Are You Open To A Shift In Your Thinking?

I've decided to make a shift in my thinking and in my business plan for 2010.

It's a very subtle change in mindset!

While designing my 2010 business plan, I had a crazy thought! I asked myself "What's the difference between setting monthly goals for closings versus pendings?"

When working on business plans in the past, I've always focused on number of real estate closings I wanted to have each month. For some reason, now it appears more passive.

But this time, I wondered...what if I were to focus on getting pendings? It seems to keep me more in the present. It helps me stay in the mode of continuing to generate new business.

Always generate leads before servicing them!

When your mind is focused on closings, you're doing a lot of servicing of your buyers and sellers from pending to closing and that can take you off track of doing what you need to do to have a consistent business model month after month.

There's also more chances that a closing may not happen, so if you tie up all of your time trying to get it closed and it doesn't happen, just think of all the lost opportunities of putting together other transactions.

In today's market, you have to increase your numbers to get more transactions closed. In the past, you may have needed to average 2.5 or 3 pendings to get 2 closed. Now you may need 4 or 5 pendings to get 2 closed.

2 questions to ask yourself each day:

• What can I do today to get another PENDING in (month)?
• Who can I call today to get another PENDING in (month)?

I've thought about this in my head and also repeated it to myself out loud and it seems to make sense.

I'm going to make this change to my business plan this year and see how it works out.

In 2010, focus on the number of PENDINGS you have at any given time!

I'd love to hear your thoughts about this idea. Please post a comment here and share your opinion.

To your success,

Dan

P.S. Please join my Facebook Fan Page today!

I'm SHOCKED...or Should I Be?

I sent out a short survey last week and got many responses.

I want to thank you if you filled yours out.

If you haven't had a chance to take 1.5 minutes to fill it out, it's not too late. Just click survey link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GZHFM87

One of the questions asked in the survey was:

Have you completed your 2010 business plan?

I was SHOCKED by the response!

As of this moment, 80.6% of the agents said 'NO'.

Now the holidays are almost here and people are easily distracted, so that's one excuse.

Maybe some agents wait until after the holidays and New Years Day to work on their business plan.

Yet I wonder how many of the 80% will even get around to writing their business plan at all.

But then I asked myself should I really be surprised?

Real estate sales is a numbers business, where you have to do the activities and then track your results.

If you're not doing either, then you're probably doing no where near the amount of business you COULD be doing!

A simple, written business plan is a POWERFUL tool in helping you achieve your goals and dreams.

Without a business plan, it's like you're sitting in a boat in the middle of the ocean without a GPS system. You don't know where you're headed and you'll probably never get there. You may pick up a few listings or buyers by accident, but you'll continue to be 'lost at sea'.

A business plan that you personally write and decide which target markets you want to focus on can help you stay focused on what you need to do every day, so that you don't get off track.

I believe there's too many business plans floating around in the industry are far too detailed and laborious to follow.

If you're earning $500,000 - $1,000,000 per year in commissions and have a large team, then there's nothing wrong with using a more detailed business plan. Yet for most agents, simple is better!

I have my main goals and target markets selected for 2010. I'm working on designing a simple, 2-page business plan that I can laminate and review every morning and every night.

My business plan includes:

• income/transaction goals
• database size goal
• daily/weekly activities
• monthly transactions goal
• my top 4 target markets
• periodic rewards when hitting my goals
• 2010 year-end vision for my business
  

Finally, I believe that by just having and following a business plan can help you stay on track to do at least an additional 15% - 25% more business, because you'll have fewer lost sales falling through the cracks.

Is Your Listing Presentation Good Enough?

If you were going up against the number one agent in your market, how would you feel about your listing presentation?

Would you be ready to take them on?

Here's 5 components of a winning listing presentation:

1. Pre-Listing Call - When you schedule your listing appt, let the seller know you need to ask them a few questions to prepare for your appt. The more information you know about the seller and their situation, the better chance you have of getting the listing. You may also find out that you don't want the listing.
   
2. Home Preview - If you do a one-step listing appt, ask the seller to allow you to preview their home yourself as a buyer would. Then take notes of highlights and items that need to be addressed.
   
3. Market Statistics - When you sit down with the sellers, it's important to educate them on the entire market, their community market and then their home in comparison to the market. Never get into comparable pricing until they have an understanding of the entire market conditions.
   
4. Pricing - It's real important when sharing the active listings and recent pendings and closings that this is what the market is bearing in price...it's NOT your opinion! Make sure the seller understands that. It's not your opinion of what the list price and eventual sale price will be, it's the market's opinion.
   
5. Marketing Plan - I always save my marketing plan for last, because if any of the prior steps cause a roadblock and either of us doesn't want to move forward and work together, then I don't have to waste my time on this step.

So once you have designed your listing presentation into a flip chart or PowerPoint presentation, it's time to practice, practice, practice. When it comes out naturally and free-flowing, it won't be considered canned and you'll exude a lot of confidence...no matter who you're up against.

One final thought...never assume you're the only agent doing a listing presentation. Even if you are, don't take shortcuts in your presentation. Every seller deserves your best and it will show.

