Perception Road Blocks

Image: gowingassociates.com

If you are one of the 2 people that follow this blog (going places), you know that my family has grown to 6 ***sigh*** It wasn't that long ago that my wife and I were moving into a little apartment wide-eyed excited about our future. We're still excited, just about different aspects of our lives. We have a 1-week old baby, weighs about 8 lbs or so; and we didn't have our other children for a couple of days. Family was kind enough to help us out while we were in the hospital and getting back to life in general. For the longest time our 3rd child, who is 2.5 now, had been the baby of the family. Carrying him was no problem at all. He is the most active of all of our kids and gifted physically, but there were times when he would fall asleep in the car or didn't bring his shoes and needed to be carried for whatever reason.

After going several days with this 8 lb infant, I picked him up to put him in his bed and he felt like he had gained 50 lbs! He had suddenly become so heavy. This caused me to think about the comparison that I was dealing with between the 2 kids. Comparatively they are 2 completely different people, but I was used to carrying a certain amount of weight and associating that with my youngest child. My perception wasn't changing, it was staying the same thinking that they are the same person.

This, I think, happens all too often in business. Companies try to make a "one size fits all" type of product to apply to everyone, but don't ever change their marketing campaign for each potential target market. This seems like one of the biggest differences between Apple and Microsoft. Apple has a great product in the iPad, but apply different marketing campaigns to teachers, doctors, parents, kids, etc. Microsoft has a similar product and from the looks of it pretty innovative, but their marketing seems to stay the same; fun, upbeat, energetic, etc. They incorporate music and dancing with their ads, but I can't say that I've seen another advertisement specifically for another market segment that wouldn't relate to these upbeat ads. It seems like they have a product and lack the experience or know-how to make the switch to apply to multiple market segments. Even though you have one product that can apply to different markets, you still have to market them as different products. Change your perception of your customers perception.

At First Glance

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My wife and I just had a baby. Hold the applause, it's our fourth which usually reminds me of Jim Gaffigan's take on having 4 kids (hilarity ensues). While in the hospital I finished the book Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell. The official title of the book is Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. The book was a fascinating read! So much information on micro-expressions and our ability to read a scenario in a split second. People call it intuition or discernment, but there's a science behind those words to prove what everyone feels. There was even a TV show that my wife and I loved until it was cancelled. 

I thought about our athletes that we train and how they can use that in their games to help give a competitive advantage. Almost everyone has a tell. Poker players are the best at keeping their emotions in check and not giving away too much from their face, demeanor, voice, etc. Those that have devoted their lives to the study of micro-expressions can tell instantly what someone is thinking or if someone is lying. What a huge competitive advantage not only in life, but in sports in general. Imagine being in a Taekwondo match and being able to know what kind of move your competitor is going to do based on tells he's giving you. Pitchers spend years trying to throw from the same arm angle with the same body movement so they don't give away the type of pitch they're throwing. 

Here are a couple of examples. I love me some Torii Hunter (though the guy does need to update his website). The guy can flat out play. Not only is he a baller, but he gets the business side of it too. He has this amazing ability to watch film of a pitcher and pinpoint what kind of pitch is being thrown based on something he saw. Often times he'll tell his fellow teammates about what to look for and they're either in awe or confused at what he's looking at. One of the coaches I work with said he was scouting a kid and noticed that he blew a bubble every time he was getting ready to throw a fastball (ikr?). Base runners have the same type of tell, you typically can't see their faces because you're too far away, but their body shift, movement, reaction after watching the third base coach, etc. gives it away. Remember when Dave Roberts stole 2nd base during the Red Sox comeback in 2004? Everyone in the stadium knew he was running so that may be too obvious on an example, but people give away their actions before they do it all the time. Why would base running or laying down a bunt be any different?

I've always said that my loyalty is to whatever will help give my athletes an advantage during competition (legal advantage that is). It's something my athletes should know about and I don't think is being utilized enough during competition. So for my athletes that read this, yes we are going to be adding this to our training. You're welcome. 

