By Heino Molls

Joe
earned his real estate licence nine months ago. He had studied
diligently and excelled at the courses he took. He joined a reputable
firm. He was hard working. But Joe was not happy.

He had not had a deal in all those nine months. Joe’s frustration was evident to everyone.

He
had done everything everyone suggested that he do. He went to all the
training sessions and seminars. He did everything he was taught to do,
day in and day out, right down to the letter. But he could not get a
listing or sell one.

He
got close a lot of times but somebody else always seemed to get the
deal instead of him. It was as though clients were not smart enough to
understand he could do just as good a job.

Joe was not happy so everyone stayed out of his way.

One
day Joe said to himself, “I cannot stand this routine anymore. I am
taking the day off.” And so despite a compelling idea to attend yet
another sales training session, Joe decided to take his niece to an
afternoon baseball game instead.

When
he arrived to pick up his niece, he found his brother outside in an
animated conversation with a cable tv installer. Joe’s brother wanted
to have a cable outlet installed upstairs and called the cable company
to arrange it. The installer said that since it was on the second
floor, it would be difficult. He said he probably would not have enough
time to do it.

As
Joe left with his niece, he thought to himself, it is no wonder that
cable companies are losing customers to satellite companies. The
product is relatively the same but cable installers are never happy to
do the work. It might be great to have a terrific product but unless
you can deliver it to the customer in a pleasant way, it is useless.

On
the way to the ball game, Joe and his niece stopped at a pizza parlour
for lunch. The pizza was just about the best pizza Joe ever had in his
life. He looked around and wondered why a place like this, with such
excellent food, was not bigger. They should be successful with their
delivery business alone.

Just
then the delivery driver walked past them. He was dressed slovenly and
let loose with a string of profanity that was inappropriate in the
presence of a young girl like his niece. Joe quickly took his niece out
of there and thought to himself, no wonder they aren’t doing good
business. They may have the best pizza in town but unless it is
delivered properly, no one will order it.

When
they got to the stadium, they watched a great ball game. The visiting
team had a young fireball pitcher who could throw the ball 110 miles
per hour. But despite that, they lost the game.

The
thing was, that pitcher kept throwing the ball right down the middle.
He played with great arrogance, believing he could just pitch it past
all the hitters because he threw it so fast. He had all the
fundamentals of great talent but no grace. The hitters soon figured out
the ball would always be down the middle and started hitting it. Even
the pitcher’s teammates did not seem to like him because each time a
ball was hit, they didn’t hustle to get it.

The
winning team, on the other hand, had a pitcher who could not throw the
ball very fast. But he could make it curve and sometimes he changed how
fast he pitched it. If one thing did not work, he tried something else.
He never stopped giving his best effort. So with some clever throwing,
he struck out a lot of hitters.

His
teammates clearly liked him because when any of his pitches were hit,
they would rush to the ball and do all they could to get the hitter out.

After the game, Joe’s niece asked him why the team with the better pitcher lost.

“Well,”
Joe said, “It’s all in the delivery. You see, everybody plays the same
game. Some can even do certain things better. But the winner will
always be the one who delivers the deal the best way.”

And as soon as he said it, Joe realized what he meant.

“My dear,” Joe said to his niece, “I’ve got to get you home now and get back to work.

“I’ve been working on some things for over nine months and I want to go back to make sure they get the right delivery.”

Heino Molls is publisher of REM. Email [email protected] or discuss this article in the REM Discussion Forum.