Networking the Right Way for Business and Job prospecting

For many years, networking “experts” have proclaimed; you have to be on social media to be successful in business or for your next job search. Many small businesses and job seekers have followed their advice and constantly updated on all of their social networking sites, at the recommended times during the day, as recommended by the “experts”; what has happened?
 Many boast about the large numbers of followers they have on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and other social networking sites; but has any of that social networking turned into profit for the business or a solid job prospect? Small businesses and job seekers often rely on software to assist them with social networking, to stay in constant contact with their database. It’s often a daily deluge of drip campaigns, blogs and dry emails reminding everyone, who is in their social network, how important they are to their business or why they should be hired. The big surprise comes when one of your followers buys a product or service from a competitor or you just got news of someone on your social network, who is less qualified than you, was hired for a position you had sent a resume to and now you can’t figure out why they didn’t contact you. You “liked” what they posted on their social networks, you made comments on their sites and yet they went with your competitor or hired someone less qualified than you; why?
 You immediately look at the competitor’s web site and social presence to determine why your contact went with them. You convince yourself, your multiple websites are more professional than theirs and your pricing is far superior to your competitor or you were more qualified for the position; so why did your follower go to them?
 For many years, many of us have gotten away from the personal aspect of business. It all started with; sly-dialing to leave a voice message, a fax, an email or a text, hoping you wouldn’t have to actually talk to a real person. We walk through our community and pass by people, never saying a word to any of them and many of you wouldn’t recognize many of your social media followers, if you passed them in the isles while grocery shopping. This impersonal lifestyle, many of us lead, is the result of our social networking failure. 
 The newest rave, spanning across nations, is the old adage of personal networking. I have attended many of these events and chuckle to myself as I watch many people stumble over themselves trying to network, which more than often turns into a social hour of people talking with people they already know or are in the same line of business. 
Networking the Right Way starts out with your appearance, a message and a goal. It’s all about developing relationships, gaining the confidence of people within your community and spanning out from there. Learning the skill of networking takes time and effort, you will gain lasting results and build confidence in yourself and develop a strong business reputation. Here is some advice I offer to those in business or those seeking employment; 

               10 Tips for Successful Business Networking 

1. Networking is about being genuine. 
2. What are your goals with participating in a network meeting? 
3. Visit as many Networking Groups in your area. 
4. Volunteer or hold leadership positions in your community. 
5. Ask open-ended questions when networking. 
6. Become known as a powerful resource. 
7. Have a clear statement of what you do, why you do it, for whom and why you love what you do. 
8. Be able to articulate what you are looking for and how others may assist you. 
9. Follow up quickly on each referral and business card you receive. 
10. Call those you meet, who may benefit from your services, and follow through on collaborating with those you can assist.

 10 Networking Tips using business cards/business positions

 1. Never leave home without your business cards.
 2. Have a Unique Sales Proposition on your business card. 
3. Treat the business cards with respect when you receive them. 
4. When handing out business cards, hand out two. 
5. Keep your business cards simple, don’t boast yourself on your card. 
6. Make notes on the business cards you receive. 
7. Be part of the networking committee, volunteer to be a greeter. 8. Follow up face to face after a networking event, personally. 
9. Get published, write letters or business notices in the newspaper. 10. Branding yourself. 

      Common Questions/Comments to make while networking

1. Tell about you’re your business?
2. What’s the most unique aspects of your business? 
3. What type of client is least profitable? 
4. What’s your biggest business challenge right now? 
5. What is the best thing that happened to your business this year? 6. What is your biggest wish for next year? 
7. Do you have employees? What is the most difficult thing you have to deal with? 
8. What’s your biggest personal accomplishment so far? 
9. What’s your biggest personal accomplishment in your career? 10. If I were to refer a client to you; what would be your ideal client? 
11. When is the most convenient time to stop by your business so you can tell me more about what you do? 
12. What can you tell me about yourself?