What Makes You Different?

image samdiener.com

Had a meeting with our marketing company and I've been thinking a lot about how you get a product into the hands of your consumer. I've been stuck on this for some time now and I've come to the conclusion, with everything that I've experienced, that what my product or service does makes little to now difference if I can't show what makes me different. It's getting people to be interested in the product without them knowing it. In the real estate business, for example, everyone sells homes, everyone helps others buy homes. Some people tout their differentiateor as experience... *shoulder shrug* meh... There was a guy who owned a glass business in the city I grew up in for 30 years. He decided to retire and leave the business to his kids. Once he realized that retirement was going to drive him nuts, he decided to get a real estate license and thought just because he'd been in the community forever that people would suddenly trust his opinion of the single most important financial decision of their lives. Nothing made him different. Anybody could tell after talking with him for a couple of minutes he had no idea what he was doing. Now I don't say that to discourage people from getting into real estate, I'm sure if he stuck with it, hired on with one of the big brokers, did some floor time, put in the work, assisted a top agent, etc. he would be fine. Godin calls this being different as being remarkable. Here are some simple marketing guidelines to being different:

• Target Market - In its most primitive form, marketing will always come back to who your target market is. Let's take the example of Real Estate, if my target market is people within a certain city, you can't just say "Everybody is my target market." Even Wal-Mart doesn't say that. They have a lot of customers sure, but not everyone is their target market. There are plenty of cities and areas around the world that are not influenced by the Wal-Mart brand. If, in Real Estate you focus on a certain demographic, say, first-time home buyers for example. You can now target those specific clients with advertising. That's not to say that if someone were to come to you as a move-up buyer you would turn them down, you just don't go looking for them in your marketing pieces. 
• Mind of the Target Market - Information is key to understanding what your first-time home buyer is looking for. They are probably a little younger, either living on their own or with parents. What types of things are they into? What do they eat? Where do they spend their excess time? Where do they work? Are they going to school? I would spend hours just thinking about my target market and asking questions similar to these. Open ended questions are great to use. How do they feel about owning a home? What would they feel if they were to know this is my house? Get into their mind and ideas will start to come to you with different ways to reach them. 
• Market your Target Market - Once you have an idea of what your clientele are into you can begin to market towards them. If they're all into the social media scene, they're going to want someone who speaks their language. Get relevant on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Start integrating different aspects of their life into yours. This will give you greater understanding on how to specifically market these buyers. Days of effective print advertising are dying. It still works, to some extent, but the Mad Men radio, magazine, even television advertising is losing its grasp on the future generations. Find out where your market spends their time and get in front of them. 
• Be Different - Your target market of first-time home buyers probably has an image of what a Real Estate Agent is. Mid 40's, little overweight, slimy salesman, commission driven, narcissistic, etc. That was my thought about Real Estate Agents until I met my wife. So what made my wife different was my perception of what a Real Estate Agent is (I wasn't her client before we got married btw). The agents that are successful are the ones who are different. 

Being different requires more than just "knowing stuff". The business owner turned Real Estate Agent that I wrote about earlier wasn't different. He's now back working for his kids at the glass shop. He thought because he knew the city, people were going to come flocking to him. What he didn't realize was that having a business wasn't enough to sell people on using him as an agent. He just wasn't different enough.

Short Sale Dilemma for Agents

My brother is currently serving in the military (proud of you kid!), and sent me an email recently for a friend of him that looked like this:

"Real estate question for a friend of mine. Is there any reason short sales are undesirable for buyers? He's trying to work with an agent but she is unwilling to consider helping them with any short sales."

For all of you Real Estate Agents out there thinking 'where do I begin with this question?' the answer is, Yes.  I was thinking the same thing. There's been a turn in the market, at least here in Southern California, where things are looking up for sellers at least. It's been a buyer's market for so long that new buyers coming onto the scene still have the mentality that they won't have to compromise on their purchase, but that's not what I wanted to write about. I wanted to give a quick list as to why an agent would refuse to show their clients Short Sales above Standard or even REO listings.

