An agent friend of mine is in a quandary. In a nut, my dear friend is under the gun from her broker to produce at least one listing and one buyer sale every month. Here it is March 26th, and she has no listing prospect in sight. What to do, What to do?
Traditional wisdom would have her knocking on FSBO doors and calling Expireds. After all, you can't exactly call up your Sphere of Influence and try to convince someone to move who doesn't really wanna. But that's not what this blog is about.
When I joined Coldwell Banker back in the 90's they had an annual award if an agent got one listing and one buyer sale every month for the calendar year. I wanted that award, and I got it. Because I WANTED to, not because I was told to! Had my broker told me I had to have one of each every month, I'd have definitely rebelled, or maybe even come up with all kinds of excuses why I couldn't do it!
Here are my thoughts on Production Goals: (this is excerpted from the 2nd edition of ny book, Sell with Soul, due out before summer):
"...make your goals meaningful to you. I don't advise making specific production goals - as in "I'll sell five houses this month" or "I'll have three closings every month." The problem with these types of goals is that much of what it takes to meet those goals is out of your control, or should be.
What do I mean by that? I mean that if you are working with buyers, the inventory of the market is out of your control. The perfect home for your buyer may not be available right now or your buyer may need more time to decide. It is not soulful to push your buyer to contract on a home, just so you can meet your goal.
Likewise, there's not much you can do above and beyond your regular marketing to get your listings sold and closed within your specific parameters. You don't want to motivate yourself to manipulate your clients for your own purposes; you might find yourself forgetting who you represent. However, you can motivate yourself to go get buyers and listings; you just can't necessarily control when they buy, sell or close.
So instead of making general production goals, make your goals a little more specific and 100% within your control. For example, how do you feel about these annual goals?
By the end of March:
- Adding 40 people to your Sphere of Influence (SOI)
- 100 homes previewed
- 3 new home neighborhoods visited
- 15 lunch dates
- 25 "outings"
- 5 open houses
- 3 SOI e‑mails sent out
- 1 mailing that included your business card
- 1 continuing education class
- 50 thank you cards sent
By the end of June:
- 80 names added to your SOI
- 200 homes previewed
- 6 new home neighborhoods visited
- 30 lunch dates
- 50 "outings"
- 10 open houses
- 6 SOI e‑mails sent out
- 2 mailings that included your business card
- 3 continuing education classes
- 100 thank you cards sent
- 1 dinner party for friends
By the end of December:
- 140 names added to your SOI
- 400 homes previewed
- 10 new home neighborhoods visited
- 60 lunch dates
- 100 "outings"
- 20 open houses
- 10 SOI e‑mails sent out
- Your two mailings plus an end‑of‑year mailing (calendar, newsletter, holiday card, etc.)
- 6 continuing education classes
- 200 thank you cards sent
- 2 dinner parties for friends
- 1 housewarming party for a client
These goals are all completely doable and 100% within your control. If you meet these goals, you will have consistent business, no question. Did you notice that I didn't include any cold‑calling or any for‑sale‑by‑owner prospecting? If you want to add some more traditional prospecting methods into your goals, go for it. But if you don't want to, don't worry about it-you'll have plenty of good business without bothering strangers.
If you have business coming in regularly, go ahead and include some production goals. But again, don't make goals that will encourage you to pressure your clients inappropriately. Perhaps you can set a goal of $70,000 gross commission for the year and simply monitor your progress toward that goal every month. Or, strive to increase your commission split by a level or two (if your split is determined by your production). If you're not on track, take a look at your prospecting goals (above) and make sure you're meeting those."
www.sellwithsoul.com
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I worked for a broker who fills the office with quotas. I left for just that reason.