next year COULD be better

Over the last few weeks, I have had a little extra fun in my workshops. The first question I ask the group is, “Next year, are most agents going to have a better year, a worse year, or pretty much the same?”

The group always answers, “The same.”

Then I ask, “What about you?”

The group emphatically answers, “Better!!!”

While I appreciate the optimism, how can that be?

When I ask people to write down what they are going to do specifically next year, they don’t have a good answer. They have answers, but not ones that will likely make any difference. They say things like:

• Better systems
• More follow-up
• Being consistent
• Delegating
• New marketing plan
• Increased price point

None of those things is bad. Chances are, you might have said the same thing. In fact, you probably said some of them last year! So, how can any of those make a difference?

We’re back to hoping - and also praying that the real estate gods shine down on us. Probably not the strategy that will increase your odds of having a better year next year.

Now, many other coaches and trainers will give specific tactics and tricks to “force” your way into a better year. Do this video! Mail this postcard! Text people with this script!

Sure, that stuff works? It’s minor league stuff, though.

How about this: If you want a better year, be a better professional.

Heck, just be a better person, and you’ll probably have a better year - in all areas of your life.

As I am wrapping up the third and final section of my new book, the question I come back to: What’s the point? I mean, what’s the point of those 13 Virtues? What’s the point of being trustworthy?

The following themes stand out to me:

1. If you want to work less, earn more, and have more time off - you gotta be good at what you do, and you must have clients who trust you. Even more importantly, you have to trust them.
2. When it comes to trust, the biggest hurdle to deeper and higher trust relationships: people need to start by trusting themselves. And, they have to be willing to give trust.
3. Our clients, and our peers for that matter, are subconsciously asking themselves this question when it comes to dealing with us: “Are you going to do right by me?” Said another way, “Can I count on you?”

Most sales training, and for sure most real estate sales training, is around force (and manipulation). It’s about forcing your agenda and will on others. It’s about you getting the sale - and getting paid. It’s about you.

If you look at your interactions with clients - or with other agents - consider that anytime things are not working, it might be because you are trying to force your way.

“Power unifies, force polarizes.”
And
“Power serves others, force is self-serving.”

• From David R. Hawkins book Power vs. Force.

To have power in your business, you must be for others. It’s about getting out of your own way and being with people, where they are. Instead, most people are trying to avoid talking and being with people.

Can’t I just email them? What about a text - doesn’t that count? Surely they see me on IG?

In the end, most good real estate agents are “capable”. The point to consider in your differentiation is...you. Do you make the client feel safe? Can they be sure that you are going to do right by them?

Or, when the sale is closed, can the client confidently say, “I trust you.”