Clients First E-Book

Joseph Callaway

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 320

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

How honesty, competency, and caring will make you rich Throw out the sales manual. Get off the motivation elevator. Clients First is a two word miracle that can change your life. This book outlines a powerful path to riches that authors Joseph and JoAnn Callaway used to sell a billion dollars in real estate in just ten years--a feat never before achieved. Here, they explain the three keys to putting your clients first that helped them create one of the most successful realty firms in the U.S. Each of the three keys is important and can stand on its own. However, the success you can achieve when following the Clients First program can only be reached when all three keys are used in coordination. * Explains how honesty ensures a strong client relationship * Details the ways in which competency pervades all aspects of a client's perception of you * Shows how being a caring individual can win over a client on a personal level Unlock your potential by putting these to use in your life and your business.

Leseprobe

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part I: The Search for Clients First

Chapter 1: Mustang Library

The Question

It Was Our Fault

The Quest

Chapter 2: Road Trip

Was Marketing Our Secret?

Lots of Agents Outspent Us

Chapter 3: Harper’s Restaurant

It’s a Book, It’s Not a Book

A Working Title

It Is Instantaneous

Clueless

Chapter 4: A Dark and Stormy Night

Keep the Clients

Nothing Else Mattered

Chapter 5: The Morning After

Going against the Current

Group Therapy

The Right Thing to Do

A Two Word Mission

Chapter 6: The Three Keys

People Are Not Changed

Clients Last

Narrowing It Down

Scary True

A Two Word Miracle

Chapter 7: The First Key

We Had Bills to Pay

Emotional Overflow

A Hundred Ways to Be Truthful

Honesty Was the Key

Honesty Set Us Free

A Fairy-Tale Ending?

A Powerful Effect

Insurance

Fairness

A Powerful Magnet

Chapter 8: The Second Key

Our First Contract

Seven Days a Week

Be the Best

Only One Instruction

Pursue Competence

Chapter 9: The Third Key

As Long as We Were Paid

A New Definition

It Focused Us

Best Serve Their Interests

The Power of Caring

Staying with Us

With Great Power

Chapter 10: A Rare Thing Indeed

The Sad Truth

Raving Fans

Many Come Close

A Single Straw

The Tipping Point

Chapter 11: Giving Up

Who’s Firing Whom?

Emotions

Opportunity to Help

Never Give Up

Chapter 12: Timeless

What All People Want

The Rich

The Guilty

The Evil People

Lifted Up

Chapter 13: Synergy of the Three Keys

Our World Changed

Satisfaction

A Jillion Megawatts

Queens to Swoon

Chapter 14: And the First Runner-Up Is . . .

Gratitude

Respect

Communication

Obedience

Part II: Clients First Makes All the Difference

Chapter 15: “Show Me,” Said the Missourian

Skeptics Might Say . . .

What Is the Formula?

Our Experience

Chapter 16: Team First

We Leveraged Ourselves

Vow of Poverty

Sellers Are Not Sitting Next to You in Your Car

One Phase of the Process

You Don’t Want Me

A Client of Those Callaways

An Integral Part of Everyone’s Day

They Put Each Other First

Chapter 17: In Their Own Words

Marti

Joyce

Sue

Three Years Later

Brian

Jeff

Alicia

Aaron

Joe

Chapter 18: Trial by Fire

Real Estate Had Been Changed Forever

A Cash-Only Wasteland

No One Was Spared

Dark Days

Our Client Base Saved Us

We Owed It to Our Clients

“Clients First” Rolled Off Their Tongues

Real Estate Owned (REO)

Chapter 19: The Institutional Client

I Thought about It

Our First Institutional Client

Lesson Two

Do Not Use

Keeping in Touch

Now He Wanted to Make Us First

Very Good Very Fast

We Can’t Save the World, But . . .

Chapter 20: The Distressed Client

Short Sales

Clients First Tested Again

Adapt and Survive

Lessons, Lessons, Lessons

If You Don’t Have to, Don’t

Disbelief Was the Order of the Day

We Added Clients

Every Day, the Phone Rings

Chapter 21: Why Number One?

May As Well Close the Doors

Two Is the Road to Failure

Clients First Makes Us Competitive

Like a Religious Experience

She Had Drive and Determination

Chapter 22: Going Forward

We Had No Idea

Every Day Is Special

They Never Get It

Are You Ready?