Don't Stop Activities While Planning!

Can you believe it's Dec. 1st already? Where did the year go?

Well, during this month, many real estate agents take time to re-evaluate their business plans. While this is good to do, you have to be careful not to fall into the dangerous trap of something called "Prospecting Neglect".

Because of all the distractions this time of year, it's easy to "forget" to the important activities while you're thinking of ways to improve your 2010 business.

So, it's real simple.

You need to write down 3 action steps that you'll commit to doing every day, Monday through Friday. If you can get them all done in the morning, all the better. They can be:

• making your prospecting calls
• working on updating your clientbase
• continuing to show listings

Even if you work on your action steps between now and Wed, Dec. 23rd, you'll be ahead of many agents when 2010 comes rolling in. The holiday season is a time when many people are enjoying all of the parties and shopping, etc, but work on helping those clients, who want to take advantage of a great buyer's market. Serious sellers have their properties on the market over the holidays. You should help sell them.

So, if you're finding out that most people aren't interested in doing anything now, that's okay....you're building list of clients, who will be ready to buy or sell after the 1st of the year.

Do all of your daily action steps each morning and then you'll have every afternoon and evening to work on your business plan as well as take some time out to enjoy the holidays with your family and friends.

The Answer Is Easy...Work Your Plan!

Do you have any real estate books, tapes, CDs or DVDs that are sitting on your shelves or in your drawers?

What are you doing with them?

I know...probably nothing.

You briefly think about them...you glance at them from time to time when you walk by...you say to yourself "I'll get around to it."

Well, it's time to stop neglecting these income-producing ideas.

9 out of every 10 ideas work...if you make the effort to implement them. If you work the idea, it will work!

You've probably got real estate training programs in your office that if you just started implementing them, instead of letting them continue gathering dust, you could earn an extra $5,000...$10,000...$50,000 more income in a given year.

So what's stopping you?

...distractions?

...not wanting to learn a new strategy?

...don't have time to change?

...wonder if the ideas really work?

...money is tight?

I've been there before...I know what you're going through. But in this ever-changing market, you must adapt and take action or you'll be left behind and your business will die.

You need to focus on mastering 3 - 4 target markets for your prospecting division of your business.

Don't be a 'jack-of-all-trades' real estate agent. When I hear an agent say that they do residential, new construction, farm land, commercial, etc., I think to myself "They can't be good at all of that."

Focus your business on 3 - 4 niche markets and DOMINATE them! Design them...master them...delegate them and put them on auto-pilot.

Determine which 2 target markets have recently earned you the best R-O-I (return of investment) on your money and research how others are doing it. Study their ways of implementation and see how you can improve your system. Sometimes just tweaking it can bring you much better results.

Go deep in really looking at your systems to see how you can make it the best it can be. Constantly test different strategies to see which ones provide the most results.

Once you have your 2 target markets up and running and on auto-pilot (you have the steps to the system in place and they are put into your weekly schedule), then select another target market from your resources materials laying around your office.

Test and delegate tasks that you're not good at to someone else. If an assistant can completely implement a system and help return a profit to you without much 'behind the scenes' effort, then by all means do it.

Your real estate business needs to be in constant motion...you can't rest on your laurels and expect business as usual. Target markets change...different price ranges get hot and cold...technology is constantly evolving. By targeting fewer prospecting strategies, you'll be able to master them better as well as your time.

Don't wait another minute to get started - Act Right Now!

Quit making excuses! Quit being distracted!

Plan your day and focus only on your self-imposed activities!

You are soley responsible for your success!

Send me an email to dan@danweis.com telling me which target markets you plan to focus on in 2010.

It will remain anonymous.

To your success,

Dan

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Is Your Business Where You Want It To Be?

The past 12 months have been tough times for many agents across North America and beyond. Yet, not every real estate agent has struggled. Some agents have maintained their consistent sales pace from previous years, while others have exploded.

How can there be such a wide gap between the struggling agents and the top-profiting agents?

Part of it comes down to the fact that the top-profiting agents take charge of their business. They have the necessary skills (or take time out to learn and implement those skills) to survive and even thrive in the current market.

The real estate market is in constant fluctuation. By continuing to apply marketing and advertising strategies that worked in the past, your business will only stand still. Successful agents who go back to doing the basics and add some new and innovative strategies will fly by you.

There are still some tried and true methods that will keep on working today, but you have to be focused on how the younger generations communicate and want to serviced. There are fundamental differences between the baby-boomer generation and Gen X'ers and Gen Y'ers. The technology explosion has left some agents way behind and they'll never catch up.

You must constantly be in learning mode. Reading books, viewing online articles and attending seminars are a few of the ways to improve your business. Then as you learn, you need to apply what you've learned. You must take at least 30 minutes of every day to learn and apply something new.

Some agents think they know it all and don't need to keep learning. I hope you're not one of them. I believe that constant and never-ending learning from the successes and failures of other top-profiting agents will shorten my learning curve by years.

