True story – When Thomas Jefferson was president, he and some friends were traveling on horseback and came upon a river that had overflowed its banks. Most of the travelers were on their own horse but there was one local man who did not have a horse. Thomas Jefferson waited and watched until most of the other riders were safely across the treacherous river before he and couple other riders were to take their turn. The one traveler that did not have a horse ask Jefferson if he could ride across with him. The President said sure without hesitation and the two made it across fine. Once the man dismounted from the President’s horse, some of the people ask him why he asked the President instead of one of the other men to carry him across. “I did not know he was the President,” he said. “All I know is that on some of your faces was written the answer ‘no’ and on some of them was the answer, ‘yes.’ His was a ‘yes’ face.”

When I heard this story, I could not help but think back to when my daughters were young, I only hope my heart was open and that I had a ‘yes’ face much more often than I had a ‘no’ face. Even a child can tell the difference. As I think back over my career with brokers, clients, and staff etc. I hope I used a ‘yes’ face often. Lastly, as I think about our heavenly father, I can assure you he had a ‘yes’ face most of my life. Without that, I have no idea where I would be today.

The next time you are in a meeting with others or speaking with your children (young or old) remember this story, because it the expression on your face that people read first. KT

I have been quail hunting several times with a personal guide and trained hunting dogs. It is one of the most outdoor experiences I have ever had. It’s quite fascinating actually with the fields, woods, smells, birds, shotguns and dogs. What more could a guy want?

During these trips I love to study the bird dogs. See what drives them and how they hunt. Let’s face it, every salesperson is a hunter and there is probably not a greater correlation to a salesperson than a trained hunting dog.

When you get to the hunting club, the guide has several dogs already loaded up in the crates in the back of the truck. The guide can’t let them lose (first lesson) until they get to the field they are going to hunt. When the guide stops the truck and everyone gets out, he checks all the hunters and their shotguns and gives instructions of things to do and not do, (second lesson.) After the instructions he usually takes out two or three dogs at a time and puts the shock collars on the dogs (not the hunters-ha.) This is so he can control the dogs and keep them close (third lesson), so they don’t go off on their own.

When he opens the cages, most of the dogs will leap out to the ground and start sniffing (fourth lesson) so hyper they can hardly wait to get going. It usually happens, that one of the dogs will lumber out of his crate in no hurry at all. This is the dog you don’t want to follow (fifth lesson.) When the guide is ready, he says “hunt” and the dogs go bananas, sniffing, snorting, barking and even taking a poop (sixth lesson.) The dog you want to follow is the one that just took a big dump. Why? He is so excited and ready he can’t wait to go and when he poops, he is telling you – “ok, boss, I’m ready.”

The lazy dog will just walk around sniffing the air, while the real hunting dog will go as fast as he can with his tail hanging down and his nose to the ground. Thorns and briers don’t even faze him he is so excited. When he finds a bird or a covey (group of quail) he gets about 20 feet away and stands as rigid as a stone with his tail either sticking straight out or straight up (seventh lesson.) He knows not to move until the guide gets ready to flush out the birds. As a hunter it is important to know when to shoot and when not to shoot (eighth lesson.) The guide will ask the hunters, “you ready?” and he takes a long skinny stick and flushes the birds (runs it across the ground where the birds are) and holey moley, the bids fly off all directions. After the hunters miss most of them (ha) the process starts all over again. That’s quail hunting at its finest.

For the salesperson, you have to want it, you have to be ready, and you have to know when to move and when to shoot. If you have a salesperson that hears about a lead and has to go take a poop first. Ha. He/she will probably be your best salesperson. KT

I heard a guy say recently, “don’t let your yearnings overtake your earnings.” Another person I know said, “if your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall.” Both of these sayings express the same wisdom, live within your financial means.

There is no end to the number of smart people who let ego, pride, arrogance, and lack of common sense get the best of them.  Its not just people, it is also large corporations like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Sears just to name a few. I know a guy in my line of work who some years ago started wearing five-thousand-dollar suits, driving exotic sports cars and even bought a jet. Well about two years later, we found out he committed fraud and was sentenced to 11 years in prison.  

Regardless of the media noise on all sides, every single one of us know the difference between right and wrong and we also know if we are spending more than we bring in. It is referred to as getting ahead of your skis. I water ski (sometimes) and I can tell you it hurts when you lean too far over your skis trying to go faster. Its face plant city and it will slap you back to common sense. Same thing is true financially.

Our national debt represents basically what I am saying here. We are going further in debt every day because as a country, we are spending way more (every day) than we are bringing in. National debt aside, we as citizens are forced to live on what we earn or we go into debt and sooner than later as the debt increases, it causes a downfall.

Having come through a deep financial crisis when I was a young husband and father, I can tell you, it ages you quickly. The stress can be found in many heath areas, and it seems to affect almost every area of your life. Especially your rest and peace. So, if you are about to make a financial decision to impress someone else. Don’t do it. KT

In business, the term deck, is referring to your presentation materials. What you show the client either electronically or in print.

The title of the blog is – focus on your client, not your deck. This means that whether you get hired or not is very rarely ever based on how good your presentation materials were. I have never heard a client say, “I hired you because you had the best presentation materials.” People almost always hire based on one of the following reasons. They like you, they trust you and or they believe in you.

One of the best presentations I was ever a part of consisted of me and one other person. We told client that we didn’t prepare some presentation with special effects and some big, beautiful power point handout. Oddly enough, this made the client (unconsciously) sit back and listen to what we said rather than a handout presentation. There was unfettered eye contact throughout the pitch and the trust was established (I believe) because of that. What do people do when you hand them a presentation? They focus on the presentation and flip through the pages with very little eye contact and you have just missed the best opportunity to connect with the client.

I am not saying we shouldn’t prepare nice presentations. Far from it, but the presentation doesn’t need to the thing the client is focusing on. He/she is deciding if they like you and trust you. This (in my opinion) only happens if there is a personal connection. A personal connection only happens when the client’s guard is down, and they have a face-to-face conversation.

Many times, I will prepare a presentation handout but only give it to them when we leave. I tell them upfront at the start that we will leave behind the materials and presentation and more times than not, they accept this, and the pitch goes far better than if we are following a handout. I liken this concept to one meeting (I didn’t get hired) where we had three people in the room and one on speaker phone, I unconsciously focused on the speaker phone instead of the people in the room. I never made that mistake again.

So, if you are competing against some other companies, try the handout when we leave approach, and you just might be viewed better than your competitors who gave the handout upfront and followed the outline. KT

When was the last time you really, really talked to God about your life and your future? Maybe today is a good day to do that for the first time, in a long time.

If you are like me, we get caught up in life, work and living and we forget to step aside ever now and then and really have a communication with God. We say the same little prayer this morning as we did the last 100 mornings, thinking it is enough. If you are a parent, you know how desperately you want your children to confide in you and tell you want is really going on with their life. Sometime the “I’m good, I’m fine” just isn’t enough. You as a parent want to really know how they are. That is how God feels about us.

There are people who wait for some imagined event in their life to start being who they were meant to me. They say “when that happens, I will finally do this or that. Go back to school, get in shape, sell this buy that, clean up this, change that habit, spent more time ,,,,,etc., etc.” If your child came to you and said, “dad, I am waiting for this to happen before I change this,” As you look into your child’s eyes, your advice would be, “don’t wait, do it now.”

That is what God would say to you and me, don’t wait, do it now.

Maybe today, for the first time, in a long time, you step aside and really tell God what’s going on and tell him your dreams, your fears, and your goals and then listen within your heart for his reply. KT