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Team Lally Show with Amber Lethem

Certified Sales & Leadership Coach, Southwestern Consulting

Announcer: It’s time to enter the world of real estate in Oahu with Hawaii’s only true real estate radio show, the Team Lally real estate show. Grab a pen and get ready to take notes! For the next full hour, Hawaii’s premier real estate leader, Adrienne Lally and Attilio Leonardi will bring you the latest in real estate news and real-world strategies on how they can guarantee to sell your home at a price and deadline you agree to! Or they’ll buy it! Now, here are your hosts, Adrienne and Attilio!
Adrienne: Welcome to the Team Lally real estate show, home of the guaranteed sold program, or we’ll buy it. If you have any questions, you can reach us at 799-9596 or check us out online at www.teamlally.com.
Attilio: Well hey everybody this is Attilio. This is the part of the show—uh-oh! First of all, we’ve got to get the disclaimer out of the way, we’re not providing any legal advice! No tax advice, if you hear anything that remotely sounds like that, uh, slap yourself in the head because that’s not what you’re hearing, it’s just a figment of your imagination. Uh, but in reality, go run it past a CPA and an attorney, because we’re not providing any of that stuff.
Adrienne: What are we, what are we providing?
Attilio: We are doing what’s called edutainment. What is that, Adrienne?
Adrienne: We’re educating you and entertaining you at the same time.
Attilio: Alright, so at this part of the show we do what’s called the life coaching moment so I wanted to share with you uh, two things that I learned recently. And by the way, in general, if you want to be successful in whatever you may do, personal or business-wise, you must always be in a state of growth. Give me an example of being in a state of growth, Adrienne.
Adrienne: I would say that you are listening to the podcasts or reading books. You’re always constantly looking to learn from experiences that you’re having.
Attilio: The word is learning.
Adrienne: Yes, you’re learning.
Attilio: To be, to grow, to always be in a state of growth, you must always be in a state of learning. Uh, or you just do what the average people do. You just, you know, wing it from day to day, learning from life experiences. But, folks, hello! We’re in the information age, everything and anything that you want to know something about and go deeper on, it’s literally a couple of seconds away from just, with a Google search.
Adrienne: Just a couple of clicks away.
Attilio: So, here’s what we’ve learned is uh, one of the podcasts I was listening to, it’s uh, it’s actually, Dave Ramsey’s podcasts, not Dave Ramsey but it’s on true leadership uh, supported by him, I don’t know, backed by him. Something like that. Anyways, so, the host was talking about value-based leadership. A lot of corporations, companies, organizations, could be your church, could be your Cub Scout group, could be your family, could be your proper business, talk about having value-based organizations, you know, what is the mission statement, but a lot of that is, what I think what most people feel, the people that are part of the organization and are maybe they don’t see it in the leadership, it’s just lip service. So, here’s the exercise that the consultant that they had uh, who was on the show, talking about having really engaging with values in your business, is that for I think, it was either 30, 60, 0r 90 days, maybe it was 30 days, for a whole 30 days, you give the permission of all your subordinates and your staff and your team members that they can come up to you and point out that you’re not acting within the values of the organization. So, ours is easy to remember for Team Lally, it’s heart, which stands for?
Adrienne: Humble, ethical, accountable, respectful, and we changed the “t,” what did we change the “t” from?
Attilio: We don’t change it, it just, it is what it is, it’s teachable.
Adrienne: Yes.
Attilio: So, for example, if I’m, you know, if I’m talking with one of our other team members, dropping a whole bunch of f-bombs on them, degrading them, making them feel bad, what’s the “r” word again?
Adrienne: Respect.
Attilio: Then they, they have permission to come to me, either that person and by the way, we’d never do that. But I’m just—
Adrienne: Just call you out.
Attilio: Being demonstrative for the example, to create a memory, to open your mind. That you’d be able to call out that leader and say, hey, you know what? You’re not living our core values, you’re not being respectful.
Adrienne: Well the other thing they talked about in the podcast is that before they got any kind of business or meetings they always spend a few minutes just on your values and what do they mean, so keeping the company’s values at the forefront of the conversation, so that its, you know, it’s top of mind.
Attilio: Alright, so the second thing I want to talk to you about, so, you want to have uh, you know, more profitable business, believe it or not, value-based businesses that truly live it and, and have it uh, as part of their DNA, are profitable, and if you’re a non-profit, you know what? Those businesses are, in addition to being obviously not-for-profit, they’re, they create a culture or an atmosphere where people feel more fulfilled and you have less turnover and you have more people uh, doing two things in the business, they’re living with, uh, they’re in the business with a purpose and with passion. And you’ve got to have both.
Adrienne: So, when you have that value-based business, it actually also makes it very easy to hire and fire to values.
Attilio: And most likely people will self-deselect, you actually don’t even have to fire anybody, they’ll, one, they’ll be weeded out in the process to begin with and number two, they’ll self-deselect. If they slip through the cracks, if they slip through our 10-step hiring, our talent screening—
Adrienne: Is it now like up to 13?
Attilio: Yes, but what the last one is always what?
Adrienne: No skipping.
Attilio: For you, no skipping. No skipping! So, that leads to the second thing.
Adrienne: Okay, what is the second thing?
Attilio: If you’re a business owner, or you’re thinking about being self-employed, if you work in your business and your role is critical to the day-to-day profitability of the business, what is that called? And you go to sell it, what are you selling?
Adrienne: You’re selling uh—
Attilio: A job! What, what are you, what are we selling?
Adrienne: A job.
Attilio: You’re selling a job. That is not a business that has any value. So, this is what we tell our business owners, is you’ve got to start with the end in mind and you’ve got to put together a business where the key people and you’re not the guru, where you’re training someone or training your replacement. Now, you have a viable business that somebody coming in can buy. And you don’t have to stick around, you stick around as a consultant, but you’re not sticking around as a critical person.
