Success Tips

AgentGenuis.com – Undressed and Naked, Less Noodling and More Canoodling Explained

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on March 1, 2009

I write a weekly blog post for AgentGenuis.com.  It show’s up on Friday mornings.  Here’s the recent one.

Less Noodling - More Canoodling

The Moment You Knew

The moment you knew you’d passed your real estate exam, how’d you feel?  

I was giddy, fearful and full of hope.  

I took my California Real Estate Exam in December of 1978.  Back then, we didn’t have cell phones, computers, printers or the internet.  Huddled in a  fluorescent filled room, we  37 hopefuls scratched our heads and or exam answers with a Ticonderoga #2 pencil lead.  Upon completion, the proctor  collected our  test sheets and told us we would receive our results by US mail, maybe within two weeks, could be three.  

Wracked with doubt, twiddling  thumbs I waited…and drank beer.  Mojitos weren’t invented yet.  It was a primitive era.  Anyway.  Lumbleau School Of Real Estate teachers told us, if our results came in a big brown envelope we passed, anything else, they’d see us back in Prep Class.  Mine was a white envelope,  as thin and flimsy as my confidence and hope.  I opened the letter and words exploded off the page, “Congratulations….”.  Those cruel bastards had punked the entire class.  

I combed my long hair, ironed my elephant colored shirt, slipped on my best pair of cords and like a smooth stone across still water, I skipped smiling to my interview.

I’m a sales manager now.  While the hi-tech “how” has blazed forward, the people part “what” has remained relatively constant.  Now, newly minted real estate agents skip into our office for their Agent/Broker interview.  Popular questions asked back-when are asked now too.  The answers are different today….and the same. 

Two Popular Questions

Shiny Eyed Question #1:  ”What does the average agent make in their first year with your company?”

Soft Smile Answer:  ”That’s an interesting question.  Are you average?”

Eager Eared Question #2:  ”What makes one person succeed and another not?”

My Simple Answer:  ”Doing things that average people won’t do.  Less noodling and more canoodling”

Click here for the rest of the article and details on how not to be a “clucker”.

{ 0 comments }

If You Have Excuse Tourette Syndrome Begone or Please Shut-Up

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on November 19, 2008

Ok…”Be Gone” is a bit dramatic….if you exhibit Excuse Tourette Syndrome in my presence, you don’t have to leave, but I don’t want to hear it.  Unless you’re a competitor…then I might encourage you and your quacking demons.

Michael Starver shared just shy of 18 hours of Leadership Insight with our Prudential Gary Greene, Realtor management team.  If you ever have an opportunity to learn from him, do it!

Michael coined a phrase I’ve never heard before.   Hearing it spazed me to shoulder rocking laughter. 

Here it is:  Excuse Tourette Syndrome – The uncontrollable tic of spewing verbal excuses. 

Excuse Tourette Syndrome sample symptoms:
I don’t have time…
It doesn’t work…
This is the slooowwww time…
I don’t know how…
Computers and I don’t get along…
I don’t understand technology…
Nobody is buying…
Nobody is selling…
I don’t want listings because they aren’t selling…
Everybody’s afraid to buy…
I wouldn’t buy now…
I wouldn’t sell now…
I tried it once and it didn’t work…
People don’t like it when I call…
I don’t like to call…
People don’t like email…
I don’t do it because I don’t like it…
Open Houses don’t work…
Opportunity time doesn’t work…
Direct mail doesn’t work…
I have to get organized first…
I have to get ready to get ready first…

Too funny, right.  I know these aren’t yours, but you’ve heard others mutter them right?

So the deal is, when I catch myself starting to think or out-loud spew excuses, I need to arrest my runaway bad attitude and take action.

If you have any Excuse Phrases to add to the mix, leave me a comment.  I’d like to create a comprehensive list of symptoms.

Rock on friends.

{ 3 comments }