• The Listing Agent - So much of the success of the short sale depends on the listing agent. They need to be someone who understands what it's going to take to negotiate a successful short sale, along with the industry knowledge and experience to deal with Asset Managers and Sellers alike. A good agent can know within a 2 minute conversation with the listing agent if they are a "Hero or a Zero" to coin a phrase by Lori Greiner. 
• Repairs - The bank will not do any repairs on a short sale. I hesitate making blanket statements like this, because I'm sure there's some guy who will pull out some experience from back in the 80's saying that the bank approved and completed some repairs to close a short sale. Those guys drive me nuts btw, always right, one-upper type personalities, me monster; but I digress. An agent that discloses the types of repairs in the remarks lets the buyers know that unless you're coming in with cash, work is going to need to get done. All roads leading back to the Listing Agent. 
• Banks and Liens - We're on the banks timeline. I've closed a short sale in as little as 2 months, start to finish, and as long as 13 months... IKR? 13 long months... I've had to pause and reflect on that transaction while typing this post. Anyway, banks, yes we are on their timeline and if it's one of the big boys, just anticipate 5 months start to finish. They're seemingly always playing catch-up with the market; introducing new policies when they should be leading the market in innovation as it pertains to the short sale policies. Smaller banks are the best to deal with. The fewer the amount of liens the better. I always ask 1 loan or 2 when talking with the Listing Agent and again, if they have already disclosed it in their remarks it makes for a much more pleasant transaction. 
• Commission - The majority of people look at commission as an evil thing. I've been self-employed for almost 10 years now and my perspective on commission is a little more skewed than the average individual, but from a purely business sense, I want to work as little as possible to make the most amount of money. I may be the only one who admits that openly, but you all think the same thing. It's the same reason Andruw Jones never shows up to Spring Training in shape. I'm just saying... and if you were given the option to work less hours for more pay you would make that commitment too. I'll give you a scenario; let's say your boss came to you and said, look I have a project that is going to take 80 hours/week to do, but I'm only going to pay you for 40, you would be thinking the same thing Real Estate Agents think only we're self employed so we have to take whatever the market gives us. Just imagine what the unions would do with a scenario like that! 

So to answer my brother's question, Yes, Agents shouldn't avoid showing short sales, but I wouldn't fault them for not wanting to deal with them. There will be some younger agent with a mortgage and 4 kids willing to work for you however long the deal is going to take.

Loyalty to the Cause (not the Supplier)

image stevebremner.com

I was speaking to one of our athletes a couple of days ago, he's got a tryout with some big league teams and we wish him the best (S/O to RB!!!). We were talking about a computer program that we integrate into our training and he asked about one that we used in the past. It got me thinking about where our loyalty stands as a company. I foster relationships and try to keep them as genuine as possible, but ultimately our loyalty stands with those companies that will provide the absolute best training for our athletes. We used to use a company who's product works great, never had any real issues with them or their product, but a new company was introduced to us and it blew us away with how much more advanced it is compared to the one we were using!

That's not to say that we despise or think ill of the one we were using, but it's capitalism to its purest sense. An old business partner of mine use to say in a loud booming voice "CAPITALISM!!! You Lose!" as he pointed to a computer screen. The original company (for whatever reason) has kept the same business model, same pricing, same program, etc. without changing more than their sales reps. This new company created a better product, introduced better pricing, and does more for the athlete than the original company. I suppose this post is turning into a competitive advantage type of post, but the point that I was originally trying to make was that our loyalty lies with our athletes. If there is something that will make them perform better on the field, that's where we will gravitate towards. I may like you and your company, but if one of your competitors enters the market and can out perform you, I owe it to my clients to see if it will give them an edge in their sport.

