Anyone who’s been reading my posts for a while will be aware that our primary trading business is in serviced accommodation – and in February I shared the post titled, ‘4 KEY LEARNS FROM MEETING WITH OUR BOOKING.COM ACCOUNT MANAGER”.

 

A little over 3 months on we were invited back to the Edinburgh B.com offices to meet with our Account Manager – we met with her this week and I’m so glad we took the time to do that. 

 

In addition to some local market insights, which are always fascinating, we took away several action points to work on/implement. For anyone running their own SA properties and interested in optimising their B.com account, here are the key points from this recent meeting. 

 

LOCAL MARKET INSIGHTS

*In the Edinburgh area market serviced apartments have been out-pacing hotels for bookings throughout spring and up to August however the hotels tend to capture a lot more of the business from September to December. The reason is because hotels typically offer more rate flexibility. SA operators will need to start thinking more like hotels when it comes to pricing and flexibility in order to encourage the bookings further out into the future (see the pic “Attracting Advance Bookings”).

*B.com have seen a decline in the number of advance bookings across the market so they have added an ‘Early Booker Plan’ to help operators attract as many advance bookings as possible e.g within the “Rates & Availability” tab the new early booker rate plan allows you to incentivise bookings far out into the calendar using a discount value of your choice.

 

*As many Scottish operators have probably observed, there has been a massive increase in the number of serviced apartments available in the Edinburgh area, in particular from SPO’s (B.com speak for ‘Single Property Owners’). These SPO’s often present the lowest cost accommodation to the market as their operating costs are proportionately lower than that of a business. The result is that the ADR (B.com speak for average daily rate, which they track in each major markets) has been dropping.

 

SO WHAT CAN BE DONE TO OPTIMISE BOOKINGS?

*INCREASE TRUST

In amongst this fast growing sea of properties available, it is important to increase the trust a potential booker can have with you and your listing. To do this be sure to create a professional Host/Company Profile with logo and background details to help guests feel at ease and in safe hands. 

 

*IMPROVE LISTING CONTENT

Check your content scores that they are up at 100% and also check the order of your pictures. According to the B.com team bookers like to see a clear external photo of your property early on. The minimum recommended number of pictures is 24 so think about your properties key selling points and features ie is it the amazing kitchen and living space (ie features that hotels don’t have) or the fact that you have all the kitchen utensils and equipment needed to cook full meals at the property?

 

*NEW MOBILE RATE 

Make use of the new mobile discount rate. B.com have seen significant growth in the number of people starting to book via their mobile device, so to serve that sector have launched a new product which is the mobile rates discount. By offering a 10% mobile booking discount they are tracking an increase in bookings made on smartphones of 26% on average. 

 

 

*HIGHER VISIBILITY IS BETTER THAN JUST PRICE DROPPING

More bookings will come from higher visibility and better conversions, that’s why it’s better to find ways to be seen by more potential bookers rather than just drop prices and hope to be found. The key methods for increasing visibility are:

-via the Mobile Rates discount [note you have to be comfortable offering a 10% discount]

-via the Genius Programme [this makes you visible to more committed bookers ie repeat travellers and business travellers, again you need to be OK with a 10% discount for this]. *Note, if you sign up for both Genius and Mobile discount that will be a total of 20% so do one or the other.

-via the preferred programme [your listing has to hit a certain performance score but once you qualify you will be boosted to more people. No discount is offered to bookers but B.com will charge 18% instead of 15% comms].

-and finally if you drop to a 2 night minimum stay you will appear in more searches [and to protect your margins you can create a 2 night rate that is more expensive per night than say a 3 night rate, you can also choose when the 2 night min stay can apply].

 

And there you have it, our learnings and insights from another great meeting with b.com. 

 

What other tips can you share for optimising bookings with the online travel agents?

Have you ever had a week where a particular lesson, theme or message cuts through all the noise and clearly lights the ‘Ah-Ha’ bulb in your mind?

This was one of those weeks for me. Over the course of cutting grass, exercising and driving I happened to select and listen to 3 different podcasts that all carried a similar, very clear and strong message that I felt compelled to share. Why? – Because it highlights one of the key things/ways of being that I value highly and recognise in successful people that I learn from. And everyone, I really mean everyone can benefit from it too.

