Big Fish Little Pond, Or Big Pond Little Fish?

Big Fish Little Pond or Big Pond Little Fish?

As the leader of any business, you have to ask yourself this question frequently. This question applies to any business, but for now, I will focus on the Real Estate business, which I know and love. In Central Indiana, my agents are collectively the 5th most successful group of agents in terms of annual sales. They are far and away # 1 in many other categories, but for now I will focus on the common goal of any sales organization, and that is sales.

 So one could say they have it figured out. They know how to sell as evidenced by the fact that they have over 18 deals and over 3 million in sales per agent per year, this is including every licensed assistant in that average. Our agents averaged more than 100k per year in earned commissions, in a state and industry that the average agent sells 3 homes and earns a "whopping" 15k per year. So you can only guess that with 150 of these stallions in the RE/MAX Ability Plus offices we too are viewed as a very successful organization, and in return, I'm looked at as a successful leader of this organization and here locally.

 Then why would my agents go outside our local pond? Why would my staff go outside that same pond? Last of all, why would I? The answer is very simple. We, as agents, staff and as leadership, becoming bigger fish in the real estate waters of Central Indiana. Mind you, we are not the biggest "fish" today. That spot is currently held by the F. C. Tucker organization and its current owner Jim Litton. However, if you dig deeper, we are the fastest growing company reporting year over year growth in excess of 30% in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 which means in just two years RE/MAX Ability Plus will hold the top spot in this pond!

 Why then would my agents spend their money and time to attend R4, the RE/MAX International Convention, and many other events that take them away from their businesses and families? Why would the team of staff attend these and other conventions? Why would I go to R4, return, then take two weeks off on spring break with my family only to return and pick up another bag and take off to T3 Summit, the Swanepoel's Trends Thoughts and Technology Summit?

 I will speak for myself and how I believe every agent, and staff member, feels here at RE/MAX Ability Plus. It is what we are driven to do as we accomplish more and more in the pond of Real Estate waters here in Indiana, we want more. We want to learn more. Try more. We want to do more. More sales, more support of our charities, and more interaction with the buyers and sellers of Real Estate in Central Indiana. And, who is better than us? I would argue NO ONE... my reason is that we are bringing together amazingly successful local experts and combining them with the International knowledge of RE/MAX in 97 countries.

 You might say "big deal." What's the big deal? Many offices attend their international convention, or local conventions, or maybe the NAR convention, and I would agree. What I don't see is the Broker Owners, managers, or other senior level members attending these meetings. Who knows why, only those who are in the position to decide know why they do or don't do things. Let me share why I do. I do because I become the little fish in a big pond! That's right. At T3, which was by invitation only, I went from being the # 5 most successful company in Indiana to # 187 Nationally out of 78,000. I went from the inner circle of real estate in Central Indiana, where I am involved in most of the higher level discussions, to the furthest outside ring in the national real estate picture. I mean, I was so far outside that if I didn't show up, no one would have noticed......and I love that and so does RE/MAX Ability Plus!

 Making yourself the little fish is challenging. It threatens your ego, your confidence and sometimes causes you to eat alone, because when you're the little fish no one is trying to find you.

 Go explore outside your waters! If you're the big fish, try being the little fish, and if you're the little fish, trying being the big fish. There is so much to learn in both ponds, and I guarantee to REALLY GROW you need some of both!

Bon Appetit

Jimmy

The 2014 RE/MAX International Convention, known as R4, had many great stories and experiences for me to share and not to share… But the one that sticks out most is my time on a tour at Zappos and at the founder's personal home.  First of all, the tour of the home revealed a nutty professor environment with sticky notes on the walls for future projects and random ideas.  Another unusual space was an indoor flower garden, and I don’t mean indoor plants in pots but rather walls and ceilings covered in plants from floor to ceiling.  Imagine the Rainforest Café restaurant and you now have a visual.  

 

 The tour of Zappos revealed a place where people are happy to go and work, happy to be with the people in the building, and where they desire to build relationships with fellow employees and guests.  This is a place where if you belong and fit in, you know it the second you walk in.  NO ONE will try to persuade you to join or be a part of the experience.  Actually, if you try to join the experience and it doesn’t feel right, they will pay you to go away and never come back.  That’s right--  after you complete your training, if you find it's not for you, Zappos will pay you a stipend and 2 month's salary to not take the job with the caveat you can never apply again.  Imagine the confidence in the culture an organization has to say if we aren’t the right place, let's all save some time and money by just cutting you a check for your training time and additional 2 month's full salary to move on.  