Part III: How to Put Your Clients First

Chapter 23: The Path to Clients First

You Need a Plan

You Need a Path

The Path to Clients First

A Change Within

Chapter 24: Step 1

Fear and Resentment

An Uncommitted Life

Say Yes

Careful Consideration

Don’t Be an Easy Yes

Welcome to a Miracle

Chapter 25: Step 2

Embarrassment

Positive and Negative

You Have a Choice

Making It Real

Just Say “Next”

Chapter 26: Step 3

Heroes

Get Back Up

No, No, No

Vigilance

Chapter 27: Step 4

Redirection

It’s Your Elephant

Not on Their Radar

What’s Best for Them

A Good Thing

Consequences

Not Popular

Your Way

Chapter 28: Step 5

Nobody Likes a Martyr

We Make Our Own Monkeys

The Worry Chart

Detachment

You Can Change

Chapter 29: Step 6

Forget about the Money

Many Would Dispute This

Quickly, Yet Slowly

Miracles

Take a Chance

Letting Go

A Twofer

Chapter 30: Step 7

Better for It

We Failed

Embrace the Truth

The Truth of Clients First

Chapter 31: Step 8

Insanity

Choice, No Choice

Greener Pastures

A Special Shine

Pride

Don’t Wait

Chapter 32: Step 9

Far to Go

Learning Their Story

Don’t Prejudge

Liking People

Open Up

Chapter 33: Step 10

Perspective

A Made-Up Mind

What Clients Want

What the Client Sees

In Our Clients’ Shoes

Chapter 34: Step 11

You Can’t Give It Away

Giving Money

Immeasurable

Chapter 35: Destination Clients First

Staying in the Moment

Driven

Chapter 36: A Clients First World

Fable or Fact?

Supplemental Image

Index

Cover image: Aaron Blackburn

Cover design: Aaron Blackburn

Copyright © 2013 by Joseph and JoAnn Callaway. All rights reserved.

REALTOR® is a registered mark of the National Association of Realtors © 1947.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

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Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Callaway, Joseph, 1943-

Clients first: the two word miracle/Joseph Callaway, JoAnn Callaway.—1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN: 978-1-118-41277-0 (cloth)

ISBN: 978-1-118-43175-7 (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-118-43177-1 (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-118-43179-5 (ebk)

1. Customer services—United States. 2. Customer relations—United States. 3. Success in business—United States. I. Callaway, JoAnn, 1944- II. Title.

HF5415.5.C355 2012

658.8’12—dc23

2012015374

This book is dedicated to the Clients of Those Callaways.

You taught us everything.

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank all the Clients of Those Callaways to whom this book is dedicated. Without you our technology would be powerless, our phones would be mute, and our hearts would be empty. Thank you again and again.

The support from our Those Callaways Team has been wonderful. Your tireless service is a tribute. You have carried the Clients First torch and we learn from you every day.

Thank you to our first reader and Associate Broker, Marge Lindsay, who, after reading the manuscript, opened her feedback, “With all my heart I love this book.” You brought us joy.

Thank you to our longtime client and the most insightful, sardonic, and outspoken person we know, Paul Sharpe. You said you expected it to be one long ad and then you embarrassed us with praise.

Thank you to our Arizona Republic account executive, Connie Sana. You were the first to say Clients First may change the world.

Thank you to our Title company executive, Michelle Schwartz. Your enthusiasm is contagious and your belief gave us courage.

From the out-of-left-field department we wish to thank our granddaughter, January Harshe, and her husband Brandon, a “Y generation” couple seeking to establish a medical practice in Childress, Texas. We only shared the manuscript with you because you asked. Brandon’s subsequent letter of appreciation and your phone calls told us this was a book for all generations and all pursuits. Thank you.

Our reader group was supposed to remain small and kept confidential but our best, laid plans wilted in the face of buzz and excitement, creating a second reader group to whom we owe a deep debt of gratitude. Your feedback spurred us on. Thank you to Bob Bass, Steve Chader, Brian Critchfield, Jennice Doty, Casey Doty, Jeffrey Fine, Ken Goodfellow, Billy Jensen, Michael Orr, Diane Scherer, Jim Sexton, Toni McCarty, Michael Tiers, Brenda Visser, Heidi Zebro, and John Zidich.

