Have you ever had trouble sleeping? You try reading, surf the Internet, neither works so you turn on the TV. You find yourself sucked in watching average people telling stories of extraordinary wealth through a simple real estate system. Casey Serin (who I fear is becoming my muse) is a perfect example of what happens when one stakes his future on a midnight infomercial. Check out iamfacingforclosure.com for a taste of what Casey got himself into.
How does this happen? I watch the infomercials, I don't take them seriously. There is a certain way all the Guru's speak. A certain way they carry themselves. They all repeat certain phrases about success and failure. It all seems so easy. I never really understood the attraction to Guru's. Until yesterday.
Yesterday I attended a seminar on recruiting which was put on by a local real estate organization. I went there with the belief I would learn some new techniques on recruiting new agents. I assumed the speaker would provide 3 hours of good information which I could put to use on a daily basis. My expectations were not over-the-top but I did expect something. I was wrong. Or at least I was wrong about 2 hours and 45 minutes of the presentation. I did get about 15 minutes worth of use.
Within the first 3 minutes I wrote on a piece of paper 'This is a Guru, he will try to sell us tapes" and passed this note to a peer who responded by shaking his head 'no'. After the first hour and a half we took a break. I turned to my peer and said 'we have been here for 90 minutes and he has yet to tell us anything about recruiting', this time he agreed. When we returned from our break there was a flyer at each of our seats with a list of informational DVD's and prices. The entire package could be had for $1300 but if we purchased it today we could get it for the low price of $999.
I considered leaving. After being convinced to stay I gleaned a few tid-bits on retention and a two sentence blurb to use on recruiting materials which should prove useful. The cost of attending this seminar was nothing. Maybe that should have sent up a red flag but because it was hosted by a reputable organization, it didn't.
The last 15 minutes of the seminar consisted of the speaker informing us of his greatness and how he could be had for in-person consulting for the low two-day rate of $5000. As I left the seminar I looked around at the 40 other attendees. Most Broker/Owners. I counted seven who were filling out the form for the DVD's.
I wanted to ask what compelled them to pay for this information but I already knew the answer. The audience was looking for easy solutions to difficult problems, the speaker offered easy solutions. At least the concept seemed easy.
How many people actually achieve the level of success promised?
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