So what’s the basis of YOUR business day....cleaning up messes OR accumulating mass?
I’m sure we all can reminisce about our younger years and those regular occasions when our Parents would tell us to “Clean Up Your Mess!” On those occasions when I actually did it right, the praise I received for a job well done reinforced a mentality that was much more far reaching than I knew.
So fast forward to our lives today, throw in a real estate career, and you have the makings for a reality TV show filled with great stories of how well we clean up our messes! And each time we solve the problem at hand, we’re often rewarded with a “feel good” moment that reinforces the fact that our time was well spent.
And what a perfect market for it! Today’s pricing and appraisal challenges...increasingly stringent qualifying criteria that’s leaving more than a few quality loans at the risk of being approved....the “other” agent who may not hold up their end of the bargain by carrying their load of the work...all add up to a well defined “to do” list of messes to fix! And, I’m sure you could add a few of your own favorites to this list. But what’s the outcome of this revolving door of challenges?
“Fixing messes” CAN absorb our full reserve of time, energy and drive on a daily basis. Those messes start to control us, instead of us controlling the messes. So just what does the idea of “accumulating mass” have to do with all of this? Well, when we spend our time fixing the next item on our list, (and you can bet there will always another one waiting in the wings) we are robbed of the time we need to accumulate “mass”.
Mass, in the general sense, is defined as:
- “the property of something that is great in multitude”
- ”a large number or amount”
- “muscular strength”
In real estate, our messes can distract us from “amassing abundance”...possibly in the form of new clients, saleable listings, quality buyers, and ultimately more income to fund your goal and your dreams!
Here are 3 great strategies that can help you take care of the messes AND spend the time necessary to keep your mass moving in the right direction:
#1: Leaders Learn to Delegate.
Have you ever heard, “If you want something done, give it to the busiest person you know?” That statement rarely speaks of an individual overloaded with messes. Just the opposite, the best in the
business know the difference between “doing something” and making sure it get’s done”. If your daily “TO DO” list is taller than you, it’s time to turn some messes over to someone else.
#2: Remove “Hero” From Your Resume:
Once again, Agents at the top know to surround themselves with people who are smarter than them...in certain areas! Getting a quality job done at the lowest cost per hour is just smart business. Using your high dollar productivity time to accomplish administrative level work is not the mentality of a smart buisness person. Let others take the credit for a job well done when it’s appropriate, and you’ll still come out on top. Remember, they’re an extension of you...if they look good, you look good.
#3: Discover the Difference Between Urgent and Important and Urgent and Not Important!
If you’ve ever read Steve Covey’s “7 Basic Habits of Highly Effective Salespeople”, you know that one of the main principles of time management is realizing that not every problem deserves your attention. Have you ever heard out about a “mess” much later than you would have liked, only to find out that it’s been resolved by the time it finally registered on your radar screen? Amazing how that works! Your time is valuable. Don’t let people use it up just because they don’t want to use theirs.
So what’s the answer? Most day to day issues in real estate must be addressed or the chances of that sale not closing dramatically increase. The question is not so much whether you’ll address the messes, but instead, WHO is the most appropriate person to do so. Just remember, the surest way to eliminate messes is to NOT focus on mass. Eliminate new business, and sooner or later, you won’t have ANY messes to worry about!