Financial Freedom: Fact or Fiction?

In this day and age, most of us share some level of concern regarding our financial security. It took many years for the real estate market to show the current encouraging signs of recovery. In the interim, real estate agents fled the industry in search of more steady income. What many found during their quest for that proverbial “security blanket” is that, “It isn’t necessarily so…” Ask the countless legions of the long-term unemployed the meaning of job security. Undoubtedly, you’ll get an earful!

If counting on others to ensure financial freedom proves too elusive and risky, let’s travel back to the future and rethink our income-generating strategies. Real security comes from knowing that no matter what happens in the economy, the wherewithal to reinvent one’s self exists.

Start With Goals

Powerful goals begin with a clear vision of what is really desired. Possible options:

• No sleepless nights worrying about the bills.
• Having that six-month buffer just in case.
• Having the ready cash instead of the ready credit card.
• The pleasure of knowing that retirement can one day be a reality.

If you don’t know where you are going, then any old road will get you there. But in an effort to avoid one platitude after another, you have to develop

“S.M.A.R.T.” goals — specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and trackable. It is very difficult to do the tasks needed to achieve a goal when that goal has no power to motivate you when the climb is toughest. In other words, you’ve gotta want it bad.

Once the goals are decided upon and written down, it’s time to rev up the commitment. There’s an old saying about the real meaning of commitment. Think bacon and eggs. In those two, the chicken is involved, but the hog is committed. So, are you an egg or a hog?

Phase three is all about actions and initiatives. While it would be wonderful if we could think our way to success, putting the muscle behind the goals and commitment is incontrovertible. For real estate professionals, that’s all about embracing the basics. The most successful agents are those who do the basics daily but have developed advanced skills, methodologies, and implementation systems. It doesn’t matter where you are in the journey toward financial independence; what matters most is that you step up your game continually.

Implement the Success Formula:

1. Each week, work on bringing in a salable listing first.
2. Separate the lookers from real buyers; work with real prospects and stay in touch (through an automated contact management system) with the others.
3. Always have a buyers’ agency agreement signed.
4. If one of your own or your company’s listings meets the buyers’ needs, it could be a more lucrative deal for you. (But remember that your first duty, particularly if you have a signed buyer agency agreement, is to the buyer, so make sure you show all properties that meet the buyer’s needs.)

The truth is, if the four parts of the success formula were all that an agent adhered to faithfully, it’s probable that income would increase 200 percent. The formula is all about learning and practicing productivity rather than activity. Many hours are spent busy, and in the end there’s nothing to show for it.

To Accompany the Success Formula:

1. Apply intelligent social media strategies. All real estate is local. Become the go-to person for all things real estate in your community.
2. Focus on building a reliable client base of 500. These are the folks who will recommend you at every opportunity.
3. Embrace long-term relationships. It’s much harder and costly to develop new leads than it is to nurture past clients and customers.
4. Be sure to have a personal Web site, a presence on Facebook, an Internet marketing campaign, and an automated direct-mail program.
5. Become masterful at presenting your laptop or tablet marketing presentation, and build your skills at presenting price with conviction and self-assurance. If you need to improve in these crucial areas, check out: www.leaderschoice.com.
6. Practice handling every objection that might come up … and they do. The more skillful you become at deflecting or handling objections, the closer you move to the signature. All objections are buying signs!
7. Protect the money that you use to feed, clothe, and house your family. Instead of thinking of your income as commissions, think of it as your salary. That’s what it is. If you don’t pay yourself well, no one will.