Title: For Better Results...track Your Results Better
In one of my most frustrating work arrangements, I was required to prepare weekly reports.
Without offering an explanation, the person to whom I reported demanded details of everyone I spoke to. Thinking this was simply a power move on her part, I often listed names of friends or even made up names.
I now realize that the reports were a very crude and poorly developed approach to tracking sales-related activities.
Know Where You've Been
A time-worn cliché tells us: unless you know where you have been, you won't know where you are going. This sentiment underscores the importance of tracking your marketing activities and the results that they produce.
Identifying what to track is straight forward: record all marketing activities and what the results were.
For example, how many, and what kind of, prospecting calls did you make? How much time was required to to prepare for these calls, make them and complete the follow-up? How many leads did you identify?
Similarly, how many of the leads did you eventually convert into clients and how much time did this take? After the transaction closes, tracking everything from your commission to referrals will generate a wealth of useful information.
Recording the results of these activities is also fairly straight forward. There are is a wide range of good, user-friendly contact management tools and software that simplifies the recording and reporting process.
Identify What you Must Do
From a business perspective, tracking results is more than something that managers demand as a way to control their people. The results that you have achieved will form the basis of identifying what you must do in order to achieve the same or better results in the future. Here's how it works in practice.
Let's say that in your prospecting, you made 100 calls which ultimately resulted in 2 clients. In turn, these clients' deals generated $10,000 in commission. If you want to earn $150,000 per year, at this commission level, you will need 15 clients. This will require 750 prospecting calls over the year. If you have tracked your time, you will know how much time will be required to complete these calls.
If you have tracked referrals, you will know how many referrals you can expect.
Typically referrals generate anywhere from 60 to 90% of new business for real estate agents. Obviously the more referrals you receive, the less prospecting you will have to do.
Clearly, tracking results generates the information you need to make critical planning decisions.
Working Hard
Unfortunately for many hardworking agents, tracking results is yet another task that simply falls through the cracks. Perhaps they are working so hard at chasing the next deal that nothing else matters. Maybe they are so focused on future plans that they see little value in past results.
Not surprisingly, failing to record results generates its own results. Failing to record results limits your ability to learn from your experience. It also means that you will devote your marketing time and energy to chasing the next deal.
Certainly chasing deals generates commission revenue. And it also consumes a lot of time. If your reasons for working in real estate include keeping yourself busy while generating commission, the approach of chasing deals is just right for you.
Run A Successful Business
If, however, you are working in real estate to achieve personal goals, a better approach is to plan and manage your marketing activities. Instead of continuing to chase the next deal, build and manage a successful business.
A sound business plan is the key to running a successful business. Among other things, this plan identifies goals, such as desired income level, that are important to you.
It also identifies specific actions that must be taken to achieve these goals.
By tracking your past results, you can estimate the number of clients you will need to generate the income level you desire. Your past results will also allow to estimate the number of referrals you can reasonably expect and how many new clients you must generate through prospecting.
In effect, tracking results improves your planning. And better planning usually leads to better results.
If however, you are content with the results that you are currently achieving, ignore your past results. and continue doing what you have always done...work hard at chasing the next deal.
