Applying “The Art Of War” To Your Real Estate Business (Part 1)

The Art Of War

The Art Of War.  Some of us have heard of this legendary playbook on military strategy.  It is believed to have been written somewhere between the 4th and 5th Century, by a famous Chinese military strategist named Sun Tzu.  Contrary to popular belief, this is not a prove fact, as some believe there was no Sun Tzu, and it simply a collection of Chinese military theories.  It really doesn’t matter in our case, because all we want to do is apply the teachings in The Art Of War to your real estate business.

I know, I know.  You are probably saying to yourself: “Pete’s finally lost it.”

I mean, really, am I trying to equate selling houses to going to war?

Well, yes, and no.

No in the sense that I don’t take lightly what are modern-day heroes do for us every day by putting their lives on the line for us, so that we can continue driving our BMW’s and sucking down $5 Lattes while we prospect (but you’d better book an appointment, because coffee is only for closers).  I am not equating our businesses to war in the literal sense, but I am saying that we can apply the theories that have led countless armies and countries to victory for hundreds of years to our businesses, so that we can also thrive and succeed.

The Art Of War is broken down into 13 main chapters.  This post will cover the first few, and my next  two posts will wrap up the rest.  My plan is to pull a few main points from each chapter that correlate with how we need to think about our businesses.  I will put the point from the book in bold, and then offer the correlation below it.  Let’s jump into the first chapter:

Chapter 1:  Laying The Plans

“The art of war is of vital importance to the state.  It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin.  Hence, it is a subject of inquiry which can not be neglected.”

 What we are talking about here is our business plan.  It is the lifeblood of our business.  It should have our marketing and advertising budgets defined.  We should be able to project our income with relative certainty with our business plan.  We should be able to pinpoint all of our operational costs within it.  Basically, it should outline what the future of our business looks like.  If you don’t have a business plan yet, spend this weekend working on it.  It is vital to the longevity of your business.

“Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple the ere before the battle is fought.”

Basic translation: Don’t wing it!  Too many agents go about this business the wrong way.  Firstly, they don’t treat it like a business.  They treat it like a career, or worse, a job!  This is a business.  It is one of the few businesses that has such a stark difference between the low barrier of entry compared to the unlimited earning potential.  Not many other business can claim this.  Yet, 80% of the agents fumble through their day, week, month, and year without a plan, and quite frankly, without much more than a hope as to where their business will come from.  Not only that, they don’t track all aspects of their businesses, including cost per lead, so even though they are earning revenue, they may not be earning profit.  You need to build off your business plan and have weekly, yes weekly, profit and loss statement reviews so you know exactly where you are, and where you are headed.

Chapter 2:  Waging War

“There is no instance of a country benefiting from prolonged warfare.”

Prolonged warfare in this instance is referring to your decisiveness.  In order to be successful, we need to win decisive engagements quickly.  Should you spend the money on that zip code with Zillow?  Should you invest in Mojo or Vulcan 7 as your new dialer?  Is Top Producer the way to go, or is TeamLeads a better choice?  You can spend your day trying to figure out what the perfect next step is.  While you are doing that, the top agents will be running circles around you taking listings away from you in your market.  Why?  Because while you are over analyzing everything, they are making decisions and taking actions.  If it is the wrong action, they will correct quickly.

Focus on your one thing.  Typically, this will be lead generation for most agents.  As you grow your business, and perhaps build a team, your focus will most likely become talent acquisition.  Either way, gather the facts at hand, make a decision.  If you see it’s not a good strategy, kill it, right then and there.  Move on.  Don’t stick with a losing proposition because your ego won’t allow you to admit you made a mistake.  Mistakes are learning opportunities.  Treat them as such.

“Bring war materials with you from home, but forage on the enemy.  Thus the army will have food enough for its needs.”

For our purposes, this means “rip off and duplicate,” in the words of the great Ben Kinney.  In other words, have a plan based on your needs.  If you aren’t sure of which way to go on a marketing campaign, for example, Facebook marketing, seek out someone else who is having success and copy what they are doing.  You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.  Also, if you see that someone else is having a high level of success with a particular form of prospecting or marketing, don’t be afraid to test it and see if you should adopt it into your business plan.

Chapter 3:  Attack By Strategem

“The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it can possibly be avoided.”

Have you ever been on a listing appointment or buyer consultation where you found yourself being combative with the client?

How did that work out for you?

We have to learn to earn our clients trust and respect, not by bullying them, but by educating them.  Learn to handle the top objections professionally, objectively, and learn to do so in a way that resonates with their personality style.

What is the best way to do this?  This isn’t basketball, and you and I are not Allen Iverson, so we need to…

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

This means we need to practice our scripts, our listing presentations, and our objection handlers daily.  Role play.  I know it sucks and feels like a wast of time, yet it is proven to work.

“If you know the enemy, and know yourself, you need not fear a hundred battles.  If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained, you will also suffer a defeat.  If you know neither the enemy, nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

So who is the enemy?

Well, we can look at the client as an enemy in the sense that their needs won’t always align with reality, and thus, they will fight you every step of the way.  These are the clients you must spend as much time as necessary up front on the education process so that you are not spinning your wheels with them for months on end.

Are there competing agents?  Well, they are your enemy as well.  You need to know their tactics and how to defeat them.  You need to know if you are on an expired listing appointment and you are up against an agent that always over prices, and reduces their commission, just to get the listing.  Now, don’t misunderstand, I am not saying we should all have the same commission across the boar.  Frankly, 80% of the agents don’t deserve a full commission, and some should pay the consumer money for messing up transactions consistently.  However, if you are up against the type of agent that over prices consistently, be armed with their sales statistics.  You may have an average of “x” days on the market, and many times, they are on the market 50% longer, and ultimately sell for less price than your listings.  You need to know this.

There is one enemy we haven’t mentioned yet.  This is the biggest enemy of all.  This enemy has two heads, and needs to be constantly slain, because it has the ability to raise from the ashes and strike back, when you least expect it.

This enemy is you.

To be more exact, we are talking about your mindset, and your ego.

Everyone has the ability to create their own reality.  It is all based on mindset.  Without the proper mindset, you will be frustrated, discouraged, and most likely, broke.  With the proper mindset, one that is filled with focused energy, positive affirmations, and a base of abundance rather than scarcity, you can dominate your office, your market, or the entire industry.  It’s really up to you.

Ego.  We all have one.  If left unchecked, it can literally destroy us.

Financially, we may make bad choices as to where to spend our advertising dollars.  Instead of a successful, but not very sexy, direct mail campaign, we may want to see our mug on a billboard…with zero return.  Now, I am not saying billboard advertising doesn’t work.  In some markets, it’s a 10-1 return.  In some markets, it’s the world’s most expensive business card.

Psychologically, our ego can guide us into hell.  Have you ever made the wrong hire, and didn’t want to admit it because of your ego.  That was fun, right?  Have you ever taking an overpriced listing, because it was the highest priced home in your market?  I am sure that was profitable for you after 2 years of not selling it.  This is all ego.  Keep it in check.

We still have a lot to cover, so we will go through the next 5 chapters in the next post…stay tuned!