Whale Sized Expectations

One of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in the wild is about 10 whales over a series of three hours, breaching, cavorting and dancing in the water only meters away from the boat I was bobbing up and down in.

I’ve got Imagine Cruises in Port Stephens, NSW to thank for that.

I’d been doing some research for a road trip I wanted to make up the New South Wales coast and come across the website for Imagine. They had a twitter link, so I had a look at their tweets. The predominant vibe I got from their tweets was that they were a casual, easy going company who seemed to get a real kick out of what they did.

I tweeted them asking about availability of times and visibility of whales. They replied promptly tell me their was lots of both availability and whales and the tone of their communication was at all times, fun, welcoming and casual. They didn’t make any special promises or offer me anything other than “whales and fun”.

When I arrived at my hotel I asked them if they could book a cruise with Imagine for me and was told that they could, however they preferred to book with another operator, the major competitor to Imagine. It was too late however, I was already sold on Imagine and proceeded to book the cruise myself and had what was one of the wettest, but most unforgettable mornings of my life.

Everything on board matched the tone of the communication I’d already received through twitter and I couldn’t speak more highly of the entire operation. To top that off we were lucky enough to go out on a morning when all the whales were cooperating as well!

In contrast, I’ve had other, very clever companies try to target me through twitter (which, as a sales person, I love to see), however it’s not always come across as 100% consistent. One company told me they loved to look after their twitter followers and wanted to send me a great deal on accommodation, however they over-promised and the offer sent wasn’t anything I couldn’t already find myself online and the communication that followed via email didn’t continue the style of communication they’d had with me via twitter. It wasn’t consistent and, they’d almost done themselves a disservice in fact by getting my hopes too high on twitter and then not delivering.

Imagine cruises (www.twitter.com/imaginecruises) promised very little, but did set a tone. They accurately depicted they type of organization they were via a social media strategy and I felt as though I’d already built a relationship with them. In fact, their twitter seemed like such an extension of the communication of the company, I doubt they even see it as a social media strategy, instead just seeing it as another way to have a chat with some great people.

When you’ve already built a relationship with an organization it’s hard for anyone, except that organization, to ruin that relationship.

Thanks again to the team at Imagine, it was simply breathtaking!

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Buy An Ad Or Build A Relationship?

Unintentionally I set a rather controversial strategy for marketing of our real estate agency Elephant Property when we started in January of ’09: an advertising budget of almost nil.

We rarely purchase advertising instead preferring to focus on building relationships and providing exceptional “unforgettable” service to our current clients that makes them want to talk about us. Now, don’t mistake me, we market our properties for rent so that we have a recurring days vacant of almost nil, but, what I’m talking about is actually marketing the business.

This strategy always meant that fewer people looking for a property manager in our market place were going to know about us than the top advertisers in our field. However, when people do hear about us, they typically hear it from a trusted friend or adviser.

In our field – residential property management – we typically deal with three main groups of people. Our clients – property owner, our customers – tenants and our suppliers – tradespeople.

I’m sad to say, but in many real estate agencies only the first group – property owners are seen as being worth of first class service. Tenants are often treated with contempt or as a necessary means to an end and tradespeople are rarely lauded for the amazing work they do which makes our lives and jobs so much easier.

I’m proud to say a lot of our business comes from our tradies referring clients to us. Many of them deal with multiple agencies and there really is no greater compliment than knowing they choose to refer our services because they have a in depth knowledge of how many real estate agencies operate.

A rarity in our field however is to have tenants recommend your services. A fine line has to be walked between being overly friendly with the tenants to the point where it’s a disservice to your clients (the property owners) and being unfairly unjust with tenants and treating them like second class citizens.

About 10 months ago a tenant of ours in Launceston, met a lady in Hobart. They got chatting with the Hobart lady mentioning that her child was having trouble renting a property of theirs nearby to the Launceston tenant. Thankfully we’d developed the relationship with our tenant where they felt comfortable saying – you should talk to Elephant Property.

Cut to the present day and that one conversation that would have never happened if we treated tenants in a typical fashion lead to us gaining that one property to rent. Furthermore those clients referred us on to a friend, and bought a second property and the original woman in Hobart is about to bring over the fourth property in this line of relationships to us.

