Put a Wrap on Your 2017 Business Plan
8 Quick Tips to Finalize Your Plan
One of the most important things that I learned when I moved from a nursing career to real estate, is that you can only fly by the seat of your pants for SO long!
A business plan is a MUST in ANY business...AND THIS IS A BUSINESS - YOUR BUSINESS. Constantly tweaking your plan is imperative in order to achieve success.
While reflecting on your previous year's business, be a little critical of yourself, your practices and your expenses. Ask yourself what you can do to improve on at least one item in each of these categories. You'll be thrilled to watch your business grow.
Here are 8 tips to help you on your way to a wildly successful 2017:
- Pick up any items that you will need to jump-start your New Year's office organization while your're doing your post-holiday shopping. Then, clean out your office--if you haven't used an item/book/paper all year, FILE-13-it!
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Calculate your marketing expenses for 2016. If you weren't diligent in keeping up with these, take the time to pull them all together and create a spreadsheet with every one of your marketing expenditures. You don't have to design an elaborate spreadsheet but, you do need to know the cost of each item and, more importantly, it's ROI. What was the response from the marketing item? Is it something that is worth repeating next year? Did it pay for itself? If it did not pay for itself and also pay YOU, do NOT include it in your 2017 business plan.
***Read that again...if it didn't PAY FOR ITSELF AND THEN SOME, it's NOT WORTH KEEPING!*** - Fine tune your sphere of influence: Take a bit of time to make certain that your sphere contacts are up-to-date and if they're not already added, add them to your CRM. This includes uploading your contacts into your marketing database - hopefully you're utilizing a database that will handle your mailings for YOU. Having your CRM database complete also gives you the ability to only have to click ONE button to send all of your sphere an email telling them that you have a new listing, an event coming up, an announcement, etc.
- Join a civic organization if you haven't done so already. This is a great source for contacts but, most importantly, it allows YOU to give back to YOUR community and learn even more about the community that you're trying to sell.
- READ everything that you can get your hands on about real estate, your city, state and the mortgage industry! Sounds simple and I know that reading takes time and we are overwhelmed with reading materials but, be selective and read only the publications that you feel are MOST relevant to YOUR business.
- Begin a checklist with items #1-5. Maintain that checklist throughout the year--incorporate your business plan and marketing plan with your daily/weekly/monthly checklists and goals. You will surprise yourself at how much you'll accomplish when you use a checklist! (One checklist tip: HIGHLIGHT or simply check beside the item that you've accomplished on the list--strikethroughs do not give you the sense of accomplishment that you get with a check or highlight).
Designations: Now is a GREAT time to start a class or two to obtain another designation that will help you with your business. I know, a lot of agents believe that clients don't really care what's behind your name but, you will be surprised just how much you learn in just one of these classes each year! Educating YOURSELF truly does help YOUR business!- Remember to incorporate your blog and your website in your plan! Tweak your website, learn as much as you can about SEO (search engine optimization) and how it can benefit YOU! Embrace technology! Hey, if I can do it, anybody can!
This week, make the time to take a moment or two to reflect on your past year in business and finalize your goals for 2017! If you have already done so, congratulations--you're ahead of the game!
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
© Debe Maxwell | The Maxwell House Group | CharlotteBroker@icloud.com | Put a Wrap on Your 2017 Business Plan
