It’s the start of a new year. A chance to start fresh and hustle towards the change you want to create in your business and in your life.
As you reflect on what you accomplished in 2015 and set goals for what you want to accomplish in 2016, here are 5 business resolutions to help you stay focused!
1. Start with a business plan
Starting a real estate career can be very exciting and highly lucrative. But it can also be very challenging.
It’s just like starting any other kind of business.
And at the end of the day you’re responsible for generating your own business and meeting your financial obligations, both personal and business related.
Some people find a rhythm. Others don’t.
If you want to crush your revenue goals in 2016 then you need to start with a business plan.
A business plan will show you EXACTLY what lead generation numbers you need to hit daily, weekly, and monthly in order to hit your G.C.I. goal at the end of the year.
If you’ve been in business for a while then a business plan will also help you gain some clarity and see what your best lead sources are.
Recommended listening: How Hiring A Real Estate Coach Can Help You Grow Your Real Estate Business
2. Identify any new opportunities for lead generation
As you work on your 2016 business plan and you look back at what worked in 2015, and what didn’t work, you should be thinking about and focusing on your key prospecting sources in order to maximize your opportunities.
Continue to invest in and focus on what works. If pay-per-click is working for you then keep investing in pay-per-click. If it’s not working for you then divert that investment elsewhere like coaching, Zillow Premier Agent, or hiring an ISA.
Your goal here is to double down on what’s working and provide a more focused effort on your best lead sources and then invest in other areas that might provide a little additional growth.
Recommended reading: 7 Smart Strategies for Following Up With Online Leads
3. Organize your database
There’s money in your database. The question is, are you working your database at all?
Who are your raving fans? Are you checking in with them regularly?
Are you following up with your hottest opportunities, first?
What about the prospects in your database who were still 6 – 8 months out from a transaction? Are you sending them monthly local market reports? Are you sending them listing alerts?
The key to success in your business is to continue to “pound the pavement” and create new opportunities daily.
April Kass is a newly licensed real estate agent with the Dave Knight Real Estate Team in Pasadena, CA. While she was busy working to get her license every kept telling her that she wouldn’t make any money her first 6 months in the business.
Well, guess what? She generated her first listing her first week in the business and has generated a total of 5 listings less than a few months into the business.
How did she do it? Well, she’s got her scripts and objections nailed down but she’s also got one heck of a daily prospecting routine and she works that database!
Recommended listening: Self-Discipline, Motivation, and Laying the Foundation for a Successful Real Estate Career.
4. Consolidate your systems
As I read through various real estate Facebook threads and even just talking to agents it’s clear that agents are probably paying for and using more systems and tools than they actually need.
I knew an agent who was getting BoomTown for free through his broker and every week he was talking about and signing up for a new system. Leads were getting automatically round-robbined into his BoomTown account and still, he was “itching” for another magic bullet to generating more leads and closing more deals.
We call this “shiny object syndrome.”
If I were getting started in real estate today here’s what I would invest in:
- A great website with hyperlocal content
- IDX or a way to send listing alerts by email (for example, Cloud Streams)
- A “What’s My Home Worth” landing page (hint: Cloud CMA does this for you)
- A CRM
- Paid advertising
As far as tools go, that’s all I would need.
5. Organize your schedule and your time
Attorneys bill by the our. Their whole daily and weekly schedule consists of billable hours. If it’s not billable, it’s not a priority and it’s likely not on the schedule.
As a real estate agent you work on commission and you’re working on activities that are both revenue-producing and non-revenue producing. It’s incredibly easy to get distracted.
As you’re working on your 2016 business plan work on setting up a quarterly calendar as well.
What do you need to accomplish in the first quarter? What numbers do you need to hit? What projects are you working on and when will they get completed? What do you need to delegate?
What will your monthly, weekly, and daily schedule look like? Schedule everything in and keep a time-log of your productivity. As you look back on your calendar at the end of the week, how productive were you?
(Note: I’ve been using the Bullet Journal method for logging to do’s, dates, etc. into my moleskine notebook).
Get Organized & Stay Accountable
In my experience the most successful agents are those agents that are organized and stay accountable.
A little bit of planning goes a long way in helping you reach and crush your business goals. Whether you’re writing things down and doing a self-review at the end of the week or working with a coach, keep yourself accountable!
So, what are your business goals for 2016?
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