Marketing Monday: Ethics in Business NEVER Change

Intro by Skip Cohen

​In 2010, we moved to Sarasota to give my Dad a hand taking care of my Mom, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's a few years earlier. I could go anywhere as long as I could get online, and Sheila had enough seniority to retire early from her role in HR at Akron Children's Hospital. I look back on the move as one of the best decisions we could have made. I was able to spend more time with my Dad, and Sheila loved getting to know both of them. Even through the challenges of Alzheimer's, she and Mom were able to build an amazing bond.

Just after we moved here, I talked Dad into writing a couple of blog posts. He wrote the piece below for me that November. That was almost fourteen years ago! I love the relevance - there is no expiration date on running a good business, building trust with your clients, and creating a brand based on integrity.  

Every couple of years, I like to share a little of Dad's wisdom. When he started in business just after WWII, he didn't have social media—but he did have a telephone. He didn't go to any conventions to network, but he did have time to meet people and talk to potential clients. He didn't have workshops to attend, but he did have books to read and ideas to share with his associates over lunch.

He started out in the lumber business, moved into the candy and tobacco vending world, and, in his early forties, entered his dream of commercial/industrial real estate. He loved bringing people together to build lasting things, and everything he did was always based on integrity and good business sense.

Right up until he passed away at 93, he still did business on a handshake. He might have slowed down physically as he got older, but he never compromised those standards my grandfather taught him many years earlier.  
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As you think about wrapping up 2024 and kicking off the new year, everything he wrote about below is right on point! Pay attention to your business, and keep an eye on your competition, but don't get so obsessed with what everyone else is doing that you lose focus on your own marketing plans.

The grass isn't greener on the other side...it's greener where you water it!
Anon

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I have been happily retired for many years, and unemployed for almost twenty.  I am not a plagiarist, but I must quote my father who spent the last months of his life writing advice to his children:

“Conduct your business in an upright manner and remember, the most important thing in one’s life is to be honest with one’s self. Maintain the high standard and dignity that your business requires. Do not go into deals hastily and be visible in your business as much of the time as is possible.  If you take time to play, do it away from your business, because your livelihood needs all the attention you can give to it.”

Early on, I concluded that the best testimonials came from my many friendly competitors.  We didn’t really compete with each other, in the true sense. True, we were in the same field of endeavor, but we all knew we were there to help each other. Happily, the “tough competition” fell by the wayside. 

I remember giving Skip driving lessons and I told him, “Watch the left front fender…..the rest will take care of itself!”  I’ve found this is really true of everything in life.

An old axiom says, “If you tell the truth, you never have to remember what you said.”  That is all part of reputation-building. I found that, sadly, in the field of real estate, truth is hard to come by for many. In our case, it was a major building block in the reputation which we enjoyed, and helped us to thwart the competition.

Goodwill is all of the above, plus a lot of caring for your clients as well as your competitors.  If life is a give-and-take situation, giving is the more important of the two.  The taking will come with time and be far more appreciative.  Just remember – you heard it here!  

Ralph Cohen, Founder and 1/2 the Creators of Skip Cohen!

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