Greetings and Happy Monday! In June and July I discussed a number of strategies that would function as “Shortcuts” to your success in real estate. For those of you who are as impatient as me, you may not want to take the long way to the top! I sympathize greatly! In that spirit, I am passing along some of the very best advice, from my experience and the experience of many others, that will assist you in reaching your goals with more speed.
Mirror the Best
Do not reinvent the wheel. Mark Twain said it like this, ““There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.” You can shave years off your development if you simply find people who are doing what you want to do, at a high level, and copy them.
For Example: Have an idea for an area you want to farm? Find someone who is having success with farming and copy what they are doing. Do you want to be unique or do you want to be successful?
Vision and Objectives
Create a big vision with a strong pull to give you a tug when you may not feel like working. Clearly defined objectives that lead to a big vision are the massive horsepower you need to accelerate success. Remember, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
For Example: What do you want your business to do for you, your life, or the lives of those around you? Without a compelling Vision, you will struggle to find motivation.
Environment
Take the responsibility for creating an environment that supports your Vision and Objectives. Anything less, and your life will not follow the path you intended. Most people fail, or at least take twice as long to succeed, because their environment does not align with their goals. Environment is everything from food to clutter in the home to the relationships we maintain.
For Example: How many hours of sleep do you get? Who do you spend the most time with and how do they impact your energy? What do you put in your body? Do these factors set you up for success or failure?
Leverage
What makes you the most money in the least amount of time? Do that and delegate all other activities. Remember, we all have the same 24 hours in the day. The key to success, and especially rapid success, is how you use your allotted time. Are you buys or are you productive?
For Example: You can spend all morning (4 hours) responding to emails, checking social media, texting friends, reading the news, and chatting with co-workers. Alternatively, you can spend 90 minutes in focused lead generation calls and marketing campaigns. Which activity is more leveraged? Which activity will hasten your path to success?
Accountability
This is a secret weapon that the best of the best employ to hasten their path to success. Accountability heightens performance anxiety (used as fuel to get things done), clarifies objectives, and accelerates improvement.
For Example: A weekly coaching and accountability call of just 60 minutes, with the right coach/mentor, can shave years off your professional development.
Mentorship
The right mentor will help you learn some things the easy/quick way, as opposed to learning everything the hard way, by yourself. A mentor will provide guidance, support, understanding, and a clear path for you to mirror. Providing you set aside your ego, this is a surefire way to hasten success.
For Example: Have questions about how much money you should spend on online lead generation vs. investing in your sphere of influence? The right mentor can save you thousands of hours (and dollars)!
Education
Jim Rohn said, “If you want to have more, you have to become more. For things to improve, you have to improve. For things to get better, you have to get better. For things to change, you have to change. When you change, everything changes for you”. You can only sell what you know. A relentless and rapid pursuit of education will bring you closer to your goals, sooner than you ever thought possible. If education hastens success, why wait?
For Example: Identify a niche (geographic, property type, income level, etc) and then become the most educated professional in that niche.
Lead Generation
We are in the business of generating leads. You should be fanatical about the daily habit of lead generation. It is literally the air you breathe. Your willingness to ask for the business every day will be directly correlated to the speed and degree of your success.
For Example: Make 5-10 lead generation phone calls (must have a conversation and ask for the business in order for it to count as a call) every single day, no matter what.
Invest
Invest in your business and invest in yourself. Top producers all have this trait in common. They all invest money back into their relationships, their marketing, their prospecting, their presentations, and their professional development. Why would you ever expect to get a return if you are not willing to invest?
For Example: Go over the top with closing gifts, referral gifts, holiday gifts, and gifts in general. Invest in your listings with marketing that blows client expectations and competition out of the water. Pay for one-on-one coaching. Pay for elite seminars and coaching.
Curate an impactful experience
Your customers and clients should be converted to raving fans for life as a result of the experience they have working with you. Your goal should be to redefine their expectations of what a Realtor can do in their life. Make an impact. Be unforgettable.
For Example: Matt Bauscher has jumped into the ditch with a shovel (literally) to assist landscapers with installing trees as part of preparing the home for sale, because time was short and the seller could not afford more help. Nikele Wood has arranged for once in a lifetime closing gifts that clients will never forget.
Make your bed
Starting the day by completion of this small task will fill you with a sense of accomplishment and remind you that life is about the details as well as completion of little tasks which add up to big objectives.
For Example: Watch and Listen: https://youtu.be/U6OoCaGsz94