Recently heard from my old friend, Jim Brown, long-time Re/Max Real Estate Independent owner and now "Team Leader" with Keller Williams Real Estate in Mandeville, Louisiana. This is a wonderful account of how using the principles of Winning Without Intimidation and his company's written Belief System, combined with his and his agent's natural sense of honesty and integrity, made everyone happy, and earned a nice commission.

One of Jim's associates, Jackie Staley, had recently experienced a problem with a listing and sale of a home in which a suicide had taken place. Although the state of Louisiana does not require such things to be disclosed to a buyer, Jackie's morals do require it. And, knowing Jim as I do, I'm not one bit surprised that he stood behind her 100 percent.

The seller was very explicit that this was NOT to be disclosed but Jim and then Jackie, continued to try and persuade her. Finally, Jim's combination of tact and "call for personal responsibility" attained the desired results.

According to Jim, "I drafted a letter to the seller confirming her instructions and added, in a very tactful, Winning Without Intimidation manner that, 'sometimes, just the fact that we question whether something should be disclosed, suggests to us that it should be.'"

Wow - that's great! And the seller elected to do the right thing and disclose. The Buyer was most appreciative and said he felt there was something going on but was not sure. He bought the home anyway.

Jim shared with me just how proud he was of Jackie that she was totally willing to forego the commission if not able to do what she believed was the right thing. Jim says that attitude is in total alignment with the Keller Williams Belief System, which I'd like to share with you now. You'll notice a "Steven Covey" influence, as well as that of others:

"WI4C2TS"

Win-Win - or no deal
Integrity - do the right thing
Commitment - in all things
Communication - seek first to understand
Creativity - ideas before results
Customers - always come first
Teamwork - together everyone achieves more
Trust - starts with honesty
Success - results through people

I like Jim's suggestion to "think about what would happen if every time you were faced with a problem, you first applied these principals one at a time." In the case of the suicide disclosure, the right answer kept popping up - disclose to the buyer. Jim and Jackie simply had to find a way to persuade the seller that she should adopt that belief as well.

Jim's conclusion, which follows, applies to everyone, in all types of sales, and in personal situations as well as just in business. He says, "Far too many real estate agents are focused on the end result - their commission. If they focused first on the customer's needs and requirements and applied this belief system, their commission checks would probably double just by being a better real estate professional.

As Zig Ziglar says, 'You can get everything in life you want if you'll just help enough other people get what they want.' How true."

Bob Burg http:www.burg.com is author of Endless Referrals: Network Your Everyday Contacts Into Sales, Winning Without Intimidation and The Success Formula.

He has a full line of books, ebooks and CDs from which everyone can grow and prosper. Check them out by going to http:www.burg.com , then click on the link to his online store. Bob also publishes a free weekly ezine to which you can subscribe going to http://www.burg.com/newsletter.html.