Execute with Purpose

We are three weeks into the new year and I recommend that you pull out your business plan and review it at the start and end of each day for the next two weeks. Yes, I know it is still early in the year, but the three week mark is usually when our old habits show up and our endurance level can start to wane. You are going to need the inspiration and vision you cast in these plans to help keep you focused on your high-payoff activities and priorities.

Evaluate your schedule and make sure you have your high-payoff activities entered and that you are actively engaging in them each day. Remember that your improvement projects are a key part of your plan but don’t let them hijack your day. Have scheduled time for them but do not shift your focus to them at inappropriate times, neglecting your high-payoff activities.

Neglecting high-payoff activities is a temptation for many professionals. Some lose their courage to keep doing the high-payoff activities when they’ve not achieved the level of success they expected. Others stop doing the high-payoff activities because they experience immediate success and believe they are too busy to stick to their plan. No matter what the reason most of us do not have the luxury of missing a month of executing our plan. If you fall one month behind the consequences could be the start of a downward spiral that is difficult to recover from.

We have a challenging year ahead of us but I’m confident that if you follow your plan and execute it with purpose you will end this year better than the last. Take the time each day to review your plan and execute.

Make it a great day.

Coach Dan

Stop Working By Referral Only!

Early on in my career I learned that working by referral only was a comfortable but unsuccessful way to run a sales business. In those formative years I believed the only true way to stay in the business was to focus on the people I knew (sphere of influence). I was told people who were cold calling, door-knocking, and doing other selling activities that helped them meet new people through hard work and determination were crazy and wasting their time. I discovered quickly that nothing is further from the truth and the most successful sales people follow a Business Growth Formula that yields consistent business growth year after year regardless of the type of market. The formula is simple and one that by referral only agents are missing out on:

Why can’t you work only by referral and spend your days calling and meeting only with the people you know and love? Because that is only half the equation and we’ve learned over the past four years that when a real estate market and economy are both in decline, referrals from past clients and sphere of influence drop considerably.

I wish I knew the full answer as to why this is but I think it has to do with existing home owners being depressed about the value of their home and many home buyers being unable to purchase due to the stricter guidelines on lending. People would rather find more positive things to discuss than the real estate market. This translates into your sphere of influence not doing business with you and not referring business to you either.

The formula above has worked for me and I highly encourage you to implement it into your 2010 business plan. The goal in executing each phase of this formula is to build a high trust relationship with new people, friends, family, and referrals. This takes time, effort, and determination. New relationships do not automatically have a high trust level. You will need to prove your commitment and value to these people.

The question you have to answer going forward is, “How am I going to meet new people and convince them to work with me?” There are lots of ways to do this and you need to commit to trying multiple ways before you abandon the idea altogether. Here is a list of some ways you can begin to create relationships with new people:

• Follow-up your Just Listed postcard with a personal invite to an Open House
• Call cancelled and expired listings
• Call For Sale By Owner listings
• Hold an Open House 2-3 times per month
• Join a networking group
• Use social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter connect with friends of friends
• Hold Real Estate Market Update seminars in your hometown – invite everyone!
• Start a Blog that is focused on the real estate market in your hometown
• Call your Sphere of Influence and ask for referrals

In the next few days I will discuss with you four key knowledge areas of a successful broker. It is within these knowledge areas that you are able to demonstrate your value and convince new relationships that you are the best person for them to work with when it comes time to buy or sell real estate.

Question: What are some of the unique ways that you have created relationships with new people in your business?

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

P.S. – If you would like to brainstorm how you can use the Business Growth Formula in your business, just drop me a line and we can setup a coaching session.

Sign of Success

A simple formula for building trust and credibility with past, present, and future clients is:

Demonstration + Proclamation = Credibility

I learned this formula from John Maxwell and implemented it into my marketing plan right away. I found it to be a fantastic way to help me increase the level of trust and credibility that I had with my Sphere of Influence and farming area.

I put this formula to work in what I called my Sign of Success Campaign.

The purpose of this campaign was not to brag or shout from the rooftops all of the great things I had accomplished. Rather, it was a tool that I could use to proclaim that I knew what I was doing when it came to helping people buy and sell homes. When I closed a home and provided great customer service I demonstrated my ability to my current client, but I needed to let other people know as well so that I could gain their trust and establish credibility as someone that could get the job done.

Our past clients, referral partners, and sphere of influence don’t call us every day and ask, “Did you list or sell a home today?” They are living their busy lives and focused on their priorities.