         Common Mistakes to Avoid when Networking

 1. Speak without enthusiasm. Lack of voice inflection when introducing yourself and emphasizing your credentials. 
2. Failure to express opinions or interest. 
3. Stuck in a routine and act bored. 
4. Looking around hoping other people will rescue you. 
5. Narrow focus of personal interaction. 
6. While speaking to people, looking around to see someone else. 
7. Crowd the food table or bar, (overeat and getting drunk). 
8. Politics, religion, off color jokes and gawking. 
 9. Negative comments, (boss, elected officials, your business) 
10. Bragging about your accomplishments or how great you are. 11. Hanging with the same people the entire event. 
12. Ignoring people who are trying to engage with you. 
13. Trying to engage in conversation while others are deeply engaged in conversation. 
14. Don’t be a cling-on.

Welcome to the New Normal

This time of year is always special for me and it has nothing to do with the holidays. Twenty-five years ago, my unit was preparing to go to war. It had been fifteen years since our military had its last engagement in Vietnam. We had had small scale conflicts; Grenada and the communist factions of Cuba and the Soviet Union, Panama and the ouster of Manual Noriega just prior to Operation Desert Storm and the many years of watching the borders of Korea and Europe during the Cold War. Now a new war is upon us, terrorism. We have watched it from afar, it is something that happens over there and we have long been isolated from terrorism. As long as I can remember, there has always been terrorist acts being reported, written about and many of the acts were brought upon by; left versus right, have-nots versus the haves and religion against religion. The fights have always been over there, as we watch from afar and thought; how terrible it must be to live with terrorism. The troubles in Ireland, the loss of life as we watched from afar, terrorism between two factions, extremism and now the start of an old phenomenon has raised its ugly head in our country; terrorism. It’s no longer over there, it’s here and will be in our lives from here on. We can wage battles, over there, and talk of how we are going to defeat those who inspire terrorism, but it’s here, now. The real question is; how do we defeat terrorism? The answer is; you don’t. Is there peace in Ireland? Can there ever be peace in the Middle East? We can answer that with our own experience within our country, our racial divide. We can all claim ourselves as being optimist and looking forward to the brighter future but, I proclaim, being the ultimate pessimist, we cannot have peace as long as we have poverty, religion, different races and language. There is no sense in hiding in your home to escape terrorism, it’s here, live your life, be vigilant and know; terrorism can happen to you. Welcome to the new normal. 

Can't Find a Job!

I just finished preparing a report I will be presenting to a room full of commercial real estate brokers, lenders and contractors next week. What I found fascinating was information during my research, (beyond what I will actually be presenting); a large number of millennials who are living at home because they can’t find employment in their field of study, are under employed or are thinking of going back to school to study another field, (adding additional debt to their excessive student loan balance). I read several responses from those who moved back home with their parents, (or never left home), they all have something in common; poor communication skills. If they speak the way they write, (or as the journalist wrote their comments), I can completely understand why they can’t find employment.

Regardless of what field you choose to work in, communication is important, especially when dealing with the public, face to face. I would love to have overheard their job interviews, especially when they are asked that one question, asked by every human resource officer or potential employer; “tell me about yourself”. How does anyone explain a lack of work history or internship within their selected field of study? In reality; who expects a mid-five figure starting income without experience and be able to explain that with a straight face, (remember, they lack communication skills); I would love to hear that one. By far, most millennials will fail in their future endeavors, if they never learn professional communication skills; emails and texting is not going to get the job done.

Thinking back to projects I have worked on within our university city, I have noticed many millennials, hanging out with their friends, (who also live with their parents), overhearing their conversations, attempting to solve their worldly problems by convincing themselves; their idea is the right way and the world needs to conform around them and businesses need to step up to the new way of thinking.

I offer this advice; take a course in public speaking at a community college where the instructor has actual business experience. Join a Toastmasters club where you will be evaluated by the members in a learning environment or hire a speech coach who will put you through the paces and develop your speaking ability. Try networking with your new found speaking skill, spend less time playing video games and hanging out with others in the same financial predicament as you. If you really want to get ahead, set yourself apart from what everyone else is doing and take control of your life. Mom and dad only have a limited time left on this earth, leave a little cash for them to live on in their final years. 
If you want a few more answers on why you can't find a job, here is a link for more "in your face" information.