Adrienne: For the day-to-day.
Attilio: Yeah! So, create a business with the end in mind with everything that you do, you’re documenting all your processes and your systems, cross-training, hiring people, even if you have to—
Adrienne: So, speaking of all of these things, aren’t we going to be doing a class on that real soon?
Attilio: Well, well—
Adrienne: Next month.
Attilio: And, you know what? You have such an organized business partner that he wrote something that we’ll be talking about later on.
Adrienne: Okay! Well why don’t we just mention it now?
Attilio: Okay.
Adrienne: So, there’s a website for it, uh, the event is going to be November 6th.
Attilio: Get to the script.
Adrienne: The script?
Attilio: The script, that’s in your script.
Adrienne: Okay. You are so organized.
Attilio: Yeah, the title of it is how to make money in real estate now, when do you want to make money?
Adrienne: Now!
Attilio: NOW! That’s what Tony Robbins says. Hey, are you a realtor with an unsteady income?
Adrienne: Are you tired of the ups and downs of an unstable income?
Attilio: Would you like to learn 10 ways to make money as a realtor, NOW?
Adrienne: We’re teaching a class on this very topic.
Attilio: Our next class is being held Monday, November 6th at the MyGoCenter in Kapolei.
Adrienne: Just go to www.kwhonoluluevents.com to RSVP. That’s www.kwhonoluluevents.com.
Attilio: Goo job. Good job, I like that, very professional, very organized.
Adrienne: Thank you, I appreciate it. Okay, so I have uh, some quotes to, start us out with from Hawaii Pacific Property Management.
Attilio: Home of the rent guarantee.
Adrienne: Yes, so the first one is from Bob Packwood. “Judgement comes from experience and great judgement comes from bad experience.”
Attilio: Yeah, we uh, we actually just covered the chapter with our uh, book that we were reading, uh, what is it? 15 Irrefutable Laws of Growth. And what was that last chapter we were on? Chapter 9.
Adrienne: About pain.
Attilio: Uh, I think the police have a song. Called “The King of Pain.”
Adrienne: Okay, and this next one’s from Lao Tzu.
Attilio: Lao Tzu.
Adrienne: Lao Tzu. “Life isn’t about finding yourself, it’s about creating yourself. What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.” Okay, so I guess we had Duke, but now he’s gone.
Attilio: He’s gone, he came, he went.
Adrienne: Okay, so, should we give our own uh property management tip of the week?
Attilio: Sure, we can give a property management tip of the week. Hey folks, uh, 90% or higher percentage of the wealth in this country, Adrienne, was built through what?
Adrienne: Real estate.
Attilio: Real estate! So, here’s the deal. We highly recommend that you get investment properties. By the way, we personally own investment properties and we have an excellent, and then the second thing we, so get the property, that’s what we can help you with, number two, have somebody professionally manage it. Why? What’s the top three reasons why you want to have professional property management?
Adrienne: Well first of all you want to make sure that you’re getting the appropriate amount of rent and you want someone on top of that, you know, on a month-to-month basis when it, have those rental analysis.
Attilio: This is what, so here’s what we learned. Most home owners who sell property management, what are they dong with the rent?
Adrienne: They’re not, they’re not—
Attilio: At below or above?
Adrienne: They’re not charging enough.
Attilio: You’re actually, most renters, uh, most self-managed uh, landlords, they’re too chicken to do those rental adjustments every, every year and you’re actually doing your tenant a disservice. Why?
Adrienne: Because like when you have to go to sell it, you know, that rent is way below market value and the tenant has gotten used to a certain life style and they’re going to have a hard time going to find another unit that’s comparable.
Attilio: Here it is in plain English. People’s uh, create habits around their rent, it’s always like pay the rent, get the food and then whatever’s left over we spend, or we uh, put towards uh, debt that we didn’t have. So, basically, what you’re doing as a, as a self-managed person that’s not adjusting the rental market value, you’re stranding them like on a desert isle. Into your property and then when they go to look, they’re going to have a hard time and then when you go to sell, they’re not going to be so cooperative because it’s going to be tough for them to find something that is no longer exists, and that’s renting at the, at the level of rent that you’ve been charging them all those years. Two and three, what’s two and three reasons?
Adrienne: I would say like property maintenance and uh, repairs. Because things always tend to come up, just wear and tear on the unit, water leaks, appliances, all sorts of things that, you know, they just start to go wrong and of course they always go wrong at the most inconvenient moment. For you.
Attilio: Yeah, we had two twins living in a, they had these uh, this family, they had two twins and they were in adjoining rooms. They got tired of going out the bedroom door to go visit themselves, because they were such close-knit twins that they just busted a hole right through the wall.
Adrienne: That’s not what happened.
Attilio: No, I just totally made that up, but it could happen.
Adrienne: Yeah, all sorts of things happen. People like they, they put stuff down the toilets, you know, there’s just—
Attilio: Big stuff where the dog, like big dogs chewing up stuff and they don’t even realize, water damage, this is true. We’ve seen water damage when we go to sell the property, that started like 6 months ago and all this mold and everything and it turned into a big headache. So, having somebody regularly inspect your property because I know you for-rent-by-owners, you’re not doing that! And the last one.
Adrienne: I would say also just, you know the, the simple process of collecting the rent and making sure that it’s, that it’s coming in on-time and enforcing that. So, the rent for Hawaii Pacific Property Management, it’s due on the first. It’s late on the second. Eviction starts I think on the third. So, they don’t mess around.
Attilio: So, let’s talk about the rent guarantee and the last thing to leave you with is this: there is a lot of risk management involved, in fact, most of the lawsuits in the real estate industry have to do with property management or tenant-landlord relationships. I don’t know about you, I’d rather pay somebody to be between me and that mess and on Super Bowl Sunday, I don’t want to be getting the phone call from the tenant that had their child flush the teddy bear down the toilet. I’d rather Hawaii Pacific Property Management did that.
