I borrowed this expression from one the excellent Real Living Brokers in North Carolina, Scott Hoyt. It hit home to me...guilty as charged! We occasionally avoid eating the "fat frog", so regardless of how successful you are, or think you are, we all lose focus on the most important pieces of our personal life and our professional life. Since January 1st, I have had the taxes return paperwork strewn across my office floor waiting to be filed, I know it has to be done but I just don't like to do it. Let's not even talk about my filing system... It's a good thing I have a great accountant at Real Living... (My Daughter)
So exactly what is the "Fat Frog"... it's the activity that you know is essential to make your business successful but get too busy with eating the little frogs... (Moving papers, doing research, building web sites, commiserating with other agents, and of course lunch) I suggest the "Fat Frog" for Realtors is Customers and for Brokers (as Scott reminded me) is our Agents...
Anyway, "Fat Frogs" are not to be confused with our daily fires... Have you ever gotten to the end of the busy day and found that you didn't make a single dollar or even worse you didn't pave the way for future sales either? That's bad for you, your family and your customers... "Your Purpose", needs to be your "Focus", even through the smoke of ragging fires. We have all known the 80/20 rule, and many agents spend their time on the activities that don't actually produce results. It's easy to do... Most of us did not start our professional life as business owners. We generally started off working for someone else, and getting paid to accomplish tasks. Well surprise, you're the Boss... That's right, the day you became a Realtor or a Broker you became the Boss... So it's your choice, where your time is best spent. Customers? Inventory? Contract to Close? In the case of my broker friends, Agents. Not that you needed a reminder, but 80% our time needs to be spent on Developing, Recruiting and Retaining our agents... And likewise, our agents need to spend 80% of their time on customers... Ya I know... In the beginning, Inventory and Customer need to get an equal amount of attention... but after 12-24 months, the learning curve on inventory should be back in line... I suggest a good exercise is to evaluate which stage of business best describes you today?
Getting in...
Growing...
Maintaining...
Getting out...
I think you know where you are... and it's ok for you to go back and forth between growing, maintaining and getting out... Lately a lot of agents have just gotten out, I think it's because they never developed good habits to grow their business. The challenge we face with the new market is maintaining our business, this no longer includes picking the low hanging fruit. It's about discipline, hard work, dedication, focus, determination, isolation, disappointment, and compensation... The definition of "compensation" is the amount of money given for work done and a definition for a "reward" is a repayment of worth for effort given... Simply related, making widgets for a paycheck is Compensation, figuring out how to get them sold is a Reward... So here is a 2000 point system to get you back on track for a six figure income, get your listings sold in a tight market, and enjoy the greatest business on the planet. We have broken down each day into 100 points. Remember its widgets... not rocket science... its simple tasks, when accomplished everyday will keep you on track or get you back on track. Take a look at our "Back to Business" Model; it contains a realistic point value for each task. (1 being easiest and 10 being hardest and generally the most productive)
http://www.realliving.com/Tony.Marino/BacktoBusinessModel.asp
Most of us have a common thread in our daily tasks but overall success is based upon your expectations. My goal was simply to remind you about the "Fat Frogs" Your job is to eat...
Tuesdays with Tony
Comments (3)Subscribe to CommentsComment