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Real estate is not only competitive; it’s a dynamic industry with many moving parts. Creating and utilizing a solid business plan is an essential component for success. It can make the difference between reaching (or exceeding your goals) or falling short whether you’re a well-seasoned agent or someone just starting out.
Some people find business plans overwhelming, a little elusive or mysterious in their contents. In fact, that’s why far too many agents don’t complete (or ever start) their business plan for the year. So let’s demystify and simplify the process of creating, completing and using your business plan.
Simply put, your business plan helps you create clarity by helping you to define your objectives and goals for the year. Perhaps, you want to:
- Increase your sales volume
- Expand your market reach
- Bring new agents onto your team
- Streamline your processes
- Diversify your strategies
- Do it all, with greater peace of mind and focus.
Your business plan serves as a road map to help you achieve these goals by including timelines and actionable steps while consistently keeping you connected to your long-term vision. In this article, we are going to share our best tips to start or revivify a business plan — to keep your pipeline hot all summer long.
Keep personal goals
Don’t eliminate your personal goals from your business plan. Your business success should not come at the cost of your overall wellness. Be sure to include personal as well as professional goals.
What kind of personal growth will help you remain motivated and resilient, allowing you to follow through with your business plan? What about time off? A vacation? Personal retreat? Time with family and friends?
How do you want to feel at the end of the year? While real estate can be busy, demanding and time-consuming, studies show that agents will actually be more creative, innovative and productive by prioritizing time to relax and recharge. To make sure you don’t diminish or overlook the importance of including the personal in the professional, including it in your business plan is a solid way to keep it top of mind.
Gather data
Include a SWOT analysis for you as well as your business partner or team, if applicable. Identify and assess strengths: what you and your business do well and what separates you from other agents and teams.
Identify and assess weaknesses: what you and your team lack or need to improve upon.
Identify opportunities: gaps you can fill, connections you can make and actions you have not yet taken.
Finally, identify threats: negative press, industry changes or emerging competitors, all for the purpose of innovative problem-solving and action-taking.
Set SMART goals
SMART goals are specific, such as sales volume, gross commissions or the number of new agents you desire to bring onto your team. Your SMART goal is measurable and allows you to track your progress.
Your goals should be achievable. That doesn’t mean they’re not ambitious or a stretch, but they shouldn’t be a fantasy which, by definition, is impossible.
Your goals should be relevant and in alignment with your mission and overall larger vision. Finally, a SMART goal means it’s time bound and includes a deadline. This may mean you’ve broken down your larger goal for the year into quarters, months or weeks.
Practice your flex
Be flexible. Regularly review, assess progress and make any necessary adjustments in your business plan.
Too often, people become rigid and attached to the details of their business plans and lose sight of the bigger picture by getting stuck in those details. Flexibility and adaptability make way for greater insight, creativity, and possibility. Sometimes our road maps require detours, fast-tracks or alternate routes.
Know your why
Consider this your fuel. When we have a clear and compelling why, we increase the likelihood of being consistently motivated and the willingness to recommit to our goals through challenges and obstacles which are inevitable in any business and in life. So ask yourself why your goals are meaningful, important and worthwhile.
Be accountable
Accountability is your key to remaining consistent to and following through with your long-term vision and your specific goals. How will you remain accountable to your goals? Whether it’s an accountability partner, self-accountability or accountability to a coach or mentor (or all of the above), including your accountability structures in your business plan increases your likelihood of getting to your final destination.
It’s never too late to create a business plan. While we like to create goals and supportive strategies several months before the end of the year, there’s no time like the present to create and benefit from a comprehensive plan. It is a key component in effectively setting yourself up for success.
With a clear roadmap and actionable strategies in place, you can navigate the ever-changing landscape of the real estate market with confidence and achieve or exceed your personal and professional objectives.
Melanie C. Klein, M.A. and Emily Bossert are highly sought-after coaches known for empowering individuals and teams to achieve their full potential and success. Follow Melanie C. Klein and Emily Bossert on Instagram.
