I have to say when I saw active rain and their promoting of a book, Surviving Your Serengeti, I thought wow you give me 2500 points for reading a short preview of a book and post on the Active Rain Challenge Post. I am in.
I thought I would hurry up and finish the preview and move on with my day. Something however happened as I was reading the book. I found many of the scenarios have applied to me. I started to self-reflect and before even finishing the preview.
- I imagined myself in the Serengeti.
- I imagined myself with customers surrounding me like wildebeests
- I imagined myself leading the pack and giving the pack of customers the water they needed
- I imagined that my problems were small and insignificant as all we needed was the one thing to endure life, water
In 2010, I made my business plan as I do every year, but I did it differently this year. Instead of filling it with stats and numbers. I filled it with people. I filled it with the "perfect" customer. I filled it with how many difficult clients and how much time I took with those clients and compared it to how many "perfect" clients and came up with an interesting scenario. It just did not make sense to take those difficult customers. So I stopped in the beginning of 2010. I had my second best year in real estate.
I tell this story because it refers to the unique "Animal Skills". This skill for me would be a sort of honing in. A radar of sorts. How do the wildebeest's always know where to migrate to? Are they constantly looking for the leader to follow? Are they looking to go with the flow? Do they ever change their paths? Is it always the same? Do they just find the most number of wildebeests to follow because they must be going the right way?
All of these questions can be answered/interpreted in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found my creative juices come out in this book. I love books that make you not just self-reflect, but that are thought
By answering the What Animal I Quiz?, it is interesting that I am the Graceful Giraffe. Whenever I go to the zoo even as a kid I have been enamored with the Giraffe. The Giraffe has always been my favorite animal. I thought maybe I would be the crocodile or another animal, but the Giraffe so fits me perfect. I often think about people's feelings more than mine almost to a fault. I sell effectively because I always make the customer feel like their the most important person in the world and listen to them and what they are feeling and what their needs may be. Putting the needs of others before mine is always the case sometimes to a fault.
I want to thank Stefan Swanepoel for authoring and publishing this book as it was one of the most thought provoking easy to read books I have read in awhile. Can't wait to purchase the full book on March 1st, 2011.
David Serle
Vice President/Managing Broker
RE/MAX Services
561-912-3500 Office
561-912-3502 Direct
561-756-3104 Mobile
