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According to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and every other news outlet that folks can express their deep convictions on, Apple's unveiling of their new facial recognition feature was a total and complete failure.

According to the actual video of Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi attempting to login to the phone, it appeared to be nothing more than a slight glitch.

For those on the outside looking in overcome by the overdramatized opinions on the performance of this demonstration, the entire display was a total and complete failure. However for those of us deeply entrenched in the world of sales presentations, or anyone who actually watched the presentation for that matter, we must tip our cap to Mr. Federighi as he handled the entire situation with ease.

Presenting is just another form of selling. And though we may perfectly act out our presentations during our morning shower, envisioning the smiles on the faces of our clients as they nod their head and reach for the pen to sign the contract, we must acknowledge, and more so, respect, that plans are subject to life. Things happen, sometimes very bad things, and sometimes at very bad times – but they do happen, and when they do, the impact they have on our presentation is directly proportional to the way for which we respond to it.

So don't stop acting out your next listing presentation in the shower, don't stop envisioning that pen hitting paper, but as much as you hope for the best, be sure to plan for the worst.

In our view there are two primary takeaways we as real estate sales professionals can realize from Mr. Federighi's presentation and apply to our own:

1. There is no problem unless we make a problem.
   1. Considering the frequency of our sales presentations, we know that at some point mistakes will happen. It could be as small as getting lost on the way to the property, to putting the entirely wrong offer price on a clients contract. No matter what the error, keep pushing forward calmly and confidently. Your audience will react according to how you're reacting. In Federighi's presentation, when the facial recognition software failed to unlock the phone, he calmly and honestly told the audience "lets go to the backup." No harm no foul. As far as he was concerned, this issue was barely an issue at all. There were no shocked faces or awe voices in the crowd to the momentary glitch in equipment, and he certainly didn't start screaming for engineers to immediately come on the scene and fix the phone, or repeatedly apologize to the audience…none of that…just "lets go to the backup." And the backup worked just fine. Which brings us to our next point…

 

1. Plan for failure
   1. "Let's go to the backup" are 5 little words that we should sear into our brains. Let's imagine for a second what that same presentation would be like should Federighi not had a backup phone readily available. "Ladies and gentleman if you can please excuse us for a moment, we seem to be ugh having some trouble here." "Just please sit patiently…(yelling angrily) hey Jim can you please come have a look at this?"

And every second feels like an eternity.

But instead, the team at Apple respected that plans are subject to life and had a second phone readily available on the podium. As a result, what could've been an extended period of sweaty anxiety, awkward silence and endless apologies amounted to no more than 2.5 seconds of walking back to the podium to grab the backup and get back into the canned presentation.  

Just as a side note, Apple addressed the public shortly thereafter about what the issue was – apparently, it really was a human error. During the set up, the demo iPhone was being used by handlers who were using their face to unlock the phone. Well, considering it was set up for Federighi's face, it's no wonder the phone did immediately what it was supposed to do – ask for the passcode. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

If you haven't seen the presentation we're talking about you can follow the YouTube link in our blog (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=37&v=m7xmCCTVS7Q). We'd love to get your opinion on how Apple handled the presentation.   

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We will be having our very first Facts and Figures State of the Market Conference call on Tuesday September 26th at 11:45am. Facts and Figures is a 15 minute monthly call designed to deliver the most relevant stats and information as to the happenings of the real estate industry for our friends and partners in the real estate industry. We are going to cut out the noise to deliver the information you need when you need it most – right now. To join our exclusive call-in list, please reach out to us at 561-864-2458, or email us at [email protected] so we can get you the dial-in information!     

 

The views of this blog, "Your Morning Shot" podcast, and on this site in general are solely those of the authors, Matt Weaver (NMLS-175651) and Zack Lewis, and do not express the views or opinions of Finance of America Mortgage.