RECOGNIZING WHAT TRULY MATTERS …

Over the past few weeks my Monday Morning Mojo has focused on the evolution occurring at Keller Williams Coastal Properties.  Questions posed have offered a reader the opportunity to reflect upon the potential message in context of their own business.  This week I am taking a more personal path; thus as I reflect upon a few defining success principles, hopefully, you will resonate with how certain data points are interrelated.

This week a friend shared a book with me entitled ‘The Go-Giver’ written by Bob Burg and John David Mann.  A national bestseller (so I might be the last person on the planet to read the book) that seems to crystallize the mojos of the past several weeks into ‘five laws of stratospheric success.’

Sharing these mojos with you is a personal journey.  Oftentimes, these incomplete tangents are threads that I need to resolve within to create the business, the life and journey that I desire for myself and those I love.  So between the paragraphs of the book, I reflected upon people who have crossed my path for the past five decades.  Hang in there with me for a few moments … developing business models, business plans, business strategies, marketing channels and service platforms are but fancy terms with no heart, unless we understand (beyond saying the words, but is all about ‘walking the talk’) the why behind everything they suggest.  The why reflects the soul of what we do by reflecting the heart that gives meaning to the experience of all those we touch.  The main points in the book are oddly well timed and relevant when considering my past several blogs – some might explain a bit of synchronicity is at work.  That is a topic for another time though!

In summary, Burg’s ‘five laws of stratospheric success’ are:

1.     The Law of Value:  “Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.”  The real question is what I do … does it really serve other people?  Does it add value to others?  In a world consisting of ‘what is in it for me’; and ‘what is mine is mine, and what is yours is mine’ speaks to contrary values.  If you listen closely you will hear this value at the core of what most businesses and individuals say.  Last week I had a meeting with a key service provider to Keller Williams.  The goal of the meeting in my mind was to discuss the concept of ‘strategic partnership’ and collaboration.  After nearly three hours I asked this rather dynamic person sitting across the table, how often do brokerage companies or realtors come to him from the place of true partnership?  His response was ‘never’.  Why?  Even with our meeting’s goal being collaboration, the participants struggled with this notion because the under current was still prevalent – ‘what’s in it for me or my company’?  

2.     The Law of Compensation:  “Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.”  Relishing the opportunity to “survive, save and serve” – and the greatest of these attributes is to ‘serve’ crystallizes the personal mantra that I must integrate into my spirit.  My compensation is directly proportional to how many lives I touch – ‘value’ merges with ‘impact’.  As I read these words, I thought of my father who toiled without a hint of resentment looking for simple ways to just be of service, to be a servant of those who crossed his path and to lighten the load of all.  This gracious gift was reflected by dozens of people at my dad’s funeral … a lesson I am only beginning to understand – thanks dad, maybe someday soon!  Be watchful … compensation is not restricted to only money … rewards of the soul are more meaningful and lasting than those wrapped in paper bearing a dead president’s picture. 

3.     The Law of Influence:  “Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.”  Contained in Keller Williams’ mission statement is the term “win-win or no deal.”  If you listen, negotiators, marketers and sales people often deliver this message; and for most this message resonates as being a worthy value.  Yet think about it … ‘win – win’ infers each person getting some fraction of a 50-50 deal that creates a winning compromise.  Is that demonstrative of real ‘value’ and beyond that this sentiment of ‘win-win’ is not unique – nay but a snappy catch phrase often over used and rarely understood.  The book summarizes (and I immediately connected with) “watch out for the other guy.  Watch out for his interests.  Watch his back.  Forget about fifty-fifty … it’s a losing proposition.  The only winning proposition is one hundred percent.  Make your win about the other person, go after what he wants.  Forget win-win – focus on the other person’s win.”  How many of us have that all backwards – mega companies have as their mantra delivering less than total satisfaction and have us believing that this is something special?  What would happen if we really created one hundred percent wins?  How about setting our sights on delivering what another person needs in total? 