Thank you Gary Keller. You inspire so many. A special thank you to Jay Papasan. Your thoughts and perceptions were invaluable.

Finally, we wish to express our appreciation to Richard Narramore, our senior editor at John Wiley & Sons, Inc. You are a shining example of Clients First, the greatest compliment we can confer.

Introduction

Clients First is the story of our personal journey in real estate. It is a remarkable journey filled with both spectacular highs, as the real estate market bubbled in 2005, and heartbreaking lows, as the bubble burst, creating the worst real estate recession since the Great Depression. Along the way we made a discovery that changed us and everyone around us. We found a miracle. It was the secret to immense business success, and it made everything easy.

This was more than a miracle that occurs once and confounds the philosophers afterward. This was a practical miracle that could be conjured up at will and replicated, not only by us but also by others. It could be passed on to our team, our vendors, our corporate family, our clients, and now to you.

It doesn’t matter whether you are the CEO or the newest hire starting out in the mailroom, this book can change your life. Clients First may be applied in any endeavor with surprising success.

In Part I of Clients First, a memorable lady in a blue suit asks JoAnn, “What is the real reason for your fabulous success?” Her query prompts JoAnn and me to carefully analyze what we do so we can give the question a constructive response. In the process, and after years of struggle, we identify the three keys that unlock the secret to putting our clients first. We shine a spotlight on each key so you can quickly grasp the who, what, where, why, and how of each one. We show how these three complement one another and how they work together to create unimaginable synergy.

In Part II, we examine the evidence and focus on how these two words—Clients First—possess great power. Against the backdrop of a market meltdown we observe how Clients First has the power to save our business, transform our business, and grow our business. Remarkably, Clients First is an unchanging calm at the eye of the storm. Clients First makes it possible to stay the course and achieve great success. Clients First overcomes all obstacles and remains unblemished.

In Part III, you learn how you can put your clients first. You are given a powerful path to follow. If you choose to take it, it will lead to your transformation and empower you to thrive in a Clients First world. Moreover, people within your sphere of influence will be transformed, too. There is room for everyone to benefit. Admittedly, this is a mighty promise, but Clients First (as a book and as a principle) delivers!

Part I

The Search for Clients First

Chapter 1

Mustang Library

She was the third person in line waiting to speak with JoAnn. She wore a proper blue suit, conservative black pumps, and she had her question ready.

We were casually dressed in pressed jeans and comfortable shoes. This was 1999, our third year in the business, and we were known only to our clients. To the 300 real estate agents in attendance, we were like ghosts. We never put our photos on our business cards. Our ads were just for the homes we listed. All the public ever saw were our yard signs, which displayed the words, Those callaways. In northeast Phoenix, we had a lot of signs.

Two hours earlier our broker, Marge, gave us an eloquent introduction. She used the crib sheet I had given her.

“JoAnn takes care of the people, and Joseph takes care of the paperwork. Sometimes Joseph takes care of people, but they never let JoAnn take care of paperwork.”

The audience laughed, even though it was a little corny. But then, I guess we are.

We shared the stage with Russell and Wendy Shaw, who were well known. Russell promotes his real estate business through television and radio commercials and is very entertaining. He kept the crowd laughing, and time flew by.

During the presentation, JoAnn fielded several questions and framed all of her answers around how we take care of our clients. How do you get listings? Our clients refer us to their families and friends. Do you ask for referrals? No, we don’t know how to ask. They just come. Why don’t you run ads about yourselves? We run ads about our clients’ homes. That’s what they hire us for. Do you make cold calls? No. Do you call your circle of influence? Heavens, no. Do you have a personal brochure? Never.

The Question

So, this lady in blue was smiling and waiting her turn in the line that formed near the stage after the event. Dozens of audience members wanted to talk one-on-one with the speakers. This woman had been impressed with the panel and was fiercely determined to have her moment with JoAnn.

At last JoAnn finished with the gentleman in front of the lady in the blue suit, and the woman stepped forward. She was in her early 40s, perfectly made up, and she explained that she had been in real estate for almost 20 years. Then this vision in blue asked her question. “Tell me,” she said, “what’s the one thing you feel is the secret for your fabulous success in so short a time?”

We weren’t used to terms like fabulous. We just felt lucky. We had no clue how we compared to other agents in the Scottsdale and Phoenix market area, because you couldn’t access the data back then. We knew who the local legends were and had completed transactions with a couple of them, but we had no idea that over the previous 12 months we had sold more homes than any other agent in Arizona.

