I’ll bet you’re coming into real estate from a former career–a career where you knew the answers–where you were confident. I came from a two-decade career as a musician (I actually started playing piano when I was four). Then, I went into real estate.  I remember so clearly my first few months as a real estate agent. My favorite phrase was “I don’t know but I’ll find out”. In truth, I knew very little! Sometimes I was so humiliated and frustrated I almost quit.

So, how did I keep my spirits high? By remembering my ‘wins’ from my former ‘life’.

Keep a Journal of your ‘Wins’

In Up and Running in 30 Days, I advise new agents to keep a ‘motivation journal’, to remember their strengths and keep their spirits high when delving into this challenging–and exciting–new field. Remember, we were all new once! You will find more rejection in real estate sales than you thought possible. Yet, those who persevere create a career with almost unlimited potential. Remember, if you think you can do it, you CAN!

Gather Lots of Motivational ‘Muscle’

Besides remembering your strengths, gather quotes, books, videos, and podcasts to elevate your self-esteem. Every top performer I know does this. Why? Because, sometimes you need more than yourself to keep those spirits high. When your self-esteem is up, you’re willing to tackle the tough stuff.

What tools do you use to keep your spirit high when it’s tough out there?

P. S. I’ve provided lots of motivation and inspiration for you in Up and Running in 30 Days, too.

their manager

Yet, what if your manager isn’t the type to catch you at the right time, say all the right things, and provide specifically what you need?

Look Elsewhere to Assure You Get that Motivation

There are two ways to get that motivation, that appreciation, that support you need. Many people think someone else should be in charge of their atittude. But, there’s another method. That’s the method so few of us use:

Going inside.

We shy away from acknowledging our own efforts. Why? Perhaps your mom (as mine did) told us not to brag. It was unseemly to be immodest. 

Not about Bragging

Acknowledging yourself is not bragging. It is not only positive, it is absolutely critical to do if we are to be effective salespeople. We must use all the methods as our disposal to keep ourselves ‘up’, so we can be models for our clients–and those agents who look up to us. 

Going inside. Someone you can always count on.

When I was in college, I remember going sailing with a group of people. It was a gorgeous day. We sailed around the large lake, enjoying moderate winds. Then, about 6 o’clock, we decided to sail back to the dock. Problem. No wind. We had no choice but to wait for that wind to bring us back. (or use the little outboard motor, which the purest ‘captain’ was loathe to use.)

Frequently, we count on others to ‘sail us back to the dock of positive attitude’ when we’re down. Like the wind, though, they may not be there when we need them!

Draw a Different Conclusion

Actually, though, we have our own outboard motor onboard–our own minds. We have the ability to change our minds about things (especially we women, men say…). We have the ability inside us to re-draw a conclusion about an event. For instance, we managers get ‘down’ when the agent we thought we were going to hire went to another agency. We can look at it as a loss, or as an opportunity to learn from the experience. If we’re good at managing our attitude, we’ll call that agent to find out what attracted that agent to the other company–and learn from the experience.

See Up and Running in 30 Days and The On Track to Success in 30 Days System for Experienced Agents for many motivational strategies.

Who gets you ‘up’ when you’re down? What ‘tricks of the trade’ do you use to keep your attitude on an even keel?

Your Attitude about YOU is Much More Important than Your Talent or your IQ

Malcolm Gladwell actually said this in the chapter in Outliers about proverbs. Study after study shows that, if you have the big “T” (tenacity), and you believe you can do something, YOU CAN!

I’m a graduate of the University of Oregon, and I always read the alumni magazine. In a recent edition, there’s a fascinating study by a couple of physicists (sounds like those physicists just can’t stop themselves from studying this, that, and the other). They found that students with lower American College Test (ACT) or SAT scores could compensate through hard work. So, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t achieve what you want to achieve. Unless you’re trying to become an NBA center, and you’re 5’ 10” tall, you CAN achieve great things in real estate.

By the way: Another study showed that IQ doesn’t pay a role in real estate success!

Tenacity is Key

Here’s my favorite quote by one of my favorite leaders, Winston Churchill:

Give In?  Never!

Never give in!

Never give in!

Never, never, never, never

- in nothing great or small,

large or petty –

Never give in except to

convictions of honour

and good sense.

