The Larger Questions

This time of year, our coaching and the Playbook focus a lot on numbers as we encourage folks to master their stats and create their roadmap for 2015 as part of an annual business plan. We look beyond sales volume and GCI to things like average DOM and average side price and even average commission rates, so agents can both differentiate themselves and set target areas for improvement. The details are the key to this analysis and planning work.

But this time of year, when transaction activity is typically at a lower pace, is also a great time to step back and look at the bigger picture, to ask some larger questions.

First of all, as you review your business for 2014, you might want to consider what event or experience with a client or transaction was the most rewarding for you. Not in terms of dollars, but in terms of gratification for a job well done, a difficult problem solved, or a client’s perhaps unexpected gratitude. Think about that situation or experience and see if there is some key element or pattern that can be grasped and learned and repeated in your own actions and attitude. Wouldn’t it be great if we could achieve that kind of satisfaction in our business regularly?

Next, think about the opposite, the most challenging situation or event or relationship in your business last year. What went wrong? Who did it impact beyond yourself? What role did your own actions and attitude play in creating the issue? And most importantly, of course, what might you have done differently to prevent or minimize the negative impact, and how can you integrate that learning into your approach to similar situations in the future?

Finally, the most important of these questions: what do you want from the business in 2015 for yourself and your family? How is your business integrated with your overall goals as a person and member of the community, and what is it, beyond any monetary considerations, that drives and encourages you?

Simple questions, really, but ones we all too often forget to contemplate. Let’s all take some time before the snow melts to incorporate these larger questions into our business planning so 2015 can truly be our best year in all respects.

David M. Hassler

VP, Director of Business Development