Whatever we are trying to achieve in life, whether it be related to health, relationships, business, property investing….you name it, our results and success boils down to a few simple keystone things.

These 3 podcasts I’m referring to cut right through to what I feel is THE key thing – IT ALL COMES BACK TO INTEGRITY, with yourself that is. In other words following through on your promises and doing what you say will, even when no one is looking.

The 3 podcasts I listened to were:

*Ed Mylett interviewing Chris and Heidi Powell [see Ed Mylett Show]

*Pat Flynn interviewing James Wedmore [see Smart Passive Income]

*Ed Mylett describing the “Echo of life” [see Ed Mylett Show]

I highly suggest you look each up and listen to them thoroughly to draw out your own notes, but for now, here’s my topline takeaways from each:

#From Chris & Heidi Powell on keeping promises to yourself

-Whatever you are working towards, seek to build INTEGRITY MOMENTUM. In other words build up a practice of keeping promises to yourself, start small and simple and then roll it out to bigger things across the important areas of your life.

-The Powells remind us that. “Self belief and self love come from keeping promises to yourself”

 

#From James Wedmore on how to actually make progress

-People often think they need more information to achieve results but most of the time that’s not the case. The bridge between knowing something and having the results requires a shift from knowing to BEING.

-Integrity is a way of being. Integrity is simple but it’s not easy. You’re either honouring your word or you’re not. It starts with awareness ie to be aware of what and who you are giving your word to, and then make a concerted effort to follow through on that. Try it for the next few days.

-Wedmore points out that, ‘as an entrepreneur, there is no one managing you. The buck stops here. And if we don’t make our word golden, then think about the ripple effect.’

-Adopt this as a value, something that’s important to you in your life and practice it (the practice of keeping your word to yourself), it becomes a motivating and fulfilling cycle.

-Harvard Business professor, Dr. Michael Jensen who did a study on self-integrity, and he said companies that adopted self-integrity as their number one core value, saw anywhere from a two hundred to a four hundred percent increase in output without any additional increase of input.

-Here’s a fitting quote on integrity that was shared,

“Integrity is a mountain with no top. Therefore those who set off on this task must learn to enjoy climbing because there is no end to the process. And as the climb continues life continues to get better.” – Werner Erhard

 

Ed Mylett on Life’s Echo

-If you have not got the results you want stop and look back 60-90 days, did you stop doing the things said would? ie did your diet get worse, did you drop the exercise routine, did you not make those business development calls?

-Ed says our ‘Lives are like reading the newspapers today but we’re actually reading the headlines for 90 days ago. The news was made 90-100 days ago.” Think about that and let it sink in, you know it’s true.

-We have to continue to do the activities we say we are going to because 90 days from now we will read today’s news. That’s how it works. If you’re not eating the way you want to, or not doing the property viewings, not making the business development calls etc, you’re going to pay the price for it in 90 days.

-There’s an ECHO FOR TODAY’S BEHAVIOUR and it applies both positively and negatively

-If we don’t follow through on the things we said we were going to do, we will see the effect of that within 60-90 days.

-If we do follow through on the right things and do what we say, the payoff might be in as little as 90 days, but in success it’s often way more than that. But we have to maintain faith that the delayed benefit will come, because it will if we keep taking the right action.

-The negatives tend to come faster than the positives but we have to accept both echos to our actions/or lack of.

 

Circling back to why these podcasts resonated so strongly….

If you were to ask my kids what our self chosen family motto is, they would tell you this, ‘we do what we say we will”.

Of course they are kids and far from perfect, there still learning, as are we learning all the time, and practicing. It’s something that  we’ll likely never get totally perfect at. We are humans, we’re always going to fall short in some way. But it’s not about that, it’s about making this a value, something that’s important to who we are and how we show up. If we they can absorb that then I’m confident it will serve them well.

I’d love to hear if this concept of self-integrity resonates with you and who will be adopting it as a core value.

With a title like that you might be thinking, ‘What on earth is he talking about…leverage your future self?’. Well bear with me and I’m confident it will make sense and pay off for those who read on.