Each time we’ve pitched for the business without going up against competition and with the knowledge that the person we’re talking to has been given an honest, heartfelt testimonial by someone who knows and appreciates our service.

Let me tell you, that initial meeting is a completely different one to a meeting generated by an advertisement. There’s already an in-built connection, an existing level of trust and the foundation has already been laid for a great ongoing relationship.

A billboard, or an advertisement can speak your message – but to me, having a strategy in addition to any marketing that fosters a desire in people to personally tell other people about your business creates stronger leads for ongoing business.

What are you doing in your business with EVERYONE you interact with to encourage them to recommend and refer you in a heartfelt, genuine manner?

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Don't Stay In The Stink

I'm passionately madly crazy about my husband. Let's get that out of the way first up so that you don't all think I'm too harsh in what I'm about to say.

But.... my husband is a fitness fanatic (well according to my standards).

Every day, all the time (yes, even when we're on holiday) my husband will run or go to the gym or do some sort of exercise. Now if he's running, my husband doesn't just go for a light jog, he runs flat out for an hour at a time and that has consequences.

I've just walked into the room we're staying in only to be met by his running gear hanging up over the doorway, the smell of which had not so lightly flavoured our room.

I wrinkled my nose, got past it and set up my laptop to return a few late night emails.

Cut to ten minutes later and as I sit here typing, I can't smell a thing wrong with the room.

My nose has adjusted to the smell and now it just smells like any old normal room.

I've stayed in the stink too long.

Now in a personal context, I can live with my husband's running clothes being on the door, but I need to know that the next day I just may end up smelling a bit like them myself. So I've got three options, move the stink (take the smell elsewhere), remove the stink (wash the clothes) or smell like the stink.

How long have you stayed in the stink at work with an employee that you knew wasn't right for your office culture? Leave it long enough and you can almost forget the problem is there, but it's not gone and you'll reek of the stink by continuing to have issues with that staff member if you don't do something about it.

How long have you stayed in the stink plugging away at a procedure, system or idea that didn't work?

How long have you stayed in the stink at a job you didn't love?

Move the stink, remove the stink or smell like the stink? Which will it be?

PS - my husband, after being read this blog, insists his running clothes smell like a daisy and in fact, he seems quite proud.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 1 comment

Aged, Wise or Just Plain Old?

I often speak with a fantastic colleague who is older than me in pure years on the planet. But while her hair may be a number of shades greyer than mine, her youthful enthusiasm often leaves me for dead.

She knows the secret to eternal youth doesn’t come in a bottle from a major pharmaceuticals company. It comes from the people you associate with, the new ideas you put into practice and the general attitude you choose to display each day.

Whatever her classically defined age, she’s been young the entire time I’ve known her.

Think you’re too old to be young?

Ray Kroc didn’t – how old was he when he founded the global empire we now call McDonalds. He was 57.

Frank Lloyd Wright, one of my favourite architects was quoted at age 83 as saying that his next masterpiece was going to be his best. (NB: He was in his 60’s when he designed Falling Water:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallingwater)

Colonel Sanders was a spring chicken at just 62 when he established Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Too old to be young? Absolutely – but only if that’s what you believe. How young do you want to be today?

And for my next blog… the reverse for those who are actually far too young in years out there!

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 1 comment

Old or New?

When I was a young whipper-snapper aged 19 in my first year in sales I listed a property in a suburb of my home town. I’d seen other properties advertised as being in the same suburb but in the “old” part of it.

Using my superior intellect, I decided that if they were being advertised as being in “old ” – I’d go one better and advertised mine as being in “new ”.

New is better than old right?

Well, not in this case. The old part of the suburb was seen as far more desirable than the new part.

Not surprisingly I spent my open home at the property in complete peace and quiet (in other words completely alone).

Ironically – an “older” (aka more experienced) agent in my marketplace would probably have never made that mistake. “Old” once again trumps “new”!

But new doesn’t have to always lose out. New doesn’t have to deal with the assumption that “they should have known better”. If new owns up to the mistake and goes about fixing it appropriately, new can oftentimes create a better relationship than was there in the first place. New also often has more time to fix the mistake.

At that stage, as new as I was, I had fewer listings than my colleagues, I had no family commitments, I had all the time in the world to open the property 5 times a week if was necessary and all the time to put in to fix the relationship after my little slip up.

