Never Quit!

There are times when we all need some inspiration to continue our daily motivation in our businesses.

We hope these short stories encourage you to never quit at what you want to do and to always follow your dreams and aspirations.

In 1962, four nervous young musicians played their first record audition for the executives of the Decca Recording company. The executives were not impressed. While turning down this group of musicians, one executive said, “We don’t like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out.” The group was called The Beatles.

In 1944, Emmeline Snively, director of the Blue Book Modeling Agency, told modeling hopeful Norma Jean Baker, “You’d better learn secretarial work or else get married.” She went on and became Marilyn Monroe.

In 1954, Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry fired a singer after one performance. He told him, “You ain’t goin’ nowhere son. You ought to go back to drivin’ a truck.” He went on to become the most popular singer in America, named Elvis Presley.

When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it did not ring off the hook with calls from potential backers. After making a demonstration call, President Rutherford Hayes said, “That’s an amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one of them?”

When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he tried over 2000 experiments before he got it to work. A young reporter asked him how it felt to fail so many times. He said, “I never failed once. I invented the light bulb. It just happened to be a 2000-step process.”

In the 1940’s, another young inventor named Chester Carlson took his idea to 20 corporations, including some of the biggest in the country. They all turned him down. In 1947 – after seven long years of rejections! He finally got a tiny company in Rochester, New York, the Haloid Company, to purchase the rights to his invention, an electrostatic paper-copying process. Haloid became Xerox Corporation we know today.

Wilma Rudolph was the 20th of 22 children. She was born prematurely and her survival was doubtful. When she was 4 years old, she contacted double pneumonia and scarlet fever, which left her with a paralyzed left leg. At age 9, she removed the metal leg brace she had been dependent on and began to walk without it. By 13 she had developed rhythmic walk, which doctors said was a miracle. That same year she decided to become a runner. She entered a race and came in last. For the next few years every race she entered, she came in last. Everyone told her to quit, but she kept on running. One day she actually won a race. And then another. From then on she won every race she entered. Eventually this little girl, who was told she would never walk again, went on to win three Olympic gold medals.

The moral of the above Stories:
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved. You gain strength, experience and confidence by every experience where you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you cannot do. And remember, the finest steel gets sent through the hottest furnace. A winner is not one who never fails, but one who NEVER QUITS!

In LIFE, remember that you pass this way only once! Let’s live life to the fullest and give it our best.

Author Unknown

“The Relationship Edge- The Key to Strategic Influence and Selling Success”

Author Jerry Acuff shares his unique perspective about and fundamental applications of relationship building in his book “The Relationship Edge- The Key to Strategic Influence and Selling Success.”

This is a great book for all Sales Professionals and is available at Amazon.com. This would make a great holiday gift for your sales team!

MAKE CHANGE A POSITIVE PART OF YOUR LIFE
You must avoid breaking when things don't go your way.
You'll always be secure to the degree that you accept change.
True security comes from being able to bend your insecurities.

Recognize and accept that change will inevitably take place.
You'll become secure, not by standing still, but by growing,moving, and staying energized.
Be secure in the knowledge that you can deal with anythingthat happens to you.

Have the courage to bet on your ideas.
Take some calculated risks and act on your dreams.
There is no permanent security on this earth, there is only opportunity

How to Motivate Your Leasing Team to Post Craigslist Ads for Your Community

Recently we attended the 2008 Multifamily Pro’s Brainstorming Conference in Las Vegas.

One great idea that emerged revolved around Craig’s List posting accountability. The concept shared indicated that a Leasing Professional would be much more likely to actively and consistently post listings if the Leasing Professional was able to personally sign as the contact per ad posted versus signing as a team which many of us do. This would allow the Leasing Professional to personally capture leads coming through this source and entice them to be more precise, strategic and creative with their postings.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU REPEATEDLY DO

First you make your habits, and then your habits make you.
You become a slave to your constantly repeated acts.
What at first you chose, at last compels.

Your thoughts lead you to a purpose.
Your purpose moves you to take action.
Your actions form your habits.
Your habits determine your character,and your character fixes your destiny.

Your habits are either the best of servantsor the worst of masters.

Once in motion, a pattern tends to stay in motion.