– Sir Winston Churchill

Speech at the Harrow School

October 29, 1941

Achievement Can be Yours

Work the hours it takes. Be honest with yourself about your work ethic. Use my analysis, Time and Activities, to check that your hard work is really the work that counts. Take the attitude that YOU CAN. You don’t need great height or great musical talent to do well in real estate. You need the values that you already have: Caring for people, wanting to do right by them, and putting the client above your best interests. Now, go and have a great rest of 2012!

Are you the Greyhound or the Turtle?

Some people barge ahead and worry about the details later (that’s me). We start badly, but, because we’re tenacious, we surprise people by how good we finally get. Other people observe the action for a long time. Finally, when they feel ready to perform well, they get into action. They start slowly but well.

The ‘Get Into Action’ Style that’s Problematic

Other people just wait to start until it’s proven that whatever the coach has told them will work for them—because it actually worked for them. Unfortunately, though, it can’t happen that way. You can’t know that you absolutely, positively, undeniably can do something before you’ve done it it! You must start with some faith that you can do it, and that what you’re being told to do will work, because it has worked for others before.

You can’t get better until you get into action.

The Fallacy about Motivation

Have you tried to motivate someone into action? Did you pump them up when they were in your office, only to find them deflated later? I call this the ‘immediate fizzle effect.’  Yes, a motivational pep talk can make us feel better, but, the truth is that talk does not provide us the sustaining motivation we need to take the risk and try new things. What does? Action. Read what psychologist Jerome Bruner says:

You’re more likely to act yourself into feeling, than feel yourself into action.

 If you’re still not convinced, it’s because you have a ‘get into action’ profile that author Kolbe says wants all the proof it worked—before you do it! Not too logical, is it? So, you’ll have to trick yourself into action faster if you want to succeed in real estate.

In an earlier blog, we discussed why most busienss plans fail to inspire. I named 3 components of a real business plan that put the inspiration and motivation into a business plan: Vision, Review, and Mission. In this blog, we’ll discuss the first component–vision.

Is your business plan missing vision? Below is an explanation of why having a vision is so important to the success of your business plan. In fact, I believe the lack of vision in a plan leads to a demotivating and certainly uninspiring plan.

Why Vision is Important

A few years ago, business professors, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, studied very successful companies to find out the differences between ‘stunning’ (high profits and highly regarded), and other like companies who were almost as profitable, but not so successful). They published the results in the best business book I’ve ever read, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.

 What did they find was the common difference between the highly profitable and merely very successful? 

A common vision and values shared by every person in the company. 

 Porras and Collins’ conclusion was that the desire for profits isn’t the main driver for profits. The focused and tenacious vision, shared by all in the company, was the biggest determinant for profits. 

Components of Vision  

Your vision is made up of your core ideology and your envisioned future.  

As you can see from the chart on the right, excerpted from my business planning system, your core ideology is made up of your core values and core purpose. If you look at your life, you’ll see that the things that inspire and motivate you are the things that adhere to your belief system. That’s what this part of the vision statement says about you.

 Your envisioned future is made from a vivid description of this future, and BHAGs—big hairy, audacious goals. Those are goals five years out, that you really don’t think you can attain.

 The Power of BHAGs 

Surprisingly, as Porras and Collins found, when companies stated these goals, they actually attained them in three years! (Inspirational goals that are congruent with your core values and core ideology are powerful motivators!). 

What Vision Does for Companies 

Here’s Porras and Collins’s function of a vision statement: 

Provides guidance about what core to preserve and what future to progress toward.  Made up of core ideology and envisioned future.  

Here’s an example of a vision of one of the book’s stand-out companies:

Our basic principles have endured intact since our founders conceived them.  We distinguish between core values and practices; the core values don’t change, but the practices might.  We’ve also remained clear that profit – as important as it is – is not why the Hewlett-Packard Company exists; it exists for more fundamental reasons.”

-         John Young, former CEO, Hewlett-Packard

 How to Construct your Vision

 How do you want to see yourself in this business? How do you want people to talk about you and your business after you retire? What values are most important to you? What ideology do you follow in your business? 

Looking back: Imagine you are at your own memorial, watching from above. What are others saying about you? What’s most memorable about you? 

Voicing those BHAGs 

What is a great goal you would love to accomplish in your business, but really don’t feel it’s possible for you within five years? Write it right now. 

