What Have You Done Wrong Recently? | The Zebra Blog

What Have You Done Wrong Recently?

Have you ever noticed something about life?  When you have a “win”, it’s short-lived.  Wins are exciting.  Wins are fulfilling.  But the euphoria we get from wins is oh-so fleeting.  Strange, but true.

Losses, on the other hand, can really linger.  Like a wound, they fester.  They carve deep holes in our souls.  Sadly, it’s the losses that can have a long-lasting impact and effect.

Unfortunately, we can’t be winners all the time.  Winning and losing are just part of everyday life, and we’re always going to have both in our lives.

One thing that can help is a daily examination of our businesses—both the good and the bad.  If we’re always on top of exactly what’s happening, there will be no surprises… and we will be better able to deal with the losses if they do arrive.

In addition, we can also fully accept what it is that we’re doing wrong so that we can make adjustments – adjustments that could lead to more “wins” and fewer “losses”.

Have you recently looked long and hard at your business and asked yourself these questions?

  • What am I doing wrong?
  • What isn’t working for me?
  • What’s driving me crazy?
  • What’s wasting my time?
  • What’s getting in the way of getting what I want?

By analyzing what’s not right, you create opportunities to improve your business.

With that in mind, here are the eight most common things that agents do wrong in their businesses:

1.  They choose the wrong type of lead generation – one that doesn’t match their personality.

For example, they find themselves sitting in open houses, nervously waiting for people to show up.  When the first car pulls up, their stomachs churn because the last thing they want to do is interact with people.

If you don’t love meeting people on the fly, then you shouldn’t be sitting in open houses.  It’s that simple.

When choosing your lead generation, you must match your personality.  If you like people, get in front of people.  If you don’t, do your lead generation through marketing campaigns and research.

2.  They start a lead generation program, but aren’t consistent with it..

Consistency is the number one reason lead generation works.  Agents can be successful with all sorts of lead generation, if they’re consistent in their activities.

3. They’re not looking at the value of their database and mining it like the goldmine it is.

You have to put time, effort, and energy into your database.  It truly is a goldmine for you to work on every day.  This means that client care, and client communication, need to be priorities in your business.

4.  They don’t take time off.

Time off is essential.  If you don’t take time off from your business, you will burn out.

Nobody can work 24/7.  You can try, but I guarantee you’re only putting out 60% of what you’re capable of because you’re so tired.  Your quality of work suffers.  By taking more time off, you boost your effectiveness dramatically.

5.  They fail to sharpen their presentation skills.

Too many agents don’t have great presentation skills – because they don’t practice great presentation skills.

6.  They don’t market their uniqueness.

They don’t highlight their unique selves, their unique services, their unique programs, and their unique offerings.  They appear to be just like everybody else.

This is a huge one.  You need to stand out.  You need to carve a space in the world that shouts the uniqueness of you.

7.  They neglect their “now” clients.

“Now clients” are buyers and sellers you’ve talked to recently.  Some of them may not be actively engaged in buying or selling.  Nobody can remember every single one of them off the top of their head.

It’s imperative to keep those clients in front of you on a list and in a format that allows you to access and update it easily.  You should have every potential client in front of you at all times.

8.  They’re not working smart.

Working smart means working in “time blocks”.  You must block time for activities you perform on an ongoing basis.

For example, maybe every Monday you call all your sellers to update them.  Maybe every Tuesday afternoon you get in touch with all of this week’s buyers to plan tours for them.  Maybe you do marketing on Wednesdays, research on Fridays.

So what are you doing wrong?  Whatever it is, identify it.  Face it head on.  Look at it.  Analyze it.

Then, make a plan to fix it.

By Denise Lones CSP, M.I.R.M., CDEI

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