New Year, New You: How to Succeed in 2020

By Sarah Michelle Bliss, Senior Coach with Workman Success Systems It’s hard to believe the New Year is already here! While others are busy setting New Year’s resolutions, it’s the perfect time for a real estate agent or team to prepare for a successful 12 months of selling houses. Start with a business plan. Oftentimes, I find in coaching that agents are clueless when asked how many houses they need to sell in order to hit their financial goal, or they don’t even know how many houses they sold the previous year. If you want to have a successful 2020, you need to know the average sales price in your area and average commission, and do the math to determine the number of units you must sell in order to net your financial goal. Then take it a step further and determine how many face-to-face appointments you need to go on daily, weekly and monthly in order to produce the amount of transactions you need. A business plan sets our goals and intentions within our real estate practice, but also encompasses five key areas of life: family, faith, fun, fitness and finances. When preparing a business plan, I like to start with the end in mind by asking this question: “If I were to call 2020 a successful year, what would I need to accomplish?” Set measurable, meaningful goals around each of the five key areas; put them in writing and share them with someone you trust to hold you accountable. Create a 12-month marketing plan. Consistency is key to a thriving real estate practice. One holiday card each year is not enough to keep you top-of-mind to your database—and remember, everyone knows a REALTOR® that isn’t you. Take out a calendar and figure out what you can do each month to keep in touch with your clients, family and friends. There is a major holiday in almost every month throughout the year, as well as dozens of fun “National” holidays that can be used to market yourself. Your marketing plan should also include client appreciation events. The rule of thumb is six to eight times throughout the year, you should be belly-to-belly with your database. These can be as simple as quarterly happy hours to movie events, holiday open houses, Easter Egg hunts, Halloween boo-ing events or stopping by with an item of value to their home or workplace. Plan ahead and put it in your calendar. Have a spending plan. We have to spend money to make money; however, we need a plan, and we need to track every penny coming in and out. You need to know your lifestyle number, which is the total sum of money you need to earn annually in order to fund all the important buckets in your life, such as your business, saving for retirement, taxes, college, etc. Lead with revenue in both your professional and personal life with a smart spending plan and you’ll succeed in 2020! Sarah Michelle Bliss is a Senior Coach with Workman Success Systems. She has been in the real estate industry since 1995 and is an original founder at RE/MAX Professionals, where she has been a part of the Nate Martinez Team since 1997. Over the past 20 years, she has taught locally and nationally, and coached and influenced her peers through team management, agent development and training. Bliss is currently the director of Agent Development for RE/MAX Professionals in Glendale, Ariz. For more information on real estate coaching or real estate teams, please visit www.WorkmanSuccess.com