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Tim Moncrief, Co-Owner-Bartlett RE Group

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Tips on succeeding as an INTROVERT...... from an INTROVERT

08-30-09
Tim Moncrief, Co-Owner-Bartlett RE Group
Just a few tips from an INTROVERT on how I was able to pull this real estate career off as an EXTROVERT.

Those who know me outside the real estate industry know me a very shy introvert who would rather be alone than in a crowd of people.  My best friend calls me "THE WALKING DEAD".  That is just me.  Some outside of real estate may think I am moody.....some may think I am stuck on myself.....and some say I am the walking dead.  In reality, I am just a quiet guy suffering severe chronic pain (just maybe another blog on tuning out severe pain) that listens very well and will throw in my two cents if no one has a good idea.  This has been me for my entire life outside of real estate.

Those that know me in real estate will probably not believe the upper paragraph, and those that know me outside of real estate will have a hard time believing what I will write below.

So when I got into real estate in 1982, I realized that I had this personality challenge that I had to overcome or I would have little chance of success in this business.  So here is how one person pulled it off.

A few years earlier (1979) a movie came out called "All that Jazz" with Roy Scheider.  A line that was repeated over and over was "IT'S SHOW TIME FOLKS".  This is a common line to get actors use to both get over the butterflies and get them into their mindset of their role.  i.e. I am not Roy Scheider, I am Joe Gideon (the character).  So from day one I stole a portion of that line.  I would and still wake up today and say either vocally or in my head, "IT'S SHOW TIME".  From that second on, my real estate face and extroverted personality kicks in and the old Tim Moncrief stays behind. I really feel I become a different human being and that there is no obstacle I can not conquer.  Oddly the joke in the real estate community is that I am the one that won't shut up.

I go on listing appointment that most agents spend 30 minutes to an hour; and I spend 2-3 hours.  Maybe the clients are just worn our and they throw in the towel and say "OK, where do we sign?  

With one company I worked with, there was a contest for the best presentation by and agent from a secret shopper.  For those that do not know a secret shopper is hired by a company and has a hidden video camera on, and you make your presentation to them or show properties to them.  So the agent has no clue if who they are talking to is a client or a shopper.  Most companies give a time line and this company gave us a 4 month time line in which this shopping was to occur. The purpose is to improve your skills and to make sure you are not saying anything you should not.  The non-Realtor Tim Moncrief said to himself, "I have no chance, as there are 30 something agents and I can see half of them with more outgoing atypical "salesperson" personalities. At the end of the contest they announced that the winner was me.  Huh?  Shy Tim Moncrief.  I really was baffled.  So I went to the manager and asked them how in the world did I win this contest.  My manager said, "Tim, the shoppers' videos of the 30+ agents ran from a low of 6 minute to a high of 45 minutes with one exception, you.  Your presentation lasted nearly 2 hours.  There was no one even close to you in the contest".  I say that not to brag (well maybe a little), but to show you the power of mindset if you tell your mind where you want it to be.

I tell my mind that I am a top producing agent and put on my game face nearly every day (yes, there are a few days, I forget to say "It's Show time").  But, at the end of the day, the show is over, and Tim Moncrief comes back and goes back into his shell.  For me, this is not an event that I have to do from time to time, it is everyday.  So over the years, I have developed little mind tricks to pull me out of my shell and become an outgoing successful extroverted agent.

LISTING PRESENTATIONS:   My assumption is that I am going to get the listing....bottom line.  I don't care who is competing against me and I never ask.  When I do lose a listing, I am totally shocked and tend to fall back into the non-real estate Tim Moncrief.  Was I the real Tim Moncrief or Tim Moncrief the Realtor (and my neighborhood nicknamed me "the mayor of River Place")?  Then I put my Realtor hat on and analyze, did I do anything wrong?  Now this will sound very arrogant, but in most cases I would not have changed my presentation.  Like an actor, I made the best presentation I can do and it just may not be the right fit for that movie; but sometimes actors do get kicked out of their part!  So when I do lose, I just wait for that part to pop back up again.

OPEN HOUSES: Not only do I say "it's show time" before the day starts, but I also say it when someone comes in the door.  Here is my little trick that works every time.  Yes, every time.  I pretend that the person walking in the door is coming back for the second time; and, I also pretend that this home is my home, not my clients.   Thus, ask yourself, how would you treat someone that came to your home for the second time? Think about that one for awhile.  The biggest compliment I can get is if a client gives me this odd stare and says "have we met before?"  When that happens, I know have accomplished what I have intended.

BUYERS:  I treat buyers the very same way as I do OPEN HOUSES.  Again I pretend that we have met before; but instead of showing them my home, I am just showing them around my neighborhood.  It is an easy mindset if it is your neighborhood, but a bit tougher if it is not.  Again, if the client asks if I live in a given neighborhood (that is not mine), I know I have accomplished my goal.

THE PROCESS:  The process would be from the listing period to closing and thereafter.  First of all my mindset is that I already knew these people to begin with, so the process becomes quite easy for me.  How would you treat your friends in the process?   Or perhaps said a bit differently, would you treat your friends and your clients any differently during the process?  If so, why?

These are but a few categories without making a book of this post.  The bottom line is MINDSET.  You are to a great degree what you are and where you are in your life by what you think what you are and where you are.  Thus all you have to do is to change your thoughts of what you are and where you are at in your life.  It sounds simple...and it actually is.  It merely is a daily commitment of telling your mind what you are and where you want to be.  This is not acting, this is directing your mind to where you want it to go.  So all you have to do is do it.  Sadly most don't.

Most wake up everyday and think of all of the negatives about themselves and about the market and about everyone else. We all think this a times.  So all you need to do is to flip that switch and take on the day.