Images

  I want you to take a moment and think; when was the last time you bought film for a camera?  How long has it been since you owned a camera that required film? You do realize, you can still get film processed, very inexpensively. You can take your exposed film to an outlet center, they will send the film to a processing plant, who will develop the film and send your images back on a DVD. In most cases, you will not receive your negatives, they shred them. Why would you need your negatives; you have your images on a DVD. For the majority of people, digital photography is the way they capture and keep their images. It’s easy, cheap and you can share your images instantly for the world to see, right now, on Facebook, Twitter and snapchat. It’s there in an instant, possibly shared by some of your followers and then forgotten. I recently had a conversation with Brian, at Harmon Photo, here in Gainesville, we share the same concern; where is our family’s history going to be in twenty years? He reminded me of our shared concern, which is crossing the photo industry; keeping our history alive with photographs, is a dying tradition.

Many of you will be able to relate a memory from a time when you were a child and anticipated a large family get together, with cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents. The excitement builds, as the time draws closer, your imagination grows of what the event was going to be like; playing in the water, games, spitting watermelon seeds on your cousins, laying in the grass, looking up and trying to explain what kind of animal the clouds shaped into. You arrive late and when you woke up in the morning, it was raining and the entire brood was sitting around grandma’s house bored and fussing with each other. Grandma goes into her bedroom, brings out some boxes and very soon, the adults are sitting around the dining room table, looking at photographs,  passing them along and commenting; what would that car be worth now or, you really wore that? Soon the children would gather with the adults, where they would point out family members from the past, on yellowed gray, black and white photographs. Pictures were being taken out of the box and handed around and someone would ask grandma; who is this? She would take the photo and stare at it for a moment; that was… The picture of the naked girl running in the yard, only to find out, it was your mom. Everyone is now laughing and pointing at your embarrassed mother, but it’s not what you think, it is a picture was of a three year old girl. You find another picture of your mom, when she was in elementary school. You pick up a photo of your school picture and hold it alongside and stare at the features, how you resemble her. You dig down into the old photos and find an aged, black and white photograph of a teenage couple, standing in front of an old car; who is this grandma? She takes the photo and brings her hand to her mouth as her eyes begin to tear, from a wound which has not yet healed. That is your grandpa and me, going to a church social. She brings the photo back in front of her and touches the image of the young man. There are photos of soldiers and sailors, proms, weddings, family gatherings and funerals, all part of your history, laid out before you. Where do you keep your images?

Fifteen years ago, we kept our images on three inch floppy disks; how many of you have a computer that will read a floppy disc or where could you send the disk off to recover your images? Would it be too expensive, that’s okay, it was just some old pictures. Maybe you’ll store all your new images on a DVD or memory card; are you aware they have 64 gig memory card, that will hold up to seven thousand images? With technology increasing and in order to have the latest and greatest mega pixel gadget and the best and greatest new place to store all your images, in the cloud; what could possibly go wrong? What is going to happen to your family history?

When you’re gone… as they are cleaning out your desk drawers, cabinets and they find old technology on floppy disk, DVD’s or memory cards… it will go into a bag, your history is gone. There will be no sitting around the table laughing and pointing and remembering your history. There will be no touching your history because it will be in the trash heap of forgotten memories.  How will they remember your history? Where are your images?

Here are links to assist you of how to preserve your history;

http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchiving/index.html

http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchiving/documents/PA_photo.pdf

http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchiving/documents/media_durability.pdf

http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/documents/ebookpdf_march18.pdf

Thank You, Louise Kehoe, of Kodak, for the information.

