Life Is Like a Box Of Chocolates...

Yesterday I sent out a Valentine's Day card to all of the people on my mailing list. In years past, I had done a "I love my clients" promotion with discounts, etc. This year I wanted to simply make a deposit into the emotional bank account and tell my readers what they meant to me. The card read simply:

"I just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know how much I love and appreciate you.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Love always,

Kelle Sparta"

Five hundred and forty nine people opened the email. Six people sent letters expressing their gratitude for the card. I got one person who said that it was over the top and 9 people unsubscribed from the list.

For the record, love has many forms. The ancient Greeks understood this. They had three words for love: filios, eros, and agape. Filios is the love on has for one's family. Eros is the romantic love we usually associate with Valentine's Day. Agape is universal love. This is the form I was referencing when I sent the note. I was truly feeling loving and grateful that these wonderful people took time from their day to read my newsletters periodically.

What's my point? Well, the point is simply this: you cannot account for everyone's reaction. You can only choose, as I did, to be authentic in the moment. Not everyone is going to like you. Not everyone will believe you. But if you ARE being authentic, then those who are your clients will appreciate it.

(BTW - the same sentiment applies to you all as well. Thanks for reading. I love you, too.)

Today I have arrived in Sioux Falls, SD for an event I am doing tomorrow called "There's No Excuse For Having No Leads!" I am staying at the Ramada near the airport. The hotel was booked by the Sioux Falls Association of Realtors who has hired me to come out here. Evidently this is where they put up all of their guests - otherwise I would think that someone really did their homework to put me up here. It's 2 degrees below zero outside and I don't care because I don't intend to leave the hotel for the entirety of my stay. You see, there's this thing. It's called an indoor waterpark. It has slides and pools and a hot tub. I am in heaven. More importantly, my inner child is in heaven. I arrived too late this evening to slide on the slides, but rest assured that I will do so at my first opportunity tomorrow. If you're one of the lucky people coming to see me tomorrow - bring your suit. We'll have a slide together. Whee!

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Kelle Sparta is the author of The Consultative Real Estate Agent - Building Relationships that Create Loyal Clients, Get More Referrals, and Increase Your Sales, as well as being a speaker and trainer specializing in the real estate industry. Kelle is the founder of Sparta Success Systems, a real estate training company that provides tools, products, and training to empower agents and brokers to create lives and businesses they can love. For more information, visit her website at http://www.spartasuccess.com/. © 2008, Kelle Sparta.

For those of you who follow my blog, I thought I would post an update today. The man I was doing the fundraiser for to help pay for his medical expenses associated with his leukemia, my friend, Dale DeSharone, died today. He passed peacefully in the night with his family surrounding him.

Thankfully the family has many friends to support them in this time of grief, including me. So I may be silent for a while as I take some extra time off.

That's all for now.