Archive for July, 2008
Two Men and a Compass: A Lesson in Implementation
Even the best-laid plans can go bad; if you aren’t able to execute, YOU’RE LOST!
I experienced this first hand a few years back when my friend, Creed Walton, and I went on a hike. We always take a map and compass with us to find our way. More often than not, we spend part of the day lost; but it is in the “doing” that we have learned how to navigate through the backcountry without following any trails.
On this trip we had a great plan but it was dark before we got started. We implemented the strategy that worked in the past. Our strategy failed us! We would walk and everything felt like we were walking a straight line but our senses failed us. We were going in circles. Our best-laid plan was of no use without being able to see where we were going. Our first attempt at implementing a strategy to get around our roadblock failed us, but it opened our minds to a strategy we would have never found without trying the first!
Our new strategy was to have Creed walk directly in front of me, while I constantly watched the compass. Creed would make sure I didn’t slam into any trees, or trip over a root, rock, or log. He would give me notice when I needed to step over something or duck under a branch. I would give Creed constant feedback by watching the compass and yelling out course corrections. It was so funny! Creed was trying his best to keep me safe and I had to constantly yell out commands right, right, left, straight, right etc. It worked beautifully! There are so many business lessons to learn from this story.
First, Action Trumps Planning!
I know, I know, you have to have a plan. The point is to make the best plan you can with the resources available and within a set timeframe. And then ACT! Get going! Implement something!
Second, Speed of Implementation Accelerates Success.
We had to come up with a strategy that worked quickly or call it a night. Taking action opened our minds to the strategy that worked!
Third, The road to success is paved with Fast Failures.
It was only the failure of our first strategy that enabled us to come up with the perfect solution. Had we not tried the first we wouldn’t have even conceived of the strategy that worked.
In life and in business, the process of taking action often illuminates the road to success, even if that action is a failure. It’s often dark out there. You can’t see where you are going. But until you take the first step you will never see the next. By being willing to fail, you are free to take action. Action brings you closer to your goal. Action opens your mind to new opportunities. Action illuminates your future.
Be an Actionator!
I am an author/speaker. I sell informational products on sales, sales training, leadership, management training. I do keynote speeches and workshops. I was a Financial Advisor for nine years before starting my own training business.
The Value Of Vanity Numbers
Vanity numbers are specialized types of 800, or toll free number, and are the alphanumeric equivalent of a regular numeric telephone number. Most of these numbers are also mnemonic devices, that is they spell out words, usually the name of a business or some phrase associated with it like 1800-FLOWERS, or 1800-YELLOW Pages. These numbers are a good way to brand a company in the minds of the consumer, so choosing just the right number is vital. Since these 800 numbers are free for customers, they are more motivated to call them, and these calls often result in sales, and increased customer service and satisfaction.
Some carriers offer the option of purchasing a vanity number with call tracking which allows salespersons and other involved parties to target sales areas geographically and also determine where the highest volume of calls are originating from. If it is determined that a company is a high volume of calls from a specific region, they can increase their marketing efforts in this area in order to generate further business. Conversely, if it appears that calls from certain areas are scarce, marketing efforts to those locations via commercials, radio spots, TV ads, and other marketing methods can be increased. Customer satisfaction and the level of customer support given can also be measured when a vanity number is used and its usage is recorded.
The first 800 numbers were created in 1967 by AT&T as a way to reduce the need for extra human operators, who were becoming overwhelmed by the number of collect calls that they were required to process daily. This service was called INWATS, or Inward Wide Area Telephone Service, and the first business to officially adopt the new system was the Sheraton Hotel Chain in 1970. Roy P. Weber is credited with inventing the modern toll free number system, which he called the Data Base Communication Processing Method. This was slow to catch on, and AT&T did not anticipate that in a few short decades, the toll free number would become an integral part of the marketing strategy for countless new and established businesses.
When you are choosing vanity numbers, make sure to pick a combination that is memorable. The carrier or service that you choose should be able to assist you in picking just the right one, and should have an up to date list of available numbers for you to choose from. Keep in mind that these numbers are meant to be easy to remember, and should directly reflect some aspect of your business.
Dial 800 is a marketing optimization company and service bureau that has the distinction of being one of the worlds leading providers of call tracking solutions.For more information visit vanity numbers
Real Estate Investor Training and Your Development
When you are looking at real estate investor training, you need to look at a couple of different factors. You will want to get education for sure but where do you turn when there are so many different resources that you could use? This article will talk about the importance of real estate investor training and the benefits this will have for you in the long term.
Education is so key and it is underappreciated in the scheme of things. It is important to get a solid base so that you understand what to look for in a deal along with what can go wrong with a deal. This is the only way that you can become more experienced and confident is through education. Education involves both books and experiences so you need to make sure that you do both. Learn from your mistakes and learn to ask others for help if you need to. This is where you can learn a lot is from the experiences of others.
