What is your mission?
I am a broker and trainer for two real estate offices and last week we kicked off a ten module professional development program for our agents. It is geared toward newer agents, but the principles are timeless and apply to all agents, so our entire staff of agents is going through the whole program.
Plan...Do you have one?
Today's module dealt with writing a business plan, creating your mission statement, creating a vision for your business, goal setting, prospecting and business building. We spent quite a lot of time on the Mission Statement part, because quite frankly I believe that every agent needs one and many fail out of real estate because they have no clue why they are here to begin with. Liking to look at houses and being a people person is not a mission!
What are your core values?
I challenged the group to take a few minutes and think about themselves...what their core values are, how they want to be perceived by their customers and what the principles that they want to build their business on are. I could tell that some of the agents were struggling to get their head around this exercise, but at the end of the allotted time, everyone had at least five core values on their list. Next I asked them to study the list and pick the one value that most defined who they are as a person. This is the foundation for the mission statement. I told them you will probably boil it down to between 3 and 5 values and those are the values from which you will build your mission statement.
Your mission is your filter...
I shared a story with the class about an organization that I was involved in the leadership of a few years back that didn't have a mission statement. We had a strategic planning meeting for two days and on day one created our mission. That mission statement from that day forward became the filter through which everything flowed. Simply put, if we were going to do something and it didn't match up to our core values and mission statement...we didn't do it!!! All of the sudden you could see a glimmer of hope in the eyes of the students, especially the ones who were struggling with the concept.
Where there is no vision...people perish...
That is Biblical and whether you believe the Bible or not it is a true statement. Just like in life, in your real estate business if you have no vision, you will most likely fail out of real estate or never really be a success. Those who build a business that stands the test of time are a rarity and I would bet that they have a definite vision for their business.
Rewarding...
At the end of the class everyone was filled to the brim with hope, inspiration and a plan and I felt like I had just won the greatest victory. One of the most rewarding parts of what I do in real estate is being able to utilize the gifts the good Lord gave me to help, inspire, motivate, education and serve others. I feel immensely blessed to have the role that I have in my company, because my mission is to act with integrity, educate others and always have fun! I know what my mission is...do you?
NOTE: The photo I used in this post is of my dear friend and fellow real estate broker Major Copernicus Guerra of San Antonio, Texas. He took a nine month leave of absence from his brokerage leaving his wife to manage the business and volunteered to do a tour of duty in Iraq last year. I am honored to be his friend and more honored to personally know someone who is a true patriot! This post is dedicated to the Copernicus and the brave men and women who serve our great nation...God Bless America!!
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