Mindset of the Virtuoso

If you were asked to list people who you saw as super achievers or virtuoso's potentially these names would appear:

·         Usain Bolt

·         Richard Branson

·         James Tostevin

·         Steve Jobs

·         Bill Gates

·         Oprah Winfrey

All of these people have had the mind set to be the best in the world. However have you ever wondered what their back story is?

What was it they did to get to where they have?

Because they didn’t just wake up one morning and become the best at what they do!

If you did have an opportunity to sit down and have a chat to any of the them London to a brick they will tell you that they had the following:

1.       Commitment to be the best at what they do.
           So how serious are you really, do you have a business plan in place, follow it, prospect,  
           hit your targets, have accountability?
           Remember you are the key person who has the most impact on your performance

2.       Practiced religiously. Are you committed to scripts and dialogue training or are you doing  
           what most do in real estate - practise on your clients. 
 

3.     Trained to be the best. 
         No athlete goes out on the day of competition and becomes the best, it takes years of training,
         focus and commitment. How would you rate yourself in these areas?

4.     Had in place a written plan. 
         Written goals means you have a written commitment to achieving them.

5.     Developed a respect for time. 
         We all have the same amount of hours in the day how are you using yours?

         Being great at what you do is a result of disciplined intense practise on a regular basis.
         The opposite is wasting time, looking for excuses and blaming others for your lack of success.

So how much time are you committing to scripts, listing, negotiation and prospecting practise?

We are getting close to the end of the year and for many of you the 30^th of June group certificate will be the reality check of your performance over the last 12 months.

Will the amount you have earned surprise or shock you in a positive way? Telling yourself you should have done the basics is pointless, committing to doing it and holding yourself accountable is worthwhile.

So get serious, commit to a plan, practise, train and surround yourself with people who will coach and mentor you and hold you accountable to be the best, the Picasso of real estate.

Remember to get the results that the top 10% of agents have you must be willing to do what only 10% of agents do.

As you start to achieve success what occurs is you become more confident, energetic, productive and focused which leads to becoming word class or the virtuoso.

Would you ask a male PM the same question?

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Howard Sattler, a shock jock from WA, comes out and asks the Prime Minister during an on air interview if her partner was gay.
What is worse he based this question on the fact that Tim was a hairdresser; therefore all male hairdressers must be gay. What a ridiculous generalisation!

And he didn’t ask it once but several times during the interview. Gillard handled the interview with class and dignity versus Sattler who was vile and disgusting.  

Sattler has since apologised not because he believes he was disrespectful but because the management of his radio station have asked him to. He defends himself by stating that the PM’s office had agreed to a candid interview. Really Howard I fail to see how this line of questioning has any relevance whatsoever to the current political debate.

What Julia should have done is walked out, I would have.

My question however is when was the last time we asked a male Prime Minister, or in fact Tony Abbott, if their wife was a lesbian or questions relating to their sex lives!  The answer is never.

I fail to understand why it is that men think it is ok to ask women inappropriate questions and the fact that this happens to our Prime Minister what hope do the rest of us have in any industry or position?

I don’t care who you are, you may not agree with the policies or support the Labour Party but you damn well need to respect the chair. She is our Prime Minister and needs to be treated with respect.

There have been a myriad of other attacks on her as well. A restaurant in Brisbane at a Liberal party function had her on the menu as - Julia Gillard Kentucky fried quail, small breasts, huge thighs and a big red box. How utterly disgusting and appalling.

No other politician was on the menu and Mr Abbott believes we need to let this go. It was a joke and never made it out of the kitchen was his response.
Really Mr Abbott, firstly it is disrespectful and highly offensive, secondly how would you feel if we had on the menu a guessing game on the size of your crown jewels, how many men your wife has slept with and oh yes lets ask if your wife has ever had a female lover making her a lesbian.





Add to the above the comments on Gillards clothes, hair style and colour and the shape of her glasses.

I simply fail to see how any of the above has anything to do or have any relevance to running the country.

I am sick and tired of the personal nature of attacks on Gillard, however unfortunately she is not alone. I talk to women groups on a regular basis and many are shocked at my experiences with men in leadership positions, I am not unique in this and now it seems neither is the Prime Minister.

