Todd Raleigh, current University of Tennessee coach and former Western Carolina University coach and player, has a theory about baseball that he shares with young baseball players and youth coaches. Todd is a friend and I have had the pleasure to attend a number of his camps with my boys and just hang out around the local fields and talk the game with him. I have heard the following from him on many occassions and not until now did I realize how true it also holds to the business of Real Estate.
Todd Raleigh tells young players that if they cannot deal with failure they need to get out of the game. He says that success will not happen very much in this game. If you, as a player, cannot "shake off" failure and continue to play unaffected, the game of baseball will destroy your pysche. One may be wondering or thinking that is a harsh statement, but it is very true for this game. If you are a NFL quarterback and you complete 31% of your passes over a 10 year career, you are well, terrible. If you are an NBA player and you shoot 31% from the field over ten seasons, you are probably just slightly above horrible. Actually if you post those type of numbers in the NFL or NBA you probably will not see a 10 year career. But, if during a 10 year career in Major League Baseball, you hit .310, then my friend, you are a Hall of Famer and making $5 million plus per year. So, if you fail nearly 70% of the time you are a great success at baseball. Get it right 3 out of 10 times over ten seasons and you are preparing your Hall of Fame induction speech and set for life. But, in order to have that success you have to deal effectively with the multitude of failures.
Now imagine if you closed on 31% of the properties that you have shown to prospects and clients. Imagine that you get the listing on 31% of the presentations that you have completed. You probably cannot imagine it, because it is virtually impossible. We, as Realtors, much like hitters in the game of baseball, have to deal with many more failures than successes over a career. It is the individuals that can cope with and overcome those failures that experience the excitement, joy, monetary benefits and sense of self worth that "getting the base hit" brings to us.
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