Business Plan Implementation

I started a short series on business planning using Stephen Covey's Seven Habits as a guide. In my first post I talked about what Covey refers to as Private Victory and the first three habits: be proactive, begin with the end in mind, and put first things first. This post will focus on the Public Victory areas of: think win-win, seek first to understand then to be understood, and synergize.

You can apply these three habits in the implementation of your business plan as you are actually in field working with buyers, sellers, other agents, title companies, lenders and the other professionals we deal with on a regular basis.

Think win-win is an appropriate mindset when working with your customers. If you do your job well your customer has their home sold or their purchase closed and you get paid for your efforts. Your customer and you both have an incentive to work together and you both win at closing. This is also the best mindset to have when approaching the other agent, the title agent and the lender. By working together toward a successful closing every professional involved benefits.

Seek first to understand then to be understood is really the secret to success of any salesperson. Your customer is not looking to be sold, they are looking for your professional opinions and advice. You are their advocate in the transaction, and you need to understand their concerns. Ask your customer questions, then be quiet and listen. A little time listening to your customer can yield a much more productive relationship with them.

Finally, synergize goes hand in hand with thinking win-win with the other people involved in closing your transaction. I have had a business relationship with the same title agency and the same loan officer for about 13 years. I stongly encourage my customers to work with these people, because I have complete confidence their transaction will be handled professionally. I find that the transactions I close with these folks go so much more smoothly. You need to try to synergize with whoever may be providing your customer's loan or closing their transaction, but whenever you can working with your partners takes the synergy to another level.

There is one habit left, and I'll cover that in my next post.