JoAnn seemed not to notice the praise and immediately launched into an explanation of all the things we did to take care of our clients. She told the lady in blue that we put our clients first at all times, thus making them feel that to us they are the most important people in the world.

This nice woman waited patiently through it all. She took care to nod at all the correct moments. Then, when JoAnn had finished, with urgency in her voice, she said, “Yes, yes, I understand all that, but tell me, what is the real reason for your success?”

It Was Our Fault

Didn’t she get it? I think if she had, she would have been the one standing on the stage instead of us. She was better dressed. She had worked at least 17 more years in the business. She seemed ambitious and determined. But she just didn’t get it.

This lovely, well-intentioned woman had been searching for years, her lifetime perhaps, for the secret that would make her a success. We’ve met thousands of seekers since that day at the Mustang Library, and they all asked the same what-is-the-secret-of-your-success question, and they all dismissed our take-care-of-the-client answer. Were they not listening? No. It was our fault.

We hadn’t found a way to explain that real reason. Our answer seemed too simple, too obvious. We didn’t have charts or a pyramid diagram or a list of rules. We talked about taking care of clients, and people would say, “Oh, we already do that.” Or they would ask, “Is that some kind of customer service thing?” We knew even then that Clients First was a two word miracle that, once understood, had the power to change peoples’ lives, to transform businesses, and to bring about financial security. We just could not explain it.

For the first half of our lives, we had been just like the blue-suited woman who persevered in her stylish attire. We were fellow travelers. We had struggled with the same question and were left wanting for an answer. We looked for the secret as though it were something others knew and kept from us. We didn’t discover Clients First until we started to work in the real estate business. Even then, were it not for a dark and stormy night three months into our budding real estate careers, we would still be asking, “What is the real secret to success?”

The Quest

This woman’s question at the Mustang Library that morning set JoAnn and me searching for an explanation. We had found something profound, something that changed us and changed our lives. Yet we were unable to explain how it worked.

The explanation would be a quest, a marathon. It would come after seven years spent interacting with thousands of clients. We would first sell a seemingly impossible billion dollars–plus worth of homes. We would live through the greatest real estate bubble and bust in many generations, and we would survive because of something we named Clients First. The answer did not come easily. But when it arrived, it came in a moment of inspiration.

If you have been searching, come along as we seek to unlock closed doors and find a path to immense rewards. You will discover open secrets so hidden that they may as well be buried on a distant shore. You will realize that you don’t know what you think you know and that you know more than you think. You will find answers within yourself, and you will know that you can achieve great success, because, as you come to know us and our story, you will realize how ordinary we are and how extraordinary has been our experience. An experience you can share and use as your springboard to wealth.

This is the promise of Clients First. It will change you. It will change your future. It will last the rest of your life.

In the pages to come, you will learn that nothing is impossible and that everything is possible for you.

But first we must take our journey. We must search for Clients First. We must travel southbound on Interstate 84.

Chapter 2

Road Trip

“Oh my God, it looks like a war zone.” JoAnn looked at a man holding an automatic weapon at his side. “There’s another one,” she said.

I glanced as she pointed, but I had to keep an eye on the airport traffic. I couldn’t tell whether it was Boston SWAT or the Massachusetts National Guard, but there was a trooper every 10 feet along the curb.

“We’re not doing this,” JoAnn said, shaking her head slowly from side to side. It was the slow part that told me not to argue.

“I’m sure it’ll be okay,” I said. I knew better, but I can be less than smart when JoAnn shakes her head like that.

We were in Boston for a conference, a gathering of what was billed as the top real estate agents in the country. We were departing with mixed emotions. The presenters had been inspirational, and the people we met were obviously very successful, yet something was missing, and we had been trying to put our fingers on it.

The speakers all seemed to espouse some grand plan or method to achieve success. Our plan seemed so simple, our method so plain. Over the past six years, we had attended dozens of these events all around the country. With each conference, we learned and gained insight, but none provided any great revelations. With each gathering, we came to realize that we did much more business than these high-profile personalities. With each trip we came to realize that our contemporaries were just like our lady in the blue suit. For all their tireless, sincere, and heartfelt efforts, for all their fanciful promotion of their niche secrets to success, they all struggled on, condemned to a business that was only as strong as their next workday. For all their declarations of fundamental truths, we eventually realized that the pronouncements changed like the styles of kitchen cabinets. This was in. That was out. This came back. These experts, these eagles, were searching for the real secret and had no idea what it was.