 

 On my tour I learned so many fun facts about this organization and many times I found myself reflecting back on RE/MAX Ability Plus and how we too know the kind of people that fit and the kind that don’t.  Although not many agents leave us, when they do most of the time it is a good thing.  Last year we had 97 million dollars in agent production join us and 5 million in production leave us, but even more importantly the agents that joined us made us better.  I have found when you have a strong culture it identifies the people who belong and those that don’t.  

 

 So my time is spent with those who belong and not spent trying to figure out who doesn’t.  I always think back to 2008 when I held a meeting to talk about growing RE/MAX Ability Plus from 32 agents to 350 agents and Phil Herman was so concerned about the kind of people we would take on in order to grow to such a big company.  I know his concern is both valid and for the right reason, but what we have found is with the right culture in place you attract more people who fit in and belong, and not the kind of people who don’t.  It isn’t uncommon for an agent to join us and say “wow this just feels right” or something along those lines.  I find great pleasure because I know we have made the right connection at the right time with the right person.  

 

 I encourage you to take a tour of Zappos and to reflect on your place.  Does it reflect you, does it support you, and does it just feel right…

 

Bon appetite, Jimmy

 

What Are Your Strenghts?

 I have recently completed the Strengthfinder test by Gallup.  Apparently there are 34 strengths that all people have but in different order and quantity.  The process is a 30 minute test where you answer questions about yourself in order to figure out the order of your 34 strengths.  I feel as though I’m pretty intelligent as to the things I’m good at and well… not so good at.  But this was a different process.  Remember, this is not about a skill but more about the theme of who you have become living the life you have lived.  

 Gallup lists the strengths in order of the most common to the least common and the likelihood of you aligning perfectly with another person is 1 and 33 million, so unlikely.  You can buy the book and take the test as I did in 2008 for an agent named Jayne Gauci, then with Keller Williams.  She was familiar with the book and test and requested I take it so she could figure out if I was for real and able to accomplish all that I had set out to do.  Lucky for me my strengths gave her some reassurance that I could accomplish my goals so she joined RE/MAX Ability Plus.  This go around, I went with what I would consider to be a bit deeper with the process and hired Sarah Robinson who is a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach to work with my leadership team, staff, and sales managers. 

 So we all took the test so Sarah could learn about our individual strengths.   Going further this time also included coaching us individually to our strengths and collectively to our strengths.  Having completed the test at this point I would say I have a pretty good handle on myself but found one of my top 5 strengths to be interesting and enlightening. That strength is “individualization” which is described as “People who are especially talented in the individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively”.    I think I’m good at seeing people as individuals and looking for strengths in everyone which I kinda feel is like seeing the glass of life as half full instead of half empty.  Seeing it in writing with Strengthfinders has brought more clarity and direction. 

 So I choose to share this with you in hopes that you too will take some time to learn about your gifts and how they affect and shape your outcome.  I recommend Sarah Robinson (www.freshconceptsonline.com) as a wonderful resource but more importantly I recommend you continue to learn about yourself and what you bring to the table…

 

Bon appetite…

Who Is Watching You?

Who is watching?.......

These three words have become so important to RE/MAX Ability Plus and I have to imagine they are equally important to every full-time professional REALTOR.

 So one of the hats my brokerage wears is to seek out full-time professional REALTORS and get to know them for two reasons. The first is to build a relationship with Indy’s Top Talent and the second is to recruit Indy’s Top Talent to RE/MAX Ability Plus. Lately much of the discussion from agents we are talking with is how they have been “watching us.” At first I said, “Watching us?” but what I now understand is they take two steps back and watch to see if we are who we appear to be, and lucky for us the answer is yes.

 So this is probably no surprise that you sold a home in a neighborhood and the neighbor to your listing is watching to see how you perform. Is your sign of high quality or old and worn out? Do you do open houses? Is your brochure box empty, or are you using technology or 800 numbers? When you meet with the sellers are you on time or late? Do you look professional and represent the seller in your actions the way the neighbor would like to be represented? When you are out on the town, do you often bump into past clients? How often do you think your clients may see you but you don’t see them? Are you a polite person who handles bad service politely, or the one who makes a scene when you aren’t happy while unaware that a client might be sitting three tables away? Better yet, you don’t even know the person sitting at the table near you but when you leave they ask the server “Who was that person being rude to you?”  What if that person was thinking about working with you, would they still want to work with “that jerk?”  I doubt it.

