If you’ve been in the building industry for any length of time then you know Myers Barnes. Myers has earned his position as one of the building industry's most requested advisers and speakers because what he says not only makes sense it is "doable" and has proven results.
If I had any hair, it would’ve been blown way back & flat after I finished this interview with Myers. Imagine making the decision to ride a bull at the rodeo and having no prior experience in bull riding. This is how I felt interviewing Myers.
“Hang on to your lug nuts; it’s time for an overhaul!”

Meet Myers Barnes

How did you get started in the industry?

Well it was certainly not by accident – everything in life is a choice. I chose to be a speaker. I started in this industry in the construction side of the business. When I was 23 I built the second skate park in the USA, yes I was a skater. It was my brother that gave me the concept, my Father that bank rolled it and I was the labor to build it. I was enthralled by the idea of concrete construction and did this for a while before I evolved into a salesperson out of my dissatisfaction in my life. I couldn’t help but be intrigued by the men I saw selling and knew that was what I wanted to do. A friend of mine told me that I should start my career in sales in vacation ownership (Timeshares) because it was there that I would learn how to close. And learn it I did. My fear of failure was my greatest motivation to learn the closing process.
I was afraid of the guy behind me making the sale, I was afraid of not making any money, I was afraid to be the one that failed so I forced myself to learn how to close. You know what?
I still failed miserably and was about to be fired when I made my first sale and convinced the manager to not fire me. I was compelled to talk to a gal named Mary, she was our most successful salesperson and I went to her and asked her how she learned to close. She told me that she simply listened to a Zig Ziglar tape an hour a day so guess what I did. I’ve practiced this method of learning since then. If you want to achieve something you need to study it everyday. They are the bibles of your field. So I studied sales, I studied leadership; I studied psychology and the like until I learned what I needed to learn. I consider myself a great extrapolator – in other words, I ask myself how can I apply this and I apply it. Failing and redoing it, failing and rewriting it, failing and trying again.
There is no such thing as a natural sales person!! If you’ve heard that, it’s a bunch of crock! Nobody is born into sales or born into medicine or born into law. Talent and ability is learned and if you’re not willing to learn, you might as well stop now.

Ok, back on track. From vacation rentals I moved into new home sales. Coming out of the recession I felt the need to expand my career. I got into the business at the worst part of the recession and I still made a lot of money because I was too young to realize that we were even in a recession. So one day a home builder (Bob Degabriel) found me and asked if I could sell homes like I sold Timeshares. I said “sure” so I began selling million dollar beachfront homes in a recession, successfully! Now remember, I was still reading an hour a day and when I went into home sales I knew that eventually I wanted to go into the teaching business because I felt I had so much to offer. I made it clear to Bob that this was a short term gig for me because I wanted to teach. My dad always said “when there’s no solution, then there’s no problem”. Because he raised me to solve problems….Ask him a question on fixing situations he would always make me go through an exercise. First Identify the problem, then identify all solutions….if I said I don’t have a solution, he said if there is no solution you have no problem….solutions and problems are joined at the hip……there is always a solution son.” He also said “never tell me how it will not work, all I want to know is how it will work.”

Hmmm, sit and think about that one for a minute.

At this point I wrote the book “Closing Strong” and I was extremely blessed to have it go number one. That created a lot of momentum for me so I hired a consultant for my new career as a speaker and he told me that I was going back to the industry I started in, the home building industry. Man was this prophetic.
Through a series of additional blessings, I began getting more exposure from all types of speaking engagements, writing additional books and here I am.
There is one thing I learned above all else during all of this, profitability. I’ve knew that no matter what, I always had to produce a profit. I had to create a customer then I had to create a profit. Everything else is just talk.

I know this may seem like a funny question to our readers but how would you describe your business?

One word – “results” – beyond results everything else is just commentary. There is no subjectivity in my life. I’m not here to make anyone feel good, including myself. What matters at the end of the day is the end result. I consider myself to be a “Type A” personality, but it doesn’t matter the personality – as long as you have a need to achieve. You need drive & ambition to be successful long term and to achieve the positive end results you are seeking. What I do is to give people the tools and the inspiration to achieve. I believe it to be a talent of mine to do this and it’s what I love.
Most people define their business by their titles instead of by their achievements. It’s like someone going to the store to buy a drill. They’re not there to buy a drill; they’re there to buy a hole. That’s the end goal of that purchase isn’t it?
What I do is problem solve, inspire. When someone comes to me, they are not seeking the title but the end goal of achievement and overcoming obstacles.

What makes your company different?

We teach systems & processes. If I ask the average salesperson to give me their process by which they sell, they can’t do it. Sales is a process and unless you have a process you’re an accidental sales person. In other words, your sales are more accidental than intentional. If you don’t have a process you can’t replicate and duplicate a sale at will. The secret behind all successful companies is a process of selling by which every sales person is trained. You have to ask yourself, am I as successful as I want to be? If the answer is no then you need to ask yourself, what am I doing that’s right and what am I doing that’s wrong. Identify each and keep the one and abolish the other.

Myers thoughts in the beginning of this interview ring true here. He said that he “failed and did it again, failed and rewrote, failed and tried it again”. If you’re like me, you don’t like the failing part of that equation but it’s so necessary for those trying to identify what doesn’t work. Learning to learn from your failures is challenging but so important to creating a process of success.

What other benefits do you bring to the building industry?