4.     The Law of Authenticity:  “The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.”  In a world of commodity all we have to offer that is unique is ourselves.  Reaching our goals is about ten percent knowledge and technical skills, and ninety percent is about people skills.  At the core of people skills is who we are as individuals.  Ah, all that coaching and after billions of dollars spent on self improvement, and it really boils down to delivering an authentic and real you in service to others – delivering to other people what they want, when they want it, and how they want it.  A message packaged thousands of different ways, but each of us at our core already knows it.  How often and at what cost must I be reminded of that one simple reality – just be authentic while engaging with other people (for me – be ‘interested’ not ‘interesting’)? 

5.     The Law of Receptivity:  “The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.”  The yin and yang of life … we can’t give until we are open to receiving; and we can’t receive until we are open to serving others.  How often do I dismiss a compliment or a gift shared by another?  That is all about me and not the other person … in that moment I’m not open to receiving, and I cut off the other person’s opportunity to give or serve.  Ugh … I am so uncomfortable with accepting another person’s reflection that involves me.  I would much rather give than receive – so much easier!

So as I sat down to write this blog, I reminded myself that in articulating a new vision at Keller Williams Coastal Properties and while developing my own business plan for 2010 that really … I need to deliver a tangible service that embodies these principles at all times!  Sounds simple doesn’t it … well maybe it just might be … if I listen and remain open to other people’s journey and stories.  And you, how do you deliver a product or service that encapsulates these principles?  Or are you part of the majority who believes that this ‘mumbo jumbo’ has a place only around Christmas or in your family, AND not in business?  Most of us would agree, if we stopped for a moment; however, our language contradicts all or most of these principles, and most of all ‘our walk’ oftentimes is in conflict with these values.  Ah, now that is the rub … ‘how do I walk the talk’?

I hope you enjoyed the reflection, and take the time to consider how these questions may present opportunities for you today and in 2010.  Most importantly, I hope you make it a GREAT day and week!!  If you wish to read all the other Monday Morning Mojos written for you, then visit: http://mondaymojo.blogspot.com.  As always, I welcome and encourage your feedback and your reflections (please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts with me).  If I can be of service to you or your friends, please let me know or visit us at http://www.coastalcommunityhomes.com.  And, thank you for your continued support and inspiration … each of you are a cherished gift that enriches my life in ways you will never understand … Thank you!!  Jim Peys

IS IT THAT TIME OF YEAR … UGH … BUSINESS PLANNING …

So a group of realtors got together last week at Keller Williams Coastal Properties for a business development meeting.  Afterwards, the group gathered informally over pizza and wine to discuss other business related matters.  A friend asked each of us their production numbers to date for 2009; and if we had started developing our business plans for 2010.  One by one each person (with one exception) admitted that they had not started their 2010 planning.  Reluctantly I was one of those who acknowledged not having put any thought into next year’s business plan.  Ugh I shutter at the thought!!

The following day I was retelling the story to another peer who is putting together a budget for Keller Williams Coastal Properties for 2010.  I asked how she was going to do that without any input from the realtors regarding numbers and goals.  That got me thinking as to the real value of these budgets, business plans and goal setting exercises.  Logically I would think that a business would gather information from its sales and marketing arm, discount the projected sales numbers, and then develop the budget for the next year accordingly.  Yes, but that is when you run straight into the problems with the brokerage business model … the sales team consist of all independent contractors who typically don’t bother projecting sales goals or writing annual business plans (save those few or those in coaching; but even then it might just be a meaningless activity or another ‘homework assignment’).  So is there any value in these budgets and business plans?  Or are we just putting numbers together that makes us feel good or so we have completed a task that others say is important?  Is there a real value; and if so what is that value?  I wonder how many people after writing their business plans for the next year actually go back and read the plans on a regular basis (daily, weekly, monthly)?

How about you … have you written your 2010 business plan yet?  If not, are you resisting writing your plan?  Why?  You might even be asking yourself why do I even need to write a business plan every year?