Turkish Airlines V. The Old Spice Guy

I was reading the Mashable article regarding Turkish Airlines recent viral ad with Kobe Bryant and Lionel Messi (cool stuff BTW) and thought about our old friend The Old Spice Guy "Ice cream? OK". I remember reading a case study in my recent MBA program about Old Spice in particular; the case stated that even though the Old Spice commercials were a hit virally, it didn't necessarily translate to more sales. Though personally I am married to the Old Spice brand and will never use another deodorant, just because something goes viral doesn't mean that will translate to more income. The question still remains; What is the impetus to get someone to buy my services?

Stay Hungry

I'm going to flip the script today and talk about my other business for a little bit in today's post. I've recently started a Sports Vision Training company and though I'll probably go into more detail about what we do, for the time being I wanted to share a distinct difference in what I've found out of the many athletes that I've trained. We've trained athletes as old as 40 and as young as 9 years old; pros, college, high school, etc. They come from all walks of life, but there is a distinct difference from a professional athlete that thinks they've made it, compared to those that are still hungry for more. Even ones that have made the big leagues before and trying to earn a permanent spot on a ball club; I'm amazed at the response we get from guys.

We made a decision to train all the pro guys we come in contact with for free. There are certain software and hardware costs that we have that we might have them pay for, but for the actual hands on training... no charge. Even at no charge we still have some elite players that decide not to do our training. I remember a coach that came in and went 0-10 the year before and wasn't interested in what we had to show him. The Doc later told me he wanted to say "You guys didn't win 1 game last year! If I had a voodoo doll or some magic beans, you should be listening!"

There were 2 distinct realizations that I've come to based on my experiences dealing with professional athletes. (1) Just because it's free doesn't mean they will want it more and (2) not everyone is still hungry to progress with what they do. The athletes that I have a strong relationship with are always asking for more drills; how can they progress, what new developments have been made in the industry, etc. Those that aren't hungry are perfectly content going back and forth between minor league affiliates and Big League ball club. You can't teach desire.

Your Industry's Achilles' Heel

We've been at it for a couple of years now, and with recent developments, we've had to relocate and essentially start over. Not to fear though, we're doing it the right way and it'll be bigger and better than it ever was before. I've been looking at some different industries that I've been a part of in the past and looking at some different Achilles' Heel they might have. I'll give a few examples of what I'm talking about for further clarification:

• VSP - In the medical world, as much as doctors hate the fact that insurance companies only reimburse a certain amount of what they charge, they're a necessary evil. Vision Service Plan is the major insurance company among Optometrists. They're a very good company to work for and great as far as customer service is concerned. When I was working for an Optometrist, I would estimate that 75% of all our patients were under the VSP umbrella. That being said, whatever VSP wanted, VSP got. I would hate to think of what would happen to your local Eye Doctor if VSP ever went belly-up.
• MLS - No not Major League Soccer, though I think there's a post there somewhere, but the Multiple Listing Service. The average agent sells between 5-6 homes per year. I say average, because that takes into account the full timers doing about 20 deals per year and the part timers closing 2-3. Any Realtor will tell you that they provide a great service through blah, blah, blah... Nobody cares. I'm an Agent, Broker in fact, but the only thing that separates me from finding a house for sale and selling it for that matter is the MLS. Any website that says they have the most accurate, up to date listings are either lying or ignorant. From being in the industry day in and day out your local MLS is going to be the most accurate and up to date and the only people that have access to it are "Realtors". Now, if the MLS were to somehow make their information available, or someone were to figure out a way to do that, Realtors would be toast. All people need (in California at least) is an escrow company to sell their home. I know my fellow Agents would hate to hear that but nobody reads this blog anyway so I'm not too worried about any backlash. 

There are tons of examples I could give; NBA, cell phones, etc. The point is whatever industry you're in, whatever provides your paycheck, you gotta make sure you have a backup plan. I sell real estate, but I do other things too for the times when it's slow and just in case something happens to the industry. It's a seller's market right now and those that touted themselves as "buyer's agents" are hurting! They can't get any offers approved. On the flip side, those that market themselves as listing agents are living it up, but when the market turns (like it always does) what are those agents going to do that have marketed themselves as "listing agents only"?