A wise person once told me (yesterday), I’m super excited about idea generation and planning, but I focus a little too much on the pie in the sky, and not enough on the day-to-day steps to get there.  

BoomTown’s job is to make you successful. And the space between Step One and Success is filled with those day to day tasks that may not be the most fun, but they are the most valuable.

We want to make the magic happen, and we all want to reach the pie in the sky.

So. Let’s go get that pie! In this article we will review the following steps:

1. Pre-Goal Setting Data Exploration
2. Working from the Bottom Up
3. Trimming the Excess for Efficiency
4. Accountability
5. Pie in the Sky (#goals)

Start with Last Year’s Data

Do you have your year to year data from last year? If not, start compiling. It is a futile practice to compile a whole slew of upcoming goals without anything to base them on. We aren’t talking about going to the gym here. No, now that would be easy. (Said no one after January).

We are referring to your amount of leads generated month by month, transactions closed, repeat clients, first time clients, total income, total expenses, etc.

If you don’t make a practice of compiling this data for yourself or your team, then start today.

Seriously. If you do not have a business plan and individual daily tracking, make one right now.

Not only is it super satisfying to watch your numbers grow, but this practice immediately helps you build upon your current numbers.  

At minimum, every member of your team, even if it is a one-person real estate show, should keep track daily of:

• Leads Generated (or Provided) 
• Contact Made And Still In Follow-Up
• Transactions Closed
• Total Earnings
• Total Expenses

Like the Constitution, your business plan is a living, breathing document. It is meant to grow and amend and change as you do the same.

For brokers: It is your job to maintain a bird’s-eye-view of the entire business’s numbers.

For agents: You need to keep track of your own activities and how they relate to the larger plan of your brokerage. You’ll see the term “contact made, still in follow-up” in the list above, because it is important to prove that you take advantage of the leads given to you or generated by you.

Once you have these numbers put them in whatever doc you need, I would suggest if you are just starting out use Google Spreadsheets. And we can move on to the next step.

Working from the Bottom, Up

We recommend setting a goal for your coming year based upon the previous year’s numbers and your current capacity.

1. Start with the number of transactions you were able to achieve last year.  

For example, if you closed 45 transactions at a 3% conversion rate. The leads you needed to generate at minimum, were 1,500.

2. Remember this is a funnel. So you start with a much larger lead number, and have to remember how many leads you feasibly will get to the closing table.

3. Next establish how many transactions you would like to acheive in the coming year based upon your current capacity, lead generation increases, hiring, etc.

Let’s say you want to increase to 60 closed leads this year. If your conversion rate is going to stay constant, you will need at least 2,000 leads.

4. Calculate your expected expenses plus the increase needed to generate more leads (scroll down to see how you can “Trim the Excess” to become extra efficient).

5. Total Income – Total Expenses = Pie in the Sky

Build Better Processes by Trimming the Excess

Great job. You have arrived at your pie in the sky goal, but now you need to build the steps. This is the time to review your current processes and build out what future processes will be required to achieve your new goals.

Assess each step along the way to your pie:

• Generating leads.
• Converting leads.
• Logistical details of following up with those leads.
• Transaction time and expenses.
• Managing yourself or a growing team.

These processes and the day to day goals bring us back to the business plan.

If you do not track, you go back. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

Where along the way can you trim the excess in your processes?

• Do you waste enough time with logistics to merit an assistant?
• Are you matching specific types of leads to the best fit person on your team?
• Could you nix a certain lead generator? Or better question, which lead generating tools are your most valuable, and worth expanding your campaign?
• What processes are the most time consuming?
• Is there a technology that could take away the busy work? (Hint: yes there is).

These are the simple steps that will help you not only reach your goals, but soar above them. With a little time and concentration, creating more concentrated processes will pay off in both work and life.

Accountability Counts

We’ve been in business for over a decade and endless brokers and team leads have expressed their frustrations over setting goals that are never met.

The challenge presents itself when you can’t hold others accountable to these goals.

And again, the business plans present themselves. So, do yourself a favor and:

1. Create a specific business plan for the entire setup.
2. Create individual business plans for yourself and any team members.
3. Update those business plans on a daily basis.

Brokers such as Kevin Smits check-in daily with their agents. If they are receiving leads, then they are reporting on their progress. A system which has served him and his business well. 

(Read More Here)

If you are checking in on a daily basis, and keeping track of the numbers, then you’ll know if you need to adjust as the year goes on. These check-ins are vital to building a practical business built upon realistic growth.

The Pie in the Sky (#goals)

We want you to reach your pie in the sky. There is no better feeling than bringing your own business to an established goal. Even better if you far surpass it.

But you MUST track your numbers and build upon those numbers in order to reach that goal.

Fortunately for you, BoomTown has several solutions catered towards creating opportunities that make you successful on a daily basis. If you aren’t already a BoomTown client, and would like to learn more, you can call us at (855) 771-1439.

Or learn more by clicking the link below. Good luck goal setting!