Let me tell you about an amazing App for your phone. You don’t need to download it from the App store; it’s already there and it’s the best way to get organised in the new financial year.
I’m amazed by how many people wait until the end of the calendar year to reflect on achievements and set goals for the year ahead. These are best documented, dreamt up and planned when they actually happen.
I’m equally blown away by those who say they have no time, but if you look at the home screen on their phone you will see social media apps, games and more time-wasters.
But you want to know about this amazing app I’m talking about, right? It’s called Notes and it’s where you can organise yourself to focus on your pipeline day in, day out.
Most people over-complicate this, but it doesn’t have to be rocket science. In my phone’s Notes, I have an ‘achievements’ list where I write down every great thing that happened for me during the week. Usually I’ll have three to five items; it doesn’t seem like much, but it gives you perspective. When I get to the end of the year, I’ve got somewhere between 150 and 250 achievements for the year.
These form the base for my goals. The more you achieve, the more ambitious you become. Nobody came here to play it small.
For everything that didn’t go to plan, have a ‘lessons learned’ list. It forces you to consider the gaps in your systems and reveals opportunities for improvement.
Start making these simple lists in the place where your attention is held, and your mission of building a pipeline will become crystal clear.
Ask yourself if you really know where your business comes from, and then work out how you can be there to hang out where your customer hangs out before they need you.
Let’s be honest: no piece of amazing technology is going to do it all for you.
Think about how you can pre-influence the customer into selling well before they even think about selling. How do you do that? You move from one-off isolated random acts of prospecting to following a system.
After every call for a just-listed you send a letter with a brochure and then an SMS on the day of the open. Why? Because there are two campaigns: the first to get the property sold and the second to find the next seller. Then after every sold call you send a letter of confirmation around what happened in the campaign. To do that you have to have a saved search list of the individuals in your campaign so you can work them from beginning to end.
It’s extra work and it takes effort – but it’s remarkable and it shows that you’re a true professional.
In practical terms, you can’t do any of this without mastering your list of potential sellers. You need to be able to progress this list through a series of steps until they make the decision to sell their property and select you as their agent.
This is another list for your Notes section. While you need this information categorised in your database, it pays to have a handy hit list at your fingertips to pore over between calls.
It’s about having the discipline and focus of attention to wake up every morning and grind away at your ambition.