To a person, they made no mention of the client. They had no regard for the most important element in every transaction. How was it that our business success was greater than that of anyone else in the room?

It was during the last day of the conference when news came that British intelligence had thwarted the biggest planned terrorist attack since 9/11. The plot was for suicide zealots to board a dozen or so commercial airliners in London bound for major US cities, including Boston. These Islamic terrorists planned to carry liquid bombs disguised as everyday items, such as shampoo, mouthwash, and soft drinks. They wanted to blow up these planes as they came in for landings on US soil. Not knowing the full extent of the plan, our country was on high alert.

We were scheduled to depart from Boston, and JoAnn wasn’t having any of it. “Just keep driving,” she said.

“Why?” I said, as JoAnn kept shaking her head. I drove on, protesting as I did. She said something about how I never listen to her—again, a signal that I should acquiesce. I continued by saying that it would surely be safe now: “Just look at all the security.”

An hour later, we were back at the Four Seasons, making calls to Amtrak agents, who could get us home in five days—if we didn’t mind getting off the train in Flagstaff, which is located 139 miles north of Phoenix. We called our air carrier to change our departure city and learned that Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, DC, were all under alert and, with the disruption in flight schedules, no seats were available. We called our rental car company and inquired about a one-way rental to Phoenix, but neither of us wanted to drive 3,000 miles. We finally came up with Charlotte, North Carolina. The airline had vacant seats, and JoAnn said she would be okay with that. She also said something about the South being too genteel to be a target. This time, I shook my head.

Our decision made, we informed the rental car company, which switched us to a Lincoln Town Car. We bought a road atlas at a bookstore and found the freeway out of town. We ate dinner in Hartford, Connecticut, and drove passed Mark Twain’s house while trying to find our way back to Interstate 84.

Was Marketing Our Secret?

Until her cell phone battery ran down, JoAnn spoke to everyone back at our office, trying to plug any leaks in the dike. We hadn’t yet made the transition from working in the business to working on the business, so whenever we were out of town we spent lots of time talking on the phone.

We stopped for the night at a Marriott Courtyard in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and the next morning, while looking for our on-ramp, we passed a Harley-Davidson store with a message-style billboard sign that the owner could change regularly. It read, “If your career is on the rise, put a Harley between your thighs.” We discussed this for the next 30 miles.

JoAnn questioned whether the message might be offensive. I thought it was hilarious. From our limited knowledge of the motorcycle industry and biking in general, we tossed our thoughts back and forth. Ultimately, we decided that if Harleys primarily sell to upwardly mobile professionals who like to pretend to be raunchy bikers on weekends, then the sign made an intimate connection with the company’s potential customers while disregarding those to whom the lewd connotation might be offensive.

That led us to discuss our own marketing. We had always felt we owed it to our sellers to maximize their homes’ exposure with advertising, and we advertised regularly. From day one, we had run ads in the Arizona Republic newspaper. I remember telling Sandy, our rep at the paper, that we planned to advertise every week without fail. We’d had our licenses about a month and didn’t have any listings yet. Sandy later shared with us that at the time she thought we were crazy. She felt lucky to book a couple ads a week out of our broker’s office, and there were more than 100 agents working there.

What bothered us about the conference was that every speaker, every writer, promoter, expert, and agent extraordinaire in attendance seemed to have his or her own version of success and how to achieve it. Was marketing the secret to our success? Certainly, many of our clients would say the reason they worked with Those Callaways was because of the advertising. Other agents, if asked, would probably say we were successful because of our marketing.

We drove the next several hundred miles discussing the conference, our business, and our struggle to explain what it was that set us apart. This was August of 2006, and we hadn’t taken any real time off in nine years. Now we were traveling south with nothing to do but talk. We were encapsulated in our Town Car and distanced from the daily grind. We had just been to this conference, and it all came pouring out.

Lots of Agents Outspent Us

We had just come through a remarkable period. The market had peaked in 2005. Those Callaways sold over $250 million worth of real estate in that one year alone—more than 500 homes—and we did it one client at a time.

We asked each other what was missing at this conference of industry leaders. We had rubbed shoulders with the best of the best, yet we came away with questions instead of answers.