Remembering Family This Memorial Day

She reaches down and pulls the step stool in front of the vanity, steps up to the top step, reaches for her toothbrush standing in its holder, grasps the small tooth paste tube, flips the top and squeezes the tube for a dab on the bristles of her toothbrush. She looks into the mirror, smiles, raises the handle to run water over the tooth paste and returns it to her smile as her mother steps behind her and starts brushing her hair. She parts the hair in the middle and pulls the long curly strand to the side of her head for pigtails. The young girl continues her brushing mission as her mother twists the scrunches to hold the pigtails and ties red, white and blue ribbons around the scrunches as the little girl spits into the sink, spins on the top step, looks into her mother’s eyes; is grandma going to be there too? Yes she is, her mother replies; are you excited about visiting daddy? In a quiet voice she answers, yes. Her mom wipes the excess foam from her lips and chin, kisses her on the lips; share the lipstick, as they both giggle from the kiss. Let’s get going, we don’t want to keep grandma waiting when we visit daddy. The little girl steps down from the stool, returns it to its storage position and then skips down the hall to the front door, opens it and skipped down the sidewalk to the car parked in the driveway. Her mother walked behind her, opened the door and lifted the little girl into her car seat, fastened the straps around her and shut the door. As they pulled out into the street, the little girl looked out the side window and thought about seeing her father as her mother watched her in the rear view mirror. The drive went quickly, and soon, they arrived to an awaiting grandma’s hugs and kisses. Do you know where he’s at; the grandmother asked? Yes I do, as she turned and ran to her father’s position among the other soldiers. When she reached his position she sounded out; hi daddy and touched the white tombstone marker. As her mother walked through the garden of stone and looked down at the markers of those who sacrificed their lives, so we could celebrate our freedom.  Both women knelt down and placed an American Flag on the grave and leaned a wreath of flowers against the back of the stone as the little girl talked to the father she had never touched, shared a kiss or giggled from the tickles he promised to give her on the video they had all watched hundreds of times. Her father did not return home to the pageantry of fanfare and speeches. He arrived in a solemn hearse with a veteran and police escort, in a flag draped coffin. The sound of blaring rifles, the folding of the flag and being presented on behalf of a grateful nation and a lone bugler sounding a call to rest with taps. Memorial Day is the time we remember those who defended our freedom with their last breath but it goes beyond the service member, there are families who bear the weight of loss. As we pay respect to our fallen, Memorial Day 2015, please take time and remember our Gold Star Families.

Your Voice or Your Property Rights; Choose One

The Board of County Commissioners are about to decide, which is more important to you; your voice in front of your peers or your property rights, which one are you willing to give up? How could this happen, you ask? County Staff is attempting to follow the City of Gainesville position of removing your voice, in front of your peers, in speaking out against cases brought against you from the county Codes Enforcement Board. The position of the Alachua County Building Department and Codes Enforcement officer would rather have an Independent magistrate hear each case presented by officers of Codes Enforcement. It can be intimidating to stand in front of a board of your peers, who are volunteers, but having a county paid magistrate, listen to cases being presented by county officials being paid, with a county paid attorney overseeing the counties position; what could possibly go wrong? The arrogance of members of our county commission, county attorney’s office and members of staff reflect their personal political desire of centralized government control of every aspect of your personal property rights.  You can make a difference with policy by writing our county commissioners and expressing your opinion and your choice. The motion to be read to the commission; Have an Independent Magistrate listen to specific cases, remove the volunteer codes enforcement board and have an Independent magistrate hear all cases or leave it just as it currently is; a voluntary citizens board. You other choice is do nothing, say nothing and lose your voice as well as your property rights; which are willing to give up? 

Homeowners Manuel

Here is the link to my YouTube video for my Homeowners Manual. It is a how to video to develop customer satisfaction, whether you are in the real estate or insurance industry, remodeling contractor, home inspector or handyman.

