Technology TransactionsFive Surefire Steps To Cure A Slump
Is it time for you to get into action? Whether you need to blitz for a week or all month, committing to action will bring you business. It’s the planting of seeds for the future. Soon you’ll be complaining about not enough time to take care of the flood of business. That would be a good dilemma to create. Boost your business with a blitz!
* Assess all that you do have
Your attitude is one of the most important resources you have. When things slow down, the average agent starts to focus on what he doesn’t have. A fundamental law of the universe is that we will always get more of what is most real to us and what we focus on expands. So when an agent begins to see scarcity all over, she will use all the collaborating evidence she can find to justify the continuation of this thinking: i.e. the market has slowed down, the FSBO’s are being more successful, there just aren’t any listings out there. And then it appears more and more real because she has gathered evidence and usually a lot of agreement with the other unproductive agents in the office.
At this point, the thinking also will tend to “awfulize” the situation and take the worst outcome—perhaps becoming a bag lady—and start focusing on that. And then things tend to stay stuck here for a long time.
The extraordinary agent, on the other hand, will focus on what they do have, knowing that some agents do business even when the economy has slowed or it’s a ‘bad time” of the year. They remember that business seems to flow sometimes and other times it slows down. They know they can find evidence to support the fact that there are still buyers and sellers in the market. They take time each day to be grateful that they have a house and a car and health and an opportunity to make an unlimited income. Focusing on the abundance creates more of that evidence and the slump subsides pretty quickly.
Take a good look at what works
Life is too short to perfect your weaknesses or to struggle with persistence of trying to make something work. It’s a funny thing, but most people have been brainwashed to believe that struggle is good and proves you are worthy! Wouldn’t it be more fun to work SMART? To have FUN? Usually I find we have opportunities right under our noses that we aren’t recognizing as such and/or aren’t leveraging.
Most agents who have treated their clients well have the best opportunity for future business from referral from these people and yet they seem to think they need to find cold people to call on. Pick the low hanging fruit!
When business slows down, look at what is working and see if you can do more of that. Let go of the things that aren’t working. When I used to work as a marketing consultant to agents, I’d see 20% of business coming from sign calls and less than 10% from ad calls. Yet the spending was maybe 5% on signs and 80% on ads. What if that agent put all their listings on the back of their flyers in the flyer boxes and added their website address to their name riders? Or, what if they used an Automatic Response Systems that gave them the phone number of the hot prospect that was looking so they could call them back right then and easily provide the information needed in a risk-free manner for the client?
Do some research and development thinking time. Take a look at the last 20 transactions you did and see what generated the initial lead. Then do more of that!
Take action, create a blitz
Taking action is what I call stirring up the cosmic dust. Have you ever noticed when you get really busy at taking action, making calls and connecting, business often flows to you from areas you haven’t even focused on? You’re making calls to your sphere of influence and all of a sudden someone from your farm area calls and wants you to list their house. It seems like luck, but it’s the old saying about the more prepared you are the luckier you get.
"The common conception is that motivation leads to action, but the reverse is true -- action precedes motivation.You have to "prime the pump" and get the juice flowing, which motivates you to work on your goals. Getting momentum going is the most difficult part of the job, and often taking the first step is enough to prompt you to make the best of your day." - Robert J. McKain
Take good care of yourself
You’ll attract more people and business because you’ll be feeling good and be projecting positive energy. This is the very time to make sure that you are getting enough rest and time off to balance the focused time you spend on the blitz. You need to be at your sharpest and your best. When a slump occurs, the most common reaction is to start “trying” to make business happen. It’s good to remember what Yoda said,”Try not. Do or Do Not. There is no try.”
Focus on treating yourself well.
Get a massage.
Take a day with a friend and do something you love to do
Go to the beach or hike in the mountains
Take the kids to the zoo
Eat Right
Exercise or do whatever you find relieves stress for you
Have some fun!