According to mindset coach Jet Xavier, with a brand new year ahead, real estate sales agents all over Australia will be making a ton of New Years resolutions and looking for the latest marketing tricks, technological gadgets, and anything that can give them the edge. But only a small percentage will achieve their goals. The solution, he says, a shift to accountability thinking.
Yes, it is true. The reality is we all set goals at the beginning of the year, but only between five and 20 per cent of agents will achieve some, or all of their goals. The other eighty per cent, despite the effort, support, training and opportunities on offer will not get the results in 2012 they desire or deserve.
How do you as a sales agent become more motivated to do what is required for great success? How do you be more disciplined, responsible, and committed to taking action where it counts?
The answer is by understanding “Accountability Thinking”, and in this article, I will show you how to shift your focus.
Traditional Approaches to Accountability Thinking do not work!
The first thing is to understand that the traditional methods of implementing accountability do not work for the 80%. The goal setting, KPI’S, deadlines, expectations, meetings, follow ups, whilst important just end up serving as a reminder of what was not achieved rather than what was. The reason they don’t work for the 80% is because as an agent you are asking yourself to do something that in reality you cannot and don’t want to do. It is similar to asking an obese person to run a marathon in under three hours. It will not happen. How many times have you committed to those cold calls, door knocks, marketing drops, and other tasks you know would bring success? Only to become frustrated and de-motivated because you have not consistently completed them. You try time and time again. However, you always fall short. No amount of structure, support, or will power seems to work. You know what to do, however, despite all good intentions you simply don’t do it.
Accountability is a mindset, not a skillset!
The second thing is to understand that accountability is a mindset not a skill set. All behaviour comes from our mindsets. Being accountable is an internal dialogue and cognitive process, not only the practical application of a task.
Being accountable is an internal dialogue and cognitive process, not only the practical application of a task.
We know from psychology that the way we have been conditioned and programmed to think determines our behaviour and outcomes. You cannot change your behaviour with the same thinking that created or conditioned that behaviour. Einstein said, “You cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that created it”. Your mindset has been conditioned to how accountable you will be and this accordingly will determine your level of it.
We can also understand this through neuroscience. People whose left frontal lobe is dominant tend to be more positive and embrace a more can do attitude. They also have a greater ability to neutralise negative emotions. These are key attributes of agents who are accountable and successful. People whose right frontal lobe dominates lean more towards anxiety, sadness, worry, passivity, and withdrawal. These tend to be attributes of non-accountable agents who are not successful. The key to your accountability is changing your mindset.
Accountability thinking for better results in 2012
The great news is you can train your mind to change your behaviour through Accountability Thinking. You can go from being in the 80% that never attain the levels they desire to the 5-20% that do. Accountability thinking enables you to change the thinking that inhibits you from being accountable. This then helps you create behaviours for success.
Mindfit Fasting
The first step is to understand your inner dialogue. You have an inner dialogue with over 60 000 plus thoughts a day. Unless you are extremely optimistic, most of these thoughts are negative. Identifying these thoughts is crucial. If you are not aware of the inner dialogue behind not being accountable then you run on autopilot. You default to non-accountability thinking every time.
You have an inner dialogue with over 60 000 plus thoughts a day. Unless you are extremely optimistic, most of these thoughts are negative.
Try this accountability thinking exercise for a week. It is called a “Mindfit Fast”. Start by writing down all the thoughts you have around tasks you are not being accountable for. Whenever you procrastinate, don’t go out and door knock, struggle to close, avoid doing your calls, not keep your database up to date, or neglect to do any other task that would bring you success, write down your inner dialogue thinking.
After a week, you will have a list of what is called A.N.T.S. Automatic Negative Thoughts. Now you can start to make the mindset changes needed to help you to achieve everything you want.
Shift Focus Method
Once you have done a MindFit Fast then the second step is to apply the “Shift Focus” Method. As an agent, what you focus on is what you get. If you focus on what is hard or what you don’t like about certain tasks you have to complete, then being accountable will not happen. You will only get more of the same. If you focus on what is great and beneficial about these tasks then accountability becomes much easier over time.
For example, some agents I work with see door knocking, cold calls, asking for business as things that represent failure, rejection, and fear. Other agents see them as money-making opportunities, confidence builders, and database magnets. To apply the Shift Focus Method you substitute the old thinking dialogue with new thinking such as, “these phone calls make me money”. Or “this will increase my database opportunities and I will be one step closer to success”. By doing this, the focus is now on what is beneficial and rewarding about the task. Apply the Shift Focus Method on a consistent basis and you are in effect rewiring your brain and thinking to eventually run on autopilot. This is because the mind is like a muscle and the more you condition it the more likely you are to have the thinking required for the success you want.
Success Response
Once you have conditioned accountability thinking through the Shift Focus Method you develop a success response. A success response is when you respond automatically with thinking and behaviour that moves you towards the result you want immediately rather than away from it. This allows you to overcome any challenge, obstacle, fear,or negative thinking in a way that creates motivating and energised behaviour for success.
For example, optimistic sales people have a success response. They are always hopeful and confident about outcomes and react accordingly. The glass is always half full and opportunity is endless. They bounce back quicker and always have a productive perspective. Research shows us that optimistic sales people in general also out sell non-optimistic ones.
This is your year to make crucial shifts in your mindset for the success you want. Apply accountability thinking and you will have your best year you have ever had. Change your thinking and you change your success.
