Never Hire Anyone Dumber Than You Are! by Wally Conway

Never Hire Anyone Dumber Than You Are! by Wally Conway

In a previous life I was a Navy Pilot. Great life, great people to be around. People who were all doing great things around the world flying off great big aircraft carriers. In an environment that complex and dangerous, you need to have teams of people working as one, or bad things begin to happen in large quantities.

The people onboard aircraft carriers are divided into two groups, those that make the ship float and those that make the planes fly. Those that make the ship float are known as "ship's company", and those that make the planes fly are with "the airwing". During one tour of duty, I was assigned to the "airwing staff". The airwing staff coordinated the activities of the ten aircraft squadrons deployed aboard the aircraft carrier. It was while working for our Airwing Commander, Captain Jerry Norris, that I would unknowingly learn what has to become my most valued rule as an entrepreneur.

Captain Norris was quite the character. A fighter pilot with all the fixings! Tall, handsome, and with enough confident charisma to handle any situation, be that in the air, on land, or at sea. But the truth of it is, none of the eight officers on the staff considered Captain Norris to be the sharpest knife in the drawer.

It wasn't that things were not going well for he or the airwing. It just seemed strange that so simple and relaxed an individual could lead so effectively. You must understand that Captain Norris was in charge of the operations of nearly 3000 men and almost 100 of the most complex flying machines on the planet. But fly we did, and did it well. Our airwing was often singled out for acts of excellence.

It was during a short visit in Cannes, France that Captain Norris was to give me my lesson. Like so many of life's lessons, the lesson was unintended.

If there is one thing that flying fellows enjoy more than flying, it is the telling of tales while ashore! And it seems nothing gets the mind flowing like the flow of beer. Our cup runneth over, as did our mouths!

The topic of the evening turned to how smart each of us was compared to our fearless leader. We were even so bold as to believe that he was fearless because he simply did not understand what was going on around him. In fact, it was we who did not understand what was going on around us!

The good Captain was sitting quietly within the sound of our voices. He had heard every one of our comments on his lack of intellect.

As the Commander with the confident charisma approached, we were certain that if we were shown mercy we would be court martialed, and we feared that if the Captain choose not to be merciful, we would just be shot right on sight!

Speaking got us into this predicament, so silence seemed the best choice. Captain Norris spoke. He acknowledged our belief that each of us had among the finest minds in the entire Navy in our specific specialty. He flattered those things that each had done since beginning our assignment with the airwing. Captain Norris offered that he had hand selected each one of us from the entire fleet, having had to call in favors, make threats, and impose demands, just to have each of us work with him. We were there because he believed us to be the best, and he wanted only the best. Seems he held us in the same regard that we held ourselves.

Then Captain Norris spoke to the issue of intellect, specifically our perception of his lack thereof. Captain Norris said, "The mark of the true leader is not one who gives orders, or feigns knowledge, but rather the leader who plants the needed seed in a fertile mind so gently, that the subordinate believes the idea emerged from within."

Continued silence. He was in complete control of our actions and had always been. He chose each of us knowing full well that in our specific areas of expertise, we were well beyond him. And knowing full well that in his area, that of building teams of the best and brilliant, then allowing them to take ownership of ideas, he was the expert.

Captain Norris asked what I had learned. My response, "I should never hire anyone dumber than I am." "You've got it," he said. "Must have just emerged from within."

CopyrightFlorida HomePro, Inc. and Wallace J. Conway. All rights in all media reserved.

About the Author
Wally Conway is President of Florida HomePro Inspections, and has recently written a book entitled "Secrets of the Happy Home Inspector", available at GoHomePro.com. As a speaker, writer, and instructor, Wally blends the right amount of up-to-date information with just the right amount of humor, insight, motivation, and real-world application. Visit WallyConway.com for more information!

The Surest Way to Happy Customers! by Wally Conway

The Surest Way to Happy Customers! by Wally Conway

Happy New Year!

Here I sit on the first workday of the year. The office is not yet open and the phone has not yet rung. I love this time of year. Nothing yet accomplished, and no mistakes yet made. It is a wonderful time to reflect on the year that was, and look ahead toward the year that is yet to be.

The idea that comes to mind is that it will be a fantastic year if we can inspect another 3000 homes and do it without a single complaint! A lofty goal indeed, but one worth working towards!

Imagine a year without a single complaint! I reason that goal is good for real estate professionals, good for me, and great for our mutual customers. Just how would we work toward a year without an unhappy customer?

First and foremost, we must always remain customer-focused. There is a very easy test of every decision we make with or on behalf of our customer. Simply ask "if I were doing this for my mother, how would I do it"? Works like a charm every time! It seems that when we have a deep personal interest in putting the best interest of another individual first, things always work out better.

