If I wanted to make $342,987 in 2024, this is what I’d do

The top 5 percent of U.S. income earners make $342,987 or more per year, according to Social Security Administration data. If you want to be a top 5 percent earner in 2024, you’ll need a plan of action that can help you get there.

Below, I’ll share my blueprint to help you achieve your goals for next year, whatever they might be.

Understand what you need

It’s hard to build a plan until you understand how many transactions you need to achieve your goals for next year. This starts with understanding how much your average income is per transaction.

This amount is found by dividing the total income you’ve received from your brokerage YTD (this is your income after splits) by the number of transactions you’ve closed YTD.

For this example, I will use $10,000 as the average net income after splits per transaction. By dividing $342,987 (example income goal) by the $10,000 (example net income per transaction), we can see we will need 34.3987 transactions or, for this example, I’ll round up to 35 transactions needed in 2024 to reach the income goal.

The next step is to break that transaction goal down to daily activities.

Every real estate transaction starts with a real estate-related conversation. Industry averages are that for every 50 real estate-related conversations, one transaction is the result.

Your number may be higher or lower and during challenging markets, like the one we are in now, I prefer to be conservative. For this example, I will add 20 percent and use 60 conversations needed to generate one transaction in 2024.

If you multiply 60 conversations by our goal of 35 transactions, you can estimate you will need 2,100 real estate-related conversations to meet this goal.

If we plan to call five days a week, that comes out to:

• 175 conversations per month
• 44 per week (rounded up)
• 9 per day (rounded up)

Estimating the numbers this way comes out to 48 weeks for the year, allowing time for vacations and days off.

Now that you know what you need, let’s move to the next step of identifying where your conversations and transactions will come from.

Where are the easiest opportunities for next year?

The next step is to make three lists. The first list will include everyone you know who is likely to list their home for sale in the next 18 months.

The next list will include everyone you know who would buy a home in the next year if they found the right place or the opportunity presented itself.

The last list includes the people you believe would send you a referral in 2024 if they saw an opportunity to do so.

The following is a plan of action for each of these lists:

Potential listings plan of action

Once we have the list of potential listing opportunities for next year, we now need to put a series of automated activities in place. These activities will give you the ability to take advantage of each listing opportunity and make sure none fall through the cracks.

• Start with a call to see if anything has changed with their timeline to sell, and to let them know you will be providing an escalated amount of information for them to make sure they have a complete picture of the market when the time comes to sell their home.
• Provide a video unsolicited CMA giving them a current valuation.
• Set them up to receive automated emails of homes that either come on the market, go under contract or that are comparable to their home.
• Put on your calendar the date to send them the next three unsolicited video CMAs (monthly or every other month depending on their stated timeframe to sell).
• Put on your calendar the dates to call them with a market update and to see if their timeframe has changed.
• Develop a next 10 list on a whiteboard of the next 10 listings you anticipate you will have a chance to list. The list should include their name, address, size of home/amenities, stated time frame to list, estimated sales price, and the date of the last time you added personalized value to them. The key is to look at this list each morning and make sure everyone on this list receives something personal like a phone call, text, or CMA every week. Each time you speak with them, update the date on your whiteboard that you last added personal value to assure you stay connected with this group consistently.

Potential buyers plan of action

Just like with the potential listings, the next step is to develop a plan of action for your potential buyer clients. These are the activities needed to lock in on the buyer opportunities you are aware of going into 2024.

• Start with a call to see if anything has changed with their timeline to buy, and let them know you will be providing an escalated amount of information for them to make sure they have a complete picture of the market when the time comes for them to buy.
• Schedule an appointment with a lender to get them preapproved or to establish a plan of action to take the steps to get qualified. By having them compile and provide all needed documents for underwriting in advance, they will be prepared to take advantage of an opportunity when it arises.
• Set them up to receive automated emails of homes that come on the market in their preapproved price range and the location they might desire.
• Put on your calendar the dates to call them with a market update and to see if their time frame has changed.
• Develop a next 10 list on a whiteboard of the next 10 buyers you anticipate will be buying in your pipeline. The list should include their name, area they prefer to buy in, size of home/amenities they desire, stated time frame to buy, estimated sales price, and the date of the last time you added personalized value to them. The key is to look at this list daily to make sure you are adding value and keeping in touch with this group consistently, just like you are with the potential listing prospects.

Sphere of influence referral plan of action

Make a list of the 10 people who are most likely to send you a referral in 2024. Here are a few ways to maximize the referral opportunities with this group:

• Call and ask them to meet for coffee or lunch to catch up. During lunch, tell them your goal for this year is to help as many people as possible, then ask if there is anything you can do for them like leaving a review for their business, supporting their company or favorite charity, or supporting a friend or family member of theirs in some way.
• When they ask you how they can help you, let them know that part of your goal this year is to help as many people buy or sell real estate as possible. Then ask them for one favor, to just send one person this year who you hear about who will be buying or selling real estate. Tell them that would be the best thing they could possibly do for you, and let them know that you want to thank them in advance for assisting you with helping as many people as possible in the coming year.
• Put monthly appointments in your schedule to call them to check-in.

How will you generate the additional conversations needed for your transactions goal?

The three groups above will more than likely not provide all the needed real estate-related conversations for the year to meet your goal. This means you will need to develop additional lead-generation sources for buyers and sellers. Here are a few strategies to consider for both groups of prospects.

7 strategies to generate buyer prospects

•     Re-engage with buyer prospects in your database.
•     Buy online leads from online lead generation companies.
•     Host open houses.
•     Produce searchable video content for buyers.
•     Produce lead-generation social media content with a strong call to action.
•     Develop and provide a free buyer brochure for your area.
•     Host a first-time homebuyer seminar.

7 strategies to generate listing prospects

• Focus on expired listings.
• Provide unsolicited video CMAs to homeowners.
• Host open houses.
• Geographically farm a neighborhood.
• Circle prospects by calling the 25 nearest neighbors to a home that you list or sell to give them details about the listing/sale and ask if they have any plans to sell their home in the next few years.
• Add value to For Sale by Owners.
• Produce searchable video content for sellers.

If you need inspiration on additional lead sources, check out this article: 24 Of The Best Ways To Generate Real Estate Leads In 2024.

You can have the best plan ever, but until you do something, nothing happens. If you truly want to have your best year ever in 2024, develop your plan of action and execute on your plan. The level of success you will achieve is only limited by the amount of effort you take.

Jimmy Burgess is the CEO for Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Beach Properties of Florida in Northwest Florida. Connect with him on Instagram and LinkedIn.