When there's no wind, row!

I remember figuring out in 1980 that there is no such thing as 'nobody is buying houses'. Interest rates were way high (now they're way low), demand was seemingly low, the then-old timers in the business were telling me they never saw it this bad, yet everyday, when I checked the MLS, there were new listings, new sales, new pendings and people calling to see properties. What I also figured out was if I wanted to be busy, I had to have a consistent plan that I engaged, and work it. My plan was based on how many contacts I made a day to sellers, irregardless of if they were my farm calls, past lead calls, expireds, fsbo's, etc. When I had nothing going on, I stayed on the phone or in front of people. Of course, technology was different, so there was no time spent online, and only a little on getting new catbon paper to work. The only mail I used were handwritten thank you notes to the people who became listing leads in my farm and the like. And you know what happened? There was a lot of business for me as an agent! lo and behold, I was, with the exception of one other agent who used to go canvassing with me and who concentrated on fsbo's when he wasn't farming, outproducing the other 6 or 8 agents in my offices at the time PUT TOGETHER! It wasn't because I was a rocket scientist, and it wasn't because I was selling to family. It was about good, old fashioned, reasonably targeted, consistent work.

I submit to you that concept still works. I am reading many entries on AR from agents who may not have never seen markets temper. Almost any agent who started before 2007 had to learn to deal more with how do you get your contract accepted when there are 6 others on the same property. Now that they know how, they won't have to use that for a bunch of years, till the market gets back to that place.

In the meantime, if they want to have the good fortune of being here to use what was learned pre 2007 post 2015, they'd better get to work making calls, learning their business, honing their skills, going on appointments, being consistent, and doing those things that successful Realtors do when there is no wind. Make sure you know how to use those oars, roll up your sleeves, and get to rowing!

Remember your drivers - appointments, inquiries, contacts, and at the end of the say, conversions. Good luck!

If You Fail To Plan, You Are Planning to Fail

When I ran my brokerage business until last year when we were bought out, I spent a lot of time planning on where we were going the following year. I felt real good about our plan, and about what I learned in prior planning that I applied to executing and following through on the new plan. It's an interesting experience, going through your prior years plan at its transitory stage to the following year. Its like recapping a season and remembering all the turns, twists, jumps and bumps that you took during the year as you tried to get to the goalposts you set. If I'm smart, I'll learn and glean invaluable information from what we learned in prior years too, and formed by our experience and intuition we take this period to analyze where we think we see the market going, where the opportunities are within those markets, and how we plan to get there. Clearly identified your mission statement, core values, target markets, and vision in your overall Business Plan, your Annual Plan should surround your model that lends itself to attracting the right people to the bus, systems for training that provide for empowering your agents and perpetuating a productive, professional and compliant environment, and retaining your staff through support and lead generation, generating more opportunity and increasing your margins per transaction whle providing superior service. Everything you do, all the decisions you make, all fall within these specific disciplines. It mades for a more organized planning process, developing stategies and actions/tasks related to the strategies, when you know how the machine works, and what your machines economic drivers are. If you have never planned, try it. Put thought into where you want to be, and what you want your business to look like. If you want your business to grow, think of how, what and where. Make a plan, know where you are going, know the plays, know the goalposts, cause thats where the ball has to get to at the end of the day. It's so much more effective when you plan. I always use the analogy of football players to planning. If you have ever seen pro football players up close, you know they are big people. 6"3", 6'5", 250 lb, 280 lbs of solid steel, and they run into eachother at speeds of 70 miles per hour. Why? to get the football over the goal line. How" They devise plans to get it done. End runs, handoffs, passes, bombs, they planned it all and practiced it all come game day. Take away the goalposts, and you know what you have? A bunch of big guys with their hands in their pockets wondering what they are supposed to do. You have to identify what you want, where you want to be, how you want things to look, and then develop the plans and systems and know the routes you will take to make it happen. Of course, thats only part one. I learned how important it is to keep looking at the plan, keep working it and on it, keep monitoring what works, what doesnt, what can be improved and what needs to be re-evaluated. Plans, once made, are work in progress until you throw them away for the new plan, or unless you achieve them in their entirety (if that is the end game), in which case you better make a new plan or you're gonna be one real bored successful person. Good Luck and have a great 2011!!