2012 is now upon us. The sights have been set and (most likely) they are pretty high.
Your business plans are in place, you are ready and raring to make this year one that will make your competition’s hair stand on end! Goals have been penned, budgets set, you’ve committed to a plan of action to close “X” number of deals each month…
But, will it be any different than 2011? Really?
What will you TRULY do differently this year versus what you did in the last? My wish for you is to far exceed your goals – to be the ultimate Realtor® in your market area. But honestly, I have a sneaking suspicion that instead of sights being high in the sky, they’re more likely to be pies in the skies…
Wow. What a downer, huh?
It’s not my intention to be a drag, believe me. It’s more of a reality check than anything. My intention is always to help. That’s what “assistants” do, right? Well, I truly want to help you exponentially build your business. And, if I can’t do that then I’m not a good helper, now am I?
So I’m taking this opportunity to guide you to commit to your goals. Commit to your budgets. Commit to your plans. But beyond that, commit to your means of building your business!
Let me say that again:
Commit to your means of building your business!
So, what does that mean?
It means allow yourself to give 110% toward whatever you have decided to use to build your business. Now I didn’t say, 50%, or 75%. I said 110%. And I really mean it.
Because if you don’t commit, you’ll be committed! You know, straight-jacket’ed and hauled away?!
I can guarantee that if you don’t give it everything, you’ll drive yourself insane. I’ve witnessed it, people, and it ain’t pretty!
Here’s the scenario:
Johnny Scatterbrain (names have been changed to protect the innocent!) has decided that this year he will focus on waterfront condos on the oceanfront side of Miami. He creates a blog using a custom url, has his keyword phrases researched, builds a Facebook Page (or better yet, Group) to encourage people within that market area to interact. He sends out postcards to a couple of thousand owners. He does this for 8 weeks. And his results are not happening fast enough. So Johnny decides to cut back on his marketing budget and stop sending the postcards and reducing the amount of time he spends on his social sites.
Somehow, Johnny thinks that by doing this his results will increase?!
Here’s what Johnny should do:
Commit to his goal. Commit to a budget. Commit to his plan (for longer than 8 weeks) and do it 110%!
If you have spoken with a company or an individual who has promised you results in a set amount of time, please don’t walk away. Sprint. There are never any guarantees with a plan working – but it definitely won’t work if you don’t commit. And commit to it long term.
Here’s my breakdown of how you can succeed in 2012 by staying focused and rigid in your means to building your Real Estate business in 2012:
A
sk.
Ask your Broker, non-competing, highly successful agents, coach, or assistant what they know to work for long term business growth. Your Broker should be a wealth of information and if he/she is not, then you may want to consider moving brokerages. A Broker in today’s social media, high-tech driven marketing arena must possess more knowledge than their agents. Makes sense, doesn’t it?
A non-competing agent (I.e. one outside of your market area that you know kick some royal a** in their business) should be willing to share with you what they have done to become the #1 Realtor® in their area. Be aware that what may work in one area, may not work in another – for example, I’ve witnessed Trulia’s tools working in one area but not well in another.
Your coach or real estate assistant should also be able to give you excellent advise as to what is the best tool to take by the horns. A great coach or assistant will be up to snuff on the best and most lucrative tools for building your business – you simply need to ask!
R
esearch.
Look at your competitors. What are they doing? Can you duplicate it? Can you do it better?
Quick Tip: One of the things that I do to get inside their (online marketing) heads is to see what keywords they are using. This is easy to do – simply go to their website and RIGHT click on the page and click on the VIEW SOURCE on the drop down list. This will open up a new tab and will show you a big list of code. Here’s what you are looking for:
This should be done on several pages as (if they are good, or using a good SEO person) each page on their site should have different keywords used.
Is your competition using social media sites for gaining additional business? What are they doing? How often are they doing it? What are they saying? Where are they doing it (Facebook Profile, Page, Group? Twitter, LinkedIN, blogsite?)? Why are they doing what they are doing? Really read what they are saying and how they are saying it. If they are really as good as you think they are, there is a strategy. You just have to discover it!
T
ie the Knot.
Become married to your means of building your business and don’t give up at the first sign of (perceived) defeat. Don’t quit after a few weeks, or months. Anything that is worthwhile takes work! Get your hands dirty and really get involved in your business development. As the saying goes, “You get out what you put in“. This is so true when it relates to marketing tools. Doing something a couple of times and basing it’s value (or Return on Investment) on such a short test phase, is not only unrealistic but enough to bring you to insanity and being committed!
There is an A.R.T. to your success and it’s really as simple as these three steps.
The moral of this blog-story is, commit to your means to further your business and commit to it 110%!