Why We Don’t Reach Those Lofty Goals 

Is that goal that’s been eluding you congruent with your core values? What I mean by that is, does that goal feel comfortable to you? For instance, if that goal is that you’ll make two million dollars, and you don’t like the feeling of that much money, because your values are aligned differently, you just aren’t going to reach that goal. That, I believe is the reason many of us don’t reach some of our goals. Those goals aren’t in alignment with our core values.  

Here’s what great motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said about goal-value alignment: 

You can’t consistently perform in a manner that is inconsistent with the way you see yourself.

 Fnding your Alive, Powerful Motivation 

In my business planning system, I also provide another method to check your motivation. 

Click here to get this document. 

I’m convinced that we reach or don’t reach our goals based on the intensity of our desire, driven not by cold numbers, but by the warm emotion of aligned values and inspiring goals. Yogi Berra said it well: 

Life is like baseball; it’s 95% mental and the other half is physical.

 Want the whole planning system? It’s specially priced at $25 off regular $99.95 (plus shipping), through November. I’ll provide you specific coaching  tips on the audio CDs, along with the dozens of planning documents included here. There is no other planning system like this!

Click here to learn more. 

Note: Through November and December, I’m going to help you with your 2012 business plans. You’ll find free documents from my business planning system and an invitation to a complimentary webinar. Why not subscribe and be sure not to miss a thing?

Let’s get real. You aren’t motivated to build that business plan, are you? We know we’re supposed to write business plans. Yet, if you’re like 95% of real estate professionals, doing that seems just like an exercise in futility. Your business plan doesn’t inspire you. In fact, it bores you or fills you with dread even to think about it!

 Leaving out the ‘Magic’?

There are components left out of most plans—components that put the inspiration and motivation into your plan. I’ll give you specific guidance for you to put that magic into your plan, so you are inspired every day—not only to complete the plan, but to use it as a very personalized and specific guide to your success.

  Why Are Most Business Plans Useless? 

Unfortunately, when most people write business plans, all they do is fill in some blanks with ‘guess numbers’. The problem here is that numbers in blanks aren’t inspiring. They aren’t motivating. They don’t call out and suggest to you that you should look at those numbers once in awhile!

 What Really Motivates Us? 

If numbers inspired us, we’d all be gazillionaires selling real estate. After all, we say we want to sell more homes than the average agent. We want to make more money than the average agent. You know the drill, and I’ve heard it from hundreds of agents hundreds of times. Yet, if numbers and money were motivators, our results would be different than they are.  The fact is that money, in itself, is not a motivator. It’s 

what we want to do with the money 

And that’s as individual as we are. Martin Luther King didn’t say, “I have a business plan.” He said, “I have a dream”. You must include the ‘dream’ part of your future in your business plans to make that plan useful to you.

 Building the ‘Why’ Into your Business Plans 

That’s the motivator. In other words, we have to have a big ‘why’. Most business plans don’t build in the ‘why’. That’s why they fall flat, and leave us cold. That’s why agents don’t want to go through the exercise of creating them. Managers always commiserate that they can’t get their agents to write business plans. You wouldn’t want to write a plan, either, if you know it wouldn’t help you with your business the next year.

The Tools to Find that ‘Why’ 

Most people think of business plans as projections of numbers. But, that’s not all there is to a real strategic plan. There are three parts of a business plan that provide that inspiration, that motivation, and that ‘why’. And, those are the parts of the planning process that are most frequently left out: 

1. Your vision—why you’re in this business; how you see yourself after you retire
2. Your review—what happened in your business that will make an impact on your business in the future
3. Your mission—who are you in the business

 In the next few blogs, I’ll show you how to create these parts of your business plan, so you give yourself the inspiration and motivation you need to create and implement your plan.

Want the whole planning system? It’s specially priced at $25 off regular $99.95 (plus shipping), through November. I’ll provide you specific coaching  tips on the audio CDs, along with the dozens of planning documents included here. There is no other planning system like this! Click here to learn more. 

So, am I telling you NOT to create a business plan at all? No. I’m telling you not to create a plan using the same ‘template’ you’ve used in the past. Here’s what you’ve been leaving out: The parts that inspire you, keep you motivated, and give you the ‘why’ of your plan. Without those parts, you’ve just got some ‘generic’ numbers.