Long ago I worked for a fellow who often said "want it bad, get it bad". He was a commanding officer of a Navy squadron, not a realtor, but his point was this - sometimes we want a particular outcome so bad that we do bad things to get there. Some deals just don't need to be done, or done in the manner that they are preceding, when not in the best interest of the customer. If we stay centered on their best interest it is likely they will end up happy with their home, happy with their real estate professional, and have a low probability of complaint. Maybe even become a referral source!

Second, we must educate our customers on how good choices are made. Using home inspection as the example, it is not enough to simply refer a particular inspector or inspection company, or, worst of all, put our head in the sand by sending them to the yellow pages. We need to be able to articulate how and why sound choices are make. Have them compare companies on the web. Even if we make specific recommendations, we owe it to ourselves and to our customers to explain the process by which we made the recommendation.

When people lack a well-articulated case for recommendations it has numerous risks. Customer confidence is reduced with an answers such as "be sure the inspector is licensed", or my favorite from agents, "he has never killed a deal in my office". As all should know, there is no license requirement in Florida for home inspectors (a subject for another column), and the deal killing statement is hardly customer-focused. A more compelling case might be something such as a description of our own Chris Brown, "Chris has been a state licensed contractor for over twenty years, an ASHI certified home inspector since 1997 and has performed more than 3,000 home inspections. I would recommend Chris to my mother". Now THAT is compelling!

Lastly, it is critical to keep the customer engaged in the process. When the customer is deeply involved with every turn in the home buying journey they feel more in control. For the home inspection, this means the buyer must attend the inspection. It is interesting to study home inspection complaints. We receive about one complaint for every 500 homes inspected. That is really very few, but remember we are working toward zero! By our definition a complaint is a call from a past customer that could not be solved over the phone, but required me to revisit the home. In 9 out of 10 complaints, the customer did not attend the inspection!

By not attending the home inspection, buyers have a greatly reduced understanding of not only the inspection process, but also a reduced understanding of their home. And more bad news, if the buyer did not attend the inspection, their real estate professional probably did. Now not only are they unhappy with me, they are also unhappy with their agent!

After more than ten years and 20,000 inspections I can tell you this, the surest way to a happy customer over the long term is:

Always put the best interest of the customer first
Educate your customers for clear and comfortable decision making
Participate along with the customer in every event
So far so good, the phones are ringing, the schedule is filling and to this point, a complaint free year! Let's all work hard to keep the streak going!

CopyrightFlorida HomePro, Inc. and Wallace J. Conway. All rights in all media reserved.

About the Author
Wally Conway is President of Florida HomePro Inspections, and has recently written a book entitled "Secrets of the Happy Home Inspector", available at GoHomePro.com. As a speaker, writer, and instructor, Wally blends the right amount of up-to-date information with just the right amount of humor, insight, motivation, and real-world application. Visit WallyConway.com for more information!

Building Your Own Home by George Stevens

Building Your Own Home by George Stevens

Most people think building their own home involves vast knowledge of all aspects of the home building process. The impression of most people is they dont really know enough to build their own home. Lets face it, most of us know a little about the process. Some of us may know a lot about one aspect or the other involved in building a home. You may know how to paint or do carpentry work or lay tile, but you probably dont know everything about home building.

What is so different about building a home than the rest of major tasks that we take on in our everyday lives? Right now I am typing on my laptop over a wireless connection that is networked to the Internet. Do I know how all this works? Nope, I just knew how to put it all together and eureka, I can do it! Well we all know it is not that simple sometimes with computers, but my point is you dont need to know everything about something to do it.

In this age of the Internet with its endless sources of information and connection to other people that have the knowledge you need, almost anything is possible. So why is building your own home any different? It isnt really, let me tell you why. First a little background about the building process.

Most of us buy a home that is built by a builder, or general contractor. The General Contractors hire Sub-Contractors to do the work, or essentially build the homes. The Subs put up the framing, roofing, siding, flooring etc Normally the General contractors employ building supervisors to watch over the building process. They are the managers that have day-to-day contact with the subs. This process is not really complicated.

So what is so mysterious about building your own home? What do the builders have access to that you dont? Nothing, this is the fact that not to many people know. I built my own home. Am I some kind of rocket scientist, not hardly? The fact is you can save thousands of dollars and have the home of your dreams. We saved 40% and have a beautiful home that is exactly what we wanted.

You have access to the Building Contractors, House Plans, land, materials and financing. You just dont know it! You see the General Contractors just put it all together and present it to the masses, at a hefty markup of course!

Building your own home is very similar to all the other important tasks that you have mastered in your life. You study the information follow a process and commit to the task. Is it easy no, is it worth it, yes.

For more information about Building Your Own Home visit www.Build-YourOwn-Home.com .

About the Author
George Stevens is the popular author of the Website www.Build-YourOwn-Home.com teaching you how to build your own home.