This newsletter was posted by Jo Ellen Geary |
“Some Rare Good News But Not All News Is Good”
Mortgage rates sagged this week as ongoing concerns about the European debt crisis had investors fleeing to the relative safety of mortgage-backed securities that fund most U.S. home loans.
Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending Nov. 3, down from 4.1 percent last week, Freddie Mac said in releasing the results of its latestPrimary Mortgage Market Survey.
Read the complete November Newsletter
The sad secret of the Mountains
The North Georgia Mountains are a wonderful place where most of the people are kind and the beauty of nature is all around.Unfortunately there is a situation here which is not so wonderful. A couple of weeks ago Beka and Junell (whom many of you know) were at one of our clients homes that rents on VRBO.This particular side of the mountain is mostly all vacation rentals with a few full time residents and in an area where bear and coyotes are quite common.The girls were cleaning the cabin and outside they find 2 puppies. The people who rented the cabin had been kind enough to put out some food for these starving and malnourished pups.So, the girls call me because they do not know what to do and I know that with the cold weather coming in, the age of the pups and the fact that the wildlife is prevalent in the area the odds are that these dogs will not make it.I told them to bring me the pups and I get on the phone making calls to everyone I can think of who may want another dog. You have to understand that if you live here full time the odds are real good that you have taken in a dog or cat or two.We have so many stray animals here it makes your heart sink.The reason here is twofold, one is because many of the local residents do not spay or neuter their animals and as I am sure you have witnessed most domestic animals here are not on leashes.The other problem is that people will come up from the city and drop their animals.It makes me so angry that I wish someone would drop them in the forest and see if they can survive.
In April of this year we lost our 2 best friends 2 weeks apart due to age and health reasons. While I was still not quite ready to take in pets, I knew that it would just be a matter of time before some lonely staving animal would walk into our lives. Sure enough, we now have 2 pups who have stolen our hearts and taken over our house!Thank goodness we had the room and wherewithal to take care of them.
BUT…Many animals here are not so lucky. The shelter is full and there is just no place to put all these abandoned animals.
SO, the next time you want to do something kind consider donating to our local shelter or donating items to one of their 2 thrift stores and if you have room in your house and heart maybe you would even consider adopting.For your information the Mountain Shelter is located at 129 Bowling Gap Circle which is located off Hwy 76 going on the East side of Blairsville. Their web site is www.humanesocietymountainshelter.org. In fact, I know of someone who is trying to find a home for a house cat that was left at the home after the owners moved out.
And in case you are wondering the pups are now named Pearl and Ziggy.Their breed is a Heinz 57 and they are great!
Read the complete November Newsletter
The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the three months ending Sept. 30, the government reported, easing fears that the nation would fall into a second recession but still too slow a pace to cut significantly into the high unemployment rate.</p> “We’re inching our way forward,” says Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial. The new data from the Commerce Department on Thursday showed slow but steady improvement in the economy throughout 2011.
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If you’ve been on the fence about homeownership, now is the time to take a leap! Don’t let the negative press deter you from one of life’s greatest joys.
New Georgia Energy Codes that took effect January 2011
On November 3, 2010 the Department of Community Affairs Board voted to approve a new edition of the Georgia Energy Code. The 2009 International
Energy Conservation Code (IECC) with 2011 Georgia Supplements and Amendments will replace the 2006 IECC on January 1, 2011 as the Georgia State Minimum Standard Energy Code. ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2007 as referenced in the 2009 IECC will also take effect on January 1, 2011. This very significant vote marked the conclusion of more than 18 months of work by DCA staff and the 2009 IECC Task Force.
All new construction and renovations permitted after January 1, 2011 will have to comply with the new code. Furthermore, the State will have to document a minimum 90% compliance rate with the 2009 IECC and ASHRAE 90.1-2007 by 2017 as stipulated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In an effort to assist industry stakeholders in complying with the new code, DCA and the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority will be partnering to provide both commercial and residential energy code trainings across the state. Look for the first trainings to be offered in January.
One of the age-old stereotypes in business is the pushy salesperson. But what if we told you that the real issue in sales today isn’t that salespeople tend to be too pushy, but that they’re not pushy enough?
In our first post in this series, we introduced you to a special type of high-performing sales rep called the Challenger. One of the defining attributes of Challengers is that they take control of the sale by being assertive.
What does this look like in practice? Challengers take control in three important ways.
First, as we discussed in last week’s post, Challengers use proprietary insights to change the way customers think about their business and that highlight the suppliers’ unique ability to create value. If customers respond, as they invariably do, that the insights don’t apply in their situation, Challengers don’t back down. They know that if they want customers to buy differently, they’re first going to have to get them to think differently — and that they may have to get a little scuffed up in the process.
