Are you a ‘don’t have time to plan’ broker? Having been a manager and regional manager for two decades (yes, I really am getting that old….), I know how difficult it is to sit down and slog through writing a business plan. So, I’ve been working hard for you to make it fast easy—but accurate as a blueprint for 2010.

 The ‘Spring Ahead’ Approach to Get it Done

 For my business planning webinar (see below), I created four steps to think through a business plan. What’s great about analyzing with these four steps is that you are making immediate decisions for your action plan for 2010. So, as you draw conclusions from your analysis, use a template to get those action plan ideas in place. You’re virtually done, then, with your plan.

 Four Steps: Two Down, Two to Go

 You’ve got cracking on those first two steps to business planning that I gave you in my October 29th blog. Now, let’s tackle the last two steps. Admittedly, you won’t have an in-depth plan with these steps, but, you will have thought through the most important aspects for you to get ready to tackle.

 Step three: Evaluating YOU. Rate yourself in the various management areas: recruiting, selection, coaching, training, retention, staff management, etc.

 Email me at Carla@carlacross.com  and ask for my Management Evaluation—a detailed rating document to assess your strengths and your challenges (great, too, if you’re hiring or managing managers).

 What have you mastered? What do you want to improve? This becomes your personal/professional training/coaching program for next year.

 Step Four: What if: Complete this sentence :”If I did these three things next year, I would increase my productivity and profitability”:

Now, you have your ‘big rocks’ for your business plan for next year done.

 Business plans: Active and Breathing, or Stuck on a Shelf?

 You’re not making a business plan as a financial plan to get money from a bank. You’re not creating this wonderful, mushy visionary plan. You’re thinking about your specific situation, and then creating an action plan. You will actually put these actions into your monthly and weekly schedule, and act on them! This is the plan you will revisit at least monthly, to measure your actions and results against what you planned.

                         Make it an action plan and you will get into action.

 For a comprehensive business planning system, with fill-in forms for each part of your plan, see The Business Planning System for the Owner, Manager, and Team Builder at www.carlacross.com.

 P. S. Use this same approach with your agents. Provide them a format and template to analyze their last year’s business. That gives them the answers to the next year’s action plan (that spring ahead approach I mentioned).

 (Forms for analyzing and planning available for agents, too. See The Business Planning System for the Real Estate Professional.

 Want help with getting your agents to plan: Join me Dec. 8 when I do a webinar for NAR’s Learning Library: Not Your Grammy’s Business Plan.

 Carla Cross, CRB, MA, is an international speaker on productivity and profitability through ‘people development’. Her book on business planning has been published internationally. A course writer and presenter for CRB on business planning, Cross’s business planning workshops, presentations, and resources provide customized systems for real estate professionals. 

Thank you!  I am sincerely grateful to you.  Those of you who read this blog, who listen to my webinars, attend my workshops, and find some value or entertainment in my work, thank you. 
The teacher is often the student.  Throughout the year you have shared your ideas with me that have expanded the work.  And you have allowed me to share them with others.  Thank you!  To Rebecca for her amazing commitment to the work… a special thank you.  As Chava and I sit down to a delicious Thanksgiving meal and thank G-d for so many blessings in our life.  You will be in our thoughts and prayers… with gratitude.

“If you fail to plan, you in fact plan to fail.”

I believe that simple sentence is one of the most profound sentences ever written. When we find ourselves at a critical point in our lives and our business, we need to look to our plan and see if we are on the right track.  Right now, more than ever before, it is critical that we decide our own future.  We have all of the skills, tools, technology, coaching, and support to be successful, but many agents and brokers will struggle again in 2010.  Will that be you, or will you choose success?

 I hope you decide to choose success!

Once you have chosen where you want to go next year, it is now up to you to build a plan to get there.  Think about this: “For a ship bound for no harbor, no wind is favorable” — this quote simply states that if you don’t have a clear focus on your destination, then all of the prodding, wishing & hoping won’t get you there.  Steven Covey in his book “7 Habits For Highly Effective People” states that most business fail for 2 reasons:  1) undercapitalization and 2) the lack of a plan.

If we want to be successful in a tough market, then we need eliminate all of our excuses for failure.  That means we need to build our plan.  I am blown away by the response I get when I ask audiences if they have a written strategic plan for their business. Most say no.  The reason this is so surprising to me is that the follow up question is that most agents are also the primary income earner in their families.  That means that our families are depending on us to provide an income that allows us to pay for our homes, put food on the table, pay for colleges and give to others in need.  Real estate offers us great opportunities and with those opportunities, I believe that we also have great responsibilities.   It is time for all of us who have so many depending on us for their basic needs to stop wandering around without a clear vision and execute on our plan.

