insight

The Autopsy Report

samuelabbottiii, , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Something I learned from an excellent real estate coach named Brian Moses is the importance of reflecting on things that go well and things that don’t. The emphasis was on things that didn’t go well, but it can be applied to positive situations as well.

Brian talked about filling notebook after notebook with what he called “Autopsies.” He would autopsy situations after they were done, in writing, to learn what he could do better next time when the situation presented itself again.

This is based on the professional wisdom that at a certain point, situations we encounter in business aren’t really new. My father-in-law talked about this during his last visit with us. He spoke about how employees that come into his business fit into archetypes and he can predict how well they’ll turn out in many cases because he’s seen and hired and fired the same guy (not literally) before.

Whenever I have a deal die or I have a lead that I feel should have converted but didn’t or when I lose a listing appointment, I autopsy it.

In practice, this basically looks like journaling about the situation. But more specifically, I ask myself where I could have done better, where I was at fault. On further reflection, It’s usually evident where I messed up.

The one that comes to mind is a listing appointment from last summer. They were sort of an odd couple, around my age, and the house was a bit unusual. Mostly because there were something like a half-dozen or more cats living there. There was one bedroom of the five that was actually for the cats.

The people were nice enough. He was a bit more forward, she a bit more reserved. I quickly grew comfortable with them because of our closeness in age. We toured the home, sat at the table, and I went through my presentation. Prior to the presentation, I felt that we had established rapport. I especially felt that way with the man.

Well, I have the unfortunate habit of vulgar speech. It’s rarely a problem in my professional life, but it’s a character handicap inherited from my parents and perfected in the Marines that I’d rather not have. Because I felt especially comfortable with the man, and to a lesser degree with the woman but still comfortable, at some point I began speaking freely as I would with friends.

At the time, it felt pretty natural. There were no adverse reactions, and there may have even been some reciprocity.

I followed up a couple times as it was just a matter of time for them to list. Then one day, she told me that her friend recommended she work with someone and she decided to take her friend’s recommendation. She wasn’t bitter about it, and she was obviously forthcoming and didn’t just ignore me. I asked her point blank if there was something more I could have done to win her business, or, if there was anything I could have done better.

She paused and seemed to consider it, then convincingly said, “No.”

I was a little pissed about the situation. It was in the bag. $12k, gone.

Of course, I hung up congenially enough. But I was hurting.

I thought of Brian. So, I opened a Word doc and wrote through it. It was informative for me. Similar to seeking direction the way I described in yesterday’s post, this is a way that I can uncover stuff that’s holding me back, stuff that I otherwise won’t notice that I’m coming up against.

Here’s the Autopsy Report below as an example:

Autopsy Report
 
(The Person’s Name Was Here)

I interviewed for the listing and she said she was going to clean the house and paint and get her shit out before listing in about a month. I followed up with her after 1 week via text saying, “Just checking in with you. Were you able to connect with Attorney _______ about the capital gains tax question?” She responded saying that she hadn’t had a chance to call him but would hopefully by the end of the week. I asked if she had any other questions or things I could assist with. She said, “No not yet. I’m working on packing and cleaning/painting.”
 
I followed up again two weeks later on 6/21/22 asking her how the painting was going. She responded “Hi, I’m doing good. I’ve just decided to go with a realtor that a friend of mine just used, but thank you for your time and advice.”
 
I asked her if there were any other differentiators besides her friend’s recommendation that helped her decide. She said no, it was just the recommendation.
 
Damn!
 
I could have communicated more often. I let two weeks slip by before I reached back out again. By then it was too late. How do I continue to add value while seller leads are in nurture mode? I didn’t establish sufficient trust for her anyway. I won over the boyfriend, but I didn’t win her over.
 
I swore profusely while I presented to them because I felt comfortable. That was a mistake.
 
My communication is limited to texts and emails on Tuesdays. While that’s a step in the right direction as far as what I’ve otherwise done previously (structure), it’s not a very upbeat rhythm. I need to increase communication, but do it systematically.
 
What else can I do to add value and help to build trust with sellers? Brian would say that I should have left with the client docs signed. Some of these sellers aren’t ready to sign though. I stumbled a little through the presentation too I remember because the listing sheets were the CloudCMA listing sheets and I wasn’t familiar with where some of the details are located on the page. I need to know them like I know my phone number. Even if there was some other factor, she wouldn’t say it. If there was some other factor, she may not even be aware of it. It’s more unconscious. Trust. You increase trust by increasing communication. But how do you increase communication with somebody without coming across as over-the-top? Maybe over-the-top would have been preferable to the bi-weekly texter…
 
She tells me she needs a month to get it ready to list. She finds a new realtor somewhere between week 1 and week 3. I could have called last week. I don’t call. I could have called ever. I could send her listings as they come on market. I could send them the digital pdf version of the report. I could increase the fear and tension rather than putting them at ease. How? By increasing motivation to list sooner because of market conditions worsening. Because of buyers disappearing and becoming more particular as time goes by.
 
