Jeff Bonham Real Estate Coach

Lately the topic that seems to be coming up most with producing agents tends to be about how they utilize their time and how they set boundaries in their lives so they can accomplish everything they need to accomplish. If you are an agent who is steadily doing 3 or more deals a month then you know it can sometimes be painful to figure out how to generate new business, how to service existing business, how to make time for dinner with the family, attend the kids ballgames, go to church, give back to the community, mow your lawn, pay the bills, spend time with friends and possibly even take a vacation.

"Vacation! Are you kidding me? When do you expect me to take a vacation," you may ask. Well, some of you who think you did take a vacation, did you answer client or office calls on your cell phone while you were away? If so, you did not take a vacation. You simply worked from a remote location.

If you want to have life balance you must first embrace the philosophy that Stephen Covey so well demonstrates in his YouTube video" First Thing First - Easy Understanding through Clip! Rocks!" If you cut and paste that into the YouTUbe search you will see what I mean. We need to do better in our profession about getting in tune with our priorities, both business and personal. You need to place your big rocks in your calendar first. You need to block your family time, your spiritual time, and your rejuvenate time before you put any other pencil scratches on your calendar. If at the end of the day you worked 15 hours but you end up divorced and a weekend parent, was the sacrifice worth the money?

If you will take a look at Gary Keller's book, The Millionaire REal Estate Agent, and at least look at page 308, you will find a great outline for starting your day and time blocking. If you are disciplined enough to do what he suggests by 11 am, the rest of your business day will be taken care of. The next thing you need to be able to do is to take control of hwo you spend your time the rest of the day. For example, only agree to do evening appointments on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday nights if they can't meet during the day. Only do listing presentations, buyer presentations and home showings a couple of nights a week and only until 1pm on Saturday. Make sure you reserve at least 2 weeknights and the majority of the weekend for yourself and your family . After all, your family deserves it, they put up with you don't they?

One of the most simple tips I can give you is to change your voicemail and set specific call back times. For example, "Hi, you've reached Jeff Bonham with Keller Williams Realty, I will be returning my calls today between 11-12 and again between 4:30-5:30. If it is outside those hours I guarantee I will call you back at the very next scheduled time. Thanks for calling, and have a great day." If you try this technique for 2 weeks I promise you that you will get more done than ever because you will be able to focus on the task at hand. Whether that be prospecting, showing houses, business planning, reviewing your financials, whatever it is. You will not be distracted and in a responsive mode. Instead you will take charge of your time, be proactive, and take charge of your stress at the same time. I also found it allows me to formulate my thoughts before I call the individual back rather than be caught off guard and reactive. I always prefer to be the one making the call rather then receiving the call becuase I find it easier to control the flow of the conversation and take it down the path I want with well planned dialogue.

Always Remember, There Are No Limits!

So, the other day I was visiting with an associate who is basically frustrated with their career, with their income, with their life, and with the "same ol' ways of doing things."  Does any of this sound familiar?

I believe we all get burned out and frustrated at times.  The difference is how we choose to react to the situation.  In a conference I attended a few days ago down in Covington, LA I heard a beautiful statement about one of the top agents in our company at the National level who said(and I'm paraphrasing here), that she loves when she gets frustrated and completely dissatisfied because that usually happens right before a major breakthrough in her business.

Now, let me start off by saying she is a master at self-mastery, which has led her on this amazing path many of us admire from a distance.  But to be quite honest, most of us are equipped with the same tools and natural abilities as she has.  Many of us have sat in the same training room she has.  So, what makes the difference between those that achieve at an incredibly high level, closing 100+ units or more and making high six figure or seven-figure incomes and the rest of us?  The answer is usually about mastery.  They have made the decision to 100%, with no questions asked, thrown their full heart and soul into mastering the models of a successful person.  They have decided.  They have commited.  They are passionate about where they are going and why it is so important they reach their goals.

So, when the rest of us get frustrated, and we want something new to work on because we are tired of the methods or results we are currently getting, my question back is always whether or not you have mastered the most basic fundamentals first?  Are your scripts nailed??  Are you time blocking massive amounts of hours for lead generation?  Is your presentation so smooth that you can say it in your sleep and handle any objection without even having to calculate a response?  If not, go back to the drawing board.  Get an accountability partner and role play.  I'd rather you practice on your colleague than on your client.  Once you master those then we will talk about the additional building blocks to take you to the next level through leverage, technology, team building, etc.

I know that most of us don't wake up in the morning incredibly excited about picking up the phone for 3 hours and calling on FSBO, expireds, or even our Sphere.  But that is what the best of the best are doing in this market.  So, try this:  think about what makes you happiest in the world.  Is it sitting on the beach with your spouse and children?  Is it traveling to little off-the-beaten-path Bed and Breakfasts?  Is it shopping on Rodeo?  Whatever it is, get in tune with that.  Make an emotional attachment to what makes you happier than anything else in this world.  Then, attach that visual to your lead generation efforts.  Understand that the more you master lead generation, the more you can do the 1 thing that makes you happiest.  Put a visual up on your wall of your attachment next to your prospecting mirror so you can see it next to your smiling face as you prepare to make the dials.  Then make your calls, be excited knowing that every dial you make gets you closer to achieving the finances and the freedom you are craving.

