Basics

When faced with obstacles, setbacks or self-doubts remember that there are Footprints on the Moon.

It was 1961 when President Kennedy presented NASA with a historic challenge: To put a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth before the end of the 1960’s. What seemed impossible was achieved by a group of men and women who believed and accepted the challenge. The team found solutions to every unbelievable obstacle and accomplished the mission. Eight years later on July 16, 1969 Apollo 11 blasted off with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins…four days later, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon. The NASA team believed that what seemed to be impossible was possible and succeeded.

You must believe to succeed.

The secret to creating a uniqueness is understanding what the target customer wants and delivering it better than anyone else. Identifying at least one uniqueness in all aspects of a business takes a lot of thought from a broad view to the micro level.

There are many common denominators with Broker agencies. Identify why a potential buyer would select your brokerage and build on the things you do better than the competitors that creates customer loyalty. Attracting and retaining customers is foundational to gaining a competitive advantage.

Real Estate agents should identify the uniqueness of the community, homes and parcels of land they are selling. By combining the customers unique buying motive with the uniqueness of the community and property the customer is more likely to more forward with a buying decision.

To gain competitive advantages identify your uniqueness.

Ken Blanchard coined the term “raving fan” to describe a customer who is so overwhelmed by the customer service they’ve received that they can’t stop telling everyone. In business we have internal, secondary and external customers.

Internal customers are the associates in the company. We want to create a working environment where associates look forward to coming to work and engaged in the work that they do.

Secondary customers are the tradespeople, service providers and vendors. Tradespeople are engineers, builders and companies involved in product development. Service providers are bankers, closing agents and anyone that provides a service to the buyer. Vendors are advertising agencies, office suppliers, cleaning companies and anyone who does direct business with the company. How this group is treated will determine how they respond to the company’s needs and often is a reflection of the company.

External customers are the consumers who expect a certain level of service. Doing what is expected will not create raving fans, it’s what we do over and above the expected that creates raving fans. Creating customer based raving fans that can’t stop talking about the amazing customer service and overall experience is the goal. This includes buyers and non-buyers alike, both are valuable assets. A referral from a non-buyer is as good as a referral from those who purchase. Company’s that build a relationship with the buyer and non-buyer groups are maximizing their marketing efforts.

Every interaction with a customer is an opportunity to make a positive long-lasting impression.

Dr. Clifton wrote: A strength is a pattern of behavior, thoughts and feelings that produce a high degree of satisfaction and pride; generates both psychic and or financial reward and presents measurable progress toward excellence.

Research indicates that the greatest room for overall personal improvement isn’t where you’re weakest, but rather where you’re the strongest. There are 34 Clifton strengths themes and the odds that someone shares the same Signature Themes or “top five” is rare. It makes sense to build on a person’s strengths and to find solutions using their strengths or the strengths of others to make up for their weaknesses. Associates will be more productive, creative and less likely to look elsewhere for employment if they are doing a job that matches their natural talent.

The same strength/weakness theme can be applied to a business, by listing in order the functions a business does well to the areas needing improvement. Once identified the company can look for people with the necessary strengths to build up the areas needing improvement.

Soar with your strengths and manage your weaknesses.