A word to the wise…
“Never let what you cannot do stop you from doing what you CAN do!”
– Stephen Pierce
Submitted by Robin Crow
Inspirations for Manufactured Housing Professionals
Making Decisions Outside Your Comfort Zone
Have you noticed that people have a tendency to choose what is familiar (the perceived safer option) over the unknown (the perceived riskier option), regardless of how unhappy they may be with their current circumstances? How do you make decisions when faced with choosing the status quo vs. change?
I believe we are biologically predisposed to play it safe. Consider our ancestors 10,000 years ago. When a group walked out of their cave and saw grass moving in the savanna, some were curious and went to investigate. It could have been an opportunity to bring home dinner, but all too often they became dinner. When they didn’t return, the others probably thought, “They took a chance and didn’t come back. I better avoid risk and play it safe.”
This may have been a good long-term strategy in 8,000 BC, but not today. Yet we still tend to use the same rationale, experiencing fear and anxiety when faced with choices. Consider successful people you admire. Do you think they got there by playing it safe, or did they choose risk, the unknown?
Do you know the stories of bestselling authors Robert Kiyosaki and Wayne Dyer? I think you’ll be surprised by what you are about to read.
Robert Kiyosaki, the bestselling author of the Rich Dad Poor Dad series of books created a board game, Cashflow, but nobody wanted to buy it. So he wrote a book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, thinking surely the book would generate publicity and create demand for his game. He found no publishing company that wanted his book. So he self-published 1,000 copies shipped to his home. He was eventually invited to speak about his book on regional radio programs.
When asked where listeners could purchase his book he said, “Anywhere books are sold,” even though there wasn’t a single bookstore that carried it. Within one week he received calls from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and other major book stores after they were inundated with requests to buy his book, and they wanted to carry it on their store shelves.
Wayne Dyer was a college professor. A literary agent persuaded him to package his ideas into a book, which resulted in Your Erroneous Zones. Although initial sales were thin, Dyer quit his teaching job and began a publicity tour across the United States, doggedly pursuing bookstore appearances and media interviews out of the back of his station wagon, making the best-seller lists. This eventually led to national television talk show appearances including Merv Griffin, The Tonight Show, and Phil Donahue.
When Kiyosaki and Dyer were presented with options, they took the path less traveled. They did what few people do. They chose to step outside of their comfort zones, turn away from the familiar and take action. As they say, the rest is history.
What will you do the next time you are faced with choices, opportunities? Remember those who have come before you and boldly taken action. As Thoreau said, “When you advance confidently in the direction of your dreams, and endeavor to live the life that you have imagined, you will be met with a success unknown in common hours.” # #
Reprinted with permission from the author’s Action Alert April 2011.
As a special offer for MHMSM.com, Jesse will give free copies of his book (A Journey to Financial Well-Being) to our readers in return for $4.95 for shipping and handling costs. Just enter special code du201 during checkout from his website.
Jesse Hartman, Speaker and Author of A Journey to Financial Well-Being. Contact Jesse at JesseHartman@yahoo.com, 206-817-3286 or www.JesseMHartman.com.
Happy Mother’s Day!
This original Mothers Day song by Eddie Kilgallon, for his mom and yours, is a tribute to moms and mothers everywhere!
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MontgomeryGentry101 | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taZzqFznpGw
Evolve or Die – Seven Steps to Rethink the Way You Do Business
Robin Crow, author of Evolve or Die – Seven Step to Rethink the Way You Do Business, was the Featured Speaker at the MHI Congress and Expo in Las Vegas, Thursday, April 28. His theme was the solid example of companies that have successfully reinvented themselves by adapting to ongoing events as they occur. Following are some of his comments as noted by MHMSM.com Publisher L. A. ‘Tony’ Kovach.
The Crow Company and Dark Horse Recording have worked with many recording artists, including star performers Michael W Smith, Scott Hendrix, Faith Hill, Neil Diamond and Tim McGraw. Consumers do not buy CDs like they used to; they prefer downloading for free.
Faith Hill and Scott her producer/editor make a typical hundreds, perhaps thousands of vocal takes to compile the final recording you hear. After one week in the studio, Scott was talking about the deli sandwiches that Robin made. They ran long on the planned five weeks, and needed two more weeks in the studio. Robin said, “Before Neil Diamond comes in, but we have to raise my rates $75 a day.” Faith said, “No problem, the sandwiches alone are worth it.”
This was a paradigm shift for Robin, who realized he was not in the business of hi tech systems, but in the business of serving people and exceeding their expectations. To this end, he created Raving Fans. Serving food to famous people was only one way he exceeded the expectations of his clients.
