Words of a Champion

Dirk Zeller
CEO

I am writing to you this week more as a public warning, or a real estate warning message if you will, than my regular message.  This is something that all Real Estate Agents and investors must be aware of in today’s marketplace.

We had a large 1031 exchange company that has declared bankruptcy in the last few weeks on the West Coast.  Summit 1031 Exchange filed bankruptcy before the end of the year with 13.6 million in assets and 27.8 million in liabilities.  They are 14.2 million short in cash owed to their clients.  They operate in over 8 states in the western United States.

Summit is not the only 1031 company in the US that has run into financial problems.  Most people, including Real Estate Agents, were led to believe that Summit deposited the funds in bank accounts insured by the Federal Government.  This is the practice of most 1031 accommodations, but not all accommodations.  Also, there is no government requirements or oversight agency to insure they protect the clients’ money through depositing the money in a federally insured account.  The 1031 accommodation industry operates largely unregulated.  Summit was loaning money to Inland Capital, some 13.7 million, which in turn was making speculative real estate development loans.  With the turn in this real estate market, Inland Capital clients cannot repay the loans to Inland Capital.  Many of the principles in the Inland Capital organization are the same as Summit 1031 Exchange.  The result of this mess is a lot of people who are at risk of not getting their money; taxable liability since the money is not there, and transactions that won’t close because there are no funds. 

The action we need to take as a Real Estate Agent or investor is to be sure you know the company this is holding your money or your client’s money.  Be clear about where the funds are held and what type of protection you have in the event of a problem.  What is the company’s philosophy of “escrowed” funds?

Finally, while I am not for more government intervention, I do think that the consumers are not protected in most states because of a lack of rules and regulations with regard to the 1031 accommodations.  We, in the real estate industry, are regulated more on earnest money deposits that are held for 30-45 days than the 1031 accommodations are on large proceeds deposits that they hold for 180 days.  That seems to be contrary to logic. 

To Your Achievement of Greater Success in 2009,

Dirk Zeller, CEO
RealEstateChampions.com

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Actions or Attitudes

The two A’s of success are Actions and Attitudes.  You have to have both to achieve sustainable success in life.  Having one without the other will only allow you to achieve a mild level of success.  Having both will enable you to accomplish anything!

If you have the right attitude in sales but don’t link that with the correct actions, you will receive limited results.  If you have the right actions but have the wrong attitude when you are engaged in the actions, you will receive marginal results.  Only by having both will you fulfill your full potential.  I always ask people which one influences the other more.  Does your attitude influence your actions, or do your actions influence your attitude?  Take a moment and consider your response.

If you are like most people, you selected the first: your attitude influences your actions more.  The rationale is that if you feel good or empowered, you will do the actions that you must do.  If you feel good and feel like doing what you must do, that will control your actions.  While feelings have an effect for most people, the true Champion Performers in life don’t let their feelings dictate whether they will be successful or not.  The true Champion Performers don’t allow feelings to influence what needs to get done today.

The key to success is using your actions to influence your attitude.  When you discipline yourself to take the actions that you must take, your attitude will begin to come in line.  Most of us in sales know what we need to do daily in terms of prospecting and lead follow-up.  We know we need to take time to practice our skill or craft of sales.  When we fail to do what we know we should do, our attitude is affected negatively.  When we do what we know we should do, our attitude is affected positively.  Your attitude and confidence will be thrust upward through disciplined action or activities. 

In the end, your actions will influence your attitude more than your attitude will influence your actions.

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Establising a Lead Triad

When you evaluate a Champion Agent’s prospecting and lead generation, you will find these people have more than one lead generation source.  Our objective is to establish a lead triad.  A lead triad is at least three sources of business that generate leads that account for at least 15% to 20% each of your overall revenue or units.