– Author Unknown

Go Green, Grow Revenue

Michele Tate, Principal Sales Coach of Sales Velocity, partnered with two other industry experts, Amy Kosnikowski of Quintessential and Anne Sadovsky, industry expert, at the 2008 Brainstorming Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada to present “Go Green Grow Revenue!” Many topics were covered, including how existing communities can make positive changes today to make themselves more competitive as well as more cost effective. One consistent commonality we found while researching for the presentation is that many ‘green’ initiatives will pay for themselves within two years of implementation.“

In a 60,000-square-foot building with 40 apartments, hiring an electrician to install motion sensors might cost $11,000. That same building could save that much in lower electricity bills over two years.” Tarquinio, J. Alex. The Cost of Saving Energy. NYTimes.com. July 15, 2007.

For more information on the presentation “Go Green, Grow Revenue” please contact Michele Tate at michele@salesvelocity.biz.

For more information on The Annual Brainstorming Conference, please go to www.multifamilypro.com

Just as we cannot blame others for destroying the environment, so we cannot look to others to protect the environment. Responsibility for both begins at home. - Paul Griss, The Daily Planet

Era of the Sales Coach

Michele Tate, Principal Sales Coach of Sales Velocity, partnered with two other industry experts, Rick Ellis of Ellis Consulting Group and Karen Gladney of POWER Leasing, at the 2008 Multi-Housing World Conference in Denver, Colorado to present the “Era of the Sales Coach: Generating Success in Your Leasing Efforts, Recruiting, Hiring, Motivating, & Retaining the Best!” Of the many topics covered, the unconventional profile of the star performer, interview fatigue in exchange for fuel, managing the beauty within the beast and meaningful motivation presented new and dynamic ways to formulate a successful and sustainable sales team.

Sales performance management and sales coaching is not only a personal passion, but an exercise that has been a planned and prominent force in Michele Tate’s career that has yielded the most progress and success.

For more information on the presentation “Era of the Sales Coach” please contact Michele Tate at michele@salesvelocity.biz.

For more information on The Annual Multi-Housing World Conference, please go to http://www.mhw.com/mhw/1312/show/index.jsp.

Michele Tate will be presenting ‘Go Green and Grow Revenues’ at MultiFamily Pro’s Executive Brainstorming event in Las Vegas this November. For more information, please go to: http://www.smmonline.com/.

Go Green!

We are excited to announce that Michele Tate, founder of the Sales Exchange Blog, has the prestigious honor of presenting at The Annual Multifamily Housing Brainstorming Sessions™ this coming November 2008. Michele will be speaking with several other industry experts about the Green trend in the apartment industry, and will be promoting green ideas and solutions so to positively affect companies’ bottom lines. Michele is very passionate about this topic and is thrilled and honored to be able to speak about going green to her colleagues.

One of the websites Michele used to research for her presentation is too fantastic and helpful to keep to ourselves, so we wanted to share with you! The website is called www.greenandsave.com and it gives you a myriad of green information that you will definitely find fascinating and helpful.

Our desire to research and learn about going green will never fade, so if anyone knows of any websites, books, or other sources to recommend to us, we would greatly appreciate it!

For more information on The Annual Multifamily Housing Brainstorming Sessions™, please go to http://multifamilypro.com/brainstorming.htm.

Importance of buyer tracking for trend reporting and achieving highest ROI

As a marketing professional charged with keeping the bottom line intact while eliminating tactics that bring no return, it becomes increasingly important to partner with the Sales Team to assist in sourcing buyer information.

It starts and ends with a sales professional feeding me information about their buyer and prospect buyers– where they live(d) prior to purchase, what is their family structure, what is their profession, what lifestyle choices do they lean towards and most important, where did they hear about us?

This data should be gathered right at the beginning of a transaction by using a registration sheet peppered with vital questions and filled out with the prospect the first time he/she visits the sales office. The information must be meticulously gathered and recorded by a Sales Team member in order to make a proper analysis of where we can continue to find our potential buyers and what we can eliminate. Having this responsibility as an automatic part of a Sales Team's duty is necessary for any kind of sensible analysis to take place and for me to earn the trust from the Seller that I am spending their money wisely, funneling all efforts to only those mediums that deliver.

The Sales Team can further support the marketing endeavor by providing similar information once the prospect has turned into a buyer – buyer data is even more significant than prospect data as it helps the marketing professional establish an overall profile of your buyer, therefore, making it easier to pinpoint complementary marketing opportunities in seeking out that particular individual.

By: Sharla Sookdeo

Builder Incentives and Market Conditions Today

Posted on behalf of residential builder -
How do you feel about the state of incentives as it pertains to market conditions today, what offering would you consider for moving sales along and how would you communicate the message?