Five Keys to Your Strongest Year Yet: 2017!

Four years ago, we launched the Coach’s Playbook and our updated training programs under our new LEAP Training Systems banner, including the Peak Producers training and our Wednesday Wake Up and Tech Savvy Thursday training sessions live and via Go to Meeting to offer everyone the opportunity for that “kaizen” or continuous improvement in your business that Gino Blefari, CEO of our parent organization, HSF, speaks and blogs about regularly. 

So, now that football season and the World Series have started in earnest, it’s time to start thinking about 2017! Of course, it’s an undeniable truth in our business that transaction activity will typically be slowing down over the next couple of chilly months, so how do we continue to make the most productive use of our time to make our business profitable? That means it’s time to again remember those FIVE KEYS TO SUCCESS! Your management and coaching teams are available to help you do the planning and preparation you need to kick off 2017 at full speed and make it your best year yet.

First, you’ll want to MASTER YOUR STATS. You can use that information as the basis for planning your action for 2017; then hopefully you’ll find a stat that allows you to differentiate yourself in your market; and finally you may note an area you can focus on for improvement. We recommend looking not just at your sales volume or gross commissions, but digging into your average side price, your average days-on-market, and your average commission percentage rate, with a goal to average at least 3.0%!

Once you’ve captured your stats, you can CREATE YOUR ROADMAP, a detailed business plan with an updated mission statement, target market, cash flow budget, and marketing plan. The ideal plan will break things down to show you THE ACTIVITIES YOU NEED TO DO EACH WEEK to build your business for the long term based on repeat and referral business. Remember, people with written plans—and who track their progress regularly—in any endeavor, are many times more successful than those who have no plan or tap their head and say “It’s all up here!” Your management and coaching teams will be there to help you through this process between now and the end of the year.

Also, you can spend some of the cool season MASTERING YOUR PROCESS and making sure all your technology tools, your CRM lists, and your presentations, service delivery, and negotiation approach are all in fine tuned working order and up to date. Our regular training on systems and business skills are a great opportunity for you to add more arrows to your quiver!

And—most fun of all—you can PERSONALIZE YOUR TOUCHES by contacting all those friends, clients (remember, there’s no such thing as a “past” client, they’re either active or inactive!) and potential clients to spend some of that face to face time at the top of the pyramid of the 7 Levels of Communication to build your referral based business. Don’t forget that wonderful “What can I do to help you and your business” conversation opener!

Finally you can make the habit to PRACTICE ACCOUNTABILITY by completing your business plan and implementing an agenda to keep you on track DAILY so you can make 2017 your strongest year ever!

David M. Hassler

VP, Professional Development