When Tim McGraw did his last recording at Dark Horse, he booked all the facilities. Not just the studio, but the log home and other facilities. He brought along 35 people. Faith and Tim live only six miles away, but six nights a week they would stay at the studio compound. Tim brought firewood. Flames reached two feet, four feet and then six feet.
Robin didn’t have much money. He had been let go by RCA, and was too old to rock and roll, too young to die. But he had a vision and he could visualize the next step.
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” ~ Thomas Edison
Robin traded future studio times for labor, ran up credit cards sky high and raised $134,000 in cash on credit cards. Once his building was up, banks took interest and he raised several million from the banks. A decade later, his business is solely in serving.
“We find ways to reinvent ourselves to serve our customers.” His business is “more like a guest resort that serves our customers. The best bonding experience is working your tail off, let young see the work ethic. Let the youth take pride of it.”
One son is video editing for the company. The other son is a world class chef who sometimes gets involved.
When asked, “What were your failures, how did you overcome them?” Robin replied, “Just don’t stop.”
He doesn’t consider himself the smartest, but he is really persistent, putting one foot in front of the other.
The studio was hurting, but his speaking engagements were really, really good; three of four income steams were hurting, but six months turned it all around. He received 132 rejection letters before getting signed by the RCA studio. “Getting a job is full time job until you get employment,” he says. “Jump and it will appear.”
Success is people and priorities. A leader leads by example whether he means to or not. Bryan Tracy, for instance, is slow to hire, quick to fire. Some leaders do not have enthusiasm; persistence or whatever is not in their DNA.
Get people who are hungry and want it – that’s the best team we have.
Raving Fans:
If someone is ordering a home – if they do not know how to solve all the steps involved, make sure they know you are trying to take care of it.
We he spoke for ATT last week, he noted that it is eight times as expensive to find a new customer as it is to keep the existing ones. So bend over backwards to make sure the customers know you care.
His book, Evolve or Die, presents a seven-step challenge:
- Do whatever it takes to EXCEED EXPECTATIONS.
2. Commit to daily MEASURABLE IMPROVEMENT.
3. Develop an ACCOUNTABILITY MATRIX – take responsibility.
4. Revitalize Your Organization through MULTIDIMENSIONAL THINKING.
5. Create a Culture of SHARED SACRIFICE.
6. Transform your Business Philosophy to a TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE (Profits. People. Planet.)
7. Dedicate Yourself to a Lifetime of MAKING A DIFFERENCE.
He has a list of relationships and sends a Quote of the Day to everyone; that’s 20,000 people who get the Quote of the Day, twice a week. Add value to people’s lives. This might not have sex appeal, but every word is real.
Exceeding expectations. You are not a winner or loser, you are a chooser. Be the miracle. Then decide. Will you be a force for good, and for God? Step out on faith or give into fear. Will you bleed, will you lead? Will you keep going when the cold wind blows?
There is no better way to be a winner than to exceed expectations. Go the extra mile.
You were not born a winner or loser. You were born a chooser. You are the miracle. # #
Robin Crow, The Crow Company, www.robincrow.com
From fuzzy caterpillar to butterfly
Cindy Ashton was born with a 20% chance of survival, yet she overcame childhood illness and created this song and video to inspire others to believe that they can conquer their obstacles, too.
Video credit: http://www.youtube.com/embed/gjKqGYksuO8
What do NV, PA and OK have in common besides music?
Why, outstanding manufactured housing venues – congress/expo and shows – that’s what!
Next week is SHOW TIME around the country! Three big manufactured housing events are all scheduled for the week of April 24. Enjoy the venues – enjoy the songs!
2011 National Congress & Expo
Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, NV
April 26-28
HOMExpo 2011
York, PA
TRADE DAYS: April 26th – 28th, PUBLIC DAYS: April 29th – May 1st
The Great Southwest Home Show 2011
QuickTrip Center at Expo Square, Tulsa OK
TRADE/INDUSTRY DAYS: April 28 -29th (1:00 p.m.), PUBLIC DAYS: April 29th (3:00 p.m.) – May 1st
See you in Vegas and Tulsa for our two seminars:
Engaging the Media: How to Make Positive PR and Good Media Relations a Reality
• MHI Congress & Expo, Caesars Palace – Las Vegas, Nevada,
Thursday, April 28 at 11:15 a.m. PDT – See MHMSM in Booth 610
• Great Southwest Home Show, QuikTrip Center, Expo Square – Tulsa, Oklahoma,
Friday, April 29, 2:00-3:00 p.m. – See MHMSM in Booth 101
“Dominate Your Local Market” Seminar
• MHI Congress & Expo, Caesars Palace – Las Vegas, Nevada,
Wednesday, April 27, 2011, 1:00-2:30 p.m. – See MHMSM in Booth 610
• Great Southwest Home Show, QuikTrip Center, Expo Square – Tulsa, Oklahoma,
Friday, April 29, 2011 10:00-11:00 a.m. – See MHMSM in Booth 101
Video credits: “Viva Las Vegas” Video for Elvis Presley singing “Viva Las Vegas”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYSGOlfm1e4; “Hills of Pennsylvania http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhA5dDrlNzI; “Oklahoma” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFvbeeOsNdo
Lacking sight, her ‘gift’ is in her hands
Meet an amazing quilter who sews entirely by touch. Her blindness is “not an obstacle; it’s an inconvenience.”
