Does it strike me as odd that our federal government continues to limit the autonomy and freedom of Americans right down to what we can do with our phones? No. Does is strike me as wrong? Absolutely.
You can do this. This may seem idiotically simple, but you can easily see how very possible this is. Track the market you are interested in purchasing a home. Watch the number of homes sold vs the number of homes coming up for sale. (simple supply and demand) If you see more homes coming on than being sold you are going into a buyer's market (price dropping) If the opposite, then seller's market (price goes up). By doing this, you can stay ahead of the market. Note: you must seasonally adjust, which is very easy to by getting a history of the market you are tracking.
Proof:
Look up historical solds vs "on the market." (ask a realtor for this info, keep calling you will eventually find one who will give it to you) Then look at zillow or any other site that tracks historical home prices. You will see the supply leads price, usually by months/years not days or weeks.
How can this the be possible?
1. Realtors, on average, are wildly misinformed and much more interested in making a sale than doing market research.
2. It does not pay for large investors to buy individual properties so you do not have savvy investors correcting market errors. (this does not apply to commercial property)
Your idea seems reasonable. It made me think of when the 4 minute mile was broken. Once it was, people began doing it on a regular basis.
Elon promotes this idea and people believe it to be possible, then suddenly it becomes possible. It makes me wonder how many breakthrough ideas are out there, that are undiscovered.
Clearly Elon is a genius. How much more of a genius would he be if he knew this principle of human nature, and used it to find the solution to a problem that he hasn't figured out. He would use the collective intelligence of the world to solve the problem.
He probably has a reasonable idea that this can be done, but what if he were to use this power he has to essentially scale his genius by harnessing the imaginations of people like you around the world?
"Congress's 2010 vote to require 1,500 hours of experience in August 2013 came in the wake of several regional-airline accidents, although none had been due to pilots having fewer than 1,500 hours."
I don't think the author meant to imply that asking for a discount is toxic. I think he was saying that if combined with several other behaviors, it may be a red flag.
"An entrepreneur is an enterprising individual who builds capital through risk and/or initiative."
According to this definition, a VC is an entrepreneur. If that is the case, then it would seem entrepreneurs would have more power to change the world as VC's are a subset of entrepreneurs. :)
Thank you for the recommendations. How do you think English speaker would respond to a version of English which had changes like: Each sound had its own letter and all spelling was phonetic?
I was thinking it could be designed initially to be 80% compatible with English, in order to gain a high rate of adoption. then introduce changes every 5 years.
1. I agree, as an organization grows, the value of a CRM increases.
2. I did not mean to imply that a CRM is the only form of accountability, more that in an early stage start up with tech founders, it may be the easiest/most cost effective way to implement a system of organization and accountability. The value of a CRM at any stage cannot be underestimated, not only does it give accountability but it gives instant prioritization so that the sales person's time is maximized and they can reach buyers at the exact moment they are most ready, willing, and able to buy.
3. Many studies have shown that when human performance is measured, productivity increases. In real life, I cannot remember one nationally ranked salesperson that did not have system of organization and accountability. The Hawthorne Effect is probably the most quoted research on this subject, although it may not be the most on-point. "Researchers concluded that the workers worked harder because they thought that they were being monitored individually."
1. Knowledge: This may be useful if you have a highly technical product but I have always found it easier to teach someone about a product than to teach them how to sell.
2. Skills: a skill that may be more useful than building a plan would be the ability to close. Assign some leads and see if the person can actually close. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVQPY4LlbJ4
3. Accountability: Often the worst part about great salesmen is that they are great salesmen. They will sell themselves and you on doing as little work as possible. A basic CRM to monitor his progress may provide an equal or better ROI than the salesman himself.