In the book Be Great, Peter Thomas tells the story of two men who are chopping wood. One is a big guy standing 6'6" and weighing in at 250 lbs the other a scrawny guy who weighs 130 lbs. They both start chopping the wood the same morning and when it was time for the morning break the little guy stops and has a cup of coffee and takes his break while the big fella just keep chopping away at the wood. When lunch comes around the same thing happens, the little guy stops and eats his sandwich and relaxes for a bit while the big man just keeps chopping away. As the afternoon break rolls around the same thing happened again. When quitting time rolled around the little guy packed up and headed home while the big guy kept working late into the evening. As one week turned into another this same routine happened day after day for two weeks.
At the end of the two weeks the big guy was frustrated, despite working long hours and not taking breaks his wood pile really wasn't that far ahead of the little guys. As another week passed the big guy was getting very frustrated. Every time he looked at the little guy's pile it was still almost even with his own. After the fourth week he finally had enough and when the little guy got up from his morning break the big guy said "I cannot understand how you've split more wood than me. You are smalled that I am. You don't have the strength that I have and your axe is smaller than mine." The little guy replied, "Yes, my friend, but you never stop to sharpen your axe."
We have all been there, we find ourselves in a place where we are doing the same thing over and over again and often even doing more of it and it leads to be just as frustrated as the big guy chopping wood. As I have now spent some time on the Realtor side of the real estate market I see houses sitting on the market for long periods of time caused by dull axes. Agents who haven't taken the time to sharpen their axes as they wake up each morning, get the kids out the door, grab their cup of coffee and head out to the office to start swinging their axe. When the axe fails to get results the first thought is to just swing harder and harder. Doing the same things that have always been done to sell a house (IE: List in MLS, ad in the paper and a sign in the yard) when really what the house needs is an agent who has sharpened their axe.
To me a sharp axe isn't about re-inventing the wheel as I still want to utilize all the traditional avenues at my disposal but it includes sharpening the axe with social marketing, unique landing pages for each property and getting buyers not only looking at your property but scheduling showings and writing offers.
At the end of the two weeks the big guy was frustrated, despite working long hours and not taking breaks his wood pile really wasn't that far ahead of the little guys. As another week passed the big guy was getting very frustrated. Every time he looked at the little guy's pile it was still almost even with his own. After the fourth week he finally had enough and when the little guy got up from his morning break the big guy said "I cannot understand how you've split more wood than me. You are smalled that I am. You don't have the strength that I have and your axe is smaller than mine." The little guy replied, "Yes, my friend, but you never stop to sharpen your axe."
We have all been there, we find ourselves in a place where we are doing the same thing over and over again and often even doing more of it and it leads to be just as frustrated as the big guy chopping wood. As I have now spent some time on the Realtor side of the real estate market I see houses sitting on the market for long periods of time caused by dull axes. Agents who haven't taken the time to sharpen their axes as they wake up each morning, get the kids out the door, grab their cup of coffee and head out to the office to start swinging their axe. When the axe fails to get results the first thought is to just swing harder and harder. Doing the same things that have always been done to sell a house (IE: List in MLS, ad in the paper and a sign in the yard) when really what the house needs is an agent who has sharpened their axe.
To me a sharp axe isn't about re-inventing the wheel as I still want to utilize all the traditional avenues at my disposal but it includes sharpening the axe with social marketing, unique landing pages for each property and getting buyers not only looking at your property but scheduling showings and writing offers.
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