Fun Friday: Inspiring Lessons from Zig Ziglar – Prime the Pump
One of my all-time favorite sales and motivational speakers is Zig Ziglar. Maybe it’s because my first “real job” was in direct sales – one of the toughest industries out there. Or maybe it’s because of Zig’s “down-home” appeal. Either way – Zig Ziglar is a legend. I have read a number of his books over the years like See You at the Top and Secrets of Closing the Sale and I always get one or two nuggets of information that I can use today in my business.
Today, I wanted to share with you a clip from one of Zig’s well-known seminar’s entitled: Priming the Pump. Why did I pick an old video for the Future of Real Estate Marketing blog? Because sometimes, the lessons of the future can be learned from simple principles of the past.
Here are 2 key take-away’s to think about as you watch this:
1. You gotta put something in to get something out. Wow – isn’t that true?! Especially today as a real estate agent. You need to put your whole self into marketing and branding yourself. You can’t dabble in it – you’ve got to be aggressive and really go for it.
If you want to be a great blogger – commit to writing a blog post 3 times a week. If you want to be great at social media – commit to being on Facebook and Twitter an hour a day. If you want to get good at marketing your listings online – stop advertising in the Sunday paper and spend the same amount of money (or less!) on internet marketing.
So many people (in real estate and in life) want “something” – but they aren’t willing to put the time, training and commitment into it.
2. Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you can learn to do it well. This statement (and you’ll hear it about halfway through the video), just hit me between the eyes. Time and time again I see agents who won’t get on Facebook or Twitter because they think they have no idea of what they are doing and are scared to even BEGIN.
Read this again: anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you can learn to do it well. The key is just to begin. Just try. It’s like the first time you did a listing presentation. Weren’t you scared? Sweating? Couldn’t wait for it to be over? Now it’s probably “old hat” – because you’ve done it so many times. Anything new like social media is just like that. A little scary at first but just dive in!
Here’s the video – enjoy!
Would love to hear your feedback and opinions – please leave me a comment below!
Written by Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News
15 Comment(s)
1 Trackback(s)
- From Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you can do it well | The Owls personal blog | Apr 1, 2010
david doucette | Mar 26, 2010 | Reply
i love the line “reward me now and i’ll produce later” and it just doesn’t work that way. great article!
Brian Block | Mar 26, 2010 | Reply
I had the pleasure and honor of watching Zig Ziglar “prime the pump” live at a presentation here in D.C. several years ago.
Kim O'Casey | Mar 26, 2010 | Reply
Zig Ziglar is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful speakers I have ever had the pleasure to see. His, I’m just a normal guy, attitude is what makes him so powerful. He is relatable. You had better believe that anything he speaks to and teaches has been proven through his successes and his failures. As he will tell you, your failures will teach you more than your successes. The second of his two statements mentioned here has reminded me of something very important at a critical time in my career and has given me an opportunity to turn to my 30 year old daughter that has just been promoted and is struggling with her confidence in doing the job. The great thing is that she actually “got it” when I read it to her. Amazing how much impact even one line has on the lives of those of us that seek advice. Thank you for this article!
Byron | Mar 28, 2010 | Reply
Thanks for the motivational video. Zig Ziglar is one of my favorite motivational speakers.
Katie Lance | Mar 29, 2010 | Reply
Thanks for the comments – glad you all enjoyed it!
Katie
Bob Stahl | Mar 29, 2010 | Reply
Now even more than before we, as real estate agents, have to “prime the pump” by offering a real service that home buyers can’t get online. We’ve got to be the expert consultants. Hey, it’s worked for lawyers.
Michael Sosnowski | Mar 30, 2010 | Reply
I saw Zig for the first time 2 years ago at a marketing seminar in Portland, ME. His health was not the best and he had his daughter with him to assist. Apparently he had some issues with his memory. In any case, he was truly amazing – each of the stories he told (as is his style) had great meaning. They were simple and powerful at the same time. I’m not sure if he is still speaking, but if you have a chance to see a legend, do it. Thanks for the video.
Mark Jacobs | Mar 30, 2010 | Reply
great post, Zig is great!
Mark Jacobs | Mar 30, 2010 | Reply
Lover the Post and Zig has see it all.
Johnson County KS Real Estate | Mar 31, 2010 | Reply
Katie,
I appreciate you sharing this video with us, but I really like the two main lessons to draw. We really do need to put in hard work, time, energy, and money if we hope to become all that we can be. The second one is great too, kind of “try, try, try again” mentality. Thanks for sharing!
Mike Bridges | Mar 31, 2010 | Reply
Hi,
Thank you for an interesting article.
Regards,
Mike Bridges
Property Express CRM
Glen Davidson | Apr 1, 2010 | Reply
Love this post. So true that you have to offer the best value available if you want to be rewarded. I try to do this everyday with my clients. And because my clients are agents I encourage them to do it as well. Provide better value=more rewards.
Katie Lance | Apr 1, 2010 | Reply
Thanks everyone! Those of you who said you got to see him live – wow!! I’m jealous! I’m glad you all got something out of this post. Thanks again for your comments.
Katie
Real Estate | Apr 1, 2010 | Reply
Zig ALWAYS has the best quotes around! This is good advice – follow it!
Malia L. Meenderman | Apr 10, 2010 | Reply
Wow. I really needed to here this. I am in the process of “priming the pump” with my business and it is a challenge. And the quote “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you can do it well” is so true. Thanks to you and Zig for putting a smile on my face!