{"id":13361,"date":"2010-10-10T12:47:21","date_gmt":"2010-10-10T19:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=13361"},"modified":"2010-10-10T12:47:21","modified_gmt":"2010-10-10T19:47:21","slug":"talent-and-hard-work-overrated-do-results-factor-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/13361\/talent-and-hard-work-overrated-do-results-factor-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Talent and Hard Work — Overrated? Do Results Factor In?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most marketing and branding efforts fail miserably. We all know a ton of so-called talented folks who’ve failed — and they worked their asses off. How’s that possible? I used to ask myself that question all the time. Then one day Dad pointed out a guy in the office who looked completely average. One might even say he blended into his surroundings. He made beige exciting.<\/p>\n

He’d been a teacher for 20+ years, was in his 40’s, and had been licensed about three years. He was the fourth highest producer in terms of commission dollars in the highest volume real estate brokerage in San Diego. I was 16 at the time. Dad said to watch him and learn whenever I was cleaning the office. (I was company janitor.) <\/p>\n

Watchin’ this guy was beyond boring.<\/strong> All he did was make practice calls to FSBOs. Then he practiced cold calling. Then he practiced listing presentations. Then he practiced showing property — all in the office. It was irritating. His name was Bob, and since I was still in school at the time, I could only imagine how terminally bored his students must’ve been. <\/p>\n

In his third year, 1967, he made over $35,000. To put that in perspective, the median income for the nation then was about $7,500 or so. In today’s figures, and adjusting for currently available splits, his earnings would be roughly $700,000. More about Bob later.<\/p>\n

Many times after monthly TechTard meetings adjourn, I walk across the hall to attend similar get-togethers with those equally handicapped in the disciplines of marketing and branding. No real point here, except to establish street cred when it comes to my lack of expertise when it comes to these subjects. <\/p>\n

For the purpose of this post we’ll leave out selling, which is a stand-alone skill, generally not reliant on marketing or branding. Yeah, I realize bad marketing or branding can significantly hinder selling. <\/p>\n

I hereby publicly plead guilty to multiple counts of Marketing By the Seat of My Pants, and Branding By Default<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

If you know how to sell, great. If you suspect you could improve, do so. Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most marketing and branding efforts fail miserably. We all know a ton of so-called talented folks who’ve failed — and they worked their asses off. How’s that possible? I used to ask myself that question all the time. Then one day Dad pointed out a guy in the office who looked completely average. One might […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[212,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13361","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-flourishing","7":"category-real-estate","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7200,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7200\/biz-model-schmiz-model-its-about-quality-the-rest-is-happy-noise\/","url_meta":{"origin":13361,"position":0},"title":"Biz Model Schmiz Model — It’s About Quality — The Rest Is Happy Noise","author":"Jeff Brown","date":"March 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"NASA hasn't invented the device sensitive enough to measure the apathy I harbor for what business model other real estate firms use. In fact, taking it a step farther, I'd probably have to climb up several rungs on the 'I care' ladder to reach apathy on that subject. Fair enough?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Realty Reality"","block_context":{"text":"Realty Reality","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/realty-reality\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15573,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/15573\/real-estate-brokerage-models-jeff-browns-dad-and-dead-cats\/","url_meta":{"origin":13361,"position":1},"title":"Real Estate Brokerage models, Jeff Brown’s Dad, and Dead cats.","author":"Eric Blackwell","date":"January 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"If you have never read what Jeff Brown writes, STOP. Go read it. Seriously. Go to the right sidebar, scroll down to the Bawld Guy and click the archive link. Ok. ;-) Jeff's recent post brought up some good conversations that I want to shed some light on from my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12284,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12284\/success-in-real-estate-brokerage-branding-what-the-public-really-wants\/","url_meta":{"origin":13361,"position":2},"title":"Success In Real Estate Brokerage — Branding — What the Public Really Wants","author":"Jeff Brown","date":"June 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Daniel Pink has put out a video with some interesting facts learned by those in science studying human behavior in the workplace. It's relatively short, chock-full of information, much of which goes against what we've all 'known' for quite awhile. Watch it or not, I've included it to allow you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10555,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/10555\/retirement-aint-for-everyone\/","url_meta":{"origin":13361,"position":3},"title":"Retirement Ain’t For Everyone","author":"Jeff Brown","date":"December 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Just because you've found yourself in a position to quit your day job, and sail into the sunset, should you? If we assume you're financially set and your Purposeful Plan has found the cool end of the rainbow, what will you do? So many of us use artificial rest stops\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1218,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1218\/1218\/","url_meta":{"origin":13361,"position":4},"title":"Niche Marketing in Action","author":"Teri Lussier","date":"March 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Last night two separate thoughts took a moonlight swim through the gray matter, and when I woke up this morning things made sense. One thing that stuck in my head was Brian Brady's post on niche marketing. So well put- a recipe for success. The other thought was about my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":459,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/459\/blogoff-post-82-weblog-review-the-phoenix-real-estate-guy\/","url_meta":{"origin":13361,"position":5},"title":"Blogoff Post #82: Weblog Review: The Phoenix Real Estate Guy . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey, wait. I'm the Phoenix real estate guy. Jay Thompson is an East Valley Realtor who publishes The Phoenix Real Estate Guy weblog. All gussied up in a brand new weblog template, this blog is fun reading. Well-researched, deeply-linked and yet still great fun to read. 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