An analogy taught many years ago by a very successful football coach applies to the commitment of real estate professionals today.
If an individual takes a 2 x 4 that is ten feet long and lays it on the floor with the 4 inch side facing up, it takes nothing to per se ‘walk the plank.’ I would venture to say that the reason it is so easy to walk the 2 x 4 is more the fact that it is on the floor which many interpret as ‘being safe.’ Confidence in our abilities, knowledge, and attitude allows us to see beyond the challenge.
Texas Tech Coach, Mike Leach, uses this board during warm-ups, expecting his team to walk the length of the board without losing their balance. But what if this plank was suspended 10 stories high? Would you still have that same confidence walking the plank? In Mike’s words, “If you eliminate distractions, you can still walk the board if it’s suspended. The board doesn’t change. Anybody can still walk the board if you develop the ability to eliminate distractions.”
I know… now we’re going to compare a board to real estate?
Every moment real estate professionals need to understand their market. A suggested way of accomplishing this would be to develop a regimented schedule of obtaining information that gives the following information: average days on market of homes; number of new listings for the week; number of new sales for the week; ratio of new listings to sales; average listing price of homes; and average sales price of homes at close of escrow will allow clients to see the trends, many times before the true shift in the market takes hold.
Maintaining a working knowledge should be defined to up to five or six areas, neighborhoods, in the real estate professional’s area of service. Armed with this, you will have the improved confidence and abilities to educate your clients, better able to help them make defined decisions in a transaction.
As we further develop our knowledge and our mindset, gain the confidence in our abilities and eliminate outside distractions that hinder us from improvement, we can suspend that 2 x 4 ten feet high and, with steady balance, ‘walk the plank’ of our profession each day.
Dennis O. Stewart, GRI
Vice President & Regional Director
Dennis.Stewart@rwnc.net
