For Real Estate Agents:
Imagine you take a flight on a small plane from sea to shining sea and in the middle of nowhere you get dropped out of the plane. You have no idea where you are except that you are in the U.S. All you have is the business suit you are wearing. Your money and credit cards were left on the plane.
Would you be able to start all over with nothing and become successful? Yes, you can if you have mastered the following 5 skills:
Learn your language. For the sake of this post we will assume that English, the United States version is your language. Language is the most powerful business survival skill you can master because it is with language that you can persuade others and express yourself. Study your language. Learn the history behind the language. When you hear words you do not know the meaning of jot them down and when you get home look them up and learn about the word. Subscribe to Dictionary.com's word of the day. I spoke 3 languages as a child and received straight A's in English all through school. When you learn what prefixes and suffixes mean it helps you to take the words apart and understand their meanings. My grandmother spoke fluent Latin and taught me how to connect many of the parts of words together to figure out what they mean. Get busy now to improve your language skills.
Learn about non verbal communication. It is not what you say but how you say it. The feeling you project and your body language you use when communicating are stronger than the words you say. Study body language. Record your voice and play it back to see how you sound and what you are projecting. Look in the mirror and talk to see what you are visually communicating. When I was 13 years old I read the book, 'The Art Of Body Language.' It was fascinating and most of it I have kept with me all these years.
Marketing is crucial to your success. Learn all you can about marketing. If you are depending on others to do your marketing you will never be as successful as you could be if you understand marketing yourself. You need to learn to write compelling copy for your letters, how to write direct response letters, how to successfully use ads to make the phone ring, understand Internet Marketing along with SEO, Web 2.0, building a list, etc. You need to learn how to tell your story so that others want to become a part of the Dream. Develop your PR skills. I will tell you from experience of successfully opening and running several small businesses and consulting and coaching others in their businesses that the single most important thing for you to master to be able to be a success in the shortest amount of time is to learn how to do your own PR work. This is huge and is overlooked all the time by business owners.
Get your sales skills in order. So many people tell me that they hate selling yet they are selling every day. Everyone sells. Your children are selling you every time they want a new toy. Your spouse is selling you when they want to go to a particular place to eat. If you do not feel comfortable selling it is because you are looking at it from the wrong angle. Sales is a communication process. Sales is finding what a person wants and then giving it to them. It is that simple. It is not about being pushy, nasty, hovering over them or telling them what they should do. The proper way to be successful in sales is to be a consulting salesperson. Ask lots of questions. Be up front and tell the person you are talking to that you will see if what you offer is a fit for them and if it is not then you will refer them to someone who would be a better fit for them. Learn about sales. Read books about how to build relationships with your prospects. The best book on the planet on this subject is Dale Carnegie's book,'How To Win Friends And Influence People'. It was written many years ago and still applied today. All the other books about this subject are spin offs. So read the original!
Public Speaking. This is the one skill that holds so many people back from becoming all that they can be. The most successful agents, writers and business owners are those who have mastered the skill of public speaking. Most people would rather die than get up and speak. But this skill is part of a necessary survival skill package. Why are people afraid of public speaking? Because they are afraid of rejection. I just heard about a study that was done on the brain. They said that when a person is rejected the pain that person feels is the same exact pain he/she feels when he/she feels physical pain. So the fear to get up in front of bunch of people and speak is like looking at the possibility that all those people may reject you and the pain that you would feel from that is like all those people stabbing you. This happens in the part of the brain that is still back in the primitive days of living in the wild. You feared being rejected by your group because that would mean you would be without the protection of the group and off to fend for yourself in the wild; not a good situation back then. I have always loved Public Speaking. It is a talent I think I was born with. In fact, for me I would much rather speak to a group of people than one on one. When I was in grade school I used to ask my teachers if I could do oral reports and when I was done with one I would ask them when could I do another one. Learning how to speak in public will elevate you to a different income bracket faster than anything else can. Just look around you and you will see the evidence of this. If you need help to develop this survival skill; join Toastmasters, BNI or other networking groups where you can practice your public speaking. The more you do it the less afraid you are. You gain confidence each time you speak and soon your brain will realize that this is not a life and death situation any longer.
When you master these 5 survival skills you can start all over again in a new place not knowing anyone. You can revamp your business by applying these skills if your business is stagnant. You can take your business and income to the next level in the direct proportion that you attain these skills. So get your business survival skills in order. There is no limit to what you can do and be and have!
If you are interested in taking your business skills to the next level contact me and we can set up an interview to see if you are a candidate for coaching.
Copyright © 2007 By Katerina Gasset, All Rights Reserved
The material herein may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed or published. All rights reserved. Plagiarism will be detected and is punishable by law. Get your Business Survival Skill in Order to be all that you can and should be!