 

First to quickly circle back to last week’s post on deal flow management [I’ll put a link at the bottom of the post if you missed it]. That post received a lot of great comments and response so thanks for that, it clearly resonated with many of you. In follow up to that post, here’s the update- one deal we were hopeful about fell out of the shortlist and this week the one we had a last ditch attempt at with a second offer came through! So, we had our offer accepted on a commercial deal whilst also nudging two other potential deals an inch further. I won’t share more detail on the shop and uppers deal yet as the paperwork isn’t formalised but will look forward to doing that in the weeks to come.

 

So back to the quirky theme of this week’s post. These two techniques I’m going to share will take you being a little more open minded and certainly being a lot more proactive….if you’re interested. They come courtesy of Darren Hardy, one of my favourite authorities in the personal development and business leadership space.

TIP #1: YOUR BEST MENTOR IS YOU 10 YEARS FROM NOW

Here’s how to leverage that concept – add 10 years to your current age and fast forward in your mind to that time. Visualise how you are living out your best life ie what you have already accomplished, what you are now working towards, how you speak, how you act, what behaviours you demonstrate, what choices you make.

 

The you 10 years from now knows exactly what to do now. So, if you’re up for it, take the time to visualise the future you, in your minds eye ask questions of your future self and take your own advice.

 

As Hardy advocates, “Your goal is to live up to the person your 10 year future self knows you can be.”

 

So in the context of your own property investing journey, what does this look like? Are you wondering what your next move should be? Or maybe it’s your first move in property that’s the question. You might be wondering what property strategy to allocate your time, energy and resources to. The answers will come be asking yourself how you want to be involved in your property business, the kind of conversations and activities you want to engage in, and how it all aligns with your values and your financial goals. Only you can answer those questions and in particular your 10 year future self will know what to do now. Give it a go.

 

[By the way this is a more customised take on another effective exercise you may have heard about where you can visualise your own private boardroom of advisors and you choose whoever you want sat round the table ie Branson, Gates, Bezos, Buffet, Huffington…. and you imagine what advice they would give you.]

TIP #2: GIVE YOUR FUTURE SELF A GIFT

This second tip is super effective for helping you deal with tough ‘in the moment’ decisions. For example, you’ve got an hour scheduled in your diary to call and email leads to generate direct bookings to your serviced accommodation properties – you could get stuck into those calls or you could start google researching various search terms to ‘kid’ yourself you are busy.

 

Everyone will have their own version of this in their business and personal lives. In the moment you are doing battle with emotions to overcome this and ideally give your future self a gift ie in the example above it would be more direct bookings. In other words you want to be thinking, how can I be a hero to my future self by doing X task in the present. A simplified example might be that even though you are tired after cooking a big meal for the family, by clearing the kitchen before bed you can wake up to a fresh start the next morning (your future self will thank you for it,  especially when the head is a little dusty from the night before).

 

What you’re doing is flipping the conversation in your head so that instead of the task being drudgery in the moment, it feels honourable because you are not putting off something your future self will have to deal with later.

 

This is not rocket science, it’s the essence of delayed gratification. You’ve heard it before packaged in different ways but more often than not we need reminding of what we know more than we need new information, and sometimes hearing it from a slightly different perspective is what it takes to finally action it.

 

I recall at the beginning of this year I heard Dan Pattrick share one of his favourite quotes which really resonated with me, and it follows the same message. Here’s the quote –

 

“Do something today that you will thank yourself for tomorrow”.

 

What are you going to do today as a gift to your future self?

 

P.S. Last week’s post on deal flow http://adaeroproperty.com/the-importance-of-deal-flow-for-property-investors/

Over time we have grown to appreciate the importance of having a pipeline of deals and to have patience not to force things. Our mentor Paul has reminded us of this on several occasions.

 

And the last couple of weeks have been a very real reminder of the up and down journey to source and secure a satisfactory property deal.

 

This week we had to draw the pragmatic conclusion that a particular development site for 11 apartments was not going to be viable for us to proceed with. When you invest so much time into the diligence of a deal, you like the area, and even get to know the vendor it can be a difficult decision to say no and walk away. Difficult as it is to fight the temptation, there is no point making decisions based on the most optimistic of outcomes for a site. That wouldn’t be safe for you as the developer or the JV investor putting the money into the deal. It has to present a good enough exit from a worst case scenario and for this particular deal, it sadly didn’t.