The fact of the matter is, she felt no problem with taking another realtor over me and not letting me know. She didn’t care about letting me know because what I was delivering was a commodity service. There was no real relationship there. Nothing to speak of. Now, whether or not this is somebody that you would get lunch with, this is somebody that’s in the market to sell a $400k home. Transactional. She found you (number one) on her own, but then when push came to shove she preferred a referral from a friend of hers who’d just had a positive experience with someone else. You should use your referrals and Success Stories more in your listing presentations.
 
You could ask people who you’ve just helped if they know anyone who’s thinking of buying or selling in the next few months. Other agents do this, and this is part of the reason why they find themselves in these situations and you don’t. You have to learn how to ask for the referral.
 
Pay attention to who gets this listing. Irrespective, note that this is something that you do not know how to do and need to learn how to do. This is a weakness of yours, not a quality of your character.
 
Now don’t beat yourself up. God wants you to learn. Like Yoda said last night, “The greatest teacher, failure is.” Use it.

That’s a good example. I was able to uncover some ideas and insight that I wouldn’t have otherwise. Furthermore, I felt somewhat better after I wrote this out. I put my arms around it, identified where I fell short, and committed to not making those same mistakes twice. To me, this is the work of a pro. We all make mistakes. The question is whether or not we learn from them.

The Autopsy Report

Getting Direction

samuelabbottiii, , , , , , 1 Comment

I ended yesterday feeling as though I need to find direction for the energy I’m investing in my business. I was stressed and worried about money, and worried that I was spinning my wheels.

I’m unlike most people I know when it comes to seeking this kind of direction. I, like anybody, read things online to try to develop plans and designs about how to move forward and accomplish things.

The trouble with bigger questions is that the answers aren’t set in stone. They vary from person to person. Our tendency, as humans, to try to create a template for answering life’s questions is fallacious in that there are too many unaccounted-for variables for anyone to ever give the perfect answer.

But we look for patterns, as is our wont so that we can simplify the world around us and thereby live without massive confusion at even the mere prospect of fetching the mail.

What does that mean? It means that when I try to solve my life problems with the internet I typically don’t get far. I’ll usually make a strong start on something in some direction, then I peter out and eventually get back to square one or someplace like it.

I began my day remembering that I wanted to seek direction as I mentioned above. Instead of looking for more input, which is very natural for me and probably most people, I try to get as quiet as I can.

I’ve spent years meditating off and on and you could regard this as meditation.1 For me, I like to do this by submerging the back half of my head underwater while lying in the bathtub. I do it such that my ears will be underwater. It’s the most quiet my life ever gets. Something about the stillness and the silence I find in the water like that allows me to think extremely clearly.2

I’m a guy that does a lot of thinking. Perhaps we all are people who do a lot of thinking—I’m not sure. But I know that the thinking I do has degrees of effectiveness. Never is there a higher degree of effectiveness than when I’m taking a bath with my ears underwater like this. I float, and I listen.

It’s important for me to acknowledge, even if I’m reluctant to do so, that I have a spiritual belief system. I believe in something and I call it God. I grew up in a church, but don’t really give much weight to that at this phase of my life, and haven’t for many years. I mention this in the interest of authenticity, but also to convey the complete message of what I do to think.

Once I’ve settled in the water, I say a short prayer, and I ask this thing I believe in to enable me to set aside everything I think I know for an open mind and a new experience. I ask it to help me see the truth of whatever I’m dealing with. Finally, I say in my mind, something to the effect of, “What would you have me focus on here?” and the intention, in this case, was centered on my work life.

Sometimes, in the past, I’ve done this and had things come up that weren’t pertinent to what I was seeking. Say I was seeking direction about work, I might get an intuition about my marriage, as an example.

Whether one believes in something greater than themselves, like a God or something or, if they don’t, I think there’s still value to this style of inquiry. Whether you regard it as self-inquiry or something more like I do, perhaps the results are similar.

Some interesting things came up. I’m a writer, self-admitted, and I’m also a collector, at least in an aspirational sense. The notion of content marketing for my real estate business is one I’ve long been interested in, and it snapped clear this morning in the bath that I just need to begin. I’ve spent months studying content marketing and nearly completing the Hubspot certification course on it, and I’ve read books and more books. But I haven’t begun. And that was part of the inspiration today, just that: begin. Make a beginning. Gather up some momentum, and then you can return to the fine details and fiddle and try your hand at perfecting later.