 Numbers Don’t Inspire. Visions Do. 

Martin Luther King didn’t say, “I have a business plan.” He said, “I have a dream.” Put your dreams in your business plan. You need a vision as your foundation to your plan. That vision inspires you to keep doing the right thing, not the expedient thing. After all, your goal is to create ecstatically happy clients, not  merely to do a ‘next’ kind of business.

 The Second Thing You’re Missing 

How do you know what moves to make? Do you pack your business plan full of tactics that you heard from the seminar gurus? Do you do the lead generating tactics your friends do? Do you spend your marketing money by trying to copy that ‘gorilla agent’ in your office? If so, you’re really missing the point!  You need to do a thorough ‘review’, to find out what worked in your business, where you spent your money, and how your lead generating sources worked out for you. Finding out those things guarantees you’ll know exactly how to create a business plan for success next year. 

The Third Component  to Make your Plan More than Just Numbers 

Do you have a mission statement? I’ll bet you left that out, too. The mission statement tells exactly who you are in the business, the areas you serve, and your specialty services. It does not have $$$ in it, and it is not a ‘future’ protection. It portrays you in your ideal situation as an agent, so you can use that mission to inspire you during the tough times. 

An Example 

Here’s my mission statement for my coaching company: 

Our Carla Cross Coaching Credo 

q    Provide a solid foundation with a proven game plan, from which to coach, so our clients have the ‘music’ for which to create their own successes 

q    Create an encouraging, positive, supportive, and uplifting experience, so clients are motivated to step out to reach their goals 

q    Provide insights, expertise, and real estate guidance to help our clients go further, faster, and with greater confidence 

q    Remember that each of our clients’ well-being transcends all other considerations! 

How My Mission Works for Me

What does the mission do for me, as owner? It helps me choose the right coaches. It helps me communicate our values. It helps me choose the right clients! It helps me remember that it’s not the dollars we’re getting that’s important—it’s the clients we help have a better career and life. 

Your Next Steps 

Round out that ‘numbers’ business plan with the inspirational and motivational parts of your plan—the parts that are uniquely you: 

Your vision

Your review

Your mission 

Now, you have a real business plan you can follow and use for guidance and inspiration all year.

Help in business planning for you: Through November and December, I’ll be providing guidance for you as you plan–right on this blog. Plus, you’ll get free planning pages and many bonuses. Why not subscribe and get all the information?

Also: I’m creating a very special resource series for you, where I’ll take you through my planning process and help you create that great business plan. Watch for more information in the next few days.

Business Planning for the Real Estate Professional

Finally: Here’s the resource to walk you step by step through your plan: Over 170 pages of help, plus 3 coaching audio CDs, AND a document CD with all your planning pages. Step up to a professoinal plan today. Click here to learn more.

Remember what Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “Planning is everything. The plan is nothing.” Put the vision, review, and mission in, and you’ll see what the former US president meant.

 How Long Does your Tenacity Have to Last?

 Staying motivated means staying tenacious—holding onto the goal. On this call, we discussed the quality of ‘tenacity’. In interviewing hundreds (at least) of would-be agents, I never once heard one of them say they weren’t tenacious. In fact, most of them tried to convince me of their abnormal strength of tenacity! However, once they got into the business of selling real estate, that tenacity vanished like smoke into the atmosphere. Why? Because everyone thinks they are tenacious and determined when there are no challenges. Yet, when challenges appear (like handling objections, making sales calls, getting repeated ‘nos’), that tenacity disappears. 

How’s your ‘compass’ set for attaining a sale? In my survey of hundreds of agents under three months in the business, I asked when they expected a sale. The majority said in the first month! But, we know that the majority of new agents don’t get a sale  in month one. Most don’t even get a sale by month three (and Up and Running tells you why someone is successful fast, and why someone isn’t successful, so there is no mystery).

 So, how long do you think it is until the agent is de-motivated? You’re right:  About 32 days.

 The Secret to Staying Motivated

 Who is in charge of motivating you? Many agents will say ‘my manager.’ It is true that managers and coaches can encourage. They can be positive. They can pick out areas to celebrate. But, the real person in charge of your motivation is YOU. Why? Because you are in charge of your own attitude. No one is inside your head and heart except you. If you don’t feel you’re going at managing your attitude, you have a task: Create that skill. In fact, there are many chapters on attitude and motivation and how to do it in Up and Running, because it is truly a skill that can be developed.

