To predict future success, go back and study your history.
Ask yourself:
- What were the events that led to my biggest achievements of 2017?
- What lessons did I learn from missed opportunities over the past 12 months?
- Was my marketing on target?
To adequately answer those questions, an agent must first thoroughly study his or her business, retrace its successes and failures and compare and contrast data from previous years.
Developing annual personal business guides is necessary for a company’s team-wide improvement. 2018 is no different.
Stop losing leads. Don’t be caught off-guard. Entering the new year, be prepared for what promises to be a roller-coaster of events, potentially featuring big changes in federal tax and regulatory legislation and a continued shortage of affordable housing, among other issues.
Creating a 2018 personal business guide is an investment of time — a shrewd and wise investment.
Properly chronicling your progress and setbacks over the short and long term takes more than just one sitting. It takes focus and dedication. It takes a strong will to succeed.
Progressing step-by-step
Here are three helpful steps to get started.
Step 1: Rehash your goals from the start of 2017 and review what went right — and why — and what went wrong — and why. The “why” part is vital. What were the reasons behind the successes and the disappointments?
One item all guides should include is a celebration of big victories. They help keep spirits up, the office buzzing and help maintain momentum. Focusing solely on defeats is a wide-ranging problem in which too many managers get entrapped.
While working on the business guide and coordinating online tools, remember to create worksheets for finalizing marketing budgets, identifying potential tax deductions, generating leads and tracking transactions.
Step 2: Analyze your company’s metrics. How will you maintain customer growth? How will lead generation evolve into more sales?
By establishing realistic goals and expressing clearly the company’s intentions, your team will have ample reason to rally around the game plan for future growth.
Step 3: Develop proven marketing objectives and have them properly executed. This step can be tricky. Forecasting a marketing plan is a challenge for even the most seasoned marketers, but having a roadmap will help the company navigate through all the twists and turns.
Change with the times
With digital marketing constantly altering its landscape, top trends can be missed.
Could the latest tech advancement be the one that seamlessly links your desired goals to the business plan? Each annual business plan should budget resources for staying on top of new developments.
When budgeting for time and expenses, another worthy internal investment is staying on top of the latest online tool releases.
Research tools that could improve your business company. Missed opportunities are inevitable. Reducing the percentage of missed opportunities can only help to improve sales.
Planning for action
When you sit down to compose a business guide, don’t rush through it. Especially don’t be lax on reviewing performances and establishing standards.
Special attention should be dedicated to three areas:
No. 1: Success stories
How did you achieve success in 2017? More leads? More cold calls? Obtaining a deeper knowledge of the product? Refining your go-to sales pitch?
The first step in the creation of most business guides stems from recognizing what went right for the company. Is the team gelling? Are they adhering to proper sales steps? Are they embracing company culture?
By chronicling the environment of the office and projecting how to keep the team engaged, managers will have a better ability to maintain progression over the near-term.
No. 2: History lessons
To move forward, step back and properly digest what transpired during the past year — all of it. What marketing tactics worked? Which ones didn’t?
Dig into the recent data and analyze the results. Did the team focus more on leads? Was it more attentive on follow-up appointments? Should there be more internal structure? Additional product knowledge training?
A business guide will help optimize the strengths of the company and pinpoint necessary adjustments to strengthen the office’s core.
History lessons can be great teachers for achieving future objectives.
No. 3: Targeting market
All effective leaders have a plan of attack. When it comes to marketing, the blind-folded dartboard approach can only be thought of as a metaphor for failure.
Studying the market and effectively deploying the company’s marketing dollars are key to sustained growth.
As you prepare a business guide, keep in mind the objective of any marketing campaigns. Are they on budget and attracting the correct targets? Are they unique, and do they distance the company from the competition?
Extra research could also uncover an overlooked market niche the company could jumpstart.
After the 2018 business guide is completed and released, take time to review it thoroughly so the team is on the same page. And remember to follow up with weekly/monthly/quarterly meetings to review all of your successes and shortcomings.
A comprehensive business guide sets the tone for achieving success in the upcoming calendar year.
With all of the company’s 2018 goals organized, take the next steps to reaching for bigger goals in 2019 and beyond.
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Joe Nickelson is a real estate professional dedicated to helping home buyers and sellers achieve their dreams of owning property, and helping real estate agents stop using the sometimes-vicious tactics that weigh on their consciences. He believes that the Smart Agents books will, quite literally, change people’s lives for the better. Check out his full bio here!
