7 Ways To Be “Serious” About Making Money As An Apartment Investor
August 25, 2009
This morning, Carlos Vaz forwarded me an email he got from Jeff Gitomer’s newsletter (Jeff is a famous author about sales and marketing) that he really liked and fits very nicely with his own business philosophy.
It is titled:
“Are you serious about them? Are they serious about you?”
I’ll post the article below, but FIRST I want to tell you WHY. One of the primary reason’s Carlos Vaz has been able to close 10 deals in his first 18 months as an apartment investor is because he’s “serious.” People always ask him how he finds so many deals and finds the money for them. The answer is because whether you’re a broker, seller, bank or a person with money to invest, you can tell from talking to him that he is very serious and focused about building a business, buying apartment buildings and making money for his investors.
If you were a commercial broker and had a very potentially lucrative multifamily listing, perhaps a bank REO and you have 2 people who want a shot at that deal. Who are “you” going to deal with? Someone who approaches this business as a hobby and a pipe dream or someone who you know has done the homework, invested in themselves and put forth the effort to show you that they are “serious” about getting this deal under contract and “performing.”
The only thing that brokers, sellers and banks care about in multifamily investing is whether or not you can close the deal so they can either 1) get paid or 2) walk away from a problem deal.
So HOW do you act seriously as a real estate investor?
- Give yourself a SERIOUS goal.
- Get serious about learning and “Making Yourself The Asset”
- Invest in your education (“If you think education is expensive, you should try Ignorance.”)
- Take your knowledge with you when speaking with real estate professionals and RESPECT them for taking their jobs seriously.
- Understand what brokers, lenders, banks and sellers are serious about in their business and show them you are serious about it too.
- Hold yourself out as professional as possible in the way you dress, act, speak and behave. (This isn’t residential real estate. Your image and reputation actually matter more than you think).
- Be serious in what you’re willing to sacrifice for your new business. It may be money, time with the family, stepping outside your comfort zone while you learn what you need to learn…whatever that is, seriously commit to the process.
Take yourself seriously or no one else will.
Now for the full Jeffrey Gitomer article, also avialable by clicking here:
Are you serious about them? Are they serious about you?
Most people misunderstand and mis-define the word serious. They view it as stoic, non-smiling, stiff, non-humorous, and boring. Hardly.
Serious is the intention, the intensity, and the focus that you put into your work ethic and your personal ethics. Serious is a way of life, a way of business, a way of selling, and a way of serving.
How serious are you?
When your prospect or customer comes to the realization that you are “serious” about doing business or earning business, it stems from the actions you took to make that feeling possible.
Those serious actions or characteristics include:
• Speed of response.
• Ability to deliver.
• Ability to serve.
• Desire to serve.
• Knowledge about how what we have will help someone.
• Friendliness.
• Personable.
• Perceived value of product or service.
• Truth at all cost.
• Available when THEY call.
• Easy to access anyone.
• Easy to do business with.
• Online access to information and ordering.
If you have all those attributes, you have a CHANCE of being perceived as serious.
What are you serious about?
I always found it pathetically funny when someone told me, “We have all the business we can handle.” This is a sentence often spoken in response to an offer to advertise. I wonder if that same sentence is true today? Maybe if that business owner was more serious about business building rather than business bragging, he would be in better shape today.
Yes, I’m serious about the economy, and our present state of affairs, but I am 1000% MORE serious about my business, my finances, and my sales. My focus is on success, not doom and gloom. There’s no bailout for entrepreneurs. And the only stimulus I have is the one I create for myself.
In good times or bad times, here are a few things we are serious about in my business: (How do you and your business compare?)
• We are serious about helping our customers. Many are in need, and looking for answers.
• We are serious about being friendly. It costs no extra money to be friendly, and it sets the tone for positive outcome.
• We are serious about being an online leader. Online is forever, and we are investing in our future.
• We are serious about NOW IS THE TIME. We are not waiting to see what happens, we are taking success actions on the opportunities that exist NOW.
• We are serious about error-free order processing and packing. We focus on delivery, not shipping. And yes, we do make errors. But our recovery is spectacular. The best email I get is one that says, “You walk your talk.”
• We are serious about getting every order shipped the day it’s received. Our customers expect “fast” and “perfect” and we deliver.
• We are serious about doing the right thing and the best thing for our customers. This is a true mission statement.
• We are serious about having fun while doing it. We kibitz, we wisecrack, we engage customers about them, and we do it with the serious intention of having a great time and being memorable.
• We’re a family, not a team. Maybe that’s why we’re serious about working together, staying together, and succeeding together.
I realize that many of my customers need help and I am serious about giving it to them. Not selling – giving.
I realize that many companies are having tough times, and because our field of expertise includes attitude, sales, and loyalty, we have a genuine opportunity to help.
As a speaker, I’m serious about connecting with my audience. I want them to get my message and improve their sales, their business, and their lives – and to do that, I know everyone must laugh. And laugh hard. And laugh a lot. I’m serious about humor. I practice timing as I’m speaking to maximize audience laughter, pleasure, and learning. Over the years I have come to the full understanding of the power and appeal of laughter.
These are times that call for different approaches and different actions. They challenge me to have a different mindset and slower expectations of victory. Not LOWER, slower.
Wanna learn how to be funnier?Go to www.gitomer.com, register if you’re a first time visitor, and enter the word LAUGH in the GitBit box.
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