60 million dollar call

I want to share a couple of stories from the week. As usual, it’s not about the specific circumstances; it’s about how they may relate to you and your business.

I was on a Zoom call with a client this week. She is a tenured agent who is both smart and successful. We were having an incredibly impactful conversation, diving deep into what’s in her way from getting to the next level.

Side note: I find it incredibly exciting, fulfilling, and inspiring when people are willing to look and confront where they are constrained. It takes courage to acknowledge where we are not being our best, have made mistakes, or have been blind to aspects of our lives. On the other hand, in doing so, there is no limit to what’s possible. For me personally, there is no better experience than to watch people have breakthroughs in their business and life.

Back to my client, Mary, who was sharing areas where she feels disempowered, has limits, or doesn’t excel. One thing she mentioned was that she wasn’t “great at numbers”.

As I mentioned, she is smart and successful. She has a team. She has investments. She was on Zoom with me from her boat.  The kind of boat that has bedrooms and kitchens and things like that.  Her statement about numbers didn’t ring true to me, so I asked her to give me an example.

Mary says: “I have this seller client who has a $60 million property he’s thinking of selling. I haven’t spoken to him in a couple of months, and I don’t want to call him until I do all the data analysis around his home and price range.”

My reply: “Just call him.”

The “I’m not good at numbers” / “I don’t like numbers/research” was just an excuse not to make the call.

Mary has a clear path to a $60 million listing, and she has created an obstacle. She has literally put a boulder on the path to this $60 million listing by creating an obstacle/excuse (in her head) that she needed to do a bunch of research, she’s not good at research, and ... blah blah blah.

The point is not about Mary. The point is for you and me - where are we putting obstacles on our path to success?

Where have we made up excuses or reasons to do simple things that can lead to dramatic results?

The day after speaking with Mary, I was speaking with another client. This year has gone more slowly than past years, and it is definitely going more slowly than the bills that are coming in each month. You might have an inkling of this experience.

At any rate, I shared the example of Mary with her. Then I asked some questions like:

• Where are you avoiding taking action that you know you need to take?
• Where are you playing small?
• What other areas in your life are you avoiding or not dealing with?
• What excuses are you telling yourself?
• Are you playing to win, or are you simply playing so you don’t get kicked off the team?

Then we applied that thinking to her most expensive listing (>$4mm) that hasn’t received a single showing. We came up with 4 or 5 actions she could take, and some people she could call.

At this point, you might be thinking: so what happened??!?!?!

I don’t know yet! And it doesn’t matter! What matters is taking the action. We all know the business we are capable of doing is not going to magically appear in our laps. What is in the way between you and the business you know you can produce in the next 12 months?