As a broker or an agent, selling real estate is your profession says Russ Whitney, and therefore, you need to treat it as a real business. Towards the end of the year, you should reflect on your production for the past year: What you did right and what you did wrong, then plan for next year. Russ Whitney conveys inorder to ensure a successful and thriving business for the long term, you should set a realistic goal every year that takes into consideration your current capacity.
No matter what you earn per year, Russ Whitney insists you should focus on what your capacity allows you to grow into. Maybe you have more time to spare on work. Or perhaps you value family time more or you want to take it easy. No matter what, your goal setting should start with your WHY first. Below are few Russ Whitney's steps to help you set achievable goals:
Step 1: Real estate sales as per Russ Whitney can be a
lucrative business, but many fail because of the false notion of being able to make quick money.
Step 2: Identify your personal and professional objectives.
Step 3: List out your personal and professional goals.
Example:
Personal goals
1.Family:
2.Relationship:
3.Self well-being:
4.Vacation:
Professional goals
1.GCI (gross commission income) - $_______; NCI (net commission income) - $_______
2.Use your average commission per transaction to calculate number of transactions needed to achieve your GCI.
3.Leads per month that need to be generated:
a.Where do you want your leads to come from? Referral, online, farming...etc.
b.What do you need to do to get those leads? drip email, postcards, networking...etc.
c.Frequency of these activities?
4.Number of hours worked per week?
Step 4: You are now ready to share it with your agents. Russ Whitney tries to understand that you are sharing this not to tell them this is how much YOU want to make, but how much you would like to help them generate next year. Let them know how much you will dedicate to help them generate leads to achieve a certain amount, and the remaining will also rely on their own efforts as well.
You can then strategize marketing, sales and operation plans. Russ Whitney thus says it is important to visualize your goals, so you can be reminded as there will be days you feel tired or discouraged, and these goals will keep you motivated.