Get Some Guts

Employers, managers, superintendents and other so called supervisors; do your job! All I wanted to do was come into your store and buy a soda after filling my gas tank. As I wait in line, the line builds behind me, from other customers waiting to pay for gas or buy items, as your clerk chats on their phone while slowly using their other hand to scan items. While this is going on, several customers place their products back on a shelf and walk out of your store, very soon, I follow their lead and walk out as well. My second adventure of the day was walking into a real estate office to get a key for a project I was going to bid on, for repairs. The front desk person was entranced with their phone, texting someone, as I waited for them to look up. When they finally noticed I was standing directly in front of them, they offered a friendly smile and asked if they could help me. I asked for the key to the project, they got up from their desk to retrieve it. When they finally returned with the key, they had the phone stuck to their ear in an in-depth conversation. They sat down and moved in slow motion to get a receipt book, for me to sign for the key. They paused their conversation, only to ask for my business card, and continued on with their conversation as I walked out the door with the key.  My next stop was a supply house to pick up products to deliver to a working project. As I paid for the load of lumber, the clerk asked; do you need help loading your truck? I welcomed the help, the clerk called over the PA system for a loader, as I wheeled my cart of lumber out the door towards my truck. I started loading the lumber into the back of my truck, looked around for the assistance I was asked if I needed; nobody was walking in my direction. I continued loading my truck, as I was about to load the last three pieces of lumber into the back of my truck, a young man was walking towards me with his phone in his hand texting or playing video games, not sure which, put his phone in his pocket just before he got within ten feet of me; need some help he asked? I looked down at the last piece of lumber on the cart and then back to him; I believe I can take it from here. He shrugged his shoulders, reached into his pocket, retrieved his phone and walked back towards the building.
I have really had enough of today’s technology and the addiction which goes along with it. I’ve also had enough of the gutless supervisors, who watch this going on around them, who say nothing to the employees about their personal business on company time. We hear the complaints of low wages for these service related positions, given their lack of focus on the purpose of their employment, they are being paid entirely too much as well as their direct supervisor. If you have an addiction to technology; seek counseling. If you are in a position of authority and have difficulty supervising those who you were hired to oversee; get some guts!

I Screwed Up

I screwed up; yes, it’s true, I screwed up. Who would have known, someone actually followed my instructions for doing preventive maintenance around their home and I happened to leave out a simple piece of information. I will be the first to admit, I don’t always follow my own recommendations for home maintenance. I am no different from my dentist friend, who recommends flossing and doesn't do it himself. I've seen the high number of visitors, on the most popular page on my website, “My Home Doctor”, spend an average of five minutes reading content that is all about helpful hints to guide you in the right direction when doing home maintenance. I once appeared on our local TV station, during the evening news, giving advice on what to do when buying a home that has been sitting idle for years and yet I screwed up and left out a sort of important procedure when applying preventative maintenance to plumbing fixtures. I assumed those who visited my website, understood where the important disconnects to your home were before you started doing maintenance; I was wrong.

It all started when, someone was trying to be a responsible homeowner and stay ahead of the maintenance by checking the shutoff valves to the sinks and toilets. The owner applied to much pressure to a frozen valve and snapped the PVC pipe it was connected to and they had no idea of where the main shutoff valve to the home was located. After several phone calls to plumber’s answering service, (it was a Saturday afternoon), they found a plumber who talked them through the process of how to locate the shutoff as the water was now flowing out the front door. What the plumber assumed, the home owner knew they needed a tool to manipulate the valve; he as wrong. After the homeowner located an adjustable wrench and screwdriver to be able to turn the main shutoff valve, the water had flooded the entire house. The good news, they were insured, the bad news; they probably won’t be calling me for the restoration. So here is a note to myself; write step by step instructions when writing tips, but then again, most guys won’t read them anyway.

My BNI Experience

For all good intentions and purpose; BNI is a great place to display your business, learn how to connect with others and develop a presentation.  My prospective of this organization is based upon my activity and participation with a couple local groups I have attended.  The concept of “Givers Gain” is something that everyone in the group should grasp, but all too often it was; you give so I can gain.

  I was excited with the first meeting my wife and I attended.  The thirty second infomercials explained the members business, who would be a great referral along with the eight minute spotlight presentation on a members business, presented a platform I would be very comfortable participating in. I initially saw the value with membership, having the ability to present our business to fifty other business members within our community.  We looked at the application fee as a little pricey, but with all of our other marketing failures of the past, what could we lose having the eyes and ears of fifty other members who would possibly refer our business to other members of the community.  Since only one of us could be a member, my wife joined and I would join her weekly, at the 7:30 AM meeting. My wife attended the mandatory leadership training for the purpose of being able to give an eight minute presentation as well as learn the value of; one on one’s, continued education and the referral concept, all great information.  The strict rules of the organization; only one member per industry, (we had four different insurance agents, three real estate agents, two attorneys), wink-wink, nod-nod they created different categories for each just to fill a seat within the group. Absenteeism and tardiness would cause expulsion from the group, unless you had someone substitute for you. What a perfect platform for me as a Toastmaster, I became a professional substitute for several members within our group as well as another BNI group. This was going to be a fun experience, or so I thought.