We continued talking about marketing, but there were countless examples of agents who outspent us. There were agents who couldn’t make enough money to pay for their advertising habit. They put their names and their faces everywhere. Whatever they earned they plowed back into marketing in hopes that someday they would make a profit. They feared if they stopped advertising, their businesses would be thrown into tailspins. These agents chased the business, and, although JoAnn and I didn’t know it then, they would suffer huge losses when the market later turned downward. It was a lesson we had learned years before. You cannot buy business. The price all too often and all too quickly exceeds the return. Yes, we advertised regularly, but we always kept our marketing expenditures to a percentage of our business volume.

Our ads were beautiful, sincere, and clever, but we didn’t have the market cornered on cute. There were plenty of agents with imagination, and the ones without creative genes could copy others. Nobody owns ideas unless he or she spends money to protect them. Then, too, somebody usually thinks of a way to produce knockoffs of the most appealing ads. We always tried to be original and fresh, but there were lots of great ads without our name on them. Just look at that Harley dealer.

Marketing was not our secret any more than it was anybody else’s secret. Advertising is something you do to get a little more business, but it’s not a success secret. Advertising is just what everybody does. There are no new ideas in marketing. The best you can hope for is to be first with a new twist on an old standard and, when that idea becomes stale from overexposure, try to have the next one ready.

“All these supposedly successful people have their pet themes,” I said. JoAnn looked at me knowing I was about to blow off steam. She waited.

“Bob, who everybody agrees is a genius, says that if you spend three hours a day making cold calls on the phone, your business will go through the roof, but he doesn’t address what to do with the business after you hang up the phone.

“Then there are a number of agents who teach that all you have to do is ask for referrals on every letter or at the end of every conversation, as if that were some kind of miracle. But no one says what to do with those referrals.”

JoAnn said, “We never ask for referrals.”

“That’s not the point,” I said.

“I know,” she said, “but we’ve never made a cold call or asked for a referral.”

“I’m talking about how all these guys address just one piece of the puzzle. They all have their own little ax to grind, but no one addresses the heart of the business. What do you do with those clients once you get them?”

I looked over at JoAnn, and she smiled. She got my point. She just liked to throw me off. She was way ahead of me. She was trying to figure it out, too.

What was our secret? Why were we succeeding while not doing any of the things these smart people said to do? What was the answer to the question we’d been asked at the Mustang Library by the lady in blue? We seemed no closer today than we were back then.

Our answer would come, as it always did, in a flash of inspiration two days and 841 miles later.

Chapter 3

Harper’s Restaurant

We sat in a booth by a window facing south with a view of the parking lot and Fairview Road beyond. Our flight wasn’t until the next morning, and we had spent the day driving around Charlotte neighborhoods, gawking at houses. The conversation was about business. That’s all we ever talked about.

“Do you think we’re boring?” I asked.

“No,” JoAnn said. “I think we’re exciting.”

I watched her absorb her environment. She befriended the waitress with a glance. She smiled at me and my heart lost a millisecond. Yes, we are.

“How?” I asked.

“In every way,” she said.

“We while away the day. We find a shopping mall. We go to a bookstore,” I replied.

“So now you don’t like books?” she said.

“No. We’re just so predictable.”

Our server arrived and we ordered. JoAnn wanted Southern-style veggies and ordered several sides. I had a cheeseburger. Harper’s Restaurant sat on a perimeter pad between the shopping center and the busy road. We’d spotted it when we left the Barnes & Noble store where we had just spent an hour browsing in our usual departments: new fiction, mystery, romance, and business, where I found nothing new—or at least nothing I hadn’t already purchased sometime in the past 10 years. As our business grew, I constantly sought out the latest how-to-succeed guru. I was that lady in blue at the Mustang Library asking, “What’s the real secret?” Like everyone else, I hoped for some supreme being in the form of an author to part the heavens and anoint me with the golden wisdom of wealth. But there were no new bibles of business truth today.

It’s a Book, It’s Not a Book

“Okay,” she said, “what’s this about?”

“I’m just saying we always do the same things.”

“You don’t like what we do?”

“I love what we do.”

“I know what it is,” she said.

“There is no it. It’s nothing.”

“It’s the book.”

“What book?”

“The book.”

“You mean nonbook,” I said. “All we have is a file full of notes.”

“That’s exciting.”