IT'S SHOW TIME, FOLKS..........
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JULIA CHILD'S guide to why BLOGGING works........%^$^?&???

08-29-09
Tim Moncrief, Co-Owner-Bartlett RE Group
If you still have concerns over the effectiveness of blogging, go see the movie "Julie and Julia". Whether you like the movie or not, it is meaningless (though, in my opinion, it was a good movie, and I got a French gourmet meal out of it the next night!). Without telling anyone who has not seen the movie, the movie script and movie would not have existed without blogging.

"Julie and Julia" is a true story that was discovered from a series of blogs. Most interesting is that the blogger (Julie) made a goal of blogging every day for a year about recipes of her idol, Julia Child. Her mom thought she was wasting her time; her husband thought she was wasting her time; and even she thought she may be wasting her time.

I left the movie with a couple of thoughts:
  1. A well made movie that taught me a wonderful story about JULIA CHILD
  2. A well made movie that taught me the POWER OF BLOGGING (My wife understands why I blog)
  3. A well made movie that teaches about going after you PASSION.
Now she has a movie playing across the world....... So what is your PASSION you are trying to get across to the world?

Now you will think of Julia Child a bit differently.

Go see the movie.

Go blog.
5 Comments
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Spotlight Austin: See me chat on Thriving in a Challenging Economic Market

08-27-09
Tim Moncrief, Co-Owner-Bartlett RE Group

Honored to be invited to be on the real estate panel at the upcoming "Spotlight On Austin" at the Westwood Country Club in Austin, TX on September 10th. The topic will be "How to Thrive in Challenging Market". I truly hope that it will be inspirational to many in the real estate or any industry to be successful now and not wait "the market" improves.

For those that have not been to "Spotlight Austin", this is fantastic networking event as well as educational and inspirational. Thanks Patten Law Firm, the best closing office on earth.

Spotlight Austin Tim Moncrief

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Are we posting with ACRONYMS/SLANGS people don't understand? Yep.....

08-23-09
Tim Moncrief, Co-Owner-Bartlett RE Group
Are you blogging like your kid with acronyms no one knows?

If you are honest with yourself, the answer is yes. Being involved heavily in an industry it is so easy to use acronyms or industry slangs that the industry knows, but the general public does not. So when you write a post look carefully at what you wrote and ask yourself does everyone even know what this term or acronym means? If you even ask that question the answer is probably no. It is waaaaay to common in real estate to get caught in this trap. Here are just a few that I have noticed on blogs that most people are clueless to their meaning. (Some I had to look up and I have been doing this 28 years!). Others are very obvious to the industry, but not to most.

We all know how to spell ASSUME, right?
  • CRS
  • REO
  • CLHMS
  • CMA
  • BPO
  • ABR
  • SRES
  • TAR (Texas Association of Realtors)
  • NAR
  • Comps
  • Months of Inventory
  • MOI
  • Median
  • Mean
  • Pending
  • PB
  • Pending taking backup
  • Contingency
  • Active Contingency
  • Short Sale
  • Pre Foreclosure
  • Repo
  • DOM
  • CDOM
  • Expireds
  • Withdrawns
  • Dual Agency
  • Intermediary
  • Buyer's Agent
  • Subprime
  • APR
  • Discount Point
  • Origination Fee
  • Earnest money
  • Option money
  • Option period
  • Survey
  • Title Policy
  • Transfer Fee
  • Resale Certificate
  • MUD
  • PUD
To keep this short, this list can go on and on and on, so you can add your acronyms or slangs in your replies. Though some of these may sound silly to some in the industry, there is not one item on this list that a client did not question the meaning.
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Husbands: Wives always win....even if it's about ACTIVE RAIN blogging!

08-23-09
Tim Moncrief, Co-Owner-Bartlett RE Group
Men just need to learn that they will lose every battle with their wife. Here is my lost battle on an Active Rain "discussion"!

In trying to understand what blogging is all about, my wife decided to go through all of my blogs and asked me why I blogged this and why I blogged that. They were fair questions as some of the blogs were good and some stunk. She told me that she did not understand the purpose and she thought it was a total waste of my time. So I threw out that this is a platform to learn....to teach....to build relationships....and to improve my search exposure. She just gave me "that look".

The "discussion" went on and on and I was really failing on getting my point across. So I asked her to Google search what she would Google search when looking for a home. So she said she would Google "Active Rain Homes for sale" or "Localism Homes for sale". I said "no...no..no" Very few in the public has any clue what "Active Rain" or what "Localism" is, so no one would search for that name. So I asked again.....what would YOU search for when looking for a home. So she said..."OK, I would put "Austin homes for sale". Ahhhh, a fair start. So she Googles.

A page away I pop up with a Localism post and an Active Rain post. She did not seem too thrilled. So I said, "OK, now that you have learned a bit about Austin what would you search for? She said probably the neighborhood and homes for sale. Bingo! I am getting somewhere, right?

By a bit of luck (and hard work, and a decent blog), my blog hits #1 on that search. She looks at me and said "that does not make any sense.....who would click on that as it says Active Rain not Tim Moncrief. So I said "click on it and see what happens." So she did but went back and said it just says "Active Rain" instead of "Tim Moncrief". I replied and said, "Liz, it is #1 on YOUR Google search.....#1....#1. People pay alot of money to be #1 on a search and I did it for FREE. That is FREE as in no money. She has this stunned look on her face. Now I have her, right?

She goes back to computer and uses "BING". She does the same search and says "OK, your not #1 there". I said "I think I am going to bed now....."

Wife wins, husband goes to his cave.

Wait for the blog after she reads this one........(if I am still alive!)
9 Comments