Intellectually I understand that without a plan of action I basically have no ‘blue print’ for success in my business.  Beyond the notion of a blue print though the exercise of writing my business plan forces me to evaluate the market, identify my resources, determine my budget, and prioritize my efforts so that I don’t waiver with every shift in the winds.  If I truly go through the exercise, I can see the value of the plan given how this business (real estate) moves from one strategy to another depending upon what other people say is a trend.  So after some thought I am committing to write my plan over the next thirty days.  But saying I’m going to write my plan, albeit a good decision, involves me first identifying my resistance.  Part of my why?

So why do I resist writing my plan?  Well there are several reasons.  First, I resist structure on several levels.  I generally give considerable thought to where I’m headed and the implementation strategy to get to my goals.  However, when I write down my production goals it gives me this instant accountability barometer with little or no wiggle room.  Many people gravitate towards building accountability into their daily routine; however, I feel a sense of being trapped.  Finally, in the past when I have written my business plan I never seem to read it again (after its finalization) – therefore it takes on this air of being a senseless exercise.  In many ways it probably is why I never set New Years resolutions.  I almost take this attitude that writing a business plan is analogous to completing a ‘homework assignment’.  When I finish, then I’m done.  Well that thought process misses the mark – the business plan should be my individual road map that is a living and breathing document.  And, I should take it upon myself to review my plan daily, or at least weekly; and track my numbers each month.  Furthermore, I should make it a habit to revise my business plan every quarter – at that time I will need to re-access the market, my production and my plan accordingly. 

Okay, I have admitted the reasons for my resistance … furthermore, I will admit that my resistance really does amount to being total garbage!  So here I am exposing one of my achilles heels (one of many).  So now what?

Well I have three different, but similar, realtor business plan templates.  So that takes the mystery and mundane issues of development off the table.  And yes, I do understand the process for realtors beginning with the numbers – look at last year’s numbers and understand them.  Then begin with how much money one wants to make next year (GCI [‘gross commission income’] or in other business parlance gross income), and work backwards to determine how many transactions it will take to earn the GCI numbers.  Once you have the total number of transactions, then determine how many of each type of transactions (listings and buyers); how many days I plan on working; how many listings; the number of listing appointments it will take to close the number of listings required to reach your numbers; and finally how many calls it will take each day to reach my goals.  This process is fairly easy to understand; but really what does that get you … it seems like an analytical justification of how much money you want to make over the next year (oftentimes not based upon any reality but your own mental wish list).  So really what is the value in that exercise … well the heavy lifting is not in the numbers … but what the numbers suggest in combination to some additional factors.  Factors that few coaches and advisors really focus on (they give it little if any consideration when evaluating the plan).  Previous coaches spent all their time in the production numbers giving no consideration to the market trends, resources and business models. 

What would a few of these other factors be?  Whether you are in real estate or another business these factors are relevant.  Such factors as:

·      What is your business model?

·      What is the current market doing?

·      What are the market drivers for each micro-market you are selling into?

·      Where is each market headed over the next year for the services you are providing?

·      What are the agents of change that will cause each micro-market to expand or contract? 

·      What are the agents of change inherent in your business plan itself?

·      What resources do you need to be successful given each micro-market?

·      Evaluate the costs, market potential and whether these individual micro-markets or strategies fit your skill sets, your business model, goals and long-term business vision?

So going through the mere exercise of putting production numbers down (i.e., revenue, costs and number of transactions) may be of little value taken by its self.  But the process of developing the road map and understanding the playing field is the critical path that creates and sustains a world-class business.  So as John Wooden once said “failure to prepare is preparing to fail” is sage and timeless advice for all of us – even for me as reluctant as I am at times.

I hope you enjoyed the reflection, and take the time to consider how these questions may present opportunities for you today and in 2010.  Most importantly, I hope you make it a GREAT day and week!!  If you wish to read all the other Monday Morning Mojos written for you, then visit: http://mondaymojo.blogspot.com.  As always, I welcome and encourage your feedback and your reflections (please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts with me).  If I can be of service to you or your friends, please let me know or visit us at http://www.coastalcommunityhomes.com.  And, thank you for your continued support and inspiration … each of you are a cherished gift that enriches my life in ways you will never understand … Thank you!!  Jim Peys

