Have you taken time (yet) to review last year? If not, chances are that 2015 will end up looking like 2014 did. So, if you’re satisfied with last year, skip the rest of this article. However, if you ended 2014 with more dreams than dollars, take four minutes and read to the end of this article. It could change your life—business and personal.
Ask yourself a few questions about 2014:
- Did I start the year with a written plan?
- Did it have specific action steps to take each day?
- Did I do the action steps at least 80 percent of the time each week?
- Did I review my plan at least once per quarter?
- Did I measure my results when I reviewed my plan?
- Did I modify my plan based upon my results?
After you answer these yes or no questions honestly, can you see where you fell short last year?
If you’re like most of the agents I know, you never actually wrote a plan for the year. You had some dreams, maybe even some goals (which are nothing more than dreams with deadlines), but you never decided to take the hard step of planning to really change your life. Or, if you did write a plan, it fell apart after the first deal fell through, with the “client from hell.”
Welcome to reality—and congratulations on your honesty.
So, now is the time to decide to plan for 2015.
When I say decide, I mean just that. Make the decision to set aside two hours to plan your year.
That’s right. A good plan will only take you about two hours to do—less if you have your financial data at your fingertips. Even if you don’t have the data available, you can still do your plan in two hours.
Consider the following:
- How many sides did I do last year and how much income did I have, per side? (If you don’t know your own numbers, use averages for your area.)
- How many new prospects did I add to my pipeline last year, bringing the total contacts in my pipeline to ___?
- Where did the majority of my new contacts come from?
- How many of the prospects in my pipeline have I contacted this year?
1. Personally?
2. Mail only?
3. Email only?
4. Combination of personal, mail and email?
- What is my 2015 income goal?
- How many sides do I need to meet my 2015 income goal?
- Do I have enough prospects in my pipeline to reach my goal?
Congratulations! You’re on your way to a terrific 2015 if you decide to finish your plan, which should include your contact schedule, method of contact and marketing materials needed. If you leave your contact schedule to “whatever time is available,” you’re doomed. There are far too many day-to-day interruptions.
Taking the time to plan your 2015 business goals will move you closer to the reality that exists for all of us:
“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.” – Colin Powell
John Wendorff is chief encouragement officer, The Personal Marketing Company.
For help finishing your 2015 plan, and to receive a marketing planner and coupons for automating your marketing efforts, email Wendorff at John.Wendorff@PersonalMarketingCo.com.
For more information about The Personal Marketing Company, visit www.tpmco.com.
