Four Lessons I Learned Hosting our Latest Sales Mastery Event

? Team is a Force Multiplier

? A Community of Like Minded People is Fertile Ground

? The Best Invest More In Themselves

? Mastering the Fundamentals Will Always Be a Competitive Advantage

Last Friday, we hosted over 50 property management professionals from all over the country at our Fort Lauderdale Sales Mastery. We had the perfect venue on the 28th floor overlooking downtown and the Atlantic Ocean.

This was our third Sales Mastery affair, coming almost exactly one year after our inaugural event in Salt Lake City. They say third times a charm —it was easily our most successful in terms of revenue, attendance and initial feedback.

Waking up Saturday morning to the euphoria and relief of having this massive undertaking behind me, I asked myself, “what made this such a great event?”

Here are four initial lessons I wanted to share with my fellow entrepreneurs:

1. Team is a Force Multiplier ?

Not every team I’ve led could have been labeled functional. Dysfunctional teams lack trust, commitment, and attention to results—among other things (see Five Dysfunctions of a Team). But, when everyone is supporting each other as a team, and are committed to over-delivering on our collective promises...magic happens.

I’ve hosted several events in the past where I took responsibility for every detail because I didn’t trust that others would get the job done. Taking responsibility for each and every logistic of those events, as well as all of the content, held me back and wore me out. This time was different— each RentScaler worked together but also gave each other space to let each other excel in their area of genius.

Working as a team produces an exponentially better product, and is a heck of a lot more fun too!

2. A Community of Like Minded People is Fertile Ground ?

Just imagine it: A room full of individuals responsible for new business development and sales at property management companies all over the USA. Some of which were direct competitors. But, even in competing markets there is extreme contrast in the way each of these people do business, how they approach their job, and their level of experience.

The people in this room had more in common with one another than most people whom they spend an average 24 hours of their life with. This was a unique opportunity for pumas—an animal who rarely sees a peer in their daily life—to spend a full day together being open and transparent with their own species.

The result was rich conversations about: how to address an owner who wants to collect a higher rent because they recently installed solar panels, and investors who want to sell their properties because the market is “hot.”

The creative powers that come out of this level of masterminding still astound me. Our team can spend months preparing content and workshops, but the true genius strikes like lightning on a sunny day out of a rogue cloud. We warm up the environment to facilitate these electric ideas and then get out of the way to observe the magic.

On a similar note, the content we did create reminds us that we’re not alone in our fears and challenges. Seeing peers overcome common challenges related to time management, focus, and prospecting gives us inspiration that we too can overcome.

One of the most common comments I received after the event was: “I am so glad you mentioned that. I didn’t think anyone else had that problem.”

3. The Best Invest More In Themselves ?

This is our third sales mastery event in the last 13 months, and people keep coming back. We were humbled by the fact that 20% of attendees had also attended our Nashville Sales Mastery last summer. That means the owners of those companies keep investing the resources to send their BDM’s back—several of which are closing 200+ doors per year.

So were they just here to teach others what they do well?

Hell no! Everyone in this room, regardless of past or present performance, was engaged, practicing and taking notes. There are over 10,000 similar companies who could have come to this event, but only 40 companies made the commitment.

"Learners are Earners” is a term I first heard in the Entrepreneur’s Organization, which is filled with hungry, high-growth owners of companies generating >$1mm in revenue annually. The funny thing is, the more time I spend around that organization, the more I see the people who are too busy “building their business” fall behind the members who commit to the conferences, educational events and peer-learning opportunities. There seems to be a direct correlation between the time people spend learning and implementing new ideas and the speed of their growth…is that even a surprise to read?

Well, it will be to the members who seem to think the correlation is based on the number of hours they spend working in their business without leveling up and learning new strategies.

And by the way, I can promise you our team has invested in learning, practice and optimization between every event (and you’re reading some of that work right now).

4. Mastering the Fundamentals Will Always Be a Competitive Advantage ?

The best sports teams in the world will tell you stories about how fanatical their coaches were about mastering the fundamentals. Research Chuck Wooden or Vince Lombardi…or more recently Pete Carrol or Pat Riley. These coaches wouldn’t let anyone indulge in advanced tactics, modern strategy or athletic feats of genius until they knew how to lace their shoes properly, block and tackle, or line up correctly.

During our workshops, I would repeatedly detail how important it was to complete the discovery of the prospects’ problems before ever pitching one’s wares. Listening is the most fundamental skill of sales I can imagine. Yet, over and over again—just minutes after a reminder or re-reminder of this constant—each participant would immediately begin pitching.

Few are putting in the work to master the blocking and tackling, and those people who master the fundamentals are always the winners in any arena.

. . .

I remember someone explaining to me a key difference in what makes successful people successful. He said, some people have one year of experience for 20 years, and that is very different than having 20 years of experience in a role. It turns out that most people get better at any one job or skill for about 12 months, and then settle in and stop making refinements.

That really stuck with me, and I remain obsessed with accumulating years of experience rather than repeating that first one in anything I do. I hope you are too.