 Steve Clark in my office recently had his car broken into at a North side mall, so he made an appointment to take it to the dealership to be repaired. While sitting in the waiting room working on his laptop and relaxing, he overheard the people next to him talking about their relocation to the Indy area. Naturally Steve introduced himself and yes, he worked with them selling them a $600k home. More importantly than his interaction with the staff of the dealership and how his story could have changed, he was there because someone broke into his car. He was stuck at the dealership, it’s the holiday season, and this is a huge waste of time for a guy having a killer year. But what the person watching saw was a polite and happy guy. What Steve saw was an opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade.

 For some people they just need to see one good deed, and for others they need results over a long period of time, but someone is always watching you.

Bon appetite

Jimmy Dulin

 

Family First

 You are busy and there are always more homes to sell and more people to help. It's the time of year where we stop, reflect, and plan for our future. For most, the planning of this includes more business, bigger targets, and helping more families. I think it is important for this "pot" to not call the kettle black. I mean after all, I told 32 REALTORS in March of 2008 we would sell a billion dollars in real estate, have 350 agents and be the Number 1 real estate company in Indiana without an "*" by December 31st, 2015! With all that said, I won't do it at the cost of not valuing the people around me that make my life as wonderful as it is.

 In my company, I encourage out agents to maintain balance by setting goals that reflect their aspirations in life which include family, physical, mental or any other thing a person holds in their hearts as important. In the spirit of this, I strive each day to build a company that allows dreamers to dream without the kind of sacrifice they live to regret. It is safe to say that goals come with sacrifice, but done correctly they can also come with great joy. What if your goal was to sell 25 homes this year and every time that you did you also donated a portion of each commission check to a charity? You would then be achieving two goals with the success of selling the same 25 homes.

As the leader of RE/MAX Ability Plus it is my job to Inspire, Create, and Support my agents and there is no better way to that than helping someone create or achieve their goals beyond their sales activities. Just the other day, I was fortunate to be invited to lunch by Angela Dant, a very successful wife, mother, and agent with my firm. The purpose was, "how can I give more to my church while maintaining my other priorities?" I so admire Angela her desires, and I enjoyed the chance to participate in this new exciting journey of hers. She and so many RE/MAX Ability Plus agents do so much good in the world which helps me fulfill my goals as well.

Let's Move Into the 21st Century!

Far behind..... Why would the real estate industry, one of the largest and strongest industries, lack so much in technology? That's right-- we are light years behind other smaller and less lucrative industries. In today's age, we don't need to print, scan, reprint, and email the same documents, but many times we do. Reason is, we are so fragmented and no one wants to allow their tool to talk with another tool so we can streamline this very long and complicated process.

 I look forward to the day when I can input a listing in the MLS via my iPad and answer a few questions along the way, so prior to me walking out of the door the process has begun. Imagine I scan the room using #magicplan which measures and creates a floor plan! I complete all the documents and get signatures using #docusign, create my virtual tour by taking pictures with my iPad with #circlepix and input the showing instructions to #css. Then all the documents are emailed to my office to be electronically filled and approved, my sign ordered and confirmed, the brochure is made at the office and my sellers receive a thank you email and a time line of the process as well as valuable coupons for things they will need during the moving process. All that happens before I leave the listing appointment!

This is real and all the technology exists today. We don't need to waste billions of pages of paper, ink and time printing and scanning. All we need is to connect the dots and that's exactly what I intend on doing........

Bon Appetite,
Jimmy

Are You Scared Of Being Rated?

Ratings..... They are everywhere! Yelp, Angie's List, postings on Facebook, Tweets, Linkedin, and so many more I can't name.

So why is the Real Estate industry scared of a trend that could push the cream to the top?

As a Real Estate professional, I have made my living relying on my reputation, as every REALTOR I know has. Now I'm not foolish enough to believe that every comment made about "Jimmy Dulin" was a positive one, nor do I believe every comment should have been. I have made my fair share of mistakes, but like everyone in the business world, year after year I have gotten better at my trade.

Today instead of selling homes, I am using my Real Estate reputation to build a Real Estate Company, recruiting some of Central Indiana's top agents. Whether selling homes, cooking a meal, or recruiting Indy's top Real Estate talent I, like you, live by my reputation. So I say bring on the ratings, let REALTORS rate their brokers, and let consumers rate their experience with a REALTOR, office, or even a brand. Last year KW won the prestigious JD Power and Associates Award after receiving favorable ratings. The year before RE/MAX won the award and we celebrated our success. So like the JD Power or the Yelps of the world, it's time to accept ratings exist. Some will be good and others no so much, but in the end we shouldn't be scared.

Bon Appetite,
Jimmy