There are many different types of education which you can look into as well. You can decide to join a local Real Estate Investors Association. This group often will meet once a month and may bring in a speaker to address the group. It is a great place for you to network and meet others of like mind and function. There may even be a chance for you to hear about deals which you can get into which other investors may have. You may have the chance to pick up a mentor at one of these meetings as well. You can read about real estate online and there are many online real estate communities. The same benefits would apply here as when discussing your local Real Estate Investors Association group. You can decide to purchase materials from prominent real estate speakers or to join a mentoring group put on by a prominent local real estate speaker. You have to decide what will work best and what your particular learning style is like.
When you look at your real estate investor training, do not get caught up with learning every little detail. In the real estate business, this is known as analysis paralysis. There are many investors who are scared they will not know everything so they decide to learn as much as possible. You learn the most from actually doing deals so learn a great deal but then step outside of your comfort zone.
For more articles and a 10 part e-course on how to create your own Ultimate Buying and Selling Machine! plus over 50 training audios, simply go to www.LarryGoinsFreeOffer.com where you will gain instant access
Real Estate Coach and Your Benefits
Anyone who is getting into real estate or is still inexperienced probably wants to look getting a real estate coach. You probably do not realize how important this is. Someone who has been around the block who is in your corner is a great resource to have.
If you are just getting started in real estate, you do not know the ins and outs of everyday work in real estate or some of the nuances in how to work with motivated sellers. A coach can help you in this manner. Think of what a benefit a coach was during your growing up years if you played sports. A coach helped you learn to play the sport, explained what to do to be successful, and was there to listen whether you did well or not. This is exactly what a real estate coach can do for you.
A real estate coach can help guide you through the first deal. This often can be a very harrowing experience because there will be many obstacles which jump in your way. It may seem that there are too many but this is part of real estate investing. Having a coach who can walk you through this will help you finish that first deal. One estimate of beginning investors is that 95% quit real estate investing after one year without doing a single deal. If you can ensure you will have greater success and actually do a deal by having a real estate coach, would you not want to use this advantage?
When looking for a real estate coach, you may consider looking for someone willing to act as a mentor or you may want to pay someone to do this service for you. You can look for a real estate coach at your local real estate investors association or other real estate networking group which is located in your neck of the woods.
If you are looking for someone who will do it for free, you have to create a win-win solution. Could you have this person help you and be given half of your profit from the first deal? Most people are willing to help others but if you want someone as an unpaid real estate coach, you are asking them to potentially invest a great deal of time in you. This is time that that person could use to find more deals and make more money. If you are able to provide some way for that person to be compensated, it could be compensated for both.
For more articles and a 10 part e-course on how to create your own Ultimate Buying and Selling Machine! plus over 50 training audios, simply go to www.LarryGoinsFreeOffer.com where you will gain instant access
Real Estate Training Courses
Are you wondering what type of real estate courses you should take to become a savvy real estate investor? You should find one that will teach you everything that you need to know about the concept of real estate investing, including which type of real estate documents you will need to use.
Before you can expect to conquer the world of real estate investing, you have to learn as much as you can about the real estate business as you can. This includes becoming very familiar with the right real estate documents that you will be using.
Do you know the difference between a Quit Claim Deed and a Warranty Deed? If not, you should take one of the many real estate training courses that are offered today. You just have to make sure that the real estate course is one that is taught by someone who has actually made real estate investing their career and not someone who has just made teaching real estate training course their career.
Proper real estate training courses teach you everything that you need to know about finding the right real estate opportunity, how to approach the bank with an offer, what you need to do before you make the offer and what type of real estate documents will be needed. Good real estate training courses will also cover the different types of deeds and how you can protect yourself with a title insurance policy.
Financing is also covered in good real estate training courses. If you think that you have to have cash only to buy foreclosures, think again. There are many different ways that you can finance your property. If you are a savvy investor, you can even get away with making an investment without using any of your own money.
Obviously, the more you know about real estate and understand about investing, the better your real estate investments will be. You will want to build up your real estate investment business so that you can make it a full time career.
Now is the perfect time to learn real estate investing. The number of foreclosures that are on the market today is greater than ever before. And this is expected to rise in the next year or so. After that, the market is expected to rebound and the prices of homes to rise, so if you want to get started investing in real estate, now is the perfect time to start looking for good real estate training courses.
Once you have completed a real estate training course, you will then be able to make a solid real estate investment. With the knowledge that you learn from a good real estate course, you will be prepared to make a good investment and understand the difference between the good investments and the bad. Too many people go into real estate investing thinking that it is easy and that any investment is a good investment. Too many people go in unprepared. Do not be one of them. Find one of the good real estate training courses before you part with any of your hard earned money.
For more articles and a 10 part e-course on how to create your own Ultimate Buying and Selling Machine! plus over 50 training audios, simply go to www.LarryGoinsFreeOffer.com where you will gain instant access