When I evaluate most Agents’ businesses, they either have one source that they rely on too much (creating an imbalance of leads and a vulnerability to their business), or they have too many lead sources that generate low levels of leads and business.  They have ten lead sources and most represent less than 10% of their business.  These are bookend errors that are equally disastrous.  We need to have three to four lead sources that can account for a substantial amount of business.  When you have a lead triad in position, if a prospecting and lead follow-up source dries up or diminishes because of competition intensifying, marketplace or industry changes, or just the breaks, you have already established, tested, and proven methods of prospecting and lead generation that you can shift your resources to.  You can ramp up those sources to a high level quicker, which saves you stress and a cash flow crisis.

If you don’t have a lead triad, your probability of weathering the storm is lower.  It will take a greater toll on you to navigate the storm. If you have too many sources, you have to pick one or two, without knowing if you selected the right ones or if your strategy will work.  With only one solid source, you are starting from scratch, attacking the steepest part of the learning curve and hoping for quick results.  Either one of these approaches can be deadly.

If I am describing your business, I have one word of caution for you; don’t try to add too much too soon.  The natural tendency when I talk about implementing a lead triad strategy in one’s business is to rush to add two, three, even four sources now.  The better approach is to select one and commit to that one.  Track the results and make the changes and requirements necessary to increase the results.  Don’t change your source or add another one for six months until the strategy, tactics, and implementation have been fully tested.  We all need to achieve a lead triad of strength in our business.  Just as a table needs three legs at a minimum to have stability from falling, so does your business.

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It's Not About The Plaque (New Year)

I read an exceptional book by Lance Armstrong titled It's not about the Bike.  Lance was the US bicyclist that has won the Tour de France race many years in a row.  The Tour de France is a twenty-one day, 2300-mile bicycle race in Europe.  It's one of the biggest tests of human endurance in the world.  The book was about Lance's challenges within himself to achieve maturity, the challenges with his body to beat cancer against extremely long odds, and the challenges with his mind to get back on top of the professional bicycle-racing world.  If you have not read the book I would highly recommend it.

In the book, Lance clearly states that if he had to choose between cancer and winning the Tour...he would have selected cancer every time.   I think he chose cancer because of “who” he had to become to win that battle.  He had to become a far greater person, more focused, more grateful, more peaceful and more passionate, to win the battle with cancer than with the battle to win the Tour de France.

At this time of the year we are really jazzed about the beginning of a new year, the goals we have written down, the competition of growing our business and being number one in our company or marketplace.  It's really easy to get consumed and lose sight of what ultimately matters most to each of us.  Let me say this point very clearly, "IT’S NOT ABOUT THE PLAQUE."  It's not about the hardware you receive or the recognition, or even being number one. The true satisfaction in life comes from knowing that you gave it your all each and everyday.  It comes from being there in the moment 100% when you are at work, when you are with your spouse, when you are with your children.

There were a few matches in my professional racquetball career where I gave it my all and failed to win.  I may have played the best that I could play...leaving my heart and soul out on the court, but failed to achieve the victory.  To be honest with you, I am not a very good loser, and would be very disappointed in losing.  Losing always hurts.    But on those days I got to walk out of the court with my head held high.  I was able to hit the pillow at the end of the day knowing that I played “all out.”  I think that should be the objective for us each day.  That all day we put our focus and energy in the moment.  We are there 100%.  Here is the question...How are you doing?

One of the key checkpoints is to review your core values and core purpose weekly.  These two key checkpoints give you a strong true North in your business.  Are your goals aligned with your core values and core purpose?  It's too easy in life to adjust your beliefs, convictions, and values, to achieve temporary gain or what may look like a gain right now.  If you don't know what your core values and core purpose are…call our office.  We would be willing to help you uncover them so you can more easily play “all out”. 

Success in business and life is not about the plaques.  We all desire success and wealth, or we would not have selected this profession of sales.  I believe we should all strive to be better and achieve success and wealth.

We are all in the race of life, but “Are we going the right direction?” is the question.  Are we taking the time at the water stations along the way to keep performance at its peak?  Are we stopping to celebrate with our family?  These are the lasting elements in the race of life.  Now is the time to reflect and check the progress of our own race.  Let's check and make sure that our pacing is right and we are on the right course. We don't want to cross the finish line in the future and say, " I ran the race, got the T-shirt…but where did it get me?”

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