Always Remember, There Are No Limits!

Jeff Bonham 

Desire - verb: to wish or long for; crave; want.

Commitment - noun: The state of being bound emotionally or intellectually to a course of action or to another person or persons

Like many of my other posts, this one has to do with mindset. The reason it comes up is that we had a training event in my office yesterday with Hobbs/Herder where we discussed image campaigns, lead generation strategies, commitment, focus, etc and that there always tends to be 3 types of agents in any market: 1) agents getting out of the business; 2) agents struggling to survive or just getting by; 3) agents making a fortune.

Often times, what I have seen separate them all is simply understanding Commitment vs. Desire. I often hear agents talking about what they want. "I'd like to sell 50 houses a year" or "I want to make six-figures" or "I want to be a top producer." That's great and all, because having goals starts with wants. But as the old adage says, a goal without a plan of action is nothing more than a wish.

This is a market that takes true, 100% commitment. It takes being BOUND to a course of action.

It takes being BOUND Emotionally to the outcome.

It takes being BOUND in order to push through the sometimes painful experiences that create much needed growth on a personal and professional level.

It takes being willing to stretch the limits of your time, your money, you skill development, your lead generating, your understanding of business ownership, of creating quality time with your clients, co-workers, and most importantly your family.

This is a time where it takes Commitment, not Desire, if you plan on joining me on the other side of this uphill market mountain.

Because there is one thing I know, I am Committed to not only come out on the other side of this as a survivor, but I am committed to doing it with more market share than I had last year and with a bigger smile, too.

Always Remember, There Are No Limits!
Jeff Bonham

I am pretty sure that by now, there is not a single organism living and breathing in the United States that doesn't know the real estate market has shifted. The competition for qualified buyers and sellers has become greater as we wait for the law of equilibrium to kick in, to a point where the average number of closed transactions per year balances out. We are seeing drastic drops in agents staying in the business, and as a result not only are the wallets getting thinner of many associates, but many brokers are also feeling the purse strings tighten.

I am regularly visiting with agents and coaching them on re-margining their business, upshifting their lead generation activities, and being relentless on lead follow up. We believe it will take twice as many leads in order to close similar numbers of units in previous years. In order for you to survive and thrive in 2009 you need to be willing to be flexible enough to adapt your business practice in a fashion that will enable you to plow through these next few years and to come out on the other side with a smile on your face and the medal of survival proudly pinned to your lapel.

So it stands to reason that if you have to be flexible enough to adapt then your broker needs to be able to do the same. I have spoken in the last few weeks with several independent broker/owners who more than ever are trying to retool their business model in order to eek out a profit. It has become a time of lowering splits, or raising expenses, or decreasing amenities for many of them or they will suffer losses that may not allow them to stay in operation. Many agents are beginning to question the value they receive from their organization and are expecting more. It will be interesting to see what companies are left standing after the next 12-18 months.

This market is one where the swift to adapt will survive and grow, much like evolution in the environment this will force evolution within our industry. It is one that I welcome and I must say I feel incredibly blessed to be with an organization that embraces change, that listens to the heartbeat of the associates on the streets, and that strives to implement the changes required to help our associates survive and actually increase their market share during this down cycle. Because after all, it is just a cycle, but if we learn from history and don't simply sit on our laurels, we learn it is during adverse times that greatness develops!

Always Remember, There Are No Limits!

Jeff

I am pretty sure that by now, there is not a single organism living and breathing in the United States that doesn't know the real estate market has shifted. The competition for qualified buyers and sellers has become greater as we wait for the law of equilibrium to kick in, to a point where the average number of closed transactions per year balances out. We are seeing drastic drops in agents staying in the business, and as a result not only are the wallets getting thinner of many associates, but many brokers are also feeling the purse strings tighten.

I am regularly visiting with agents and coaching them on re-margining their business, upshifting their lead generation activities, and being relentless on lead follow up. We believe it will take twice as many leads in order to close similar numbers of units in previous years. In order for you to survive and thrive in 2009 you need to be willing to be flexible enough to adapt your business practice in a fashion that will enable you to plow through these next few years and to come out on the other side with a smile on your face and the medal of survival proudly pinned to your lapel.

So it stands to reason that if you have to be flexible enough to adapt then your broker needs to be able to do the same. I have spoken in the last few weeks with several independent broker/owners who more than ever are trying to retool their business model in order to eek out a profit. It has become a time of lowering splits, or raising expenses, or decreasing amenities for many of them or they will suffer losses that may not allow them to stay in operation. Many agents are beginning to question the value they receive from their organization and are expecting more. It will be interesting to see what companies are left standing after the next 12-18 months.

This market is one where the swift to adapt will survive and grow, much like evolution in the environment this will force evolution within our industry. It is one that I welcome and I must say I feel incredibly blessed to be with an organization that embraces change, that listens to the heartbeat of the associates on the streets, and that strives to implement the changes required to help our associates survive and actually increase their market share during this down cycle. Because after all, it is just a cycle, but if we learn from history and don't simply sit on our laurels, we learn it is during adverse times that greatness develops!

Always Remember, There Are No Limits!

Jeff