Which is why it is important for them to see proof of your ability to do what you say you can do. Remember anyone can market services, but customers want to see results before they do business with you or send you referrals. The Sign of Success campaign allows you to share your passion for helping people achieve their goals and helps build credibility with future clients. I highly encourage you to implement a similar type of campaign into your sales business.

Here is an example of the type of postcard I sent out on a regular basis:

Question: Have you used a similar type of Sign of Success campaign in your business, and what were the results?

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

13 Questions and Goodbye

Over the past year I’ve been recording successes and failures, prayer requests and answered prayers, and challenges and blessings in the hope that I will be able to see the bigger picture of what is going on personally and professionally in my life. I’ve decided that this will be my last blog post of the year and that I will be taking a sabbatical from all social networking and media. My goal during my sabbatical is to spend time reflecting, meditating, reading, praying, and listening. I will be with my wife, children, friends, and family deepening relationships and making wonderful memories.

The 13 questions I’ve listed below will be my homework for the remainder of the year. On January first I will begin to put into action a plan to ensure that in the near future I am able to answer “Yes” to all of these questions and the team that I lead can answer “Yes” as well.

I will return to blogging and the social media world the first week in January. Until then, I encourage you to answer these questions, spend time reflecting on 2009, and prepare to engage in 2010. I challenge you to take the steps necessary, so in 12 months you can answer “Yes” to ALL the questions below.

1. Do you belong to a team of professionals that encourage, support, and challenge each other to be better?
2. Does your manager or leader articulate the vision of your team during these challenging times?
3. Do you trust your coworkers to help you with your business while you are on vacation?
4. Are you working in a culture where there is recognition and celebration of success?
5. Does your leader provide you with a personal and business development coaching program?
6. Are you working from a written business plan that identifies your high-payoff activities and improvement projects for the coming year?
7. Does your company/leader provide you with consistent relevant training?
8. Does your company/leader provide you with tools to help you be successful and different than the competition?
9. Do you trust that your manager/leader is looking out for you and sincerely wants you to be successful?
10. Do your coworkers and your leader consistently live out the convictions and values of your organization?
11. Do you have the desire to be engaged with your coworkers and contribute to the overall success of the company?
12. Are you receiving value that is equal to or greater than what it costs to be at your current company?
13. Are you willing to do what it takes so you can answer “Yes.” to all of the questions listed above?

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Coach Dan

Building A Realistic Plan

As we finish a less than ideal year for many sales professionals the temptation to create a grandiose career saving plan for the new year is strong. However, there is danger in this type of plan because it often results in unrealistic expectations, goals that are not achievable, and pressure on ourselves that leads to an unbalanced life. Our challenge is to create a plan that addresses our current reality while at the same time stretches us personally and professionally.

As I confronted this challenge in my own business I developed three different scenarios based on my current reality. I list out these three scenarios below and encourage you to use a similar approach when writing out your plan and goals for 2010.

1. Best Case - This scenario says it all in the name. Best case essentially lays out the goals and production numbers you will attain in a world where your plan is executed perfectly and all external factors impact you as predicted and with positive results. This perfect world would include you being able to make up the losses from the previous year and gain market share in the year ahead. This is the plan we usually all enjoy thinking about and striving for. In my experience it is also the only plan, to their detriment, that most professionals make.

2. Break Even – This plan outlines a strategy that you believe will allow you break even and keep your head just above water. The break even plan is not the most exciting plan to write or read. It is an important plan to have because it outlines the baseline numbers that you must hit each month, whether you use this as your primary business plan or not.

3. Most Likely – This scenario is the plan that you believe most likely will be executed by you and your team. Hopefully, this plan will land somewhere in between the other two plans and close to the Best Case scenario. However, there are times where our Most Likely will actually be below our break even plan. Facing this reality, while difficult, is important for us as professionals and leaders. If your market research and analysis of your previous year’s profit and loss statement shows that it will be difficult under your current model to reach a profit or even break even, you have some big decisions to make. You may be able to ride out another year without profit or you may have to change your entire business model to position yourself for better results. You may make the decision that its just not worth it and its time to get out of the business.

Tracking Your Results

As you design your plan be sure to have the systems in place to track your results. This should be done every 90 days, with new objectives being written to help you reach your goals for the upcoming business quarter. If you are hitting your benchmarks and your pipeline is full keep pressing forward and look at how you can stretch yourself beyond the benchmarks. Remember, you can adjust your plan. It should be a living document, especially in a challenging and fast moving market where external factors are changing your approach to conducting your business frequently.

Have you written out your plan for 2010? If so, have you confronted your reality and written a realistic plan?

If I can be of help, please let me know. I’m happy to review your plan and provide you with planning tools to make your 2010 a great year!

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan