The Season to Give
Throughout the winter holidays, I’m reminded of the following: Giving to others is one of the easiest ways to create opportunity—I can’t emphasize enough how important this will be to your career.
People are always happy to receive something for free. It’s something that I learned years before I became a broker. And once I started my real estate career in Beverly Hills, I remembered the lessons from the past.
While in college I had a job telemarketing. I was responsible to fill the calendars of the sale staff. Once I’d schedule an appointment, the salesman's goal was to meet with the client and sell fire alarms.
When I’d get a prospect on the phone instead of asking, “Would you like to buy a fire alarm?” I would ask if she were interested in learning about fire safety. I’d follow up the question by offering a free gift. For example, if it were Thanksgiving, I’d ask if they wanted a free pie cutter. I ended up being one of the top telemarketers at my job.
Years later, I applied the same principal to my real estate business.
Beverly Hills has the reputation of being home to the world’s rich and famous. In fact, it's probably the most high profile place to live in the world. So what do you think my colleagues said, when I told them that I planned to build my business by giving away chocolate purchased from a school fundraiser?
What I heard was, “Are you sure about this?” And their expressions told me, “What are you thinking?” But despite the skeptics, I went ahead and bought cases of candy at my son’s school. Boxes and boxes of chocolate swelled my closets. In fact, I made my son the top producing candy seller at his school.
Many thought it was a silly idea to buy school fundraiser chocolate and give it out as a free gift. This was Beverly Hills, not Buffalo after all. Who in 90210 would want something so trivial? It turned out to be a great way to meet people.
A phone call starting with, “Hello Julie, I just bought some chocolate to raise money for Michael’s school. I wanted to know if I could drop off a free gift,” opened many doors for me. I would arrive at Julie’s home, and we would catch up with family news. This provided an ideal way to share about my new career endeavor.
Today, my children are no longer in school, and my school fundraising days are over. But the philosophy hasn’t changed: Always give to others. Happy Holidays! ♦Digg it ♦del.icio.us ♦Add to Technorati Faves
People are always happy to receive something for free. It’s something that I learned years before I became a broker. And once I started my real estate career in Beverly Hills, I remembered the lessons from the past.
While in college I had a job telemarketing. I was responsible to fill the calendars of the sale staff. Once I’d schedule an appointment, the salesman's goal was to meet with the client and sell fire alarms.
When I’d get a prospect on the phone instead of asking, “Would you like to buy a fire alarm?” I would ask if she were interested in learning about fire safety. I’d follow up the question by offering a free gift. For example, if it were Thanksgiving, I’d ask if they wanted a free pie cutter. I ended up being one of the top telemarketers at my job.
Years later, I applied the same principal to my real estate business.
Beverly Hills has the reputation of being home to the world’s rich and famous. In fact, it's probably the most high profile place to live in the world. So what do you think my colleagues said, when I told them that I planned to build my business by giving away chocolate purchased from a school fundraiser?
What I heard was, “Are you sure about this?” And their expressions told me, “What are you thinking?” But despite the skeptics, I went ahead and bought cases of candy at my son’s school. Boxes and boxes of chocolate swelled my closets. In fact, I made my son the top producing candy seller at his school.
Many thought it was a silly idea to buy school fundraiser chocolate and give it out as a free gift. This was Beverly Hills, not Buffalo after all. Who in 90210 would want something so trivial? It turned out to be a great way to meet people.
A phone call starting with, “Hello Julie, I just bought some chocolate to raise money for Michael’s school. I wanted to know if I could drop off a free gift,” opened many doors for me. I would arrive at Julie’s home, and we would catch up with family news. This provided an ideal way to share about my new career endeavor.
Today, my children are no longer in school, and my school fundraising days are over. But the philosophy hasn’t changed: Always give to others. Happy Holidays! ♦Digg it ♦del.icio.us ♦Add to Technorati Faves
posted by Myra Nourmand at
6:19 PM
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