Looking for a Negative Business Model? Look No Further Than the Cleveland Browns

If you are looking for a business model on how not to do things…then look no further than the Cleveland Browns!

To those of you following football, you are well aware of the problems the Browns have had with quarterback Johnny Manziel, and wide receiver Josh Gordon. To those of you unfamiliar with the situation of these two players and the Browns, here is a little refresher course.

Johnny Manziel was a first round draft pick in last year’s NFL college draft. He was highly successful in college, breaking all sorts of records at Texas A&M. He was a Heisman Trophy winner. He arrived at training camp followed by the national media. He was the darling of the media and it wasn’t too long before Johnny thought games were won in print and not on a field. No need to study the play book, or practice hard, or put in the hard work…he had already been declared a star.

 Josh Gordon was picked by the Browns in 2012 after a college career riddled in controversy. His college career began at Baylor University until it was discovered that Gordon loved smoking grass as much as he liked playing football on it. The Browns, the sharp organization that they are, hired Josh to catch passes for them, only to find out that Josh’s love of grass continued long after his college days.

With both of these players, the Browns KNEW what they were getting. Their scouts had issued tons of warnings…plenty of stories of these two guys partying in college to the point that it would have a negative impact on their playing ability. Their misbehavior should have made the light go off in Brown’s headquarters. Yet, the Browns thought that character could be taught and improved upon just like football skills.  Privately, somewhere in the bowels of the Brown’s brain trust (however small an area that might be), I bet they are wishing they had heeded those warnings.

Its stories like these that make me love sports, because there is so much you can learn. You don’t have to be a sports nut, or even like a particular game to gain something from watching events unfold on a sports team. The lessons to be learned are easily transferrable to any industry.

I was working with a fellow agent from my office a few years ago, when we had merged a few segments of each other’s business in an effort to enhance our sales. While learning each other’s way of doing things, she questioned how I had become friends with so many of my clients. She had observed me getting invited to client’s weddings, being invited to barbecues, receiving birth notices, etc.

I told her it was really simple, I told her that while I was being “interviewed” for a new listing by a seller, or by a buyer as a buyer’s agent…I was also “interviewing” them. I then explained that I never take on a client who doesn’t have the potential to become a friend of mine. With a startled look on her face, she started to laugh nervously, thinking that I was pulling her leg. I quickly assured her that I wasn’t. I was dead serious.

Unlike the Browns, I find that people hardly ever change. It they complain to me about other agents, I listen very closely. Some times their complaints are valid and it is something I can correct. But many times their complaints are of such a negative nature about someone, or something that I have to stop and say to myself, “Tom, are you that egotistical to think that you can escape their criticism?” Only a fool thinks that, if a client complains about everyone else, that their negativity won’t eventually get turned on them. Life is short, and I don’t know about you, but on average; these people are going to be in my life for the next 6 months. I am going to be taking calls, returning calls, emailing back and forth, they are going to be sitting next to me in my car…I am sorry, I can’t fake it that long. 

I am comfortable enough in my own skin to understand that not everyone is going to like me. I am not going to head for a tall bridge just because someone doesn’t like me enough to want to work with me. So if is OK for them not to pick me, shouldn't it be OK for me not to pick them?. Why not be courteous, listen to their concerns…and then refer them to an agent who might be more in sync to their needs? Trying to force something never works, and many times it ends in disaster anyway. Save yourself…and them the aggravation.

My business is built on referrals. It is much easier to keep in contact with friends than it is clients. Keeping tabs on clients is work, keeping up with friends…well, isn’t that what friends do? I don’t have to keep elaborate records of people’s likes and dislikes because I am Face Book friends with them! I know who they want to win in the Super Bowl. I know when they go on vacation and where they are going. There is nothing phony about it…I like them, and they like me…and we keep in touch…that’s what friends do! Best part? When they pass my name along, I show up to the appointment with the listing already secured.

 In ending, I wish the Browns would take this page out of my playbook-quit thinking that you can change a person’s character. Dr. Phil has a great saying, “The best indicator of future behavior is past behavior.”