Monday Morning Coffee – Raising the bar

Good Morning!

Hoping you’re off to a good start for the week.

(Long post this AM)

I think most all of us are aware of the phrase “raising the bar” and most of us think of it from the perspective of performance – as in, we continually over time strive to do more, jump higher, excel . . . On a perpetual quest to make this one better than the one before.

I googled it and found only a few references mostly to a TV series that did not survive long . . . and then this one  http://everything2.com/title/Raising+the+bar

During the “high economic times” when virtually anyone could make money simply by breathing and taking action, “raising the bar” seemed to apply more to volume (quantity) than substance (quality). A “generalist” could do quite well without the need for highly specialized knowledge or expertise.

Average was good enough!

Quality, Service, and Cleanliness were relegated to lip service. Organizations continued to spew the scripts and dialogs of offering the best, but my experience was that as they got bigger and bigger, the bar they were raising was all about the money.

“How can we sell more and decrease our cost of sales so that we can make MORE PROFIT?”

The HUGE operators were winning a disproportionate share of the sales and were literally starving the medium and small companies to death . . . and then cannibalising whatever was left of them.

The small, local businesses became an endangered species.

I think they were raising the wrong bar.

Things changed!

The economy imploded and suddenly sales dropped exponentially. The big corps’ ships were too big to maneuver around . . . attempted to go through . . . and were swallowed by their own largess. those machines were so big, they could not downsize fast enough to save their hides.

The whole world watched with dismay as one behemoth after another fell into the abyss.

This event liberated a LOT of VERY talented people with the initial shock of losing their comfortable jobs and the understandable fear of losing their income source.

For many, this event became a blessing in disguise . . . suddenly free from the encumbrances of “working for the man” . . . Sharp folks started playing with entrepreneurial ideas. Many of the corporations who downsized still had the need for the talents of the people they were releasing . . . and were willing to hire “contract talent” giving rise to a whole new and interesting layer of businesses. “Consultants” started showing up in every conceivable industry.

Additionally, there has been a veritable groundswell of new Small businesses popping into view.

People were noticing that “Average is no longer good enough” and began developing smaller businesses with lower overhead and more agility . . . These businesses can “turn on a dime” when the environment changes and are running circles around the larger lethargic companies.

I love it (now)!

We ALL ultimately stand to benefit from this as the bar that is being raised now is the bar of exceptional Quality and Service.

I found myself “suddenly available” in March of this year . . . and rekindled my real estate sales business . . . and worked at that as I considered all of the above. The writing on my wall clearly instructed me to SHOW UP in the form of creating a company that models this raising of the bar of excellence.

We are well under way with Pareto Realty, and we know that we have a LONG way to go.

The collective commitment of everyone who joins our firm is to a level of performance in life that is continually improving . . . We are raising the bar of Excellence in the Nashville, TN Real Estate market daily and are inviting other firms to adopt this same mentality such that we can ALL work together to do our part to ensure that each real estate transaction we do is better and smoother than the one before.

What opportunities are out there NOW for YOU to show up and take responsibility for raising the bar of excellence in your industry? 

This stuff ain’t for the feint of heart!

I’m just sayin’

Best,

b