 Big idea: Instead of looking to a sale as the only ‘win’, choose small ‘wins’ all along the way. Up and Running has the numbers in black and white. You know what you need to do to keep on that sales path and ultimately sell a home. So, figure out how to reward yourself in small increments. That keeps your motivation high and protects that tenacity you need to ultimately succeed.

Develop the skill of self-motivation and you will ultimately be successful. Remember, you are on no one’s timeline except yours. If you’re doing the Up and Running activities, you will be successful. Believe it. Act like it. Get help. Get coaching. Be honest with yourself about your skills and needs. Then, you will succeed.

Questions: What do you do to stay motivated through all those challenges? Why do you think agents become de-motivated? Share your insights and advice to help other agents succeed. 

About those bonus tele-conferences: As my ‘thank you’ for purchasing Up and Running in 30 Days, and the coaches’ companion resource, I’m providing coaching tele-conferences in October, both for agents and their managers. I will be offering them three times, also, in 2012. So, if you’re thinking about purchasing Up and Running yourself or as a manager for your agents, you’ll be able to take part in these bonus coaching calls, where I personally coach you in using the program most successfully.

I just did my first tele-conference (of 2) for purchasers of Up and Running in 30 Days (past 2 months). On this tele-conference, I helped them bash the barriers they were getting in their way to a sale in 30 days. Here were the top three:

Keeping focus

Time management

Staying motivated

Interesting, yes? So, in the blogs this week, I’m going to share some of the tips I gave the attendees for ‘moving the mountain’—bashing the barriers to getting that sale.

Keeping Focus

It sounds so easy, doesn’t it? Just do the activities in Up and Running weekly and you’ll get a sale in 30 days. But, then life gets in the way. One of the most common ways people get bogged down is that they slow down their lead generation to ‘learn stuff’. What category is ‘learn stuff’ in?

Business supporting.

You know, from doing Up and Running, that the more business supporting work you do, the less business producing work you tend to do. That principle is so important, I’m going to put it in quotes:

The more business supporting work you do, the  less business producing work you tend to do.

Tip: Do your weekly schedule from Up and Running each week, and analyze your balance of business-supporting vs. business-producing work.

Coach’s note: I teach agents how to analyze their daily schedules–a very important time management tool that each agent should grab in their own ‘personal management’ game bag.

Engaging your Coach

Get together with your coach, and go over your analysis. What’s getting in your way of doing lead generation? What do you feel you need to know before you get started? Why are you putting off getting started? What’s scaring you? What can your coach do for and with you to help you get past those barriers and start lead generating ‘with a vengeance’?

Big idea: The business starts when you start lead generating. Why not start now and guarantee a great career in our business?

About those bonus tele-conferences: As my ‘thank you’ for purchasing Up and Running in 30 Days, and the coaches’ resource, I’m providing coaching tele-conferences in October. I will be offering them three times, also, in 2012. So, if you’re thinking about purchasing Up and Running for your agents, you’ll be able to take part in these bonus coaching calls, where I personally coach you in using the program most successfully.

High Failure Rate Tells the Story

It’s estimated about 50% of agents fail their first year in the business, and another 25% fail in year two. That’s terrible–for all the parties involved–clients, agents, and the office. So, one of the methods to reduce that failure is to assure agents are going into the business with a clear idea of what constitutes success. What do you do every day to assure you’re successful?

Here’s my prioritized job description for you. 

How to Create your Own Job Description

It’s easy. Just go to your planner and analyze the amount of time you spend in the various business producing or business supporting activities. Prioritize them according to your actual activities. That’s your job description. Now, you can see why you’re making the amount of money you’re making.

A Model: Successful Agents

What do successful agents do more of? Business Producing Activities. Low-producing agents to more business-supporting activities. It’s as simple as that. So, just switch your priorities and time management, and you’re on your way to making lots more money!

Want more information on prioritizing your job? Take a look at Up and Running in 30 Days. I’ve made a start-up (or re-generating) business plan based on a successful agent’s priorites. It works every time.

Don’t forget to get your job description here, too. Provide it to your manager to use in the hiring process to get the right recruits for success.