COLLABORATION … AN ELEGANT NEW ORDER WITH LEGS

Recently I crossed paths with a series of articles, books, blogs and business strategies that are causing me to explore the concept of ‘collaboration’ and the notion of “elegant organizations” across several businesses. Participating in an industry driven by competition there seems to be an ambitious allure regarding the potential for business development through the strategic utilization of ‘collaboration.’ This blog is by no means an exhaustive expose of ‘collaboration’ or its potential within your life; and thus I invite your comments and elaboration of its potential. Also, I admit from the inception that the topic or concept is not new; but that does not dilute its value. Regardless the model of ‘collaboration’ offers tremendous potential in the ‘new economy’ that is currently unfolding, and thus is worthy of our consideration.

By this time you are probably familiar with Facebook (everyone reading this blog is affected by members of the 250 million active Facebook users) and to a lesser degree stories about its founder, Mark Zuckerberg. One such story, or possibly myth, is that while Zuckerberg was at Harvard and working to create Facebook, he was unable to attend one of his art classes – allegedly he was unable to attend a single class the entire semester. When it came time for the final exam, Zuckerberg realized that he was going to flunk the class, unless he pulled a ‘rabbit out of his hat.’ So he emailed all his classmates a picture of the various artists discussed during the semester, with a blank text box below each artist’s picture. The tag line along with the email stated that Zuckerberg was organizing a study group for this class and was inviting each of them to participate. This invitation prompted his classmates to fill in each text box with the pertinent information about each artist. Zuckerberg shared all the responses in a series of follow-up emails. Each of the narrative responses were edited by the classmates, until consensus was reached on the pertinent information about each artist. The result was that Zuckerberg and each of the participants (classmates) had concise accurate information about each artist studied in class from which to study. The punch line as you might guess was that Zuckerberg ‘aced’ the exam and passed the class. But the real value was that afterwards, the professor acknowledged the class as a whole performed better on the final exam than any previous class for the same course. Ah, the true value of collaboration in a world that values competition (in an environment graded on a curve), this counter-intuitive model represents the clearest path to realizing each of our professional dreams.

Granted this story is duplicated on a small scale all the time - students gathering to share their class and study notes. That is at the heart of the model though – communities already exist everywhere, but our opportunity is how we organize and utilize these communities for the collective benefit of each of its participants. I challenge you to think beyond … look around you and open yourself to the potential of true collaboration that exists everywhere. I recently picked up a copy of BusinessWeek and the cover story is entitled “The Radical Future of R&D, It’s a New World of Collaboration Across Corporate and National Boundaries.” One of the featured articles (titled “Big Blue’s Global Lab”) describes how IBM (yes, Big Blue) is committed to its largest R&D venture. The basic premise is founded upon creating “radical collaboration partnerships with outside companies, countries, and industries as an essential part of its research” into new technologies that will form the basis of future products and services. You think they are alone … think again … Hewlett Packard, Proctor & Gamble, Eli Lilly, Microsoft, Google, and several other mega-corporations and governments are doing the same thing. Collaboration is all around us, borne from necessity, opportunity, and an array of other reasons that form the basis of a new economic reality (for a different perspective of this new reality – see this KPMG video).

So what does that mean for the small business owner, entrepreneur, or mid-level manager struggling for survival. Each moment is stretched by how to find the next dollar to pay the never-ending stream of bills (fixed overhead – the “atoms” of our effort). Jeff Jarvis suggests in his book “What Would Google Do” that “small is the new big”; and Chris Anderson recommends in his book titled “The Long Tail” to “get small but think big.” Get small … we are small, so now what? Financial, market, time, resource, operational limitations, egos, business visions, etc., provide just a few, albeit significant, road-blocks preventing serious consideration to how ‘collaboration’ could work in a tangible way. Well really … in these times … with the rate of technological and economic change can you afford NOT to consider this model? That is why this model is “counter-intuitive” because for every reason one could think not to consider collaboration and the creation of “elegant organizations” IS the very reason in support of its creation!