Adrienne: Exactly.
Attilio: Alright, so they’ve got a couple of guarantees, one is a communication guarantee. The other, they’re easy to get ahold of. Number two, they’ve got an eviction guarantee, what’s that?
Adrienne: So, basically, they’re going to guarantee that tenant, they’re going to screen that tenant, make sure that they are going to be the right fit, that they’ve got a good rental history. So, if they place the tenant and for some reason, if that tenant needs to be evicted then Hawaii Pacific Property Management will take care of that process, they’re going to pay for that eviction process and to get that tenant out. Now, if you as the owner felt like, oh, I really want this tenant, I want this—
Attilio: My drunk uncle! I trust him!
Adrienne: They’re not going to guarantee that person. It’s got to be, you know, someone from their—
Attilio: That’s on you!
Adrienne: Yes, from their efforts and screening.
Attilio: Last thing they do is they’ve got a rent guarantee. What does that mean? It sounds crazy when you hear it. So, they’re either crazy or they’re good, or maybe they’re crazy good. Here’s the rent guarantee. They’ll come to an agreed-upon rental rate. If after 30 days, they can’t get it rented for what you guys have agreed upon, and then they have this rental number that, that you guys have agreed upon in writing and they can’t get you that rent within that first 30 days, they’ll actually pay the rent.
Adrienne: Yes, it’ amazing. I think they’re the only company that offers that.
Attilio: I think you’re right. Check them out on Yelp, uh, if you want to get ahold of them, what’s a good number to reach the Hawaii Pacific Property Management team?
Adrienne: You can call them at 445-9223.
Attilio: What’s that number again?
Adrienne: 445-9223. Or check them out online at www.hipacificpm.com.
Attilio: Alright, so we’re getting ready to take a break here! But stay with us, when we come back, we’ll be talking with Amber Lethem of Southwestern Consulting. She will be talking to us about the importance of leading by example and her passion for helping young adults reach their full potential. So, stay tuned!
[Music fades to commercials]
Announcer: The Team Lally real estate show continues.
Adrienne: Welcome back and thanks for listening to the Team Lally real estate show, home of the guaranteed sold program or we’ll buy it. I’m Adrienne—
Attilio: And I’m Attilio.
Adrienne: And if you have any questions, just give us a call at 799-9596 or you can check us out online at www.teamlally.com.
Attilio: Hey, quick message out to our sellers before we bring our guest on. You know, I met with a seller yesterday that’s looking to sell their home and they want to buy in another location. They’re holding off because they’re not maybe not going to get as much money now for that home, but what do we know in the next market where you’re buying at, what’s happening with those prices? Up or down, sideways? Most likely.
Adrienne: Most likely they are uh, starting to flatten out.
Attilio: Well flatten out, but most importantly, and that’s flattening out where you’re at. What I’m saying is that, there isn’t like, you make a ton of money in one market and then you save a ton of money in another market. It doesn’t work that way.
Adrienne: Well, if you’re moving from Hawaii to the mainland, certain markets, it could.
Attilio: No, but what I’m saying is that, the prices, across the nation, are either all going up, all going down, or all going sideways, I know it’s different in different markets, but in general. In general, if interest rates are low, and the economy is doing well—
Adrienne: The prices are going up.
Attilio: All prices are going up. All ships rise with the tide, so the point being is, sell now because if you wait, where you’re buying into is only going to be less, is only going to be more money anyway, there’s no saving.
Adrienne: Well, you could like sell now and then you just wait till the market crashes and then you can buy like that could be a strategy also.
Attilio: Yeah, and burning it down for the insurance money is a strategy also. Yes.
Adrienne: It’s all about timing, it’s about timing and location. Timing and location.
Attilio: Here’s the point. If you’re on your death bed tomorrow are you going to be like dangit, I should’ve just done it, or you know what? I think I’ll hold off for a little bit more until I flatline.
Adrienne: Well good thing I’m uh, still young.
Attilio: The point being is, get on with your life folks, if you’re making a decision to sell, sell! There’s no, stop waiting—
Adrienne: It’s a great time to sell right now, the market is, like there’s low inventory, there’s a great time to sell right now.
Attilio: But your personal home, the point being, I snot an investment, if you’re thinking about selling for whatever reason, sell! Don’t wait.
Adrienne: Okay.
Attilio: Speaking of not waiting.
Adrienne: Let’s intro our guest.
Attilio: Go ahead.
Adrienne: So, our guest today is a certified top producer consultant sales and leadership coach. She specializes in teaching ethical sales techniques and strategies that individuals and teams can use to immediately grow their sales.
Attilio: And she was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, habitually, habitually pursues different challenges, here today to talk to us about the importance of leading by example and her passion for helping young adults reach their full potential, pleas welcome our guest, Amber Lethem.
Adrienne: Welcome!
Amber: Awe! Thank you! Yeah, it’s Lethem. Thank you so much for having me on here by the way, I am so thankful to be on here, this is amazing.
Attilio: By the way, she’s got her website, so as you’re hearing and you’re like wow, I want to check it out, www.amberlethemswc.com.
Amber: Yes.
Adrienne: For Southwestern Consulting [swc].
Attilio: Okay. Alright. So, uh, Amber, are you from Hawaii, not from Hawaii, where are you from?
Amber: I was born and raised in ___.
Attilio: Okay, cool. And what high school did you go to?
Amber: I attended Lutheran High school of Hawaii. In town.
Attilio: Is that, the school still going?
Amber: Unfortunately not.
Attilio: No, no, no class reunions for you then, huh?
Amber: Uh, yeah.
Adrienne: Maybe unofficial ones.
Amber: Unofficial beach get-togethers.
Attilio: Get-togethers. Alright, and then uh, you, uh, tell us about, so what happened with your life after high school and, and you coming back here. What, what was that path of travel like?