Even before that notion bubbled up (which I was very thrilled about, by the way, and felt massive relief compared to yesterday), one came first that was unexpected.3 My company is changing hands, and without breaching my NDA, I’ll say that there’s soon to be a new potential to generate revenue by means of recruiting agents to the company.4 This news was new last week, but the shift in perception in that I’m able to employ what I’ve learned about internet marketing on a national and global audience rather than a geo-local one is way cool and I’m pumped about it!

I keep a small notebook next to the tub on the floor and a hand towel so I can dry my hands and write legibly when ideas and things come up. In my experience, there’s a point of diminishing returns with this exercise. When I do it often, I don’t experience insight every time.5 When it’s irregular and I’m perplexed, it works for me.

This is the most important thing I could put down today, so I did. I feel fresh and relieved and I have felt that way all day. I was productive but not obsessive with my work. I read fiction for an hour. I worked on my novel for an hour. I spent time with my wife. I had an excellent day.

This is the reason why.

  1. Mostly “off,” by the way. But not an insignificant amount of “on,” to be fair. ↩︎
  2. I also have a hearing disorder called tinnitus which provides a constant ringing in my ears that’s amplified when I’m quiet and also when I think about it. The water doesn’t make it go away, but it gives me greater quiet and comfort than I’ve found otherwise. ↩︎
  3. These things tend to be unexpected, which is why I do it. This works for me, and it’s deeply more satisfying and intimate and personal for me vs. rewinding and playing a how-to Youtube video a couple times, taking a bunch of notes, and making some half-measure effort to do some thing that worked for someone once. This feels fulfilling. That feels obligatory. ↩︎
  4. Less than exciting at face value, but when I consider it, it’s an opportunity to have a global product that I can work to sell, and I can do so in a way that actually adds tremendous value for people. Looking at it through that lens excites me! ↩︎
  5. However, I do believe that when I was doing this exercise daily for several months, if not more than a year, I was producing both narrative writing/editing and real estate sales like it was effortless. I had a spring of power and energy and fortune that made for a very exciting period of my life. Why did I stop? Why do we ever stop doing what’s good for us? ↩︎
Getting Direction

Food-Water-Shelter-Books

samuelabbottiii, ,

Ryan Holiday changed my life. Though we’ve never talked and may never, he deeply impacted me. Ryan has written extensively about reading and how important a part of his life it is. Most of what I have to offer on the topic merely echoes his teachings, but nevertheless has become so much a part of me that I can’t just ignore it or redirect attention elsewhere. I need to write about it too.

Ryan wrote about reading like it was essential to his survival. He explained that he classed it with eating and sleeping. This alone enabled a profound shift to take place in my mind about the way that I treated reading. I valued reading, no doubt. Many of my friends failed to read as much as me, and probably had little desire to do so. I had a pretty impressive collection of books in comparison to my peers. When the shift occurred where I came to regard reading in a similar way as Ryan, an insatiable appetite developed in me – or at least was allowed to finally come to the surface – for knowledge.

There was so much I needed to read.

He wrote about making a deal with himself that if he ever wanted a book, he wouldn’t let money or time or anything else stop him from owning it. He wrote about how owning it to him meant more than reading it right away. He might not read it for years, but it was there for him when he wanted it. He wrote about this resulting in several – or many – books that he hadn’t read, and rather than this being a negative aspect, he viewed it as his anti-library. The anti-library produced still more motivation for him to read what he was reading so that he could continue to move through all the books that he wanted to read, which he saw every time he looked at his bookshelves. He went into detail about his approaches to reading, to taking notes, to commonplacing, to doing all these things that helped him to give maximum function to his reading. He ultimately wrote about how it was essential to his writing process, and how one leant to the other, providing him with not only an effective way to self-educate, but a career that has thus far proved prosperous.

I, and many people I know and follow, have experienced life-altering insight as a direct result of reading a book. For fifteen or twenty dollars, my life could be significantly affected for the better. This low-risk gamble excited me and continues to. Unlike gambling at a casino, the stakes are low and the potential for gain is inevitable and guaranteed. The biggest cost isn’t the aforementioned price tag, it’s the time, energy, commitment, and seriousness one brings to the practice of reading.

It’s a decision. Simple as that. All Ryan did – other than display his enthusiasm by setting a detailed example – was give me permission to become obsessed with reading too.

Food-Water-Shelter-Books