Stop Whining and Get Back to Work! | The Zebra Blog

Stop Whining and Get Back to Work!

July is here. That’s great news, isn’t it?  Sure it is! Because now you have a new whine for why your business isn’t where it needs to be: “It must be because it’s July and people are on vacation.”

This replaces the old whines of “It must be because the tax credit is gone”, “It must be because buyers aren’t buying”, and “It must be because sellers aren’t realistic about price.” Must be.  Must be. Must be.

Enough with “must be”!

Let’s talk about “what is”.  Forget about all the excuses you share while chatting around the water cooler.  It’s time to start taking a really good hard look at your plan of action and how effectively you are implementing it.

Yes, this is the week for me to get real with you about WHY your business is not where it needs to be.  Here’s the truth in a nutshell:  It’s because you are not taking the necessary actions to get it to that next level.

When agents complain, the first question I always ask is: “What is disappointing you the most?” Nine times out of ten, the answer is “I don’t have enough money coming in.”

Well, the reason you don’t have enough money coming in is because you don’t have enough closings.  You don’t have enough closings because you don’t have enough clients.  You don’t have enough clients because you don’t have enough leads.  You don’t have enough leads because you don’t do enough lead generation.  You don’t do enough lead generation because either —

You don’t have a great action plan, created to get results

OR

You don’t implement that great plan.

Maybe you don’t know how to create a plan that covers all areas of your business effectively.  Maybe you don’t have the tools to implement the plan.  Or maybe you’ve lost your “mojo”, and truly aren’t working because you’re caught up in all the reasons why you “can’t” success right now.

For example, how are you doing with lead generation?  Look, most people don’t love lead generation.  But it’s the beginning of the domino effect of success.  Without leads, your business is dead.

How’s your follow-up?  If you don’t have enough repeat business, you’re not actively taking care of your past clients.  If you go on listing appointments, but never get the listing, something is wrong – and you need to actively work to improve your listing presentation, and the tools you use with sellers.

Seriously, when you look at your listing presentation, ask yourself: “Would you hire you?” The answer should be yes.  If not, then you have a lot of work to do.

So stop whining, and take action!  Start by looking in the mirror.  If your business is not where you need it to be, do something about it.  Here’s what I suggest:

1. Hire a coach.

If you don’t know what to do, this is a great place to start.  Pay somebody to light a fire under you.  Heck, hire me.  I’ll get you where you need to go.  I promise!

2. Prioritize your areas of disappointment.

Make a list of everything about your business in which you are disappointed.  Rank each one in terms of its importance.  When you take this critical step, you will have a checklist of everything you need to do to get going.

3. Get back to your lead generation.

Lead generation will ALWAYS lead to money.  It is the number one starter activity on which everything else rests.  Do your lead generation consistently without fail and you WILL find business.

4. Follow-up with your past clients.

This ALWAYS leads to referrals.  You’d better be taking care of your clients long after the sale.  It’s not enough to have helped them find a house.  You have to let them know that you have their best interests at heart—months and years after the papers have been signed.

5. Take quality time off.

On the surface, this may seem a strange thing for me to tell you considering I just called you lazy.  But when you think about it, there is no contradiction at all.  If you work hard, then you deserve time off to recharge.  All the top-producing agents I know set aside time to spend doing what they enjoy.  This leads to peace of mind—a necessary requirement for success in real estate.

6. Don’t do what everyone else does.

Most agents are talking about how bad the market is.  Stop having this conversation with them.  There are agents right now who are having their best year EVER—because they’re not paying attention to bad news.  Instead, they’re taking action!

Don’t know where to start?  Send us an email at [email protected]. We’re having a conference call next week on creating successful action plans and I would love for you to be a part of it.

After the call, if you are interested in learning more about how I can help, I’ll GLADLY have a one-on-one chat with you to find out what’s really going on in your business – and I’ll waive my usual $295 per hour consulting fee! I know how to recommend a plan of action for you, no matter where you are in your business. I’ve done it for hundreds of agents.

In fact, I work with agents every day through my EVOLVE! program.  These are agents who were exactly where you are right now.

We’re launching our 2011 EVOLVE! program soon.  If this is something you would be interested in, then I would love to talk to you.

EVOLVE! agents don’t whine. They work!

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

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