 

On another hopeful looking deal -a shop and upper scenario – it’s also been a bit of a rollercoaster.  The property has been on and off the market the last few weeks, an initial low offer from us has been rejected and now we’ve learned that the vendor may look to retain it and do a deal with a family member instead. We will have one last attempt at that one and then will have to move on.

 

Whilst it would be nice if everything that makes our shortlist for serious diligence could come off, it’s just not realistic. However, we do have 3 other opportunities going through the deep analysis stage and we’re confident that we will uncover more in the months to come too.

 

So, what’s the point in sharing all of this? People only want to hear about amazing deals coming off and success stories, right? Well, not always. It’s great to share news of deals coming off but from my experience people also want to hear about the deals that don’t come off and the lessons along the way to the ones that do.

 

The below is by no means an exhaustive list, but here are seven key points that Chris and I keep front of mind along the property investing journey:

 

#1: You can’t be too emotionally attached to any one deal and you certainly don’t want to stay down and disappointed for too long when a deal doesn’t go your way (that could hold you back from seeing the next opportunity)

#2: The antidote for deal disappointment is to have multiple deals to consider, hence the importance of DEAL FLOW

#3: Having a selection of shortlisted deals to consider will prevent you from becoming too emotionally invested in any one deal. With only one deal on the table it can bring about a sense of ‘this has to work’ and that can lead to force fitting, irrational thinking and accepting unnecessary risk.

#4: A decision to proceed with a deal can’t be based solely on the most optimistic outcome playing out. It’s wise to bottom out multiple exits and to see a way to be satisfied with a conservative/secondary outcome.

#5: Deal flow comes when you can be clear about the end audience you are serving, be clear on the kind of properties/sites that meet your range of criteria, and you know the input activity required to uncover the kind of deals you seek.

#6: Getting to a no decision on a potential deal should be framed as a mini victory in itself – it should serve to refine your analysis skills, validate what you really want from a deal and get you a step closer to the good deals.

#7: Keep a record of the deals you have shortlisted and analysed because they may just come back round and present an opportunity to acquire cheaper/or create more value than you previously expected. [Our current prime contender on our development shortlist is a site we first identified over 18 months ago].

 

In closing, it hasn’t been all setbacks, this week has been shared with some great successes e.g. 1) we picked up the keys for the completed purchase of packaged SA we are doing for an investor client and we already have corporate booking for 1 month+ ready to check in next week; and 2) our latest R2R SA went live and secured 2 weeks of summer holiday bookings within a few days.

 

What have been your highs, lows and lessons on the property deal front recently?

In the previous post I shared my excitement about discovering the Big Five personality traits, and subsequently highlighted why conscientiousness is the single personality trait most consistently associated with life success. [In case you missed it I’ll put a link to the part 1 of this post below]

We left off with the question – are we born with a set level of conscientiousness or can we improve it? On further reading I was relieved to discover that this success trait is definitely something that can be trained and improved upon.

Lifting the lid on conscientiousness and willpower

So, lets dive a little deeper into the make-up of conscientiousness. Some neuroscience studies look at conscientiousness as a set of behaviours not simply a trait that people have or don’t have. Neuroscientists and psychologists have shown that these conscientious behaviours stem from one’s self-control and willpower.

What we are really saying is that if we can improve our self-control and willpower we can benefit from more of the good stuff that conscientiousness brings.

Unlike IQ (which we are born with), willpower, and therefore conscientiousness, can be can increased. Like a muscle, exerting willpower makes your self-control ability stronger over time.

However, willpower is like a finite energy source— using it burns it up, and you have to replenish it. Anything that involves self-control draws on that one willpower fuel source.  For example, dieting all day long takes energy away from your ability to hold back your temper at the end of long, hungry day.

Many researchers who study self-control have proven that, just like our physical muscles, we are able to strengthen our willpower by training it.

How to strengthen your willpower

Like a muscle, willpower can be strengthened. With practice and resistance training, our ability to control our impulses in pursuit of delayed, greater goals can grow (i.e. conscientiousness can improve), giving us the energy to easily resist short term temptations in favour of the important task at hand. Here’s several ways that neuroscientists and psychologists have suggested we can strengthen the willpower muscle.

