Commercial PropertyRealty Times Columnist Recovers From Car Accident
It"s hard to imagine beautiful Terri Murphy with a broken nose and other injuries, but those are nothing, she says. She"s just grateful that her accident wasn"t worse and that no one else was hurt any worse, proving once again why she is an inspiration to so many.
On March 5th, Terri was driving with others in one of her new husband"s antique cars, a 1965 Mercedes. Like something out of a Stephen King thriller, the accelerator stuck propelling the car into a brick wall. Terri and other passengers sustained multiple injuries.
"We were going to get rid of that car anyway," jokes Terri.
Her injuries aren"t so funny - a crushed foot for which she"ll have to relearn to walk using a walker, a broken ankle, broken ribs, and a broken nose. Every breath is painful.
Lucky for her, the honeymoon isn"t over. Terri married sales trainer Don Hutson December 27th, 2003 in a private ceremony. When he looks at his wife, he doesn"t see the bruises, just the woman he fell in love with.
"When he looked at me," recalls Terri, "I thought my face must not look so bad, he was so adoring, but then I got a mirror and nearly fainted. I"ll never wear purple eyeshadow again."
Terri was one of the earliest supporters and columnists for Realty Times, but that was long after she had already established herself as a leading Realtor, public speaker, and author. Her sales inspiration came from the way she turned a street background into a marketing success. She peppers her books and presentations with plenty of references to growing up Italian with eight brothers and sisters, competing in the business world without a college degree, and being homeless for a brief time until she came roaring back with a six-figure income and a waiting list of presentations and consultations.
A 24-year veteran real estate broker with numerous designations from the National Association of Realtors, Terri was one of the first traditional trainers to preach use of the Internet for marketing and real estate business management to Realtors. Her latest book “E-Listing & E-Selling Secrets” published by Dearborn did well, and she continues to teach Realtors.
Like her new husband did years ago when he began as a real estate trainer, Terri has branched out into sharing her sales ideas with other industries besides the real estate industry, putting her on the A-list of national speakers. She is the CIO for U.S. Learning, Inc. It"s about growing sales through customer satisfaction, a point underscored to her while she recovered in the ICU.
"As grateful as I thought I was, if you can wake up in this country and walk to the bathroom," says Terri, "you have two of the five most wonderful things in life. I have learned to be so deeply grateful. When you look at all you have then you can only have more. I"m grateful for people."
One nurse would come in at 3:00 in the morning, wake Terri up to take blood or perform some other test without saying a word. Other nurses would talk to her and hold her hand and tell her that she was going to be all right.
The ones who showed they cared made a huge difference, says Terri. Customer service and caring attitudes matters in a hospital or real estate.
A client whom Terri had first sold a home in 1982, and six more homes since then, called to express her concern for Terri. "I nurtured that relationship for 18 years," says Terri, "if you treat people special, then you"ll have a fan club the size of New Zealand.
"It"s a great life," she continues. "But sometimes you just have to remind yourself to take care of what you"ve got so well that your frequency brings you more of the same."
Terri knows she"ll recover, and that someday soon she"ll be able to take a shower without sitting down in a lawn chair or roll over to answer the phone without gasping for breath from the pain.
"Until you"ve broken something," says Terri, "you can"t understand the pain. To take a shower is an event. It takes your appreciation to a whole new level. But you have to use that to appreciate where you are and what you can do to improve your situation, and not whine about it."
For the short term, until she"s up and around again, Terri is going to direct as much of her business as she can from her bed. Hubby Don is going to take over a couple of engagements for her. Meanwhile, agents are still going to seek Terri"s advice.
"Don"t worry about those difficult buyers that are out there right now," says Terri. "Just tell them "I do this every day, I know all the landmines, and I know you are smart, but I’m here to save you time and money." Build the trust. Give good service. Buyers can get good information anywhere, but if you provide value, you don"t have to worry about difficult buyers."
Editor"s note: Terri"s laptop was crushed in the crash, too, so bear with her while she gets set up with new equipment. Send a get-well e-mail to terri@terrimurphy.com.