As a newbie in any industry let it sink in that you’re going to make mistakes. What you do to resolve those mistakes using all the advantages of your “newness” is what really counts and what will decide whether you get past the new stage or whether instead you move on and become new in another industry.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Some people get it…

Some people get it… like the staff at Faull’s shoe shop here in Launceston where I just bought a fabulous new pair of shoes. While I was in there I pointed out my badly scuffed, but well loved red leather boots (my staple this past winter). They organised some shoe polish for me to purchase as well. The lady helping me out then came out with some polish on a cloth to “test the colour” and proceeded to re-redden both my boots. Service – they get it.

Some people don’t get it… like the café I sat in for around 40 minutes when 4 of the 6 total customers asked for gluten free options and were told by the owner of the business that the café only had one. Listening to their customers – they didn’t get it.

Some people get it big time… like the Atrium café, also here in Launceston who when they discovered they’d taken a little longer than their usual standard time to deliver a coffee to my friend and I the other day brought out two complimentary little tasty treats. When I questioned whether they were gluten free (my friend has an intolerance) we were presented with a further treat – at no cost – that was gluten free. Turning a problem into an opportunity – they get it.

Do you get it?

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 2 comments

A Mess Or A System?

If you walked in the front door of my house, on certain days, you'd probably step right on top of my car keys placed carefully on the floor deliberately in the way.

What a mess you might instantly think - but no, you're walking straight into a system of mine.

You see, awhile back I had this terrible habit of putting my clothes in the washing machine, turning it on and forgetting about it. Hours, sometimes even days, would pass before I'd realise my mistake. An embarrassing confession – but true nonetheless.

After having my clothes colours run together one too many times I knew I needed a system. At first I started leaving my downstairs light on but my eco-friendly side didn't like this. Then I started leaving my keys in front of the door.

I'd see them as I walked around the house and remember to remove my clothes. This worked beautifully except for the few times my extremely helpful husband decided to put my keys "where they belong" without telling me.

Now, clearly I'm not suggesting you all start leaving keys on the floor (I'm sure most of you probably don't even have this same particular problem as me) but it's a simple illustration of the implementation of a system.

* Step 1. Have a problem (in this case, not remembering my clothes were in the washing machine).

* Step 2. Come up with a solution (leaving the light on).

* Step 3. Work the solution and amend if necessary (changed system to keys).

* Step 4. Remember to let people know the system (letting my husband know so that he wouldn't mess with my system!).

* Step 5. Go back to step 3 as often as is necessary.

This five step process is exactly the same simple one that I use for implementing systems in the workplace. Now... I'm off to implement a system that stops me turning the bath on and getting distracted (yes, I've had a few floods!).

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 4 comments

A few of my favourite people...

These are a few of my favourite people who, this year, kindly donated blood on behalf (at 7 months pregnant I've been out of the donating loop for a while!)

Cassandra, Lauren, Janelle and Anna - you're all rock stars to me!

Kirsty

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Where’s your sticker?

Here’s a classic example of motivation gone wrong - a big Australian company that once placed large stickers on employee’s desks declaring them “not competent” (as told to me by a friend and ex-employee of the company).

Now, while most of us could look at this example and clearly see that it’s not going to do much for motivation, as a leader in your organisation, do you recognise when you’re doing this in other, subtler ways?

I know I don’t always.

A criticism might slip from my lips in front of the whole office when it could have been delivered directly to the person in question in private.

A well-deserved opportunity for praise may pass unnoticed, despite feeling great appreciation.

A hastily typed email may not convey the jovial tone in which a comment was meant in your head.

Now, you wouldn’t go and slap a “not competent” sticker on an employee’s desk – but are you a good enough leader to recognise if you just slammed a virtual one down in their inbox or mentally imprinted it on their forehead?

And more importantly, can you adjust the behavior for next time?

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Your boss knows…

Your boss knows when you stay later at work to finish important tasks by the time stamp on your emails.

Your boss knows when you’re getting through a huge workload by the state of your desk, the empty in tray and compliments they receive about you from other team members.

Your boss knows you’re ready for more when you can get through your current workload efficiently and effectively and you start asking for more development, more responsibility and the training to take on more tasks.

