Relationship Business?

[Kevin Yeats]

I read an email from Tom Ziglar (Zig’s son) where Tom recalled two of his dad’s quotes.

“You don’t build a business, you build people, and people build the business.” Zig Ziglar

In my years working with businesses of all sizes, I have heard the following comment far too many times. “We can’t afford to train our people. They will just leave.”

When I would hear that response I would just smile and give them another Zig quote:

“There is only one thing worse than training your people and losing them, and that’s not training them and keeping them!” Zig Ziglar

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Think about these quotes for a few minutes.

I’ve read the thoughts of others here on BP who state that real estate is a relationship business. You, the real estate owner, whether a landlord or flipper have to relate to quite an array of people - finance partners (lenders or equity partners), property managers, workers (on your payroll or contract), tenants, etc, etc.

Wouldn’t it be great if you had a solid relationship with the people that help your business grow and prosper that you knew the outcome of every new interaction with them? Every time you called your banker with a loan request he/she said “I’ll have the paperwork ready on Friday afternoon.” Or when you called one of your contractors with a new assignment, he/she said “I’m tied up this week but I will work that job is next week.”

These people would respond like that IF you have a good relationship with them - that you have provided them with opportunities and your lived up to your end of the deal.

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I heard another quote from a person similar to Zig Ziglar.

“If you can’t change the people then you must change the people.” - Bryan Dodge