Ask any agent what they need to do to achieve success, and pretty much every one will be able to tell you immediately.
After all, the mechanics of real estate aren’t that complicated, there’s a natural progression of events that lead to results.
- 1. Prospect to generate leads
- 2. Book face-to-face appointments with potential sellers
- 3. Win those listings
- 4. Sell the property and create raving fans.
When it’s put like that, real estate sounds easy.
But of course, behind that four-step process a wealth of activity and follow-through needs to occur, and that’s where agents have the potential to fall short.
So how can you ensure you undertake the necessary activities in order to achieve the success you want?
More than one way to create accountability
Top performing agents consistently highlight the fact that accountability is key to success.
But how exactly is accountability defined? Well, it means you will find a reason to consistently do what needs to be done in order to achieve a desired outcome.
It’s that simple.
Creating this accountability can take many forms.
Establishing a set daily and weekly routine can help you stay accountable, as can an accountability buddy who acts like a personal trainer and keeps you on track to fulfil your personal commitment.
Meanwhile, having a team who rely on you also acts as a form of accountability.
But if you’re looking to stay accountable you need to know precisely the activities that need to be done, and that’s where key performance indicators (KPIs) and reverse engineering come in.
Work backwards
Before you set KPIs in a bid to achieve greater success than you did previously, you need to understand what elements contributed to your last results.
Look back at your activity last year and define:
- What type of prospecting you did including when, where and how much
- The number of appraisals created
- The volume of listings and sales generated.
It’s interesting to note, many agents don’t measure their appraisal numbers but this is a key metric that helps define your ‘strike rate’.
Meanwhile, a critical element to consider is exactly where the appraisal leads came from.
This tells you the type of prospecting activities that work best for you.
Another KPI to look at is the number of buyers that view a property before it sells.
Typically, we know the average is somewhere between 15 and 23 inspections, but in some marketplaces this can vary.
This inspection metric is important because it helps hone your focus on vendor management and meeting both buyer and seller expectations.
Set KPIs
Once you know the base metrics that have got you where you are, you can create new ones to help you get to where you want to go.
This in itself creates accountability and also simplifies the real estate process.
All you have to do is commit to that routine of undertaking those precise activities and, more likely than not, the results will come.
It’s clear, it’s simple and, mark my words, it has an incredible effect.
