For those of us in the real estate industry we have to admit that, while 2020 was a crazy, disturbing, stressful (you pick your own adjective) year, it was also an amazing record-setting year. We should be and show gratitude. So, let’s take a moment and stand up and give yourselves a standing ovation. Now, GET OVER IT! A new year is upon us and we better realize very quickly that this current market will not be this way forever. I have been in the industry for over 35 years and have seen these cycles over and over again. There will be corrections in our markets. I have learned that we get ourselves in trouble when we define “our success” by what we have done in the past and assume that we have found the recipe for success. To be honest, we need to admit that much of the success that came to us this last year was not because of what WE have done, but purely market-driven. So, with that said we need to make sure that we focus on the future and not the past and create and follow a plan that is not market-driven but principle-based and one that brings success no matter what the market does in the future.
5 Ways to make sure that today’s success does not impede future success:
1. Keep Growing Personally. Growth = Change. You can change without growth, but you cannot grow without change. Do not focus on what you will GET as you improve but focus on what you will BECOME through that improvement. Jim Rohn taught this basic principle, “Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day, while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and judgments that lead us to either fortune or failure.”
2. Continually ask “Is there a better way?” The answer is always yes! Review your systems and see where processes bog down or where a disconnect is happening with clients. Can my scripting be improved? Am I learning how to use technology better, or, am I too technology crazy and losing a real connection with clients? Your continual search for improvement will keep you in a continual growth spurt. Three self-assessment questions we should review at the end of each day are; 1-What did I LEARN today? 2-What did I TEACH someone today? And 3-How did I LIFT someone today?
3. Align yourself with others who are successful and desire growth. Shadow those that are successful and principled based. Principle centered people will be glad to share ideas and thoughts and feedback with each other and will celebrate each other’s success, then, become that same person to someone else.
4. Don’t Protect the Past. We have a tendency as sales professionals to protect past decisions made, past marketing ideas, past hiring decisions, etc. There is a need to recognize that there are some activities, some decisions, or someone that is not working and make those changes. Ask yourself (or others) “What am I doing that I should STOP doing? and What am I NOT doing that I should start doing?”
5. Build on success, don’t sit on it. We focus so much on goal setting in sales organizations and not nearly enough time on goal achieving. We think, well, I have set some good aggressive goals so “Look out world.” I have seen some amazing goal planning business plans in my day but rarely do I see business plans that breakdown daily activities that will make those goals become reality. I have lived by a formula for success that was taught to me over 30 years ago by my sales mentor and that is, A x F= S. This stands for Action x’s Frequency = Success. I focus a lot on this when I speak and train and show an action plan that will bring success to anyone that will follow. In a nutshell, it allows us to focus on activities that work and not on what others do or what I have always done. Remember, “If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always gotten.”
Celebrate today’s successes, but when tomorrow comes “Get Over It!” Don’t let today’s achievements cause a stumbling block for future growth.
Gary Nielson
Nielson Sales Solutions
Speaker, Trainer, Coach
801-580-1468
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