So, what are the driving forces behind business growth? More than any tool or resource, it boils down to the actions you take as an agent and/or business owner.
Here are three main actions any entrepreneur can take to drastically grow his or her business.
Build Customer Loyalty
For agents, customer loyalty leads to repeat business. It leads to more referral business. It leads to positive word of mouth that attracts new buyers or sellers. For business owners, it’s just as crucial, as loyal agents (a brokerage’s most direct customer) help create an environment that serves both recruiting and retention.
So, how does one build customer loyalty? There are many ways, but fortunately, the most effective is also basically free: improving customer service.
Pay attention to your customers. Care about what they say. Return calls and emails promptly. Smile and greet people when they walk in your door. Communicate. Admit your oversights or errors. Follow up. Check in. Send thank yous.
Sounds easy, right? It is. It’s also amazing how many businesses fall short in this area.
Know Who’s in Control
Many uncontrollable forces can influence a business: market conditions, changing demographics, local and national regulations, even the weather.
Truth is, for the most successful, enduring businesses, these external factors largely don’t matter. For within all the variables involved in running your operations, the one constant is you.
Business owners who take personal responsibility for their outcomes are positioned to thrive in the face of external challenges that leave others falling by the wayside.
Blaming others (or external forces) has never solved a problem or increased results. Owning your results—good or bad—empowers you to make necessary changes and create your own destiny, no matter what may be happening around you.
Focus Your Attention
Every agent and broker has the same amount of time in a day. What they choose to do with that time makes all the difference.
Think of it this way: If you want to improve something in your business (or life), consider what can result if you commit just 60 minutes a day to that one thing. Given a five-day work week, this adds up to 20 hours a month, and 240 hours a year. For an eight-hour work day, that equates to 6.5 weeks a year!
The implications are enormous. What could you accomplish with 6.5 weeks of focused time? How many more clients could you reach? How far could you take your social media presence? What kind of impact could you make in your marketing? What might your website look like? Note: It doesn’t have to be fun. Drop the excuses. Commit. Do it.
The beauty of the actions above is that they’re not only highly effective, but they cost nothing. A small change in your mindset could be all it takes to create a thriving, growing business.
Geoff Lewis is president of RE/MAX, LLC. For more information, please visit www.remax.com.
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