Many of us have had that one transaction or moment in real estate that we can look back upon as the reason that we joined the real estate profession. While there are many transactions that support the choice that I've made, they would all pale in comparison for my real reason for doing what I do.
When I was growing up, my father was a salesman. He would schedule appointments with each of his accounts from early morning until mid afternoon. While he wasn't always home when my siblings and I got home from school, it was never too long afterwards that we would hear his signature whistling as he approached the front door. A smile still comes to my face when I think back to the excitement that I felt knowing that Dad was home.
School vacations were, and still are today, something that most kids look forward to with great anticipation. I was no exception to the rule, but it wasn't because of any special travel plans that my family had. Although we did go on some fun trips, most of the time we stayed at home. The highlight of many of these vacations for me was going with my father to work.
We would set out early in the morning and grab something for breakfast before heading out to his first appointment. Throughout the day, we would go and visit his accounts. As we walked in to each account, he would introduce me as "his oldest" (meaning his oldest child). You could hear in his voice that he was beaming with pride as he made the introduction. His accounts always greeted me warmly, and often times told me how great my dad was.
I didn't know it at the time, but this is not the typical reaction that most salespeople receive when they walk in the door. His accounts were truly happy to see him, and looking back, I can see why. My father would never start with business as soon as he walked in the door. He showed a genuine interest in his accounts as people. In fact, most of the appointments felt more like visits with friends than selling. More often than not, my dad ended up writing an order, but there was never any pressure on his part. It all seemed very natural, and to me, this was what selling was all about.
Years later, I started working in sales myself. Although it wasn't a conscious decision, my father's training shaped my approach to selling. He always told all of us that if we put the customers' needs before our own, that we would have clients for life, but if we put our needs first, we would have one transaction. That advice stuck with me through the years, and was put to use early on in my sales career.
While working in advertising sales at Billboard Magazine, I was put into an uncomfortable situation, but I was prepared to handle it because of my father's training. The magazine ran a lot of special issues that focused on specific topics. Quite frankly though, some of the "specials" weren't all that special. It was my first year in sales, and we were doing a special issue that was not selling at all. The editors told us that they would need at least one full page of advertising to create the special section, otherwise it was going to be cancelled. The person that I reported to basically told me to do whatever it took to sell a full page to a Canadian client that I was working with.
Knowing full well that that my client was going to be the only full page advertisement in this special section, I called them and used my father's approach. They asked my advice about what to do, and I suggested that they take a pass on that particular special because it wouldn't do anything for their business. While I certainly could have used the commission on the $8,000 sale, it wasn't as important to me as doing what was best for the client. They took my advice with great appreciation for my honesty. The following year, they spent over $40,000 in advertising with me. It shows that my father was right, and that my "boss" was wrong!
The years passed, and I moved onto to more sales jobs. At each stop, it always seemed that sales were expected to be pushed onto people to benefit the company that I worked for, even if there was no value to the client. Now, I understand that businesses need to have goals for sales and revenue, but I was never comfortable selling something to someone that I didn't believe in myself. If what I was selling had no benefit to the client, then I couldn't and wouldn't, in good conscience, try to convince the client that it did.
In the midst of these negative experiences with bosses that were more interested in numbers than people, came some of the most life-altering events that someone could have happen. These events are the main reason that I do what I do, and as I said earlier, much more influential than any single real estate moment that I've had.
In July of 2001, I lost my father to a tragic accident. It was as if someone had pulled the rug out from under my life. Nothing made sense anymore, and for a while, I felt like I was just going through the motions. Sales seemed to be so insignificant in the scheme of things, and it was only made worse by the fact that I was working for a small company that was regularly over-promising and under-delivering to my clients.
Less than two months later, I witnessed (first-hand) the toppling of the Twin Towers. {Please click here to read the full details of what happened to me on 9/11}. Suffice it to say that suffering these two devastating blows had an impact on my life that changed my world forever. The person that I looked up to most in life as my inspiration was gone. The city that I knew and loved all of my life was now a virtual war zone. The train that took me to and from my sales job in Manhattan was a potential target for suicide bombers. Military people with machine guns were strategically placed throughout the city.
Working in the music industry, there was little choice but to keep commuting into Manhattan unless I wanted to relocate. The other alternative was to change careers. Although the music industry was starting to consolidate and lose its luster for me, it had been the only business that I'd known since graduating college. As a native New Yorker, I had no desire to relocate to another part of the country, although after 9/11, my wife was e-mailing me listings from places like Montana, since she worked very close to the World Trade Center.
The only thing that kept my sanity at that point in my life was to read self-help books, many of which were about real estate investing. My interest in real estate started to grow more and more with each book that I read, but I still wasn't ready to leave the music industry behind.
The final push to leave the music industry and join the real estate profession came in 2002 when my son was born. I kept commuting for a short while, but ultimately, I decided that it was more important to be there for my son than it was to stay in the music industry. It wasn't enough to see him for a half hour in the morning, a half hour at night, and then on the weekends when I was exhausted from working and commuting all week long.
Once again, even though he was no longer here physically, my father's inspiration became my guiding force. The man that taught me everything that I knew about sales had unwittingly taught me the importance of fatherhood over the years. Because of my father, I knew how important it was to be there for my son. While my father never got the chance to hold my son and show him the love that he most certainly would have if he were still here, he did give my son a tremendous gift that will be with him all of his life - the knowledge that fatherhood is the most important job that you can have!
My father is the reason that I do what I do. My father showed me that sales is about people, not about transactions. My father showed me that being there for your children is the most important thing in life. My father has inspired me in every aspect of my life, and my only wish is that I have made him proud with the choices that I have made, and proud of the father that I have become. Although his time on Earth was much too short, the imprint that he left on all of us will live for generations to come through his teachings.
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Seems to me that your dad gave you a priceless gift, a good example of a work ethic. If we can't give our children anything else, we can give them that. If folks don't work hard is real estate brokerage, they will have to get a job.
Hard work has it's own reward. The satisfaction of a job well done.
Good post Adam.