This year I really wanted to give back to the industry that has been so good to me. This may sound strange but I didn’t care about the money this year; I just wanted to give it away. “Free in 2009” was born and it’s all free! Free training for Sales Managers, free New Homes Sales training, marketing training, how to retain and how to motivate! This is for company owners and CEO’s as well as the front line people responsible for the results.

I hope you read that twice!

I asked Myers a little more about this and he shared that this year he is on a creative high and like never before he’s pumping out ideas and thoughts via his video training. “It’s almost on a momentary basis” he shared; Everyone has writers block from time to time but for some reason this year it’s just flowing and I really wanted others to benefit from these ideas. What better way than to make it free!

But don’t wait too long because Myers joked that in 2010 it won’t be free.

Myers how do you see the building industry evolving?

Let me start by saying that I’m thrilled by today’s opportunities - there’s never been a time quite like this.
I hear way too often from salespeople that times are too tough to sell, the market is terrible.
When you say I can’t sell because of the market, then what you’re saying is the only way you can sell is if the markets good? All you need to be concerned with is the market that’s in your mind. Here a thought that some might say is old school – a hard-line negotiator should be met by a hard-line closer. To be a hard-line closer you have to get used to the rejection and not take it personal. You may hear no 9 times out of 10 but to win big you have to know how to lose big. The market has its ups & downs but your drive & ambition has to remain steady. Too many salespeople tell me that all they need is sale. It’s not a sale you need, its skills.

Myers has some thoughts on this in one of his videos here.

Social Media is also upon us but I don’t think the average builder company gets it. I ask many folks in the industry to give me a description of Social Media and they really can’t. There are still so many builders with NO WEBSITES, NO CRM”S and have ignored the Internet! If you don’t put anything into the Internet, you won’t get anything from it! The issue is NOT the Internet. In many cases you don’t need to fix your website you need to fix your follow up! Social Media in and of itself is not the solution; it’s how you use it or don’t use it.
Myers shared this story:
Dr Albert Einstein had a young student travel with him and at the end of the travels Albert asked “what have you learned?” - The young man was perplexed about something. Every year you give the same test over & over again to your students, I don’t understand. Albert said, “In life, the test will always be the same – it’s the answer that changes.”

So Ed let me ask you a question.
What was the test 30 years ago for builders? – Answer, How do I generate more traffic, how do I close more traffic? What was the test 20 years ago? How do I generate more traffic, how do I close more traffic? What’s the test today? It’s the same! The test is the same; it’s the answers that are different. Today, Social media is the answer!
Are you passing the test? Have you rejected Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Social Media venues like them? Think it’s just a fad? Think it’s just a time waster?
Here’s another Einstein quote – “Insanity is defined by doing the same thing over & over again expecting a different result.”

We’ve not been here before – don’t let anyone tell you this. NO they haven’t. The reason so many are failing today is because they’re still using 5 or 10 year old selling strategies – things change too much too fast. If you’re not ahead of the curve you’re not only way behind, you’re left behind.
Let me just say this, if you’re not on social media just shut the doors.

I asked Myers why the building industry is so slow to make these changes…..he said one word…..bureaucracy. To not make a decision, you’ve made a decision. Why do we need to have meeting after meeting to decide to be ahead of the curve? Just how many decision makers do you have? In this market decisions need to be made now, not tomorrow. Changes need to be made today, not next year!
There has been so much cutting in industry that I’m afraid that we’ve cut it to the core – It’s difficult to understand the thinking here. You would be better off cutting admin people than marketing people – if 85% of people are starting their home search online then 85% of your budget should be spent on online marketing. That’s embracing technology.

People will only change when the pain of remaining the same overrides the pain of change. If you refuse the change – like a battered woman saying “it’s all I know”, you’ll be closing your doors soon. I get hired to relieve the pain but at the end of the day, training is only training, advice is only advice, but wisdom is knowledge applied. If you don’t put into effect what I or any other person is telling you – just close your doors.
How is the process of elimination with regards to home buying process different today?
~ 30 years ago consumers spent hours with their RE Agent crossing models off the list.
~ 20 years ago it was the same.
~ Today, there’s no such thing as a first visit. They’ve eliminated builders online before they ever show up to your model. If they’re standing in front of you, you’re in their top 3-5 builders!
The news channels tells us not to buy a home - then why would someone walk into a model if everyone is telling them not to – because they want to buy a home! Is this a good time for selling homes? Are you kidding? We have the lowest rates & lowest prices in history. If you’re convinced this isn’t the right time to buy, you will project that onto your consumers.
In this current climate there are 2 types of companies.
One that cuts back and one that refuses to participate in the recession - the first says we need to cut way back, lay off the marketing people and wait out the storm. The second says we’re going to increase our marketing efforts, spend more money in marketing and claim our piece of this market share. You tell me, which one is going to have more success?

What have you had to overcome to adapt to the market changes?

My change to social media came about 9 months ago and I was way behind the curve. The power of relationships is the greatest thing going and I came late to the game but I realize the power of these virtual relationships. In just a short period of time I’ve gained 2400 friends on Facebook – I don’t even know 2400 people but now I have that influence because I embraced the technology.
This is my only regret for the year.

I could have spent all day talking to Myers. It goes without saying that he is a deep well of insight and knowledge. I have personally committed myself to reading an hour a day, beginning with his books.

To follow Myers more closely:
His LinkedIn Profile
Follow him on Facebook
Follow him on Twitter
Follow his Blog
Get his Newsletter

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