Amber: Sure, I then pursued uh, my educational career at Bailor University out in Texas and got into door-to-door sales, this crazy summer internship I feel like really defined my collegiate career and started that at the age of 19 and traveled all over the country learning how to run my own business, uh, helped me pave my way through college. Got to travel to Scotland, lived there for a little bit uh, and now I have finally returned home to beautiful Hawaii.
Adrienne: So, these uh, the door-to-door sales, what was it that you were selling?
Attilio: Yeah, what’s the product or service?
Amber: (laughing) Sure, I was selling educational books and software and apps. To families with little itty-bitty babies all the way up to kids getting ready for college.
Attilio: Wow, so you knock on the door and what’s your, you probably still remember it.
Amber: (laughing) Yeah, I’ve done it, I’ve done it well over 30,000 times.
Attilio: What did you say when they answered the door?
Amber: Uh, hey are you the mom of the house, great, you know, my name’s Amber Lethem, I’m the young lady that’s been sitting down with all the families here with high schoolers and little guys. You guys have the older ones, is that right? Awesome, uh, yep, just going over some resources to help kids save time with their school work, get ready for college. Uh, only takes a couple minutes, would you like to sit out here or would inside be better?
Attilio: Good!
Adrienne: Wow, the assumptive close.
Amber: Uh-huh, all about it.
Attilio: And you know and let me guess, was it a higher probability, does it work better if you get in the house, versus standing on the doorstep?
Amber: You know, I would say inside the house. I would say inside the house.
Attilio: Yeah, because once—
Adrienne: Unless the kids are running around acting like crazy nuts.
Amber: I mean I’ve had success in both.
Attilio: What was some uh, now, I, I can totally relate because in college, one of my jobs that helped me pay my way through school was uh, canvassing for aluminum siding and selling cable TV services door-to-door. I think I did that for almost 2 1/2 years. What were some of your valuable takeaways or lessons from that, because I, I considered it probably the most valuable uh, education that I ever got was selling stuff door-to-door.
Amber: Oh, yeah, absolutely. So, some of the biggest takeaways, when you are in the grind, I mean imagine residential door-to-door, 85 hours a week, straight commission in a city you’ve never been to, the biggest principles obviously would be mind over, over matter, I mean, a lot of it came down to mind control. Choosing my attitude on a daily basis. Uh, obviously some technical sale skills were learned but more importantly was persistence and the power of choosing a positive attitude regardless of the weather or how people treated you, being gracious, uh and also how to take life not so seriously. Life’s a comedy, not a tragedy, and choosing to find uh, appreciation and value in every single moment. So, those are some of the biggest takeaways that I, I definitely apply today.
Attilio: Go ahead, Adrienne.
Adrienne: So, going from the door-to-door sales, that was with Southwest Consulting?
Amber: So that was with our uh, Southwestern Advantage.
Adrienne: Oh, okay.
Amber: Mmm-hmm. So, Southwestern is 160-year old company based out of Nashville and uh, and so that’s, that’s actually the first company out of the family that was started way back, so that’s where I did the door-to-door sales, was Southwestern Advantage.
Attilio: Well let’s go back a little bit because I was, there’s lots of value and lessons to be learned selling something door-to-door. Here’s the big question and this is what all sales people deal with. Rejection. Uh, and you know, face-to-face, at the door, that’s some pretty heavy rejection. I think it’s like, probably a higher probability of rejection, correct me if I’m wrong because you’re at somebody’s home. You know? Home, no big deal, text message, you know, Facebook whatever, that’s not a big deal, but you’re at their front door. I don’t know of anybody that goes to their front door going oh, yippee, somebody’s at the front door!
Adrienne: I think people are a little bit more polite though, when you’re face-to-face versus on the phone, it’s so much easier just to hang up versus like, slamming the door in their face and being rude.
Amber: So, I mean, well here’s the thing is, you experience all spectrums, you’ve got the people who are very nice and who are warm and then you’ve got the, you know, the fighter personalities who are very, what do you want, what are you doing, I’m not interested and for, yeah, just getting that slam! Uh, but—
Attilio: The point is the door slam. That’s the point.
Amber: (laughing) You know, but here’s the thing is, you, the way that you treat them, right, typically anytime I was treating someone with kindness and graciousness and not with pressure, like with my intention, like going back to what you all said about values. Right? Operating from that place, a lot less of the door slamming, right? Uh, and, and then obviously, you, you were asking a question of like, well how do you face rejection like that? Well, everyone gets rejection, so my favorite phrase to go to is no means next. Who’s next?
Adrienne: You don’t want the maybes. You want the yes or the no.
Amber: Yes or no and even if it’s a maybe, just say no, that’s okay, no worries.
Adrienne: So, you can move on.
Amber: No means next.
Adrienne: That’s right, I love, I love that. No means next.
Attilio: So, how to deal with the rejection—
Adrienne: Next opportunity.
Attilio: That was one of your strategies. Anything else? What about, you know, you, you, when you’re in the zone, because I know this, when you start door knocking, you get in the zone, it’s kind of like when you’re in the middle of a 5K run, you’re all warmed up, not a big deal, can handle the rejection. The big one is when you’ve got to get up the next morning and you’re all sore from the 5K and you’re like remembering the rejection like awe, geeze, do I want to get up and do this again? So, what were your strategies for wanting to like get out there and do it again, day after day?
Amber: Yeah, I think it all goes down to vision. It always goes down to the clarity of your goals and one of the things we talk about in Southwestern is that the clarity of your vision and your goals and what you want to accomplish, how tangible, how much you believe in it and want it, is a direct correlation, it has a complete direct correlation to the amount of effort and grind you’re willing to put yourself through. Completely, so that would be my biggest thing is, I had a very clear vision about why I was doing what I was doing. So.
Adrienne: So, what, what was your vision? Just keep you like so motivated because I think you were like the number one sales person. Multiple times. Right? So, tell us.
