Chris' Blog

Accountability is a great tool for short term change.  It by its very nature helps us change behaviors that we dislike in ourselves.  The challenge is that it is short lived.  Yes, I am well aware that you can establish a habit in 21 days, however, by simply making changes from the outside, the habit will disappear quickly as soon as the accountability is lifted.

Real change needs to come from the inside-out through motivation.  Motivation to be effective must be tied to our values to make us go through the pain of change.  For example, I won't diet for myself, I may for a day or two, but I will cheat because I value living each day fully more than eating things that taste like cardboard.  Now, I've been fit and I've been fat.  I don't like either extreme and think the saying of "nothing tastes better than thin feels" is a lie.  With all that said if I were to venture on a "get in epic Greek God shape" plan (which sounds really cool) I would have to tie that motivation to one of my core values to make it effective.  Since I value my family as a core value I would have to position it in my mind and heart as "health will allow me to live longer and spend more quality time with my kids and future grandkids." 

Without that tie to our core values, motivation will falter.

Are you busy?  Are you productive? 

These are two very important questions that have to do with activity.  The first is what most agents will tell their friends, their spouse and themselves when they evaluate how they are doing.  The second is the one that matters. 

How productive are you?  How much of your day and week is spend in dollar productive activity?  Not administrative things, not organizational things, not file management things - but those things that bring in dollars, those things that directly affect income. 

How much of your time is spent in the following areas -

You will be disciplined.  Either you will choose to do it yourself or life will do it for you.  Take your finances, you can either discipline yourself to live within your means or you can spend like there is no tomorrow and reap the consequences with sleepless nights and bill collectors car-pooling to your home. 

Your business works the same way.  Either you will discipline yourself on what you need to accomplish and employ enough focus to get it done.  The upside is that you get to determine when you get up, when you can vacation, what you will do in the day and how much you are worth.  If you choose not to discipline yourself you will need to go back into an environment where you have a employer who will tell you when you get up, when you can vacation, what you will do in the day and how much you are worth.

Either way you will be disciplined, it's your choice as to how.

If you are going to do any new initiative, whether it be prospecting, dieting or any other daily habit, do it in 90 day commitments.  Most of us try to bite off a life change in one swallow.  The government has learned this lesson and employs an active strategy to combat it, whenever they have a bill that is going to be tough (like a new tax), they will propose it as a temporary fix.  Once everyone gets used to it, they extend it into permanent legislation.  They know it is far easier to extend something that you are used to.

Reward yourself for consistency over 90 days.  Work hard for that time without focus on results, look up at the end and measure your progress and you will be surprised how far you've come.

Quantity and Consistency leads to Quality.  It is very difficult to do anything with enough consistency and repetition that you don't develop some amount of proficiency over the course of a few months.  Most of us fall guilty of not sticking with something long enough to see it through. 

I truly believe you don't need to be good at everything, especially in prospecting.  Show me someone who does a little FSBO, a little expired, a little door knocking, a little updesk, a little of this and a little of that and I will show you someone who is getting mediocre results.  There are only a few productive prospecting avenues (vs marketing where the field is almost limitless).  Find one that works for your personality and do it with enough consistency and quantity and you will soon find yourself excelling and becoming the panel speaker for the subject.

I have been spending some time with God pondering and conversing about our role in His plan.  His heart is to bless us, He wants to, He looks to.  I am the same way with my kids, I look for opportunities to reward and bless them, however if they are in disobedience, I cannot reward that behavior.   If I, as someone who is desperately imperfect, do that how much more does a perfect God? 

God is clear about his desire for our obedience in the Old Testament.  In the New Testament, the concept of obedience is brought to the surface through the word "faith."  Both are very similar in their orientation, they both look for us to take God at His word and follow Him with absolute trust.  When we do we are placed into a place of blessing, when we don't - well we aren't.

How do you translate this into your business? 

It is very important to determine this before you start your marketing campaign.   Most agents jump into the business and start pumping out whatever the office says to - usually farming clubs, teams or groups are set-up to share the idea of the week and soon you find yourself shelling out gobs of postcards and such with coloring contests, quotes, or whatever else strikes you at the moment. 

I was reminded of this as a local broker and his office was out doing a pumpkin patch this last weekend.  I thought about the money spent, the message that that gave and I thought it was fitting.  Not to be cruel, but the office, with 50+ agents, does less business as a group than many of my coaching clients do with a single agent or a husband and wife team.  Maybe they should be in the pumpkin business; after all, it doesn't seem they are getting very far in real estate. 

The challenge with this approach is that it doesn't work very well.  Yes, the laws of numbers will work in your favor if you do anything, however to maximize your ROI you need to define who you want to work with and craft a message that speaks to their needs.   Your marketing message needs to make sense.  If you are working with young families, coloring contests are appropriate, but contextualize them for those you market to - send out a black and white flyer that will become your next postcard design, because you are going to send postcards anyway and you value the input of the local kids and want to showcase their accomplishment in the process. 

You are your message - what your marketing material is simply a reflection of you, good or bad.  Be careful about what you are saying.

I have a disclaimer here - you will love this idea or hate it.

I worked with an agent who was a heavy farmer and door knocker.  He dominated his farm (93% capture rate).  He decided to pass out on the morning of the 31^st masks of himself as a last minute costume idea. 

Audacious, yes.  Funny, yes.  Worked, yes.  He had 23 kids in the neighborhood wear them and go trick or treating.  All night long his farm was reminded of him and it created such a buzz that we are still talking about it 8 year later.

My grandfather is dying. 

He is 86 and has cancer that has spread throughout his body.  It is in his bones, his organs, his brain. 

He's an old-time preacher, has retired a few times, none of them lasting very long - the last was when he was 83.  He has affected the world we live in many times over by touching the lives of individuals and his legacy is profound.  His crown in heaven will be richly jeweled and he longs to join my grandmother who passed away a few years ago now. 

He's in pain, lots of it.  Hospice says that he'll be gone tomorrow, but they have said that every day for the last couple of weeks as he continues to wither away in front of our eyes.

I've had the opportunity to encourage him to make the most of every day.  If God allows him to wake up, then God must have a purpose in it.  Maybe there is one more life to invest in, one more seed to plant, one more soul to convert.  I don't know what it is, neither does he.  We don't know what the day will hold, but we can look to take every opportunity God gives us. 

I will go visit him again tomorrow if he is still here, and as I leave, I will once again leave him with this thought - "If you wake up tomorrow, may you find your purpose in the day and finish strong, if not, say hello to grandma for me - either way I love you." 

Maybe that's a good thought for all of us...  

There is nothing quite as powerful as a person who knows who they are.   Confidence is important in any endeavor.  It is essential in real estate.  Where does your confidence come from?  Is it rooted in your skills, your experience or is it rooted in something deeper?  Your identity is the foundation of everything in your life and business. 

Who are you and why?