Ask yourself a few questions. What business are you in (may not be the obvious answer)? Is your business built on scarcity (basis of competition – if so, take heed the power of the internet is but around the corner), if so, ask how you might manage and exploit abundance? Where is your real value (what is your value proposition)? Who is your ‘customer’ (no really who is your ‘customer’ think expansively – think in terms of every ‘touch point’ in your process)? How do you uniquely serve or anticipate your customers’ needs? Look around you … what do you see? Look at the existing communities you serve. Consider the communities around you – how do you enable them to talk; enable them to share what they know or need to know; enable them to support each other; and enable them to do the ‘business of business’? How can you create a ‘platform’ of services (and or products) that invite your ‘customers’ to sit alongside you to design or co-create services that fit the space they are in at this moment (fill their need as they define it, not as you define their need to be – ah yes, there is the real resistance point – the old economic model is based upon ‘control’, fear, and hoarding)? I think you get the idea.

Ok, so you have asked yourself the questions and are comfortable with your answers … now what and why (I’ll leave the “how” to other blogs and business pundits). The easy answer to the “why” will vary for all of us. In a future blog with the help of a case study involving a networking group (Long Beach Business Professionals Association) and your feedback, I will explore the “why” and possibly the “how.”

The seed of opportunity for forward thinking individuals, networks, communities and companies is NOT one connection, one prospect/lead, one idea, or one deal (as promoted by your typical networks, communities, companies and lead generation groups, i.e., Tippers, LeTip, etc.); but in a collaborative effort involving all its members and all its ‘customers.’ The germination of a ‘community’s’ (defined broadly) potential is held within the notion of leveraging the ‘whole of its parts’ for the exclusive benefit of every person or entity that interacts with the group. I would challenge you to explore how to co-create a ‘service platform’ that enables respective ‘customers’ (defined broadly) to define how to use the service to get what they want, when they want, and for a price that is more competitive than what could be found outside the ‘platform’ (another concept gaining momentum in the blog world is “zero-based budgeting”). In this model, the aggregate whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts, without any prospect of losing each member’s individual identity or diluting individual brands.

The ‘platform’ will take on a dynamic life of its own allowing the group to LISTEN to everyone who ‘touches’ the ‘platform of services.’ As people contribute to the ‘platform’ as either members or customers it enlarges the database (data points) providing better market information and greater access to prospects, products, services and ultimately opportunity. A collaboration of services combined with valuable content that is constantly evolving will add value to the ‘platform’ resulting in greater opportunities for everyone.

The notion of collaboration is a methodology of organizing a community’s knowledge so that the existing community can better organize itself. Creating a network of sub-communities that reach deeper into a community will have more impact and add real value, and therefore offer an array of revenue opportunities along the way for its contributors. But to get there the ‘platform’ will need to “act small but think big”, and view the world with a different lens (from abundance instead of scarcity). Jarvis challenges us in “What Would Google Do” to “release all information bottlenecks and make all touch points more fluid. Stop trying to make money by interfering in transactions.” When I thought about these two statements it struck me as counter-intuitive to conventional business models – old line businesses are structured to create bottlenecks, and then to take financial advantage – i.e., make a transaction more complicated so that you can be the ‘expert’ that clarifies the mess. A model based upon competition and scarcity allows the Internet to shed a different perspective upon it by encouraging collaboration and abundance – and there IS both the flaw (existing models) and the opportunity (for a new model).

We need to ask ourselves what is the world we wish to create and participate in? Personally, the old business model (based upon fear of scarcity) holds no allure for me; and the new order’s call for change is scary being an outsider looking in, but leaves me little choice. So as a dear friend emphatically encouraged me on my trip back East … “just engage, just get in the game Jim.”

I hope you enjoyed the reflection, and take the time to consider how these questions and evolving business models present significant opportunity for each of us. Most of all I hope you make it a GREAT day and week!! If you wish to read all the other Monday Morning Mojos written for you, then visit: http://mondaymojo.blogspot.com. As always, I welcome and encourage your feedback and your reflections (please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts with me). If I can be of service to you or your friends, please let me know. And, thank you for your continued support and inspiration … each of you are a cherished gift that enriches my life in ways you will never understand … Thank you!! Jim Peys