Edison, Colonel... Oh My!

"ChickenThomas Edison failed 1,000 times before he invented the light bulb."
"Colonel Sanders offered his recipe to 1,000 restaurants before one finally took it."

WOW. Perseverance, you think?

Bull.

God, I can't tell you how many times I've heard that 'inspirational' perseverance nonsense from all the ra-ra trainers, motivational snake oil salesmen, and pump-up coaches....  I'm just sick and tired of this sh... stuff.

So what does that mean, exactly? That you have to stubbornly keep doing something and fail miserably 1,000 times before you finally reach success? NONSENSE!

If something doesn't work, then STOP for crying out loud. Give it a fair - FAIR - shot, yes, but no sense in killing yourself thinking, or worse, hoping things will magically change if you just keep going. I mean, think about...

If you contact 100 expireds and not get one listing out of it, then there is a good chance SOMETHING'S WRONG, bubba.

If you go on 10 listing appointments and walk away with zero listings, then it's time to pause and see what's up.

Don't just stubbornly keep mailing, calling, showing, prospecting, presenting, wasting time, wasting money... If the results are not what you want them to be, you are off course.  Common sense, right? You'd think...

 And yet look around you: same old boring marketing, bad postcards, dull ads, wrong approach, ineffective presentations, overpriced listings... It's the Sanders/Edison approach of "just keep going and hope hope hope".

The way I see it, Edison was one smart guy, no question, he just sucked at time management. And he had all the time in the world! No urgency. Honestly, if he took this long today at GE he'd be fired by now, light bulb be damned. And Colonel Sanders might have been a decent chicken cook but boy was he horrible at sales and presentations!

Can you afford to be like them? Keep trying and failing for years? I didn't think so... I think you're smarter than that.

So don't make the same mistake. Go for it with gusto, give it your best shot, take time to get things going, that's all good. BUT see where your shots are landing, and ADJUST. Evaluate. Learn. IMPROVE. THEN repeat.

Don't believe for a second that success takes a long time. Or thousand failures. It's all within your reach. You just need to know what works, and what doesn't. Do it the smart way.

Now go out there and Get 'em!

Borino

Expired Listings

 

4 Comments on Edison, Colonel... Oh My!

Great post, Borino. I have to agree, work smarter not harder. All my best, Jim

03/19/2008 12:47 PM by Jim & Maria Hart ~ Charleston, SC Real Estate (Agent Owned Realty)


Insanity - Trying something the same way over and over again and expecting a different result.

That does seem to fit what some of us may be doing. It's good to clear the cobwebs and try something new. Thanks for the post.

03/19/2008 12:53 PM by Fernandina Beach RealtorĀ® Danial Dansereau (Watson Realty Corp.)


I don't think those men tried the same thing over and over and one day they had a different result. They tried something, then changed it up a bit. I'm sure they kept records of their progress so they didn't duplicate what didn't work. I've always heard, "double what is working and stop doing what isn't".

03/19/2008 01:42 PM by Crystal Pina | Worcester, Massachusetts (Independent)


Bornio, as Edison was fond of saying, I haven't failed 100 times, I have learned 100 ways not to succeed.  He changed his approach and learned from every non-success.  Your point is a good one, if you keep doing something with the same non-result, it is time to learn from your mistakes and make changes to your strategy and tactic.

 -4MySales Expireds and FSBO's

03/21/2008 10:57 AM by Barrett Niehus (4MySales and Expired Listing Leads)


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Real Estate Trainer: Borino - Expired Plus (Borino Consulting)
Borino - Expired Plus
Los Angeles, CA
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