The Sum of All Fears and Manufactured Housing
“The Sum of All Fears” is a 2002 movie based on a Tom Clancy political/action/thriller novel that used the same title. In the movie, a neo-Nazi group plots to get Russia and the United States to destroy each other. This was to be done by the hidden swastika-brandishing group staging a spectacular incident, and making it look like one nation planned to attack and destroy the other. Without giving away the story for those who may not have seen it, the two powers have to learn to trust each other – during intense conditions – just enough to avoid disaster, and defeat the real and somewhat hidden enemy who hatched the plot.
Movies and books can often have ‘morals’ or lessons they can teach us. Beyond the action, the movie suggests that sometimes rivals have good reasons – or life-and-death motivations – to set aside their differences, and strive to trust each other enough to get a critical job done.
From time to time, the word or wish goes out that the Manufactured Housing Industry needs to speak with ‘one voice.’ Without denying the inherent value and potential power of unity, there must also be a realistic approach to the dynamics of competing groups and voices. Competing viewpoints arise for specific reasons. History, personalities and unique interests can entrench positions.
But those sorts of realities do not mean that the professional rivals are unable to cooperate when conditions warrant it.
During a critical phase of the Cold War, Ronald Reagan popularized the phrase, “Trust, but verify.” Professional negotiators or mediators learn the art of finding the areas of mutual interest, and crafting agreements that yield benefits to the various parties that still respect their key interests. This is precisely what needs to happen in the Manufactured Housing Industry today.
This message should not be viewed as some sort of veiled reference to parties active in Washington DC, because this scenario is likely as close as your own business and market area. This potentially valuable lesson of working with people or parties – even those whom we may have doubts or real concerns – is an important one for our Industry at this time.
Mutual victories are possible. Industry progress can be achieved. But this is best accomplished when a healthy respect for the other’s capabilities and interests are in place.
When we doubt – or worse, decry or demean – a potential resource, who or what can be an ally (even if for only a short term) can be lost. The costs for failing to bridge the gap for a business, group or Industry can be high. The win-lose mentality can, in fact, lead to a loss for all concerned.
Every need a professional, company or an MH Industry segment has today can be met. Not someday, but almost immediately. How is it done?
Mutual respect. Sincere understanding.
Listening with keen attention to not just your own goals, but the interests and needs of other stakeholders.
Learning to work together with people or groups that we may not be used to (or want to?!) work with, and yet do so with the goal of mutual rewards.
Think about these facts:
– American incomes are down.
– U.S. households continue to form.
– We sell quality, affordable homes.
– Manufactured home communities have vacancies.
– Retailers want more sales.
– Homeowners need economic security in a home they can enjoy and the ability to sell when needed or desired.
– Manufacturers and suppliers want orders and business.
– Government officials and associations need to find ways to serve the public and business.
– Lenders and investors desire security and a reasonable return on their investment.
– Professionals and companies need each other and should respect and build up each other.
This sketch above is not a plan, but an outline that may point the way to business growth and mutual success.
Consider “The Sum of All Fears” and its lesson as a metaphor for the Manufactured Housing Industry, its professionals and businesses. What do YOU need? Who or what can help you or your interest group? Who or what can you reach out to help?
Learn to work with others who may seem like rivals, but who offer you something that you need! By respectfully working towards sincere mutual victories, the results can be professional, business and Industry success. ##
The True Cost of Training
A Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) article cited a 2004 statistic that the average annual training cost per employee was $955. But what is the true cost of training? What is the value achieved? What are the lost opportunity costs? What does turnover cost because a potentially good employee is lost who was first hired because of their perceived potential?