Whether they mention it immediately or not a good boss sees what you’re up to and takes an internal note of it.

They’ll remember it when it’s time for internal promotions, reviews and appraisals.

IF – you’re putting in that extra effort.

IF - you’re showing initiative.

IF – you’re getting through your workload and looking for more responsibility.

IF – you’re showing value.

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Preferred Future Friday

Over a lunch with a girlfriend this past weekend she told me about an inspiring friend of hers.

While I've never met him, he has inspired me as well and hopefully can do the same for a few of you.

In short, this friend of a friend, works in IT Monday through Thursday of every week. It used to be Monday to Friday - but at some stage he realised that his real passion was actually in producing music.

So now, every Friday, he no longer works in IT, dropping back to 4 days a week so that for that one day a week he can work on his passion - what he calls his "Preferred Future Friday".

He had the guts to lower his salary, step out of his comfort zone and work every Friday on what he'd like to be doing each and every day in his ideal future.

And what was my girlfriend doing last Friday night? She was at a record launch for an album her inspirational friend produced.

What's your preferred future and how are you working towards it?

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Who Do You Trust?

Family members, friends, colleagues? What organizations, businesses, companies have your trust?

What level of trust do these people and groups of people have?

Would you leave your child with them? Would you trust them to keep secret the most juicy piece of gossip? Would you trust them to sell your largest asset?

Have they always had your trust or have they had to prove they were worthy of it?

In a business sense – who trusts you?

Would your boss or workmates trust you with sensitive information?

Are you the type of person people know can be relied upon to get a job done?

Do your clients trust you (really trust you) or do they simply deal with you?

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Tears of a Turtle

Zooming through the Amazon in Peru on the way to our eco lodge our amazing guide Luis stopped the boat every now and then to point out some of the fascinating wildlife.

A cayman (a sort of a small crocodile) basking on the bank, a family of capybaras (squat wombat sized rodents) nestled nibbling away at food, birds galore and what would soon become my hands down favourites – small turtles stacked unmoving on logs.

When handed Luis’ binoculars we all noticed the most beautiful thing. Surrounding each of the turtles were beautifully coloured butterflies. This on it’s own was stunning enough, but then we were told that the butterflies and turtles have a symbiotic relationship.

The butterflies drink the turtle’s tears and get vital nutrients from doing so all the while cleaning the turtle’s eyes.

It was an amazing and unexpected synergy and a partnership you’d never predict unless you saw it happening.

If you’re the turtle – who in the business world out there could be your unexpected butterfly?

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

To blog or not to blog, that is the question…

I’m often asked my opinion about corporate and personal blogs, both in regards to their effectiveness and how I find the time to write them.

I’m a big fan of blogging, starting my first blog oh so creatively entitled Kirsty’s thought of the day, when I was in University (I have no idea if anyone actually read it – but I enjoyed myself!)

As far as finding the time for a blog goes – well, if that’s going to be an issue, I’d recommend scrapping the idea of a personal blog. If you don’t have the time to update a blog preferably at least weekly, there might not be much of a point to doing one.

BUT – you might still want to consider a corporate blog.

Most people write corporate blogs without even knowing they’re doing so, they just never take the time to actually turn their valuable content into a blog (ie: a searchable resource for your company). Every time you answer a query to a client, you could potentially re-word it as a frequently asked question style blog. I did just this myself this morning at our real estate agency Elephant Property. I’d sent an email out to all our owners yesterday with some common tax-time queries and realized this morning that with a few tweaks this could easily be reworded in about 2 minutes to be a corporate blog. Voila – blogging done for the week.

If you’re running short on topics for your blogs sit down in your team meeting and task everyone with answering two commonly asked questions about your industry. When we run short on topic ideas I might email a friend who deals with someone in our industry in another state and find out how their service provider is going or what queries they have in general about our industry. Blog topics abounds.

And while I’m a huge fan of blogging – it’s not without it’s perils. I’ve had my wrist spanked on more than a few occasions for unknowingly committing cardinal blogging sins.

Two of these that pop to mind straight away are:

1. Reposting my blogs on another site and then, because I hadn’t been notified of comments on those blog posts, not replying to them. Queue angry people thinking I was quite rude (bad blogging etiquette) by not replying to their questions and comments.