Amber: Sure, so my vision, I think it comes down to a few things. Uh, one is family. You know, I, I didn’t come from huge means so, I understood that if I wanted a good education and I wanted to create a life for myself that was better than what I had initially that if it was going to be, it’s up to me, so understanding and owning that, uh, another piece of my vision was wanting to create legacy and impact. Uh, I believe that the gifts that we’re given in this world are not just made for us, it’s for other people and so Hawaii means so much to me, so being able to bring these principles and bring these beliefs and pursue that, that means a lot to me so learning and refining myself to bring that home was a big thing for me as well.
Attilio: Did you find that when you did something really difficult like that, that everything else thereafter was like piece of cake?
Amber: Oh, substantially. My threshold for fear has, has, I mean, I can handle that a lot more, I can handle rejection more, uh, and it’s applicable to every aspect, whether it’s managing your finances, your fitness, yeah, exactly. So.
Attilio: Yeah, that’s what I, I, one of my biggest takeaways is like, if you do door-to-door sales all this other sales stuff is like a piece of cake and we’ve actually gone back and knocked doors, whether, particular streets that we wanted to have a for -sale sign on and so we knocked that street and did we get yelled at?
Adrienne: And cursed at.
Attilio: And did we stop?
Adrienne: No.
All: (laughing)
Attilio: No, I’m just like, alright, next. I mean one of my, people would, people like—
Adrienne: Life is a comedy. Right?
Amber: Yeah, not a tragedy.
Attilio: Yeah, and so, my favorite was the ones that, and for you people out there who have the no soliciting little big stickers on your windows and your doors, I’ll be honest with you, as a door-to-door sales person, that was a big advertisement of people who don’t know how to say no, so it’s actually a magnet for people to come knocking at your door. I don’t know, for the serious or not because that’s how it was for me because it’s, you know, it’s not illegal uh, except on base, I think you can’t, you can’t solicit door-to-door on the military bases but, everywhere else out here.
Adrienne: You’re protected there.
All: (laughing)
Attilio: And stuff like that, so, uh, and then okay, so, you graduated from college, or you finished up this and then what was your next career move after that?
Amber: Yeah, well I just like, I stayed with Southwestern uh, in the internship program for 6-7 years and, and I moved to Atlanta, Georgia, after I graduated so I did, I did the whole door selling but then I also taught college kids how to do this job, right? So, it’s one thing to sell, and then it’s another thing to, I mean it’s completely different story when all of a sudden here you are, recruiting college kids to go out and do this crazy job, I mean, I’m sure you all are parents and it’s like, it’s one thing to say okay I can do it but then all of a sudden—
Adrienne: You’ve got to teach.
Amber: Yeah, you’ve got to teach it and so uh, so that’s what I did, I built, I built strong teams, uh, was really fortunate to have done pretty well and, and at the end of the day I mean, these, these young men and women are, are changing other peoples’ lives because they’ve decided to go down the hard road and, and to refine themselves first and foremost.
Attilio: You know what’s uh, Varsity Books or something like that, was that part of the company?
Amber: Yes! Yes!
Attilio: Because I remember I, I, there was somebody like you that was on my campus at the University of Arizona and they were recruiting me, taking me through the training program and at the last minute I said no, and I still remember to this day what he said. And so, I said no and this is what he comes back to me, he says, you know, Attilio, when you say no to something, it’s going to be easier and easier for you to say no to things and next thing you know, you’re just going to be living an ordinary life. And so, you know what I told him? No, I’m not doing it.
All: (laughing)
Attilio: But this is what I took away from that because I obviously I did end up selling stuff door-to-door so when, I think I responded to some ad because I said, you know I know I can do this, I just don’t want to go do that. But there was an ad uh, for an aluminum siding company that wanted canvassers and I’m like sure, I’ll go do it!  And then after that, I was like, oh, this is a piece of cake and then I saw another ad for selling cable TV door-to-door and that’s what I did for a long time and uh, no, I mean, I was in even parts of the Tucson, Arizona where people didn’t even speak English. But I learned a couple of words and then, I would knock on the door and they would say no habla English! And then you know what I would say? You have something on your face. And then they’d put their hand up to their face and I’d go, ah! You do speak English!
All: (laughing)
Attilio: Anyway, so, okay, so here you are with this, with this program today and it’s bringing you back to Hawaii, correct?
Amber: Yes!
Attilio: So, tell us about that. Why is this, why and how and where and all of the good stuff of why it’s bringing you back to Hawaii and what you hope to accomplish.
Amber: Sure, uh, so what, what I’m bringing back, I mean obviously, the lessons I learned in the school of hard knocks, I mean all of the people who started this company, uh, a lot of my team members, they all came from the book knocking on doors program, so a lot of those skills and principles, we believed and what we saw, we just wanted to start partnering with professionals and bringing that to them because not everyone got a Master’s in Sales, you know and here they are, doing these sales careers and we know, that’s what we love doing. So, uh, so with that being said, I, I pursued this career in Southwestern Consulting and what I want to do is dang, I want to see Hawaii’s economy grow, I want to see people break their belief barriers, I want to see businesses flourish, I want to see people stepping into the best versions of themselves and as a result, their income just follows. Uh, I want to see really big things happen, just for Hawaii in itself.
Adrienne: So, so what kind of programs or services can you offer to these, you know, small businesses, even larger corporations?
Amber: Mmm-hmm, yeah, so, we do everything from sales training, group trainings, uh, group consulting programs, but, more than that, I think our real big niche is our coaching, it’s our one-on-one, holding people accountable, keeping, keeping them in-tune with what they want most over what they want in the moment. That is what we specialize in, is our one-on-one accountability business sales coaching program.
Attilio: What’s, what’s your ideal client or customer, what do they look like?
Amber: Uh, ideally, they have uh, well, ideally, they’re in commission sales. They’re, they’re building a business for themselves, they are uh, leading a business on their own, building a team, uh, at the end of the day, it’s branch managers or sales managers and then their sales people. Even owners and CEOs. So.