I’ve listened to the audio files of live calls from real prospects responding to ads for manufactured homes. I’ve listened while employees:
– rattled off a statement that made an upscale manufactured home community sound like a flashback to Lucy and Desi in the movie The Long, Long Trailer. The employee routinely began by saying: “We have paved streets, city water and sewer…” – this was in a major metropolitan area! Did anyone ever think about ‘first impressions?’ Who did this ‘sales pro’ think was calling? Did this employee think the caller was looking for a comparison to a campsite in a wilderness area, or for a modern manufactured home residential community?
– a self-identified (and clearly educated, motivated, capable) cash buyer was dissuaded from coming to visit an upscale property, due to a series of questions geared around their qualifications for financing, some of which may have violated Fair Housing guidelines as well as good common business sense.
– a flyer promoting a church group (…the church of the community manager…) was passed out to every resident at a large manufactured home community, and was placed on the front desk. Recruiting for that church was routinely done by the CM and sales person (a husband and wife team) in a manner that was capable of drawing huge fines from HUD for Fair Housing guideline violations….
Without going into more examples, the point is that your employees and associates can cost you money, or make you money.
Good training, good people, does not ‘cost’ as much as it can pay! But improperly trained and poorly motivated people can cost you a fortune, $100,000s annually.
Let’s take a simple example:
– 1 sales person closes 1less sale every other week;
– Let’s say each sale is worth $7000 net after all expenses;
– That’s $182,000 per year in lost opportunities;
– Then think about the cost of floor planning on unsold inventory, and all the other costs that result from the lost sales…
Good training and soft skills development pays.
Failure to properly train your associates is what really costs your business.
Let’s look again at the example above of lost sales due to poor training, having improperly motivated or the wrong people on staff.
Imagine if every retail center in the U.S. diminished their performance by 23 new homes a year. Let’s take an average sales price per new home of $50,000 each. Let’s consider only the 3500 ‘retail sales centers’ (a.k.a. ‘street dealers,’ not manufactured home communities). What’s the total?
That’s $4,025,000,000 annually in lost gross sales to American HUD Code manufactured home retailers. That’s 80,500 lost new home sales a year to HUD Code manufactured housing builders, at a time when total new home shipments have hovered around 50,000± for two years. That’s insurance policies that are never sold, homes never delivered or installed, products and services never provided, because of sales that never closed.
To improve your team’s performance, go to MH Speaker Resource.
To recruit your ideal team members, post a job at MHMSM.com’s Jobs page.
If companies won’t train their people, why don’t:
– insurance companies
– manufacturers
– lenders
– and others who sell through retail distribution, team up to make this potential wave of sales happen?
Fellow manufactured housing industry professionals, these costs estimates are low. The true costs of failing to train are much, much higher.
The true cost of training? It is far more than the billions in lost business to our industry when companies fail to continuously train. It is the countless lost opportunities to millions of potential manufactured home customers. Dreams are lost when business is lost.
Good, consistent training pays. # #
The Power of One Is Us
The Power of One has been around as a catch phrase for some years. Perhaps we became more aware of it in 1989 through Bryce Courtenay’s novel by the same name, later made into a movie in which Daniel Craig (later known as Bond. James Bond.) made his film debut. A second book applied this concept to business, The Power of One: One Person, One Rule, One Month by John C. Maxwell. Numerous YouTube videos employ gorgeous visuals and stirring music to communicate this message. For instance, the popular:
Of course, there are many variations of this theme, applied to everything from grocery bags to flu shots. For example: “Making your life better one bag at a time.” “Making the community healthier one flu shot at a time.” Perhaps you recognize the companies and organizations that use phrases such as: one dress at a time, one tree at a time, one deposit at a time, one child at a time, one wish at a time, one step at a time. These phrases are usually prefaced with “Making your life – or the world – better….” Truly, the power of one!
How about one phone call, one follow-up, one client, one network, one reader, one new subscriber, one retailer, one manufacturer, one lender, one home, one sale, one team, one company, one community, one association, one trade show, one mentor, one guest speaker/trainer, one website, one contribution, one shout out (“I’m madder than hell…”) … ONE ANYONE or ANYTHING that makes a positive difference in the status quo and moves YOUR participation in the Manufactured Housing Industry forward. Remember, 2011 can be The Great Industry Turn-Around! For YOU. For US. And when enough do this, the Industry turns around, too!
No passing the buck. No waiting for the other guy to do it. No lone giants. There is a difference between knowing and changing. Between deciding and doing.
To paraphrase the friendly, philosophical Pogo: We have seen the Power of One and it is YOU, it is US.
Inspired by Lizz Frenzel, VNA of Porter County, IN # #
INspirations post by Associate Editor Catherine Frenzel