2. I have a policy that if I’m writing a blog that mentions a type of behaviour that I have found a bit poor service wise – I don’t mention the organization – personal choice. However, just recently I mentioned an amazing organization in a blog about poor service from a separate organization. It wasn’t done with malice, but it was poor form and I ended up giving myself quite a hard time over doing it without thinking.

So – if you are going to blog, be prepared to make some mistakes along the way and the very point of having a blog is that you’re open for public comment – and at times, people aren’t always going to like what you’re writing. If you’re prepared to accept that… why not get started writing your blog today?

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Standing Out or Blending In?

A new real estate agent has recently opened in my home state of Tasmania called Buzz Property (buzzproperty.com.au/) Their logo / branding and photos are super-hero-esque with one of their team ripping open his shirt to reveal the Buzz logo underneath.

I had a giggle when I saw the advert, which then made me look up their website, which then made me tweet (@kirstydunphey) about it.

For whatever reason – their branding stood out and caught my eye and made me talk about it. It was the same thing when Fruit Property (www.fruitproperty.com), also in Hobart opened. I like to think we had the same impact with our branding for Elephant Property (www.elephantproperty.com.au/).

These days when you’re thinking up a name and setting your branding for your new business you’ve got a few choices. Using real estate agents as examples (although of course these relate to any industry): you can choose a branding and a name to convey:

* Respectability, stability and that of being an established company (like www.corkhill.com.au established through their branding)

* Innovation, freshness (like: www.fruitproperty.com and our company www.elephantproperty.com.au)

* A real desire to shock and get people talking like Buzz above (it’s important to note though that I’ve encountered some people who really don’t like their branding – but you run that risk when you choose to be this innovative!)

* A known brand like Harcourts, Ray White, McGrath etc whereby you’re leveraging on the reputation that brand or name has already built.

* Your own personal name – but bear in mind the difficulties you may encounter selling that “brand” / business later on.

For me – I like a name and branding that gets me talking – so I’m all for Buzz’s new branding and I wish them every success with their attempt to break into Hobart’s competitive real estate market.

Thanks to Tony McCombs who let us know about this great TED video on the power if BOTH standing out and blending in - a great 3 minute watch:

www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement.html

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Show You Care

I love zoos. I’m the first to suggest we visit a zoo on any trip anywhere in the world. Of course, the better the enclosures and the more life like the animal’s environs the better an experience it is for me to go along.

While in Santiago, Chile recently I was warned off going to the local zoo by almost everyone that I spoke to. Usually this would be enough for me not to go, but for some reason I found myself hiking up the hill towards the central zoo

In fairness, it didn’t look to be one of the best-funded zoos I’d ever been to (I’m spoiled by being a regular visitor to Melbourne’s amazing zoo) but I enjoyed my initial walk around and found some great local animals that were really interesting.

As we progressed we found an enclosure that housed macaws and turtles. Only one of the turtles had met with a seemingly untimely fate. It had slid down an enclosure bank, landed on it’s back and now each of its four legs and it’s tiny head and neck were lolling out, unmoving. I gasped at the sight of this poor little turtle, upside down and expired.

I wasn’t the only one who had gasped apparently as about 15 minutes later a zoo worker approached the enclosure. He was probably mid 40’s, a manly looking type in a brown zoo uniform. He entered the enclosure, picked up the turtle, inspected it and then did something fantastic.

He kissed the turtle, placed it right side up and off it wandered to resume it’s life.

The kiss was unexpected. It wasn’t for show. It was a heartfelt gesture from a zoo worker who clearly loved these animals.

I was the only person to my knowledge who saw the kiss, but I knew then instantly that regardless of how well funded the zoo was, there were people here who cared passionately.

If someone watched you do your job on a daily basis – would they get the same impression?

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Are You Doing A Woody?

I’ll admit it without shame, I love the classic 80’s television show “Cheers”.

One of my favourite characters is Woody, the lovable, if a bit dopey bar tender.

In a recently watched episode Woody was asked how an acting audition of his had gone. “Excellent” he remarked, he’d said his lines faster than anybody else auditioning!

This made me laugh but also made me think back to some of my early mistakes in the workplace and to some that I’ve seen others make – with the best intentions of course.