Attilio: Yeah I know, even in the bigger companies or the smaller companies, there’s always a dilution of the, of the education process, of what it takes to get these sales done, so even if they’re part of a bigger corporation they could, especially since we’re all the way here in Hawaii, they don’t get to go to the regional sales meetings and all of that, if they’re part of a corporate, national chain, so even somebody part of the, something like that would probably has a use for your service to help inject and motivate and direct and get people, get the numbers up! Right?
Adrienne: I think it’s also that, that stranger effect, right? Where they may have been telling their sales staff the same things that you’re going to tell them, but because it’s coming from a different source, a different voice, all of a sudden, it’s all going to, oh, that makes so much sense.
Amber: Yeah, exactly, exactly. You can hear it from Mom and Dad a million times and then you hear it from Auntie or Uncle and all of a sudden, you’re like oh, you’re so smart.
Attilio: That makes so much sense. Alright, so we still have a couple more questions for you but we’re going to take a break?
Adrienne: Yeah, we’ll take a short break, but stay with us, we’ve got more questions for Amber, uh in the meantime, you can check out her website at www.amberlethemswc.com.
Attilio: And the “swc” stands for Southwestern Consulting?
Adrienne: Yes, so stay with us!
[Music fades to commercials]
Announcer: It’s the Team Lally real estate show. Here’s Adrienne and Attilio!
Adrienne: Welcome back and thanks for listening to the Team Lally real estate show home of the guaranteed sold program or we’ll buy it. I’m Adrienne—
Attilio: And I’m Attilio!
Adrienne: And if you have any questions just give us a call at 799-9596 or check us out on the web at www.teamlally.com.
Attilio: Hey, I want to talk about recruiting.
Adrienne: Yeah? So, we’re always looking for great team members.
Attilio: Are you frustrated with your job? You’re not getting what you need and when you need it?
Adrienne: Our team members thank us for being in a culture that promotes their dreams.
Attilio: And you know what? This is crazy, we’ve got an $80K guarantee!
Adrienne: What?
Attilio: Yeah!
Adrienne: On top of a great culture. If you do everything that we train you to do and you don’t make $80,000 in your first full year, we’ll write you a check for the difference.
Attilio: Hey, listen up folks, we’ve got a proven track record of success that works! The question is, will you work it?
Adrienne: So just go to www.jointeamlally.com, that’s www.jointeamlally.com.
Attilio: Alright.
Adrienne: Okay, now back to, back to our guest.
Attilio: We’ve got Amber here in the studio from Southwestern Consulting, so you guys are a coaching company, so we’ve got some questions for you, what was that question we talked about during the break?
Adrienne: So, Amber, why does everyone need a coach?
Attilio: Why do people need coaches?
Amber: (laughing) Well, it’s the power of accountability. Let’s be really honest, whether it is in your fitness or your finances, uh, and even in business, it is important to have a source of accountability. Right? There are habits that we all have in place, some of which that we are just not proud of and habits, especially when we want to hit a new result, take 3 things to change. It takes time, energy, and consistency.
Attilio: Time, energy, and consistency.
Adrienne: How much time?
Amber: A minimum of 21 days just to get that new habit engrained. Uh, I mean, here’s the thing, we’re coming around on the new year, everyone’s going to have goals, like I want to save amount of money, I want to save this, and I want to lose this amount of weight, I want to, you know, all of these things but how many people really establish habits—
Adrienne: To support their goals.
Amber: Mmm-hmm, that’s where we come in because we hold people accountable to again what they want most over what they want in the moment.
Attilio: Well one of the things, you know, instead of, we call these habits but we call it your schedule. Does your schedule support your goals? And, and a lot of our team members say well, you know, I want to have so many transactions, so you say well, can, do I see prospecting, daily prospecting, time blocked on your schedule. Can we pull up your calendar right now? And beads of sweat pop up on their forehead, that’s called coaching.
All: (laughing)
Attilio: So, time, energy and what was the last one?
Amber: Time, energy and consistency. Yeah, schedule is our lifeline, we totally believe that.
Attilio: Alright, so our second question is, what differentiates your guys’ coaching from whatever else might be available out there?
Amber: Yeah, uh I think what sums it up is that we are practitioners of what we are teaching.
Attilio: No theory?
Amber: We are total practitioners.
Adrienne: You have the track record, you’ve done it, you wouldn’t ask them to do something that you’ve haven’t already done or don’t currently do.
Amber: Yeah. So, we’re based on 106 years of principles and when we say we’re practitioners first, we’re not coaching out of a place of, oh well, I used to do this, I used to do that. We are in the field, in the grind, in, in the hustle, just along each and every other salesperson. We are still salespeople. And so, anything that we’re coaching people on, are things and techniques that we’re both implementing uh, that we’re implementing and then obviously that, that’s working, right? So, that’s, that’s the biggest thing that differentiates us.
Attilio: I think it was uh, teaching a class on prospecting and calling for-sale-by-owners. So, I said somebody give me a number. Dialed the sale by owner, she just, say I’m going to pick up, put her on speaker phone and I let the class listen in and then I booked an appointment. I think that, you know, I probably spent an hour and a half, two hours with the class, but that 5-10-minute conversation was more, more effective than anything else I said today in that training because they’re like, oh, that’s how you do it, yes, this is really, real life—
Adrienne: Real-life situations.
Attilio: This is the conversation you have with for-sale-by-owners to get an appointment. So, uh, tell us more about uh, some of the, now I know you guys are new to Hawaii, but uh, is there companies that you can mention that you guys have worked with in the mainland?
