Happy Monday, First name / friend!
We like to use the analogy of farming to describe our sales cycle. We plant our seeds (generate leads) and nurture them until they sprout (start the buying or selling process with us). We tend them as they grow, until eventually they’re ready to harvest (close a transaction). And we continually repeat the process. Like farming, there is very little instant gratification in this business.
There’s another step to this process, though: tending the soil. In order to produce healthy crops, we need to care for our dirt, not just the plants themselves. Fertilizer, nutrients, water, worms — all that good stuff.
In the case of real estate, your soil is the business itself:
- Your systems and processes
- The tools and procedures you use to produce leads, manage information, ensure consistent client servicing, and otherwise keep your business functioning
- Your commitments
- Your plans, goals, habits
- Your long- and short-term business strategy
- The activities you’ve decided to give time to
- Your expertise and skills
- All the ways you work to become the best, most competent, most helpful agent you can be for your clients
- Your industry knowledge, professional network, and skills
- Your mindset
- Your mental approach, attitudes, and potentially limiting beliefs that feed into all areas of your life, including your business
- How you care for yourself and ensure that your business is actually supporting the life you want
This list could go on for a good while. But these are four major categories that we tend to focus on in our discussions as a team. These are the controllables, areas we can address to help our seeds thrive.
Of course, each of these areas could be their own book. But for now, take a minute to answer these questions:
- In the past month, what is one obstacle that’s gotten in your way (in generating or converting leads, servicing clients, conducting transactions, or any other aspect of your business)? Could a change of procedure prevent that problem in the future?
- What have you committed your time to in the past month, either intentionally or unintentionally? Are those activities getting you closer to your goals?
- What have you done, read, or listened to in the past month in order to improve your knowledge or skill set?
- How would you describe your attitude towards your business in the past month? How has it helped or hindered your efforts?
It’s worth it to check in with yourself, even if it’s only for five minutes a day. Keep tending that soil.
