Walk Like a Giant, Sell Like a Madman

7.2. Tracking Transactions: A Case Study

I'm naturally disorganized. That is, my brain is hardwired to be disorganized. I received my official diagnosis of having ADHD just prior to my 48th birthday. One of my assistants mentioned her concerns to a client of mine who happens to specialize in this field. My client replied that in order to gain a professional opinion, she would need to perform a series of tests, but based on her experience, she would say that "it is as clear as the nose on your face." After performing her diagnostic tests, she concluded that I did, indeed, have ADHD.

Even with this "disability," I've created really great systems. In fact, my company now runs on the systems that my team and I developed. Probably half the volume we do comes from having the right systems in place.

Of all the reasons salespeople come to Detroit to shadow me, I'd say the main one is that they want to understand my systems. How, they wonder, were we ever able to track more than 500 transactions a year?

The answer is simple: systems. Let's take an example. A homeowner calls my office because she needs to sell her house. Instead of just taking her number, my assistants immediately do five things:

1. Add or update the person's contact information in our database.

2. Schedule an appointment.

3. Log the appointment into my calendar.

4. Send out our company brochure.

5. Gather all the forms I will need.

An assistant will confirm the appointment a few hours in advance, so I don't go on any dry calls. When I get ...