Amber: Yeah, well I’ve already worked with a couple here. We worked with Aflac, uh, we just partnered with Net Lending out on Bishop Street. Uh, and then I’ve also worked with uh, Cutter, I think that’s what it, the one on, one of the automotive, yeah. Yeah, Cutter Mazda, that’s where we did our sales training there uh, we’ve also worked with uh, USA Mortgage, Keller, lots of Keller Williams uh, Century 21, uh, I mean, yeah, just we’ve worked with a lot of big, we even worked with Google at one point, so we’ve worked with a lot of big companies and whatnot.
Attilio: Yeah, so tell us about uh, do you guys, do you guys have any events or introductory things or, if, if I’m a business owner and I’m going to call you up, what’s that conversation looking like?
Amber: Yeah, well basically I assess, you know, hey, what’s kind of going on with your team, what are you hoping to have, you know, before I present anything, I’m going to you know, have for them, always important to ask what’s their situation and good sales, good salesmanship is listening first before pitching, right? So, asking them about their team and what they’re looking for, and what we do is we provide complimentary sales training workshops. It’s one hour, customized sales training workshop where they get to pick the topics. Mmm-hmm, so, that would be the conversation—
Adrienne: It’s kind of like a test-drive.
Amber: Yeah!
Adrienne: Is this going to work or do we feel like, like we’re in alignment with this coaching company.
Amber: Yeah, we also, we believe in the principle, we give to get, right? We don’t, I’m not going to just come in there and ask a business that’s like, no, we provide technical tangible things that your team can utilize and take away from that meeting or from that workshop, so within the next week, they’re applying things that, again, if they’re doing it consistently, will help change the structure of their business.
Attilio: Yeah, I think, I think—
Adrienne: Pretty amazing.
Attilio: Hear about sales training they either, it’s either that uh, Glenn Gary, Glenn Close, that, Michael Baldwin character, ___ is for closers, so that’s the other thing. And then on the other extreme of the spectrum is the Chris Farley character that they brought in to coach the kids that were smoking out on the, the life coach. Here’s me, here’s you, we’re going to be right together! And then he says and if you don’t do all this, you’re going to—
Adrienne: Be in a van down by the river.
Attilio: You’re going to be living in a van down by the river, now I—
Adrienne: That’s not you guys.
Amber: No, definitely not!
All: (laughing)
Attilio: You don’t live in a van down by the river.
Amber: At the beach actually, no just kidding, just kidding.
Attilio: So, and then, so you guys are in that sweet spot, you’re teaching people what to do because you’re teaching them what you do. And you’ve done it. So, it’s real-life stuff. I like that.
Adrienne: You’re coming from a position of authority.
Amber: Coming from a place of authority, maybe, I don’t always say authority, but I’d say empathy, confidence, expertise. I may not know mortgage like I, like you all do, but what I do know is sales and I know how to build relationships and the concepts and we weave them right into what you’re doing.
Adrienne: Well, yeah, sales are sales, no matter what industry. It’s all the same concepts.
Attilio: Alright.
Adrienne: So, if any of our listeners want to get ahold of Amber, you can give her a call at 294-6236.
Attilio: One more time!
Adrienne: 294-6236. Also check out her website, www.amberlethemswc.com and Lethem is spelled l-e-t-h-e-m.
Attilio: Alright, SWC, so that’s uh, 294-make more money now, 294-make more money now. And if you’re wondering how, what all those letters are on the phone, yeah, it’s 6236.
Adrienne: Yes, give her a call.
Attilio: Okay, oh, you know what? One way, one last thing, she shared uh, she gave us a book!
Adrienne: Oh, yes!
Attilio: This book is titled, yeah, Take the Stairs, Seven Sets of Achieving True Success by a guy named Rory Bayden. Who is Rory Bayden?
Amber: Rory Bayden is one of our uh, founding partners over at Southwestern Consulting. Uh, he and his wife are, are huge mentors of mine personally and New York Times bestselling author obviously, but keynote speaker, talking about things like how to manage your schedule more effectively, he just came up with another book called Procrastinate on Purpose, but essentially the messages uh, in this book really pertain to that uh, if you’re going to be successful, don’t take the escalator, don’t go the easy way, do the work, do what it takes, make the actions uh, you know, be a part of your schedule and, results will follow.
Adrienne: Take, and it’s called Take the Stairs.
Amber: Take the Stairs.
Attilio: Alright, so come on folks, if you want to be successful, you’ve got a coach. Anybody that’s achieved anything of greatness had a coach—
Adrienne: And they also take the stairs.
Attilio: And they take the stairs. Okay. Even if you live in a, work in a 20-story building. Take the stairs and you’re going to be the most—
Adrienne: Every once in a while, you’ll be very fit!
Attilio: You’ll be the most fit person in that building. Alright. So, you’ve got fit people.
Adrienne: We’ve got Abby on the line.
Attilio: Hi Abby!
Adrienne: What’ve you got for us today, Abby?
Abby: Hi, hi, okay, I’ve got a really nice open house this coming Sunday uh, as usual I’ll be there from 2 o’clock to 5, please look out for the open house signs, Team Lally open house signs. And I’m going to be at 91-1014 ___ Street, this is in Ocean Point. 4-bedroom, 3-bath, the amount of space in this house is unreal, you have really nice big size 4-bedrooms and 3 full baths uh, also with the house, it comes with 23 owned PV panels, which is ___ homes, so it’s, again, you know, really nice, really big, it’s ready to move in, just bring your clothes and some shoes and you know, you’re home. So, come down, 2-5 this coming Sunday.
Attilio: Alright, come visit Abby, bring her a nice Caesar salad with tofu.
Abby: (laughing) Awesome, my favorite! Thank you!
Attilio: With some ___ water.
Adrienne: Thanks, Abby.
Abby: Okay, thank you!
Attilio: Next up we’ve got Mikey.
Adrienne: Alright, we’ve got, we’ve got Mike.
Attilio: Michael, Michael, motorcycle.
Michael: Hey guys, how’s it going?
Attilio: Good. What’ve you got for us today?
Michael: I’m very excited to say I’m going to be sitting a very special open house this Saturday, guys, this Saturday from 12-3 over at 91-1036. Attilio, help me out with this, ____ Street.