Second, knowing that today’s complex deals are often just as difficult to buy as they are to sell, Challengers actively guide customers through the purchase process. They maintain the momentum of the sale by pushing customers to engage the right internal stakeholders at the right time with the right message. Challengers don’t ask customers how the deal is going to get done, waiting for the customer to “coach” them. They teach customers how to drive consensus for the purchase — as more often than not, customers themselves don’t really know how to do it.
Finally, Challengers take control in negotiating commercial details — especially at that crucial moment when the customer looks them in the eye and says, “If we could just get a 5% discount, I think we could get this done by the end of the week.” Unlike most reps whose response to a discount request is either to “consult with a manager” or to “meet the customer half way,” Challengers table the discount request altogether and instead push the conversation back to the value they’re providing to the customer. They acknowledge the request for a price concession, but defer a decision and, if pressed, offer other less costly concessions.
Now, of course, in all of these situations Challengers push back respectfully, professionally, empathetically and in a manner consistent with local culture (the way you challenge in Japan is different than the way you challenge in the U.S., for example). But, make no mistake, Challengers do push back.
When we present this research to sales leaders, we hear a common refrain: “If we tell our reps to sell like Challengers and be more assertive, they’ll go too far. They’ll take it as a license to become aggressive.” But more often than not, this concern is unwarranted. In reality, most reps are far more likely to be passive than aggressive with customers. Guided by years of training and a deeply seated but mistaken belief that they should always do what the customer wants, reps seek to resolve tension with customers quickly, rather than prolong it. But maintaining a certain amount of constructive tension is exactly what Challengers do.
Why do most reps fear tension? We see two reasons. First, they feel they have no choice — it’s either acquiesce or lose the deal. Yet, in a recent survey of sales reps and procurement officers, BayGroup International determined that while 75 percent of reps believe that procurement has the upper hand in the rep-customer relationship, 75 percent of procurement officers believe that reps have more power. What does that tell us? At the very least, if reps give in simply because of a perceived power imbalance, they’re conceding way too easily.
Second, most reps adopt a passive posture because senior management has told them to. How so? In ongoing efforts to differentiate their companies, virtually every leadership team has exhorted their team to “put the customer first,” or “place the customer at the center of everything we do.” It’s not a bad strategy, mind you, but it backfires when leadership is vague about how this translates to specific behavior. Without clear guidance, most reps simply slip into “order taker” mode, closing small, disaggregated, price-driven deals at a discount all in the name of “giving customers what they want.”
How would you describe the best reps in your organization? Do they acquiesce to customer demands and passively take business that’s given to them or do they push their customers and use tension to their advantage?
Complete Home Services October Newsletter
Well, I never thought I would see the day when we would be sitting in the office talking about social media networking. My opinion has always been… Who has the time? But after doing a little research we decided that Facebook would be a great way for us to share with you the daily adventures of Complete Home Services. And we do have some adventures! From getting lost, stuck, running into critters, having trees fall, getting caught in storms and all the other crazy things that occur as we go about our day. So, “like” us on Facebook and stay tuned to the daily action up here in them thar hills. We would also love to hear your comments about our stories and other stories related to your adventures in North Georgia as well. You can link to our Facebook page here or from our website. Hey, who says, “ You can’t teach old dogs new tricks?” Let us know what you think.
Cindy Cohen
Building Homes with American-Made Materials Could Save the Economy
Can we build our way out of this recession?
Building Homes with American-Made Materials Could Save the Economy
Anders Lewendal, a builder in Bozeman, thinks so. He’s about halfway through building what he’s pitching as “The All-American Home,” a 2,000 sq. ft., two-story house constructed entirely of U.S.-made materials.
Now it’s probably true that the bulk of building materials that go into the average American home are sourced pretty close to home already. In fact, you can probably build a 70-percent American home without even trying. But Lewendal is out to make a point: By paying attention to where products are made, and incrementally pumping up American suppliers, builders (who are still building) can rev up the economy.
5% could make a big difference
By his calculation, if builders reallocated just 5% of their construction spending to American-made products, they’d add $14 billion to the U.S. economy. So on a Facebook page for his cause, he’s asking fellow builders to register for what he calls the “5% Club.”
It’s not a nationalistic idea, nor a partisan one, Lewendal emphasizes. He’s a small builder who constructs a half-dozen homes in a good year, and acknowledges heading up a national cause is good publicity. But he’s also using this as a learning experience, for himself and for other builders encouraged to do the same thing, and he’s started work on a database (see below) of American-made products used on this project.
“We don’t need every builder to build every single home with all-American products,” he told me. “That’s not practical and it’s not necessary.” But before handing over less money for a foreign product, he suggests considering the true cost. He makes a point with collated nails. American-made Maze orTrueSpec cost him more per box, but they don’t jam his gun the way the cheaper Chinese-made ones do. So it’s like this: spend money=save time=save money=save economy.
“It may be a little naïve or optimistic,” he says. “but it could happen.”