To help jump-start your willpower training I’ve put together a willpower workout for recruiters following the key points below.

1. Monitor your behaviour

We’ve all heard business greats preach that you can’t improve what you don’t measure. Well the same is true here; it’s hard to practice self-control if you aren’t aware of your current behaviour and routines. It’s the power of tracking- anyone who’s studied personal finance will know that if you want to take control of your personal finances, one of the first things you need to do is understand your outgoings and incomings by tracking them daily.

2. Make habits and automate positive behaviour

Using the analogy of going to the gym, in the beginning it requires a lot of self-control to resist the urge not to go. But over time, as going to the gym becomes a habit, it’s going to require much less willpower. It will start to feel automatic.

Nathan DeWall, a psychology professor at the University of Kentucky, explains that once hard activities begin to feel routine, they require less willpower; you have to fight yourself less and that frees up valuable energy that can be spent elsewhere.

3. Pre-commit and hold yourself accountable

How can you use pre-commitment to keep yourself from giving in to unwanted desires? I have heard it said that, ‘100% commitment is easy, and 95% commitment is a b*tch!’ Once you have committed to something you can avoid the indecision and debate process which saps energy and willpower resources. When you’ve already committed it’s easy, just do it.

To layer in accountability use pre-commitment measures like making your goal public and then have a friend or colleague to make sure you do what you say.

4. Control your environment

Supermarket stores are designed to play off our depleted willpower. “They don’t put fresh produce by the checkout for a reason,” DeWall says. “They know you’ve just made a bunch of decisions; they know you’re exhausted, so that’s where they put the junk food.”

Whilst you can’t change your supermarket’s layout, you can control the environment at your home and at your workplace. Don’t put yourself in temptation’s way, or if you do then have a plan to avoid it. It requires far less energy to resist responding to a facebook message if it is turned off when you want to focus.

5. Prioritise by energy exertion

Because on any given day we have a finite amount of willpower, it’s important that we don’t deplete the well too soon. If you’ve read Brian Tracy’s book “Eat That Frog” you will be familiar with the concept of chewing through the toughest task at the beginning of the day.

Instead of writing out a standard to-do list of tasks, try ranking them in terms of energy or the amount of self-control required. For example, a task requiring a lot of strategic thought is better done when your willpower levels are high.

I personally structure my days to have a 60-90 min focused session first thing on the most important task. So that might be deal analysis or business development calls for our SA business for example.

6. Eat the elephant one step at a time

People often give up not because they lack willpower, but because they feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the goal they must accomplish. A good way to deal with this feeling of overwhelm is to break the goal down into manageable chunks (sub-goals), and then put them back together in a way that guarantees success.

By setting sub-goals you avoid willpower depletion. As an added upside, when you reach each sub-goal, you will derive an enormous sense of satisfaction and pride in yourself, making it that much easier to tackle the next one.

7. Guard against stress

Kelly McGonigal, PhD and author of ‘The Willpower Instinct’ explains that willpower is a response that comes from both the brain and the body. It’s important that we learn to manage our stress levels because being under high levels of stress means that our body’s energy is used up in acting instinctively and making decisions based on short-term outcomes. The part of the brain responsible for willpower loses out in the battle for our energy when high-stress is involved.

Inadequate sleep, poor nutrition and emotional distress are common causes of stress and the result is that the victim suffers from poor attention and lower mental performance. Increasing your capacity for pressure and more importantly listening to your body when you feel stressed is crucial.

Summary

So in responding to the original question of can individuals improve their level of conscientiousness (and experience greater success)? Yes.  But there is no quick fix. Referencing one of my favourite Jim Rohn quotes,

“What is easy to do is easy not to do”.

It requires an understanding of the connection that conscientiousness has to self-control and willpower. It’s then about creating a reinforcing cycle of using willpower to build willpower.

In conclusion, conscientiousness is the character trait of saying “no” to our short term, impulsive desires and “yes” to the real goals we set and the meaningful desires of others. Once we’ve decided this is the right thing to do, we then engage our self-control to actually make it happen. By intentionally practicing this, our self-control becomes stronger and we become successful at managing our wills.

What tactics do you engage when it comes to willpower in your work?

CLICK HERE for Part 1 of this post