Why Do You Have Trouble Getting A Cab On A Rainy Day?

Have you ever had trouble getting a cab on a rainy day?

You probably thought to yourself "Well, it's raining and everyone else needs a cab too."

It turns out that rainy day demand is only half of the reason you can't grab a cab.

The other half of the reason is.... THE DAILY INCOME GOAL of cab drivers.

Most cab drivers want to make double the cost of renting their cab on a daily basis. As it turns out, more people use cabs in the rain. The cabbies are busy, much busier on rainy days, and meet their daily goal much earlier in the day.

It works the same way with our business as well. I see it all the time. Around this time of year people have either had early success and start to relax a little too much, or they are getting frustrated because they "can't find a deal".

To the people that found early in the year success, may I suggest that it's time to stretch your goals a bit and try to do more this year?

The frustrated people on the other hand usually have unknown factors, like the rainy day cab drivers, that they don't fully understand.

One of the biggest factors that most people don't include in their formulas is MOTIVATION.

There is a huge difference in talking with people who would like to sell their house and talking with someone who is MOTIVATED to sell their house.

Most houses in the MLS are listed by people (in some cases banks) who would like to sell their house for X price.  

Typically, they are not too worried about how long it takes. Retirees, for example, might say "Well we would like to move south by the fall. But we are really in no big hurry."

No motivation there - unless it's November and the first snow is in the 5 day forecast.

On the other hand - here is the real life example of someone I made an offer to a few months ago: 

It was a Wednesday when we first talked. He had a job transfer and had plane tickets to leave town and head overseas on Sunday night.

He did not want to rent his house because he had a "bad experience" with renters and just wanted to sell. He was getting a huge hiring bonus as soon as he set foot overseas and - within reason - just wanted a fair price, all things considered.

I made an offer.

And then I KILLED THE DEAL by following it up with some advice.

Why not sell this house retail? "Just use an agent and go through the MLS" I said. It was a well kept home. I strongly suggested that would be the better way to go.

He was concerned about all the paperwork. He would be overseas and thought it would be a big hassle.

I asked if he had any family nearby that he could trust and that would also be easy to work with. His ex-brother-in-law lived not too far away.  As it turns out, he was an early investor in his ex-brother-in-laws company and they had a great working relationship.

I suggested he hire a local agent that specialized in his neighborhood and sign off on a Specific Power of Attorney. Let his brother-in-law help him sign all the transaction paperwork and sell the property for a higher price.

That's exactly what he did. 

Was that bad for my business? Not at all. 

Two people now know me as someone who is fair, says what I am going to do, and does it.

I showed up, on time, and suggested an alternative to my home-buying service that didn't help me in the least, but put a few extra 10's of thousands of dollars in his pocket.

I made a couple of new friends - and that is never bad for business.

My point is this - don't stand around in the rain wondering where the cabs are. Look for motivated cab drivers.

This business if much easier if you are talking to people who are MOTIVATED sellers. Once you find motivated sellers, if you treat them fairly and make reasonable offers that all parties can agree to, this business can be both life-changing and profitable for everyone involved. 

The gentleman I just talked about was motivated, but I was not the right solution for him because he still had other options.  They were just options he did not know about, or hadn't thought of, mainly because he had a lot of other things to think about. 

If you are out for yourself first, and want to make a deal that only works for you, I guarantee you are going to struggle. If you spend your time helping MOTIVATED sellers your business life will be much, much easier.

If you are in the DC area, come join us at our monthly WREIA meeting. At our April 18th meeting we will be talking about how to find motivated sellers. It's a great topic that I am going to break down into easy steps. If you implement just a few of these changes you may see a giant leap forward in your 2016 results.

April 18th is a great opportunity for you to ask a few questions like:

• Where are people making the most money in DC?
• How much time does it take to flip a property in our area?
• How much money, at a minimum, should we want to make on a deal?
• Where do you think prices are headed?
• What mistakes do you see people making?
• What should we do to get started?

Save a few dollars and reserve your seat early.  Then, come join us at WREIA on April 18th. It will be a great way to start the spring season, get you motivated, and get some momentum for the rest of 2016.

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Reserve your seat for the fourth 2016 WREIA meeting here.

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Make this year a great year for your business!

John Peterson

301-881-5541

Washington REIA Network, President
Profitable Property, Founder