What concerns me is the level of disrespect is not just from the media but also from the National/Liberal party. Where do we go to next?

Without question there needs to equality and respect for women in business at all levels. So now Sattler has been suspended – so what, he will be back on the airways after a period of time, he should be fired.

Women across the nation are offended and frankly should be livid.

Sexism is back on the table.

I know that not all men behave and think in the same way and many of my male colleagues and friends would be as equally appallaed. I have also worked for a number of male business owners who don't see gender as an issue. Sattlers views and questions is not a reflection of all men in Australia.

However, women, regardless of their position, even as the Prime Minister of the country, are clearly not respected or treated equally by many.

Where simple 1% could have made a difference

So maybe I had high expectations however as a new customer to a local restaurant I hadn’t been to before I don’t believe that’s unusual.

The Meat and Wine Co in Hawthorn East was where I went to dinner last night. It looks fantastic from the outside and the online menu simply delicious and I always get excited to potentially discover a great local restaurant.  

We walked in behind a group of 6 whose table wasn’t ready, however somehow the maître de missed us walking in, I went up to her and asked her for our table, she then called the waitress and asked her several times if table 28 was ready. And every time she asked the question she raised her voice; clearly there were some levels of stress however as the paying customer not something I am interested in experiencing the minute I walk in.

We were taken to our table, menu’s provided and the waitress looking after our section introduced herself to us. However the irony is she never returned to our table again. Clearly she either was moved to another section or didn’t really want to look after us!

We ordered South African wine, a red, waited for at least 10 mins to be told that it was no longer available. Firstly shouldn’t the manager have briefed the team on what was available and what wasn’t prior to customers arriving? Secondly perhaps we should have been offered an alternative wine.  I then ordered the white wine which when it arrived at the table was apparently the last bottle and just enough for two glasses. I would suggest they stock wines that can be made available to their clients.

We ordered two different entrée’s and when they arrived the waiter literally put them on the table without asking who was eating which one or any explanation of what they were.

After waiting nearly an hour for our main meal the waitress finally came to our table to let us know that our meals were delayed due to a private function upstairs. Clearly the management had not prepared for this to occur and there were significant delays.

When they finally did arrive I had ordered beef medium that had been overdone and the meat was quiet dry plus slightly cold.

At the end of our meal no one offered us dessert or coffee.

We asked for our bill and yes they had charged us for the red wine that we never got.

The Meat and Wine Co market themselves as a cut above the rest – well this certainly wasn’t the case last night.

Now all the issues I have raised above are very easily addressed if the management simply looked at their process and service standards from the eyes of the customers. These are simple training issues but when you are competing for business with other restaurants these simple things will lose you clients.

Are your processes and service standards designed with the client in mind and does your team actually understand what level of service you want to deliver to ensure repeat and referral business occurs.

What are your customers’ expectations of service from your brand and are they in fact getting it? How are you ensuring that they do?

Audi are fantastic at pre and post service delivery. A few weeks ago I had to have my car assessed for repairs to be done at a panel beaters and I got a call from Audi during the week to ensure that someone had called me and my car was booked in. He then ended the call by saying I will call you after the car has been repaired to ensure you are happy. That’s exceeding my expectations.

Do you call your tenants a month after they moved in to ensure they are settled in?

Do you call your purchasers a month later to ensure that they are settling in? Do you do the same with your sellers?

These simple 1% make all the difference and sets you aside from your competition.

Remember we are in a congested market place and the smallest things now make the biggest impact.

As for the Meat and Wine Co, clearly I won’t be going back there anytime soon.

10 things to make you world class

 

1.     Have total clarity on what you want to achieve. Share this with a trusted coach who will hold you accountable. If you are vague your results will be vague

2.     Have the single minded focus on your journey and the sense to bend, yield and be flexible when required

3.     Never let go of your family and friends, they are the ones who will be there in your time of need and we all have those

4.       Let people see the passion for what you do, it will engage them and bind them to you

5.       Be the Picasso of your office or your trade

6.       Keep your mind, body and soul fit

7.       Keep the hunger for knowledge alive, it never stops

8.       Be unique, be original, they broke the mould once you arrived

9.       To get the results no one else has have the strength to do what no one else will

10.     Laugh, enjoy life and make a difference to as many people as you can