Talk Is Actually Expensive

Protect yourself from people whose talk will cost you money By John P. Hayes, Ph.D. John P. Hayes, Ph.D. The old saying goes, "Talk is cheap," but I've discovered the opposite. Talk is actually expensive! If the "talk" you're hearing delivers the wrong message, or if it's a distraction, that kind of "talk" is likely to be costly. All the personal development gurus have been telling us for years that self-talk is critically valuable to our success. Since most of the self-talk that people hear is negative, i.e., "I can't do that," "THAT won't work," "I don't have good luck," "Things don't usually work out for me," etc., it's clear that this kind of talk is indeed expensive. It retards growth and keeps us from the very success that we want. Here's another example of expensive "talk," and almost every franchisee can relate to it. A franchisee who had only recently joined our system called me to say that he needed to sell his franchise. Since he'd just graduated from our Success System Training several weeks earlier, I asked him why. He said, "Because everyone I talk to tells me it's not going to work. I'm not buying any houses and I'm losing money." I asked, "Who are you talking to?" He gave me the names of a couple of franchisees. I didn't recognize the names, so I asked the franchisee to hold on for a moment while I checked the franchisee standings to see where these names showed up on our Best Customer and Top Closer lists. Interestingly, the franchisees he named were in the bottom 15% of our network! I said to him, "Do you realize you are talking to franchisees who are at the bottom of our system?" He said no. I'm the first to say that franchisees should talk to other franchisees. That's one of the great advantages of a franchise network. You can sometimes learn more from a colleague than from a member of the corporate team. But why talk to people who are at the bottom of the network? The franchisee said he appreciated my point, but it was too late. He was already convinced that he could not succeed as a franchisee. The initial talk he had with the unsuccessful franchisees ended up costing him money . . . and no doubt some misery. When it comes to talk, we've all got to protect ourselves. It's fine to ask for information, but doesn't it make sense to talk to people in the top 25% of our system rather than those who have yet to move up the chain of success? Granted, a franchisee who's just getting started may not be in our top 25% and still may be one of the best people to talk to, so a little common sense is important. But someone whose talk is negative probably isn't ever likely to reach the top 25%. Talk that's expensive can also come from people outside of our system. There are numerous people outside of HomeVestors who want to distract our franchisees, and discourage them. It's pretty easy to figure out their motives. Once again, protect yourself. Don't talk to them! People often say, "What can it hurt just to talk?" Obviously, plenty. If the talk you hear convinces you that you can't do it, or that your market is different, or that you need a different marketing plan, a new phone number, or whatever, it may end up costing you your business. And that kind of talk is expensive!