“It’s not a book,” I said.

We had been struggling with this for more than three years, and this road trip had brought my frustration to a peak. We now realized how unique our real estate experiences had been. Our broker, other top agents, first from our state and then from all over the country, had told us our journey was amazing. We’d made more than $200,000 in commissions in our first six months in real estate. This was unheard of. More than 95 percent of agents still in the business felt lucky to make half that each year—and then only after a few lean years. Most agents never make it through the lean years.

We’d hit the ground running and experienced a stellar climb from there. We simply credited it to our hunger for cash. That first half year in the business we seemed to know nothing. We viewed all the big names in our market as legends, with years in the business and signs in front of mansions. They had reputations. We had residents living in a one-square-mile area containing 900 modest homes. We sent cute items to them on a regular basis. Little did we know that we were doing so much more business than these highly touted agents.

In our second year we doubled our income, and in year three we hit $1 million in commissions. That’s when people started telling us we were doing well. We had no idea. In 2005, we did almost $6 million in gross commission income. We no longer owed my dad money. In fact, we didn’t owe anyone money. We had paid for our home. We had paid for our office. Our retirement was funded. By most measurements, we could pack it in and enjoy our golden years. But here we sat, wanting to tell our story, wanting to explain the reason for our success, yet with no clue how to do it.

The book file was full of stories, systems, tips, and anecdotes. We had outlines and chapter titles, and it was a mess.

JoAnn said, “Let’s talk about it.”

I pulled out a white 8½ × 11 legal pad. “The problem is I don’t know where to begin,” I said. “It’s, like, too much. It’s information overload. And it comes off preachy.”

“Well, we certainly don’t want to be preachy.” She was teasing and I knew it.

“I’m serious.”

“Okay, as long as you don’t take yourself seriously.”

She was right. JoAnn is always right. The book was a gauntlet, a blank page, and I didn’t know how to fill it. Every week I wrote ads, letters, flyers, copy for the Multiple Listing Service, tutorials, contracts, counteroffers, addendums, and myriad notes in the course of running our business. But how do you write a book? What was the hook, the main point, the sequence? Who was our audience? There were more than a million real estate agents, but how many would want to know how we did what we did? How many would want to do what we do? How many would even buy a book?

“Who would even want it?” I said.

“Everyone,” she replied. “Everyone will want it.”

I decided to include a chapter on inspiration and blind adulation.

I wanted this to be more than a real estate book. I wanted this to be the book I had been searching for. I wanted this book to reveal the real reason for success. For all of our achievements, for all of our confidence and, yes, for our collective ego (suppressed though it was), I was overwhelmed.

A Working Title

“Let’s list the chapters,” she suggested.

“We’ve done that.”

“Let’s do it again, right now. No notes. Just start with a blank pad.”

So we began. I wrote: “Title,” followed by the words “Master Agents, Making Millions Selling Real Estate.”

“That sucks,” she said.

“It’s a working title.”

“Well, it’s not working.”

“Can we just get past the first line?”

I started writing chapter titles. “Marketing,” “Teaming Up,” “Putting Clients First,” “Farming,” “Systems,” “The Internet.” We discussed each one as I wrote them down. The waitress poured my third cup of coffee. JoAnn asked for more ice in her tea.

JoAnn examined the page as I looked out the window.

“This is all so good,” she said. She read the list aloud. “It’s so good.”

“It’s too much,” I said. “It’s too general.”

“Putting clients first isn’t too general. It’s important.”

“Sure, but everyone preaches good customer service.”

“It’s more than that,” she said. “Putting clients first is much more than good customer service. It’s what has made the difference for us. It’s what nobody seems to understand.”

“So why don’t we just call it Clients First?”

The minute I said it, we looked at each other. There was no flash of light, but we knew. We felt it. This was our title, our story, our mission.

It Is Instantaneous

This is how so many things happen in our lives, moments of change. Some might call it inspiration or realization, but I call it change, because that’s what happens. One moment you’re going along with your life and then something happens and you change. It is instantaneous. I tried to quit smoking for more than 10 years. I cut down. I changed brands. I bought a pack at a time because a carton was a commitment. Then one night I stopped with half a pack to go. I carried that half pack for months, then kept it in a dresser drawer for years, but I never smoked another cigarette. To this day, I don’t know what happened, but I know it happened in a flash and I was changed.