“Oh look, shiny thing!” I often hear real estate agents joke about this phenomenon. You know … the one where you are completely focused on one strategy until something new comes along and grabs your attention. Then you focus on that strategy for a while until another shiny thing comes along and grabs your attention.
And on, and on, and on and…
OH! Shiny Thing!
In all seriousness, the number of strategies you can use to build your real estate business is exponential. And they aren’t all bad. In fact, most can be learned, implemented and executed to meet your annual goals.
The problem is that we tend to think if we keep ourselves busy with seemingly important task throughout the day, that we’re on the right track to accomplish our goals. But for all the new, notable and totally worth-your-time tactics, there’s a point at which you reach maximum capacity. When you attempt to learn and do everything you essentially master nothing.
Consider this hypothetical: your Facebook isn’t feeding you leads, your Tweets aren’t getting retweeted, and the people calling you aren’t hearing your voice because you’re too busy Pinning on Pinterest to return their phone calls.
It’s a crazy thought, right? Surely that’s not happening … Right?
Several months ago I attended a real estate event where consumers took the stage as panelists to answer real estate agents’ biggest questions. During the buyer panel, I heard a consumer say that she called two agents after viewing their listings online. After two days, she hadn’t heard back from either agent. So, she moved onto another website and another agent.
What were those agents doing? Where were they when the client called them?
During the seller panel, the moderator asked if the sellers would want to friend their agent on Facebook or follow them on Twitter. Guess what? All four panelists shook their heads in a resounding “No” – they were literally confused!
To be fair, social media gets a bad rap for being a huge deterrent to productivity. In fact, there are agents tapping into these tactics and they are seeing success. But I’d argue that it’s because they’re having conversations on channels where their clients are already talking. I’d also argue that they have mastered prospecting of the fundamental kind: calling and keeping in touch with their database in a consistent and systematic way.
So here are some questions for you to answer: Are you frustrated that your social media isn’t getting you more leads? Do you wonder where the day went and why you haven’t gotten that next listing? Do you end the week with all the BEST real estate tools in your toolbox but no buyers or sellers to use them on? If so, perhaps you are you wasting your time on the next new shiny thing.
So how do you combat it? How do you get back to (or start) doing the things that are going to get you results?
Start a “Do-Not-Do” List
Becoming truly productive is a matter of generating productivity habits – habits that you routinely do every day. And it begins as a deliberate decision. You shape the routines that create your habits – the habits that will lead you to your goals. You make the choice.
Begin by listing out those tasks that would only serve to consume your time. Then don’t do them! Determine what can be handled more effectively with technology and what you can delegate.
Here are some “Do-Not-Do” suggestions.
Don’t worry if you don’t have EVERY single new gadget or real estate app.
Do know which technology tools work best for your business and help make your customer service extraordinary so that you get generate endless referrals.
Don’t get ready to get ready.
DO be prepared, but remember how important it is to just start! For instance, you may feel like you haven’t practiced your scripts enough. Yet, three hours of lead generation with actual clients would give you tons of experience!
Don’t allow others to interrupt your three hour lead generation time block.
DO set expectations with colleagues and clients about when you will be in touch and what might be an appropriate interruption.
Don’t always feel the need to respond immediately.
Do let people know how much care about providing excellent service and that you will get to them at a prescribed time that is appropriate given the need they have. Prioritize!
Don’t put out fires!
Do have the know-how to separate the emergencies that require your attention and the ones that can be handled at a later date or by another team member.
Don’t over-engage in training and education to the point where your production suffers.
Do set annual goals and attend market center training that will help you achieve them.
Don’t invest a lot of money in your marketing before you master prospecting.
Do focus on crafting your marketing look and message and make sure you are doing the activities that result in dollars: converting leads to appointments and converting appointments to listings.
Don’t try to do everything.
Do choose one or two strategies for generating leads (outside of traditional cold calling) and become a master of it for a set period of time. Farming is an excellent example of this “Do” in action. Many top agents have said that it takes 18 months before farming became a solid lead generation strategy – but they had to stick with it.
