When I started selling hotels, I did not know anything about the process. I knew what hotels looked like, but I literally didn’t know anything about what to say to a buyer, how to get a listing, process of due diligence, contracts, franchises, etc. I did not even have a business card for a month; I had no fancy handouts, presentations, or the normal crutches people in sales have. Looking back at it, it was the absolute best thing that could have happened to me. Since I didn’t have the normal conversation starters and presentations, I was forced to look at the person and talk to them. Sounds funny, doesn’t it? Today it is easy to hide behind emails, PowerPoint presentations, and handouts and simply miss the most important thing. That is to meet and speak to people face-to-face.

Bob is an important man in my career. He could be one of the most important men. The first week I started selling hotels, I went to the brokerage office to watch and learn what the other brokers were doing. After about three days of watching, I still hadn’t talked to a single hotel owner. I did something that I did not tell anyone about and certainly did not ask for approval before doing.

I got in my white Chevrolet Caprice and determined by God that that day I was going to find me some folks to talk to. The plan was to go down I-75 and walk in the front door of hotels until I found a hotel owner to talk to.

Bless Bob’s heart because he was the first one I came to.

Pause here. You will never know the full impact of the kindness you show to someone else.

Back to Bob. He was the owner of the Days Inn in McDonough, Georgia. When I walked in the front door and asked to speak to the owner, Bob came out and shook my hand. I am certain that after about one minute he knew this guy (me) did not know anything about hotel real estate. But, what Bob did that day changed my life. Even though he knew I didn’t know anything, he talked to me as though I did. He treated me with a kindness and respect that was God-given for that moment in my life. What Bob didn’t know that day was that he could have crushed my spirit by being rude and arrogant. That day, Bob created in me a boldness for selling hotels that has lasted 25 years.

I will never know what I would have done if Bob had been rude and humiliated me. Since he treated me with the respect, I turned my Chevy toward South Georgia and did not stop until I had walked in the front door of 132 hotels that day. In my first year of selling hotels, I won the rookie of the year award for the whole U.S.

Today, Bob lives three streets over from me, and I will be forever grateful to him for his kindness to me that day. I actually hug him every time I see him. I have made it a point for many years when a salesperson calls me to treat them with kindness and respect and to be gentle because you never know what impact kindness will have on other people. KT

It is not enough to just be on a team. We need to be part of a team. There’s a big difference.

It is like being on a baseball team in high school. Just being on the team and getting a high school letter is not enough. You want to be respected and be a part of the team as well as be competitive, score runs, and be involved. It is not good enough to sit on the bench all year and not be able to help the team. We all want to be on a great team, but we also want to be a meaningful part of the team. People need to feel included.

This became ever so clear to me when we sold our private company to a publicly traded company in 2005. After the sale, I was on the team, but was never a part of the team. Sure, I sold hotels and earned income for the team, but I knew that the new company leaders did not accept me as being in the inner circle of the team. It is tough if you are the one on the outside looking in. See, my lifestyle did not match theirs and the things they liked to do did not match mine.

I think in all our hearts we want to find the line of work that we are good at, enjoy, and can contribute to. Success is defined differently in every line of work; it is not that you have to be the best in the world at what you do, rather you need to feel and experience success in your job or your work.

At Hotel AG, everyone is a shareholder in the company because I’ve learned from The Home Depot model, which believes that the person who works in the light bulb section will do a better job if he owns stock in the company. That is our model as well because we wanted everyone that speaks to a client to have a vested interest in doing the best he/she can. The model is real simple, real clear, and it works.

So, in business make people feel like they are a part of what you do as a company and include them in the decision-making process. This stops the gossip and backstabbing that is so prevalent in today’s companies. You don’t have to go to the extreme we did by giving them stock, but a simple inclusion in the decisions that are made makes people feel and believe they are a part of the team. In my understanding, if a person believes they are meaningful to what the company is doing, they will strive to do the best they can. The result is that your clients have a better experience. KT

In business and life, there are people that talk about it and then there are people who do it. We all know people that have all the advice and all the answers, yet have never done it themselves.

You know the type. They stand over on the side and talk with such conviction and knowledge about all subjects and seem to derive their self-image by acting like they know what they are talking about. Be careful and beware of these people.

Yes, they know everything about everything and exactly what needs to be done in every situation. I remember a person from years ago that I knew well; he just had to be the lead dog in every conversation. Yes, he knew it all, yet never did anything with his own talent. I used to play a quiet game with him just to see how far he would go. I would start talking about a subject, which was random, and every time I laid the line out he took the hook and knew all about it. Most of what he said was hogwash, but he looked good doing it.

Why am I telling you about this? Be careful who you listen to and who influences your life. The person you want to listen to is someone who has been there, who knows what they are talking about, and who, in a genuine way, wants to help you. What you don’t need is the person who just talks about what ought to be done, but they themselves have never done it. Spend your time with doers and not talkers. KT

Back 15 years ago, I got to meet Johnny Morris, the man who founded Bass Pro Shops. I was involved in a showing of a property that Johnny Morris owned. The buyer and I met Johnny at the headquarters of Bass Pro Shops.

Over the years, I have met many folks that lead companies. As you would expect, some are arrogant, loud, boisterous, and then there are those that lead with a quietness that is captivating. The latter was how Johnny Morris was.

We met at the headquarters of Bass Pro Shops, and he took us on a tour through the various departments of the company. As we were going through the call center, I was taken back by how he handled himself and spoke to his employees. The call center had probably 100 people in cubicles in this large room, which was about the size of a football field. As we were walking through, I saw people get up from their desks and come out to meet Johnny. Then, I saw the most amazing leadership quality I had ever seen: Johnny called each of them by name and asked about their family members by name. Johnny knew who was sick, who had just gotten a new job, and who had issues in their life. It was the most incredible thing I had ever seen to see this man be so involved with his employees.

Then, we were all meeting in the big conference room and everyone is seated around the conference room table with Johnny. As often happens, people started the “do you know so and so?” “how long have you been with the company?” and yada yada yada. After about 15 minutes, Johnny still hadn’t said a word and so he began to speak. The table got instantly quiet when he started talking. I am not exaggerating, but we literally had to scoot our chairs up close to the table and lean in so we could hear what he was saying because he was speaking so softly.

I saw what happened in the call center and then saw what happen in the conference room, and I came away with a tremendous respect for Johnny and his leadership style. He didn’t wear a five thousand dollar suit, alligator shoes, and slick his hair back with gel. No, he was just a great leader that didn’t need to hide behind all that stuff to be heard and to make an impact on his business.

For many years, I have thought about his leadership style and have come to believe he had it right. Bill Marriott is much the same way, very quiet and greatly loved by his employees. In both examples of leadership, the men genuinely cared about their employees and spoke to them by name and focused on them when they were talking. Both men believed deeply that if you take care of your people, they will take care of you. KT