What you need to strive towards in your real estate business is buidling a predictable, duplicatable business plan that will be your road map for achieving your goals. If you stay the course and consistently do the numbers in your plan, you will achieve success in your real estate business. Don't fool yourself though...you have to do the numbers. Your results will be measured by your numbers!

Will you make mistakes and fail sometimes? YES! If you never failed, you won't go very far in life! Fail your way to the top! It's been said that failure just means your idea didn't work this time and now you just need to find another way to make it work.

Do you really want to know the difference between you and someone earning $100,000 or more per year?

Successful agents are willing to do what other agents are not willing to do on a consistent basis. They do the simple, repeatable, basic tasks over and over and over again. They follow their business plan...they tweak it when necessary...they focus on their strengths and delegate their weaknesses to other who are more proficient in those areas.

Do you want 2010 to be your best year ever? I know it sounds cliche, but you CAN do it. IF you commit to a plan, focus on it today...complete your daily activities (as hard as they may be until you get better at doing them)...review your results...make corrections...and do it all again tomorrow, you WILL achieve your goals!

How Are You Adapting To Market Changes?

Have you heard about working smarter versus working harder?

Over the past 2 years, your real estate market has probably gone through many changes...falling prices, many foreclosures and short sales, most zero down loans disappeared, financing industry going through major changes. The question is have you adapted to the changes or just put your head in the sand?

It seems like there's something new to learn almost every day in the real estate industry and it's important to make sure that you keep up with those changes or over time you'll be left behind.

I've taken 16 hours of continuing education courses over the past 2 weeks. Many strategies learned have been refreshers from the past and there have also been new ones to test out.

What I've discovered is you can never stop learning. I spend at least 30 minutes each day (often times more) reading articles that interest me to improve my real estate business.

One of the great learning resources that's only been around for the past several years is ActiveRain. If you haven't heard of ActiveRain, here's the essence of its purpose:

• it's a great real estate forum and resource center
• you can read posts from agents and others from around North America
• there are 100's of groups that talk about niches, like Facebook Tips, etc
• your posts can be picked up in the search engines (Google loves ActiveRain)
• you can gain points by posting, commenting on posts and inviting others
• you can post articles for consumers to read (localism.com)
• you can send and receive referrals from agents and other professionals
• consumers can find you, follow you and, if interested, contact you to help them
• there are optional fee services, like advertising and getting an outside AR blog

I'd recommend just checking it out. It's free!

To join, click on this link: ActiveRainRegistration

To your success,

Dan

Are You Following These 2 Success Philosophies?

Real estate agents have a myriad of skill sets to learn as they build their businesses. There's prospecting - database management - buyer & seller presentations - negotiating, and so much more.

With these skill sets, there comes learned knowledge and activity knowledge.

You may be asking yourself "How can I achieve more in less time?"

Well, these 2 powerful philosophies will help you:

1) Be "Education-Focused" - Study and learn from others who have been or are currently doing what you want to achieve. Whether it's reading books or online articles, attending seminars, or one-on-one coaching, you can really cut down your learning curve by studying from others who can show you what has worked and what didn't work for them.

2) Be an "Action Implementer" - If you only read about a great strategy and never use it, what have you achieved? Will you be great at doing it the first few times? NO!!! But you have to keep at it to improve your skill set. Fail your way to success! As you increase your repetitions, you'll get better at it. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. We've all made mistakes throughout life. Are you sometimes afraid to pick up the phone and make a call? Sure you are. We all have been at one time or another. But "Top-Profiting" agents keep doing it until they are proficient enough at it to make it a proven system in their business.

So take an allotted amount of time out of each day to learn a new strategy and then take the time to put it into action. Remember, "you don't need to get it perfect, just get it started".

Will You Fall For The Seasonal Slow Down?

With the tradition of Halloween coming up this weekend, it got me to thinking about how the months of November and December are full of distractions for the typical real estate agent.

There is:

• gift shopping
• holiday parties
• family gatherings
• vacation get-aways
• hanging out at the mall
• taking time off to unwind

Now the reality is Thanksgiving is really only a 4+ day holiday weekend and Christmas and New Years Day with the days in between seems to be 2 weeks. But there are still another 40+ days during that time where most people still work at their jobs. I understand that it's easy to fall into the trap of "taking it easy during the holidays", but the holidays aren't for 2 solid months.

You don't want to be "dead in the water" come January 2, 2010. The action steps that you take over the next 60 days will propel you into 2010 with closings in January, February and March. Otherwise, you may not get your first closing of the year until March or April. That's a killer on checkbook!

It can be tough to be consistent throughout an entire year, but by following a business plan that you can tweak along the way, you'll hopefully find yourself in a better financial position of not being behind the 8-ball.

So a couple of steps I'd recommend taking right now are to:

• review your business plan. If you don't have one, design a simple one for starters and build on it.
• determine where your buyer and seller transactions came from the past year or two.
• figure out which strategies generated ZERO commission dollars and stop doing them for now.
• take your top 2 or 3 business strategies and become an expert in them - maximizing your results.

Now is the time to re-focus on your business plan and goals, so that you can get a jump start on 2010.

To your success,

Dan

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