After several months of one on ones, continued education tapes and books, the monotonous 30 second infomercials, (often read from a smart phone or tablet).  The eight minute spotlight for business often presented family vacations and left me wondering what their business actually did.  I quickly volunteered my services, as a Toastmaster, to several members to create a more effective thirty second presentation.  I coached several members with their eight minute presentations, which would have been applauded by most fortune 500 companies, and developed confidence with the members I coached, (Givers Gain), for free.  My thoughts were; why should I accept a poor business presentation just because I live in Gainesville, Florida and why should those with limited business experience be given accolades, for such poor presentations, which established weak business foundations.

Months had past, we gave out thousands of dollars in referrals to several members of our group and yet our business received nothing, although we were told to expect 6-8 months before we actually started to see results.  We witnessed members come and go, we watched as the referrals passed from member to member as we passed referrals and the dollar value increase to over a million dollars of referrals in a year from the group and yet nothing for our business.

The downturn started; we used the services of company who cleaned tile floors and carpet. They made appointments with a couple of our customers and stood up both appointments both times. We used them on a project to clean tile in the bathrooms and kitchen in a home we were remodeling, we had to go back over areas they completely missed during the final walkthrough. Other disappointments; overpriced services, failure to deliver a website, (which I’m still waiting for a refund), failure to keep appointments and the invitation to a five hour education credit seminar, which turned out to be nothing more than a hard sell presentation for a “Networking Course”, that would have given the “Buy Real Estate with No Money” a run for its money.  Attending a BNI social event which became a hard sell; “why aren’t you using my business” from several members of a different BNI group. The final straw came from two different BNI, HVAC members who promised service but only tried to deliver a sell.  Their diagnosis was it would be too expensive to repair a pair of HVAC units, ($1800-$2700 respectively), and we should replace them at a cost of $4200, each. I got a traveling HVAC tech to evaluate the units, he repaired both units for less than $700. I took the story to the media to expose what many in the HVAC industry is doing to an uninformed public.  The member filed a complaint against us, we attended a hearing and made our decision to drop out of BNI.

Our experience with BNI was not all bad.  We met some wonderful people and will continue to refer customers to their business. Helping business people develop a professional presentation was a joy for me personally. What is lacking with the application process is the reviewing process for each business that applies. Some questions need to be asked; what is your business model, what does your business plan look like and how will your business benefit the group as a whole.  I believe there should be some ethics training as part of the education system of BNI. Would your business benefit from BNI? If you lack the basic skills of networking, BNI is a great opportunity for you to learn and possibly gain from being a member.  I encourage you to attend several meetings, with several groups, before making a decision to join.  Just by attending the meetings, you will be able to start developing a, “one on one”, strategy without spending a lot of time and money joining an organization that attempts to shackle both.  

An HVAC Repair Nightmare

We recently acquired four rental units to manage in a condo complex, within our local community.  The owner was dissatisfied with the previous management company’s operation and the condition of their investment properties. As we inspected and made the necessary repairs to make the units move-in ready for the next tenants, we found an HVAC unit not working.  We contacted a vendor who was in our networking group to service the unit and what we received was information we were not expecting nor could the owner could readily afford. The technician advised us; he would have to remove the interior coils to clean because they were impacted with debris and because of the age of the unit, it required the old R-22 Freon, which is difficult to acquire and very expensive.  Along with various other repairs, the cost to repair the unit was $1800 and it would be money better spent to replace the unit for $4200.
The problem was; the owner had purchased the four, ten year old units, as an investment near the height of the real estate market. The rent, at the time of purchase, was barely covering the financial costs of the properties. Over the past eight years, the property values declined over half and the rental income by 30%. The owner was coming out of pocket every month, hoping to maintain ownership of their investment and appreciation values would increase over the next several years and paying $4200 to replace the system was not in the budget.  To protect the owner’s interest, I inspected the unit and found the coils were not impacted and I easily cleaned them myself within fifteen minutes.  I contacted a local HVAC technician to evaluate the system and what he found was surprising to me.  The system was low on Freon, he charged the system and it held pressure. The cost to repair the system; under $300, the owner was ecstatic. A week later, another one of the systems went down and we contacted another vendor who we had used in the past. The technician evaluated the system and said it was leaking Freon and couldn't be repaired efficiently, (around $2700), and it would be better to replace the system for $4200. My thoughts were; a system just doesn't break overnight unless something catastrophic happens, so I inspected the unit and called my tech back in to evaluate. The system was leaking, at a valve, and could be repaired efficiently, under $400. The owner was not happy about having to pay $700 for the recent HVAC repairs, after having to pay the cost to make the properties rent-able with paint and repairs, but was excited about us looking out for their bottom line and saving them an additional $8000 in replacement cost.

What we didn't know about the first vendor; the technician earned commissions on the sale of new units and up sales on maintenance.  Not only did the tech earn money from selling, it guaranteed him a day’s work. The pressure to inflate price, if the owner was to accept the cost of repair, would have put additional bonus dollars in his pocket.

The second vendor turned out to be the owner of the HVAC Company. His focus was to sell a new system, build his customer base and not offer the service our owner desperately needed.  

We learned some valuable lessons we intend to follow for the future, for all our customers. I want to pass on the following suggestions to you if you are in the property management business or concerned about estimates for repairs for your personal home.

Ask your vendor;

Are technicians paid commission? If the system needs Freon, how do they measure it, (have them show you the scale they measure with before and after the service)? If parts were replaced, have them give you the old parts. Do they charge a trip charge along with a diagnostic fee to come to your home or business?  How many employees does the business have, (think about the cost and overhead of a large business versus a small one or two man team)? 

By asking these questions, you can possibly save yourself hundreds to thousands of dollars in repairs not needed, overcharges as well as looking out for your bottom dollar.  Is it better to have a new HVAC system than a fifteen year old system? The answer is a resounding, YES; but if you can't afford to pay for a new system, repairing the old one may be your best bet.  Get a second or third opinion before you make the choice of spending money you don't have.

The Noose

One of my favorite books of all times is “Watership Down” by Richard Adams. The simple overview is how the world appears through the eyes of rabbits, but it goes far beyond that.  In the beginning, a character has a premonition of the destruction of their colony.  When he tells his friend of the premonition, they decide to take the information to the leader, who discredits their ideas.  The characters so believed in the premonition, they told several other of their friends and decided to leave their colony before disaster befell upon them.  In their travels, they come upon a colony of rabbits who were larger, healthier with shiny fur.  Their colony was well protected among blackberry and raspberry brambles within a large pile of brush, giving them protection from predators and the weather.  The characters didn’t understand why these rabbits were so much larger and healthier until they asked.  The rabbits explained a human created their habitat for them and often left them piles of food, more than enough for the members of the colony and invited the characters to join the colony.  As the days went by, the characters shared the wealth of the gifts the human had left for them. They felt they had found their new home but another premonition befell upon them that brought them to be concerned of their new home.  The premonition brought more fear to all the initial characters than before as they watched their friend appear to be choking to death.  The character awoke from his dream and told his followers, they were not safe here and must leave.  Several of the characters were in disbelief until the premonition come to pass.  One afternoon while the group were heading to eat from the pile of food the human had left for them, reality set in.  One of the characters had slipped into a wire noose and as they struggled with the noose, it tightened and choked the character.

I don’t want to ruin the story for you, you’ll just have to find the book to find out what happens, but the point being made is what appears to be happening within our human country right now.  The healthy colony of rabbits knew of the danger of their colony but were willing to accept the sacrifice of a false security.  They were willing to accept the gifts from their host but what they thought were gifts was nothing more than scraps.  Many within our society are just like the rabbits living among brambles in what they believe is security and are willing to accept the scraps for what they assume is their security.  As our government draws many to a false security, it prepares a noose to choke our society into serfdom. Do not allow yourself to be drawn into a false sense of security by the gifts of government.  Remember, the security for the rabbits was a brush pile in a blackberry and raspberry bramble and scraps for the many.

 So, are you prepared for the noose?  

The Driver

 

It’s another real estate convention with first class accommodations and as our van rolls to a stop under the hotel canopy, men in traditional doormen uniforms steps forward to assist our traveling group with our bags.  Walking into the grand foyer was like walking into a palace.  Marble floors adorned with red carpets, marble support columns with polished accent light fixtures and displayed works of art.  The impeccably dressed staff worked diligently to accommodate each guest’s registration request as the concierge answered questions from an impatient current guest of the hotel. As the door opened to our room, the light poured through heavy lace sheer drapes covering the doors which opened to the balcony, revealing the glass encased atrium of the hotel shops and restaurants.  The park-like setting was a constant movement of people coming and going from other conventions, open air displays with professional speakers with the Potomac River as a backdrop. We were staying in one of the finest hotels Washington DC had to offer and yet I lacked the excitement I should be feeling as I stared over the atrium.  Since we had arrived a day early and now bored with the lack of business activity we were normally accustom to, we invited ourselves into another conventions area to listen to other business speakers to gain additional knowledge to share with our other agents and staff.  One of the speakers was Michael Woodford, the former CEO of the Olympus Corporation, turned “Whistle Blower”, which could have cost him his life in Japan. His story, to say the least, was very interesting, so interesting, following his speech, my wife immediately went to our room, went online and ordered his book.  I reminded her, she already knew the end of the story and she gave me a smirk and continued to order her book.

 

Our company’s lineup of convention speakers was a who’s who of the business world.  Darren Hardy was the keynote speaker for the morning. His message of healthy living, healthy business and his drive for success is what makes his Success Magazine the primary reading choice of the professional business person.  Darren’s message was well received and although it had changed some since the last time I heard him speak, (Darren is a very good motivational speaker) and I really didn’t get all that motivated.  Upon his completion, a well-deserved standing ovation was rendered by the audience and then the introductions of another speaker, more applause, another speaker, more applause and the day was completed by a catered party, supplied by the vendors, which could have fed an army, twice the size of the attending party.  The fun part of any convention is the re-acquaintance of the people you have become familiar with over the years and hearing how they were doing in business, children, common complaints of other agents and the lack of quality supply of homes and quality sales agents.  As the week rolled on, I was soon on information over-load that I would have to process what information would best suit our business model, I was ready to go home.

 

While waiting for final check-out, the transportation concierge assigned a driver to take us to the airport.  He graciously took our bags and loaded them into the trunk of our car, opened our doors and soon, we were on our way home. As we pulled away from the convention center, silence filled the car as we were taking our last look of the area and the driver began his story.

 

He spoke with a heavy accent about his job and his love for our country.  He arrived in the US only four years earlier and had been sponsored so his transition would be easier.  He had immigrated from Ethiopia and spoke of the poverty of his home land and the riches and lifestyle of our country.  He shared his questions of his sponsor of how could everyone be so rich in this country and they had to explain to him that they were only middle class people who had to work every day to have and keep a home.  He went on to tell us of how exited he was working for minimum wage and having the ability to save enough money to buy a car and pay for the insurance.  He had worked his way up to become a driver and had much bigger plans for the future.  As he spoke, I become at awe with this man and was humbled by his goals as it was he who reminded me of why I came to convention.  The richness of the fine hotel, the content of the motivational speakers and being in the company of very successful Realtors had not stirred the coals within me to reignite the flame that the driver had done.  The fifteen minute ride to the airport had done more to rekindle the flame than the four previous days of convention.  My problem was, I went to convention to hear the speeches, not listen to them.  Darren Hardy, for all intents and purposes, delivered an exception speech, and I’m sure he was paid well to address the convention but, he was no match for our driver.  What I gained from the convention experience; I now have to concentrate and really listen to people, not just hear them and wait to answer but really listen.  My suggestion to our convention committee; save some money on the next keynote speaker and hire my driver, I’m sure he will deliver a speech that will inspire the convention, to listen.