Classic Real Estate

In a meeting with my team of agents several years ago, I was laying out a new marketing strategy I wanted to test. One of my top agents appeared to disagree with my desire to test something new. I could tell just by his non-verbal cues that he wanted to leave things status quo.

After a while, he let loose and said, “What we’re doing right now is working. Why would we change it? As soon as we figure out something that is working, you immediately want to alter it.”

His comments were sincere. I realized when he said them that I hadn’t taken the time to see things from his perspective. He was content that things were working well. Heck, he was selling between 10 and 12 homes a month. He didn’t want to risk messing up a successful approach. I couldn’t blame him for feeling the way he did after seeing things how he saw them.

I decided to share my thought process with my agents. I began by explaining that if we continue to do the same things month in and month out, those things would soon lose their effectiveness. I told them that we must prepare for war in times of peace. This requires us to constantly test new marketing and lead conversion strategies within our business.

In reality, I was sharing a deep down belief I had about building a business. I believe that an entrepreneur (you) must always be working at a frantic pace. There are several reasons for this belief and mode of operation. Here are a few:

1. Advertising that once worked will eventually stop being as effective.

2. Lead conversion systems that once were effective, will eventually become less effective.

3. Lending partners and other professionals that we count on will eventually drop the ball.

4. Outstanding agents or employees will eventually go bad. (Dan Kennedy taught me this, and he was right)

4. Other real estate agents in our marketplace would eventually start to copy us making it harder for us to stand out in the prospects mind.

5. If you’re not gaining ground, you’re ultimately losing it.

Building and running a business, any business, is a uphill battle fought daily. From my perspective, things should never get easier. If things get too easy, something is certainly wrong. You’re about to fall behind. Call me paranoid, but I would rather be paranoid and proactive in business than reactive and desperate.

If you truly desire a great business, you must realize that building it will be challenging every day. You’ll have to constantly push both yourself and everyone around you to make things happen in your business. More importantly, you must act with a sense of urgency, especially when others are content to coast.

When I coach and consult with real estate professionals, I’m constantly amazed by the lack of urgency. One might tell me about something they tried that worked well in their business. I’ll ask “What have you done to leverage this further?” In many cases, the answer is “Well, I plan to….”

Plan?

What the hell?

You can’t build a business planning. You build a business doing.

You don’t have the luxury of waiting around. If something works, you have to kick it into 5th gear right now. You have to run up hill today, tomorrow and next week.

After layig my rant n the team, tht top agent said, “I never thought about it that way. I guess your idea is kind of an insurance policy for the business.” He then went on to share that he had noticed competing agents trying to copy us in our marketplace.

Bottom line: Don’t be patient with your business. Let all your competitors be patient, not you! Act with urgency each and every day.