Attilio: What did you call my momma?
Michael: ____ Street.
Attilio: ____ ___?
Michael: No, no, no, ____ ___. 91-1036 ___ ___.
Attilio: Okay, soon as you walk into the open house, when you see Michael, you’ve got to say the street name 5 times in a row and he’s going to give you a Snickers if you don’t mess it up.
Michael: Absolutely! So, it’s out in a beautiful Kapolei ___ area, it’s a beautiful 3-bedroom 2 1/2 bath, huge home guys! Single-family, right close by to, I’m going to kill this one too, ___ Mall.
Adrienne: You did good, good job!
Michael: Hey! That’s, that’s the Phillipino in me. Guys, again, split AC, huge living room floor plan, vaulted ceilings, you’ve got to see this home guys! Come visit me, 12-3 this Saturday!
Attilio: Yeah, oh Saturday.
Michael: Saturday! 12-3, it’s a special open house. Look out for my Team Lally signs.
Attilio: Now is it special open house or is it church lady special? Isn’t that special?
Michael: It’s so special that you need to come to this house.
Attilio: Okay, alright, go visit Michael, uh, bring him a bowl of old, bring him a bowl of uh, oatmeal.
Michael: Oatmeal, no, no, no, no, we’re better than oatmeal.
Attilio: Okay, how bout some, some ___ granola with uh, with uh almond milk?
Michael: Oh, dude that’s awesome! Right there!
Attilio: You know why they call it, you know why they call it almond milk?
Adrienne: Why?
Attilio: Because no one can say nut juice and keep a straight face.
Adrienne: That’s true.
Michael: Uh, bye guys!
Adrienne: Borderline. Keep it clean!
Attilio: Geeze, where’s your mind going?
Michael: Nut juice, bye guys!
Adrienne: So, are we going to talk about how to make money in real estate now?
Attilio: Sure!
Adrienne: So, are you a realtor with unsteady income?
Attilio: Not me! Because I have a plan!
Adrienne: Yeah? What’s your plan?
Attilio: But you know what? I’m, I know that there’s people out there that are tired of the ups and downs of an unstable income.
Adrienne: Would you like to learn the 10 ways to make money as a realtor now?
Attilio: So, guess what, we’re teaching this very topic, and when and where are we doing it?
Adrienne: It’s going to be Monday, November 6th at the MyGoCenter over in Kapolei.
Attilio: In Kapolei, okay, so check this out guys, and gals, go to www.kwhonoluluevents.com, I’ll say that slowly www.kwhonoluluevents.com and RSVP there. We only have limited seats, uh, we were thinking about charging for this class but I think we’re going to do, the first time we’re going to do it for free, so Adrienne and I have been doing this for how long, with our team?
Adrienne: At least 10 years.
Attilio: 10 years, and we’re going to take everything that we’ve boiled down and learned and said, dangit, I wish I did it, you know, we made these mistakes, don’t do that, and these are all the winner-winner-chicken-dinner, 10 actual tangible things that you’ll be able to do the very next day to make money in real estate when?
Adrienne: Now!
Attilio: Now, this is not some real estate investing course, you know, not a Rich Dad, Poor Dad, or any of these stuff, these, these seminars that kind of roll in every couple of weeks.
Adrienne: This is the business planning—
Attilio: For licensed realtors, realtors. realtors, as we say in Wainia, real-I-tors. And we’re going to give you 10 actual plans, everything from lead gen to sitting open houses, to getting people to list their homes with you, and a whole bunch of other things. Now we have Veronica!
Adrienne: Yes.
Attilio: Veronica.
Veronica: Hi!
Attilio: What’ve you got for us?
Veronica: I’ve got a first open house uh, this Sunday, October 29, from 2-5. I’ll be, I’ll be hosting it at 92-1159 ___ Street, Unit B104. Please come to visit me at this beautiful updated unit with a great uh, yard in the back, uh, very affordable and uh, great development, so just go ahead and come and visit me from 2-5 this Sunday!
Attilio: Where is it at, what city again?
Veronica: It’s Kapolei.
Attilio: Oh, in Kapolei. And what’s the name, is it in one of the complexes, or what’s the name of the complex?
Veronica: ____ Upper.
Adrienne: Oooh, ___ upper.
Attilio: That’s right below ___ low, upper, upper, lower.
Adrienne: Thanks, Veronica.
Attilio: Thank you, Veronica.
Veronica: Okay, thank you! Bye!
Adrienne: Alright, thanks for listening and thank you to our sponsors.
Attilio: Jodie Tanga and Derek Tanga of Pacific Rim Mortgage!
Adrienne: Bradley Maruyama of Allstate Insurance!
Attilio: Nathan Baker of Pillar to Post Home Inspections!
Adrienne: Ben and Tony Mamood of AAA Roofers Hawaii!
Attilio: Janyce Myrland with Dream House Drafting!
Adrienne: John Speed of Kilauea Pest Control!
Attilio: Duke Kimhan with Hawaii Pacific Property Management!
 
Adrienne: Mike Metts of Kama’aina Plumbing!
Attilio: Thomas Pattison with Pattison Land Surveying!
Adrienne: Myron Kamihara of Kamihara Law!
Attilio: If you want to get ahold of any of our sponsors just go to www.teamlally.com.
Adrienne: We also want to give a big thank you to Lea, our producer here in the studio.
Attilio: And our guest, Amber. Chi-hoo!
Adrienne: Make sure to tune in next week, we’ll have an awesome guest talking about something that’ll change your life—
Attilio: Forever! This is the Team Lally real estate show, home of the guaranteed—
Adrienne and Attilio: SOLD PROGRAM!
Adrienne: If we can’t sell your home at the agreed-upon price and your timeframe, we’ll have it bought for cash.
Adrienne and Attilio: THANKS, AND ALOHA!