By Mike Pallin, Floyd Wickman Master Trainer and Floyd Wickman Team President  

“The cheerful readiness to do something.” –Merriam-Webster 

“A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” –Rudyard Kipling 

Browsing the non-fiction section at the local library, I picked up a new book and read the Table Of Contents. One of the chapters was entitled, “How To Persuade People Who Don’t Want To Be Persuaded.” It was the next to last chapter, but the title was so intriguing I had to read it first. The point was you can’t persuade anyone to do anything they aren’t willing to do. 

Forget talent. Forget ability. Forget skill. Talent is overrated. Ability is inborn. Skill can be learned. Find people who are willing and you can take over the world. 

Using Floyd’s methods, brokers have recruited thousands of agents by looking for “full-time, career-minded individuals who are willing to work hard and be trained.” That phrase, more than any other, caused more people to raise their hand and say, “Hey, they’re looking for me!” 

The first year Floyd ran that line ad for real estate recruits he interviewed over 600 candidates. Just by looking for willingness. 

In The Floyd Wickman Program, hundreds of thousands of salespeople change their lives for the better because they make a commitment up front, which includes that they are “willing to make the mandatory assignments my first priority.”  

Almost everybody is already busy at start the program. Making this commitment to be willing to put everything else on the back burner until the mandatory assignments are done first, is the very foundation of our guarantee of success. 

One of the most effective ways to set aside the commission question when it comes up on the phone, (”How much commission do you charge?”) can be found in Floyd’s ‘willing to work’ dialogue. “I’m willing to work for whatever commission you and I can agree on – and that’s usually determined by how much you want to get for your home, and how long you give me to get you that much.” 

It’s too soon to quote company policy. It’s premature to draw a line in the sand. You don’t even know if you want the listing yet. Handle commission when it’s time to handle commission, and that’s after you’ve agreed to work together. Showing a willingness to be flexible up front will open more doors for you. 

If I’m looking for a teammate, a partner, a friend, a vendor, an associate, a client, an audience, a student, a mentor, a volunteer, (the list is endless) – I look for willingness first. But I look for the dictionary type of willingness – the “cheerful” kind. 

Willingness seems to come in two distinct flavors – cheerful, and then every other type. Like the skeptical willingness. The timid willingness. The reluctant willingness. The obligated willingness. The “I’m doing this as a favor to you” willingness. In other words, fake willingness. 

Cheerful willingness is a character trait I admire, and find very common in the most successful people I know. It is also, coincidentally, a character trait of the most popular people I know. 

I find anything other than cheerful willingness to be a non-starter. 

Cheers!