So where do we start?  Building a business plan can be simple, but the more detail and specific you are, the more likely you are to achieve the goals you set in your plan.   I always like to start my plan off with doing a SWOT analysis. 

·         S = Strengths (i.e. good negotiator, great communicator, problem-solver, people-person)

·         W = Weaknesses (i.e. phone-phobia, procrastinator, not good with details, insecure)

·         O = Opportunities (i.e. first time homebuyers, expired listings, lower mortgage rates)

·         T = Threats (i.e. economy, tighter lending practices, unemployment levels)

One of the most effective things you can do in your business is identify your opportunities and then build a plan to take advantage of the opportunities you have discovered.  As an agent today here are some of the opportunities I see:

·         Short Sales

·         REO listings

·         First time home buyers

·         Expired listings

·         Opportunity seekers such as investors

·         Relocation

·         And of course, my database of friends also known as SOI.

Now, once you identify the opportunities in your market, you should select the 3 or 4 that you want to focus on and build a plan around each.  I have found that having more than one way to accomplish a goal insures success.  It is critical that you break down each opportunity into first your annual goal (for example 24 closed transactions from expired listings) then make it monthly (2 per month) then identify the daily steps you would have to do to achieve that goal.  You plan might look something like this:

1.       Sign up for REDX expired listing software

2.       Find or build 3 different scripts to use when calling and test each script to see which one gives the best result

3.       Create & mail post cards to send to people on the DNC list

4.       Post sign on my door “Prospecting - please do not disturb”

5.       Call all Expireds in X area and X price range every morning from 9-11 or until I generate 3 listing appointments

6.       Drop door hangers on 10 expired listings every day

7.       List 3 expired listings per week

I’m sure you get the picture; you build your plan around the opportunities you see, and then execute on your plan.  If you do this simple exercise right now and start doing the tasks you outline for each of your goals, you not only will feel like you are making progress, you will make more sales and find yourself in a much better financial situation next year. 

There are a lot of great books and articles on how to build a business plan; you can find them simply by doing a www.Google.com search.  As a coach, I have always felt that the basis for a great result with my coaching students is that we build a real business plan, complete with a SWOT analysis, specific goals, a budget and the action items to achieve all of this.  At the end it is much easier to measure that success because we have a plan. If you’re interested in learning how we can help you, go to www.coachverl.com

So what do you think?  Are you ready to become as the great Zig Zigler says “A meaningful specific”?

There is always opportunity, it’s now up to you to go get it. 

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Verl Workman is a leading national speaker, coach and consultant. Despite his busy speaking schedule and role as co-founder of Pinnacle Quest Consulting Group, he still sells real estate so that he can test and stay abreast of the latest tools and techniques that maximize results. He uses that knowledge to assist individuals and companies in building effective business strategies, implementing powerful technology solutions and establishing strategic competitive advantages through coaching, seminars and private consultations. To contact Verl, visit www.VerlWorkman.com or www.PQPipeline.com, or by email at verl@verlworkman.com

Follow Verl on Twitter: http://Twitter.com/VerlWorkman

Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com.VerlWorkman

Rich Levin

Marketing guru Jennifer Cummings describes an “Aha” experience as “An idea that inspires action.  The combination of the our Daily Coaching webinars and working with individual Agents on their 2010 business plans created a few huge “Aha” moments. 

1.      There are three distinct phases to planning.  It is best to complete one phase each week over three weeks to gain insight and add depth to each.  The three are:

a.       Your motivation, mindset, attitude, and psychology

b.      Your measureable goals by the numbers

c.       The activities, skills, and habits necessary to achieve your goals

When you focus on each of these separately in this order you get motivated by the first week, excited at the possibilities of the second week, and eager to put your plans into action by the third week. 

2.      Your daily and weekly habits are more important than your plan.  Many Agents spend a long time planning and the plan is mostly ignored as the year ensues.  However, Agents who develop simple daily and weekly habits of prospecting, marketing, quality service, and planning achieve consistent success with greater ease.  Habit focused Agents achieve more even if they have a weaker overall plan. 

3.      A results (goals) focus produces results.  Focusing on activities leads to frustration and never achieving a sense of completion.  Focusing on the number of appointments you need each week and the sales volume each month leads to satisfaction, insight, and self-motivation.  Focusing on how many things need to be done leads to anxiety, frustration and damages your motivation even while you are planning. 

We have built our newest (most comprehensive and least expensive) coaching program around these new insights and we can see already, even before the year begins that the Agents are more focused and excited about their future.