So clearly, we can learn from Woody that faster isn’t always better. But then, in my opinion, slow perfectionism doesn’t overly benefit a workplace either. The real challenge is to find that happy medium between perfection and speed. Everyone finds it at different levels. For me – I work on about an 80 / 20 rule – get it 80% right and get it working and adjust, perfect and tweak as you go. That level works for me because I know it’ll take me at least twice as long to get something from 80% to 90% perfect without working on / in it as it will do if I get in there and adjust as I go.

For example, at Elephant Property, when a new tenant moves into a property there’s a very detailed 2 page checklist that we fill out in office which shows everything that we need to do prior to the tenant being given keys (and after!) This checklist started out as a single A4 page 18 months ago and has morphed and been added to and improved incrementally over time. Had I tried to get it to it’s current stage 18 months ago it would been impossible because I wouldn’t have learnt the lessons I know now. Could I have gotten it better before we’d started using it? Absolutely. But at what time cost?

Sure perfectionism has a place – but before you waste hours of productive time striving for perfection in everything, ask yourself if in this instance you’ll get closer to perfect by getting in and working with and on the project rather than just designing or conceptualizing.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Why don’t you love me?!

One of my businesses, Elephant Property, works in the notoriously under appreciated category of residential property management. The old adage in property management is that you don’t hear anything from your clients or customers (property owners or tenants) unless something’s going wrong. I hear lots of property managers in my work as a trainer spout this or a variant thereof over and over again.

From now on – I’d like to impose a new rule.

No whinging about people not loving you, no whining about lack of client appreciation and certainly no bitching about your customer’s only calling you when something’s wrong UNLESS….

1. You’ve shown 5 people that you think they’re amazing this week. 5 EVERY week needs to be the minimum goal. If you tell 5 people they’re amazing reciprocity WILL reward you with feedback coming in the other direction.

If you get great service at a restaurant write a thank you note on the receipt or post a review on their facebook page. (http://www.facebook.com/theatriumcafe)

Use the “share” button on facebook and share a link or business that you think is fantastic. (http://www.facebook.com/SocialRabbit)

If your insurance broker does an amazing job, ask for his bosses email and let them know what a great staff member they have. (Thank you Aaron Jones at Armstrong’s Insurance)

If you call up telephone banking be polite, treat the person like they’re a human and tell them they’re doing a good job. Ok – that’s a personal one in there because my 21 year old brother is in phone banking and I know that they’re not often met with the happiest of people on the other end of the phone! (To my brother John – you rock and I love you!)

Call your Mum and thank her for doing the best job she knew how in raising you. (Mum, thanks for all the recent advice especially, you crack me up!)

Write a card of appreciate to your boss or workmate. (Megan, Bella and Mon – you are Elephant Property and I look forward to seeing your smiling faces every day)

Send a referral to a current client for whatever their line of work is. (In my case it was my plumber this week)

Thank EVERYONE who has referred you business in a memorable way (put a system in place). Our system is to reward referrers when any new owner comes to our business – thank you Novaros & Alchemy Restaurants for being two of our best ways to reward!.

2. You’ve given your clients an opportunity to praise you. Ask ALL your current clients for at least 3 points of feedback:
a. What are we doing that you like (you’ll feel instantly appreciated reading these responses – well – providing that you do a good job!)
b. What’s the most memorable thing about dealing with us (if there isn’t anything memorable – insert something!)
c. What can we improve (you can’t just get the good stuff, this question is vital).

We ask our owners to provide feedback at this simple form: www.elephantproperty.com.au/feedback.php and then we compile the answers here: www.elephantproperty.com.au/clients.php (remember to make it easy for them – our survey only takes a couple of minutes!)

3. You’re doing something worthy of praise! What’s unique about your business, what do you do that really knocks people’s socks off, what do you do that is going to make someone HAVE to tell you that you’re awesome? Good service is the price of entry- if you want people to tell you you’re fantastic do something worth talking about.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 1 comment

You never know who you could be talking to...

I recently spent 2 days at a great real estate conference and as I always do, I spent a good deal of time looking around the trade stands to see all the new and innovative ideas and products being offered to the real estate community.

There was one stand I was particularly interested in - so I headed over there late this afternoon and left with virtual smoke pouring from my ears.

