Blog / Leadership
Positivity is not the answer with Chris Helder
With Chris Helder, International speaker and author
Refreshing, dynamic and funny, he may sound American, but Chris Helder most definitely sees himself as Australian in sensibility and style. Chris’ presentations to Citibank, Merrill Lynch, Glaxo Smith Kline, Toyota, Mercedes Benz, Fuji Xerox, Levi’s, Realtor.com and IBM, have radically transformed how thousands of people worldwide communicate.
Best-selling author of Useful Belief and The Ultimate Book of Influence, Chris says, “Despite my accent, I am absolutely Australian in my style. I was a real estate agent going all the way back to the mid-90s in Australia, so I've been over here a long, long time. Everything I talk about really comes very much from an Australian perspective. I think our Australian process and the training that exists in Australia is second to none in the world."
A keynote speaker at AREC 2018, Chris will present a bracing perspective on positivity. Chris explains, “One of the things I'm talking with real estate agents about, and my popular topic at the moment is very much about how it's not about being positive. In fact the studies show that if you try to be positive and then it doesn't work out, you actually feel worse about yourself than when you started."
Instead – how about useful belief and useful action?
What Chris likes to focus on is useful belief and useful actions. He explains, “We have a part of our brain called the reticular activating system and quite simply, that's the filter that filters the millions of pieces of information that we receive every day. I like to think of it as a red Toyota theory, and the red Toyota theory is that if you drove this morning, you probably did not see a red Toyota. However, if you decided to buy a red Toyota, you saw that everywhere. This is the reticular activating system at work. It's very, very clear to me that the best real estate agents in the world have their reticular activating set to opportunity."
He continues, “One of the things that separates out the best real estate agents in the world from the average is that the best agents in the world see opportunities everywhere. They filter for opportunities. They're going to make money in every market."
In contrast, for the average real estate agent whose worldview is bleaker, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Chris says, “When you believe that - your brain goes and finds it.” Bleakness begins to encompass you.
Having a positive attitude however, is not enough to affect change. Chris believes in fact, that you to have useful beliefs, which create possibilities for action. Building rapport continues and will always matter but mindset and being realistic, a preparedness for change and seeing and creating opportunities are also pivotal. Chris says, the top agents, regardless of context and economic outlook, “…look and search and find where the money's going to be and where they can go to make the most and be the most.”
Chris believes, “People that come to my sessions walk away thinking that this is the best time ever to be in real estate. That's a useful belief. This is the best time ever to be at your company, in your market place. This is the best time to be alive and when we believe it's the best time to be alive, we walk outside and we see trees and flowers and babies and beautiful things. Yeah, of course when you think it's tough times, you find all those negatives. To me, having a useful belief is the actual base. It's the cornerstone if you will. It's what you build from in terms of building your business. Having a useful belief, from there you can launch into your business."
'One of the things that separate out the best real estate agents in the world from the average is that the best agents in the world see opportunities everywhere"
Chris however also believes that it may be time for significant cultural change – the market has changed; the digital world is shaping vendor expectations and it’s time for the real estate agents to respond in kind. Real estate teams need experts in digital media filling their ranks. Chris says, “I was just speaking with some very experienced agents who have very strong careers and they just recently said to me, ‘Chris, we're missing business’, and I said to them, ‘What do you think's happening?’ They go, ‘Well, you know we're still going out but who's going out are these two directors who've been going out selling real estate the same way since the 1980s’. And the feedback they're getting from these vendors is, ‘Yeah, I get that you're experienced but who's covering all from the digital spec? How are you guys attracting buyers through social media? How are you guys actually going to attract buyers through technology?’"
He continues, “These teams that were going out for years and years and having a level of success are all of a sudden not having success. So the answer is we're going to have to have people in our team that are across digital. We've got to be across how it is we're going to attract buyers through digital media, through digital space, how we're going to show those vendors and demonstrate to those vendors that we are absolutely at the forefront in our marketplace around attracting buyers through digital."
Chris thinks it has never been a better time in the history of real estate to be 25 years old in this industry. He says, “In the past, I think a lot of the more experienced agents would actually not even want younger agents with them. They do all the talking. Now, are you kidding me? It has never been more important that the 25-year-old agent needs to be able to step up and needs to be able to talk about that. They are valuable. They are critical and they are the difference between winning and losing."
Useful belief and action – can you bear the change?
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