TOP 10 NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS FOR REALTORS

TOP 10 NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS FOR 2016

With Thanks To Sharren McGarry

With the excitement of a new year and renewed ambitions, it’s time to really get after it in 2016. We are ready to set our goals, reach for the stars, go for the gold! At least, that what’s we tell ourselves December 31st. Come January 10^th, we might feel differently. But until then, here are the top 10 Realtor Resolutions:

1. Complete a business plan and budget. Your business plan doesn’t need to be extravagant. One page is plenty. Figure out your monthly living expenses and your monthly real estate expenses. Then decide how much money you need to cover those combined expenses. Using last year’s sales as a gauge, decide how many closings you need a month. That’s it! Easy!

2. Create a database. If you don’t have a database of past clients, sphere of influence, buyers, sellers, pretty much everyone you can think of, then I don’t have much else to say. This should be your only goal right now. Seriously.

3. Decide how you will connect with past clients using your database. Monthly postcards? Newsletters? Phone calls? Lunch dates? Email? Drip Campaign? A combination of all these things? Whatever you pick, do it consistently.

4. Update your CMA. I recently updated mine because I realized it was getting to the point where my past sellers were probably getting ready to sell again, and I didn’t want to show up with the same old presentation. My presentation is broken down into five parts: Market Trends, Pricing, Marketing, Communication and my bio. In the Market Trends section I use graphs from our MLS to show what our market is doing in comparison to previous years. Pricing is where I put the comps I’ve dug up. My marketing plan is in the Marketing section. Communication is a breakdown of how often and which methods will be used to communicate with them (since that is the number one complaint I hear from sellers about other agents). And the bio section is simply my resume’, background, and some reviews I’ve received.

5. Create a step by step Marketing Plan. Sellers want to know how you are going to advertise their house. Our job goes way beyond sticking a sign in the yard and putting it in the MLS- or at least it should. So why not type up a list and show it to them? This will give them comfort in knowing you are working for your commission, and give you a checklist to follow as well. It can include things like a video tour, ordering fliers, setting up a text rider sign, enhancing the listing on Zillow, Trulia and Realtor, setting the seller up to receive automated reports from those sites, using social media to showcase the house, contacting the neighbors, and contacting old leads, etc.

6. Actually USE the marketing plan.

7. Embrace Social Media. Even Twitter. Put a cool feature from your listing on Pinterest. Set up a Facebook page. Do a Facebook ad. (It’s super easy, very cheap and extremely effective.) Use Instagram. People are voyeurs. They LOVE interior pictures. Take one at your next showing and post it on any of those sites. Finally, promote yourself on Twitter. Tweet about something funny that happened at a showing. Mention something new in the industry, or go easy on yourself and just retweet other people’s posts.

8. Be Proactive, not Reactive. See #9.

9. Schedule your Day. The most successful agents follow a strict daily schedule. Rather than dealing with everything when it comes at you, set your day up to deal with certain things at certain times. For example, schedule your workouts at 7 am. Then get to the office and do prospecting from 9-10. From 10-11 respond to emails and phone calls. From 11-12 spend time on advertising listings or self-promotion. Then take a lunch break (hopefully with a past client) till 1. Respond to emails and phone calls again from 1-2, and then schedule all your appointments to take place between 2-6 pm. If you create a schedule and work on sticking to it, you will be amazed at how much more efficient you are at your job. And you’ll also find that most clients are willing to work around your set schedule. Try it.

10. Keep Calm. Seriously, it doesn’t do anyone any good if you freak out while your client is freaking out. You need to be the voice of reason and reassurance. You are the professional. It might be a problem you’ve never dealt with before, but you need to act like this kind of thing happens every day. Your client needs to know that you have it under control. Keep your head down and plow through it.

Resolutions are a great idea, but are often broken. So although we should really try to implement all ten of these things, it is probably more realistic to at least pick one or two that you want to try in 2016. Just doing that will get you well on your way to a successful new year.