Firstly - I had to wait a bit of time before anyone at the stall would talk to me. Not a huge concern IF the staff were busy with clients but they were talking amongst themselves.

When someone finally came over to talk to me (the inventor of the product and their managing director) he quickly informed me that this product was "for sales people" and that I was clearly "just in property management".

Now, I do have a property management business, BUT:

- I communicate with over 2,000 sales agents on a monthly basis through my various newsletters / twitter / facebook and I happily spread the word about new and innovative products I like

- Secondly - his product could easily be utilised by property managers, he just hadn't thought that far ahead

- Finally - how much business from sales people and business owners has he lost by simply assuming they're in property management (I dare say I looked even more like his definition of a stereotypical property manager when I owned a large real estate sales business!)

His initial assumptions were judgemental and annoying to me - but what's more, they've lost him potential business.

Not only could I have used his product, recommended it to sales agents and used it in my property management business, it's also a product that I could have recommended to the public at large as it's success or failure will be determined by consumer traffic.

When I pushed him further and asked questions about his product I was met with a condescending spiel about what it did.

To top off his beautiful sales pitch, despite asking what my name tag meant (I told him I'd previously spoken at the conference) he either didn't listen to me or didn't hear and ended our conversation by telling me that "If I ever get into the real estate business" I should go to his website!

My first week selling real estate my boss told me that it was extremely dangerous to judge a book by it’s cover. Over the years some of the wealthiest property owners I've come into contact with have driven up in a ute wearing stubby shorts and a bonds singlet. Some of the wealthiest business owners I've ever met are shy, unassuming and modest. Some of the people in the biggest debt and worst financial situations I've ever met drive Porsches and have all the flash labels on their clothes.

Whether it's showing the kitchen of a potential home more to the wife and the workshop to the husband without finding out more about their interests, assuming that someone can't afford your product, or even as my new "friend" did, making the completely egregious assumption that someone who is a lead has nothing to do with your industry - assume (as my corny Dad used to say) makes an "ass" out of "u" and "me".

And to end my night on a chuckle I've just gone to the website of this new product and on the top right hand corner is an option for me to "tell a friend". I think not.

By Kirsty Dunphey with 2 comments

How do I get my team to think like me?

Thanks to Mick for asking me to blog on the topic of: “How do I get my team to think like me?”

My answer, blunt as it might be: You don’t want them to think like you!

20 “you’s” running around your office with the same ideas, the same view points, the same knowledge would be an absolute disaster for the creativity and innovation of your business.

You want staff who think differently to you so that you can come up with multiple solutions to problems, differing ideas on how to improve the company and, dare I say it, so that you have people who are willing to tell you when you’re wrong. (Yes – the boss is sometimes wrong and it’s a brave and vital team member who will let you know that!)

But – I think the point you’re asking about is not getting your staff to be your clones, but how to get them to understand what are the “non-negotiables” of working in your team.

I’ll go through my non-negotiables for anyone working on my team and maybe you’ll find something in there that you can incorporate:

Non-negotiables:

Mistakes are OK
So long as, if anyone (yes, including me) makes a mistake, they own up to it straight away, we fix the immediate mistake and then we put a system in place so it doesn’t happen again.

You will follow the system in place
We have a system for almost everything and you will follow that system, complete that checklist and do things in an orderly manner following the guidelines that have been set. BUT – if you see a better way to do something, we want you to tell us! Bring it up at a weekly meeting or just email me and make a suggestion. If we agree with you that it’s a better way to do things, we’ll change the procedure.

Complaints come to me
If you have an issue or a problem with the company – I want you to come to me. I don’t want to see it blabbed on twitter or facebook – I want you to say, hey, I have an issue with this and I’m giving you a chance to fix it.

Agreement isn’t guaranteed
I may not always agree with you – but I’ll always listen to you.

Come with the solution
Don’t just come to me with the problem. Bring one or more potential solutions as well.

There’s a time and a place
The time for bringing up issues with systems or the “way things are done” isn’t in front of a client. It isn’t in front of anyone actually. It’s one to one to your manager.

Whatever your non-negotiables are – you need to clearly voice them to your team so that they know that while you don’t want Mick-clones you do want respectful obedience and helpful suggestions on how to make the team better in the long term.

Hope that helps!

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments