, shout their names from the rooftops, and sign up for quick-fix seminars run by questionably-qualified people seeking to sell books!

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! God Bless America, and God Bless Our Troops (“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!”- Thomas Jefferson)  Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Cultivating leadership

below?

What’s happening

above?

“Leadership is not just telling people what you want… it is getting people to do what you need them to do.”

— JON ALTERMAN, Senior Fellow, Center for Strategic & International Studies

     I’ve often told the story  that’s now regarded as classic leadership style about (Pre-U.S. President) General Dwight David Eisenhower, during WWII, when he was addressing a group of his officers at a makeshift table on the battlefield with a piece of string.

     He first pushed the string  across the table with thumb and forefinger and demonstrated the end result being a tangle. Next he took the end of the string between the same two fingers and shook it a bit before gently pulling it, demonstrating the straight-line formation of the string… and made his point clearly that troops who were pulled by their leader would perform better than those the leader pushed.

     Are you pulling or pushing?

     You own or manage a business  and are solely responsible for motivating your troops. You set the example. If you are pushing people, others below you are pushing people. Pushed people get resentful and become uncooperative.

     If you are stepping out onto the front lines  and pulling others along, you will be more likely to gain and retain the respect and loyalty of those below you who you are pulling. They will believe in you and trust you and follow you.

     This thinking and approach  is as critical at the very top levels of federal and state and local government as it is in multinational corporations and in Mom & Pop retail stores. Small business is not immune from Eisenhower-style leadership. In fact, it’s the place to ignite the kinds of larger, global applications that will eventually bolster world economy.

     I know, you’re more worried about your family right now,  right?. Then start focusing more on “getting people to do what you need them to do” by pulling instead of pushing.

     It matters not  that you sell pizza, luxury automobiles, chickens, well-drilling, website designs, media advertising, crabs, healthcare services, insurance, pickles, legal services, clothing, or real estate.

What matters is that you keep working every single day at making your leadership style better because the solidity of your customer base is only as good as the day-to-day performance of your employees, and your employee performance is only as good as the constant attention you give to the kind of leadership you provide.

Your leadership speaks of your integrity.

Your integrity is your brand!  

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!