Elite AgentSELLING + MARKETING PROPERTY

Now is The Time to Strike

Think times are tough and feel like giving up? On the contrary, according to Grant Thorpe, now is the time to take real advantage of your competitor’s inattention to the huge amount of opportunities that are right there for the taking.

The current climate is tough, but the beauty of this is that it filters out the real performers from the people that just cruise through the day soaking up their ‘natural market share’ without really doing the business. When the going gets tough these people just go – right out the back door.

Yes, we will see casualties in the next few months but for the serious people out there that’s not a bad thing. Even if the pie is shrinking, it just gives the rest of us the chance to grab a great big slice of a slightly smaller pie. That in its self can be a substantial piece of action.

What’s the strategy?

Right now, more than in any moment in time, there is a need to strike a decisive blow to gain a big slice of market share off your competition. As a winner of that newfound market share you will be strengthening up your foundations and scaffolding for even greater momentum when the market returns to ‘normal’. Gaining critical mass now will pay huge dividends in the future.

Now is not the time to falter but to surge ahead and dominate the business segment you are in. In tough times clients will gravitate to positive, enthusiastic people who can provide answers and solve problems. You need to become the ‘paramedic’ salesman – it’s time to stop selling pretty houses and start selling ugly situations. Speaking the truth to your clients about the realities of their situation is a hard task, but your clients expect it and they will certainly respect it. And if you have the positive solution to cure the illness – you will start to become the one who gets to make all the house calls.

It’s time to Zag when everyone else Zigs

Don’t follow everyone; in most markets the minority of the business people do the majority of business, so why follow the pack? The greatest profit is made when you supply something, or do something, or solve something no one else can. Being unique is a powerful position not a weakness. And courage is needed to take the other road.

It’s not what’s happening – it’s what you do that counts.

In a tough market like we are currently experiencing it’s all the more important to have a clear strategy for success. These are my 5 clever strategies to making a huge gain against your competitors in a tough market.

1. Get up early and get started. Increase your work rate and your work effectiveness by at least 20% to gain an immediate advantage over your competition. This has a compounding effect over time. If I ran a mile each day and you ate a Pizza, by the end of the year we would be 365 miles apart and 365 pizzas apart. One of us would also have a 10 to 15 year life expectancy over the other – one of us would look far better as well. Start now it’s never too late.

2. Have a Plan. Start the day with a plan to get in front of the money. Prioritise your focus on the Dollar Productive Activity first – leave ‘busy stuff’ to last.

3. Get Tough – to survive in a tough market you need to get tough! Harden up and make some tough decisions to ensure your survival. If it’s a cost you don’t need, then get rid of it now! Avoid emotional attachments – just make the call and act on the decision that is required.

4. Review everything – what was relevant a year ago, a month ago, or a week ago may not be now. Be prepared to change and despite all your beliefs calling you back into your old comfort zone, be prepared to change direction to one that meets the current climate.

5. Don’t listen to anybody else! In a tough market there are more doomsayers preaching the sky is falling than positive people looking for the raft of opportunities that are right there in front of them. Work out who you are talking to and stick with the positive group. Divorce the others and no matter what, stick to your new plan and don’t deviate from it, no matter how hard others try to influence you.

Charles Darwin said ‘It’s not the most intelligent nor the strongest that survives, but the most adaptive to change’. What worked before might not now, the system we used before might now be redundant, the advice we received could be a generation out of context. Review your information and make a firm decision about what, where and from whom you will now source your advice.

Grant Thorpe is an internationally recognised achievement based Real Estate Business Coach, Mentor and Professional Speaker. His specialty as a coach is working with high performing entrepreneurs, business owners, CEOs, corporations and salespeople from around the world.ย 

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