A Business Plan to Stick With!

Define Your GOAL!

 A realtor business plan is a map that calculates the number of transactions you must close along with your total cost per transaction to reach your income goals. This strategic business plan establishes your goals and objectives in writing. 

There are companies and consultants who can write a business plan for Realtors, for a fee, however, writing your own strategic business plan, keeps you involved in the process and the direction.  After all is said and done, it is your business and your plan. It’s not hard and it doesn't have to be complicated to get started.

Keep in mind that

• "I am going to make a lot of money" is NOT a goal. 
• "I am going to work hard" is NOT an action plan.
• "I will take one listing between February 1st and February 10th"   

Set your goals and objectives such as number of transactions you want to complete over the next year or the income to earn over the next 12 months. 

List your Assets: 
Marketing Dollars, Prospecting Tools, List of Contacts and Former Clients, Business Partners, Business Associates etc. Know the Dollar Value of A Listing.

Create Your Plan Of Action - Plan your Activities and Your Strategies: 
A well thought-out, honest Realtor business plan should create the path that leads to successfully completing your goals.

A business plan for realtors should be re-evaluated quarterly but at least, every six months.

Are any of your goals, assets, or strategies unrealistic, impossible to accomplish, too expensive, or just plain ineffective?

Be honest with yourself and replace what isn’t working with more of what is.

Numbers don’t lie. If your Realtor business plan goals and your actual numbers do not match up, your business plan needs modifications. Make adjustments! A great source of sample business plans for Real Estate can be found here. These business plans can give you an idea of how to easily create a strategic business plan for realtors. It also reveals how you can build your Real Estate Business into an asset that can be sold in the future.

Here is a simple outline of Goal Setting for your Realtor Business Plan.

1. MY FINANCIAL GOAL for this year (next 12 months) is to earn pre-tax income of $______________________.

2. MY LISTING GOAL for this year is to take ____________listings for the year, or _____________listings for each month, 

   or one listing every ___________days.

3. To work an average of _________hours per week of which at least 65% is highly productive ("Hot Time")

4. To work a maximum of ________days a week and take ________weekends off a month.

5. To take ____________vacations during the course of the year.

6. To Prospect a minimum of ___________hours a week of which a minimum of 65% is "HOT" and 35% is "WARM".

NOTE:

"Hot" Time is that time spent 'one on one' with someone who can give you a "Yes" or "No" answer to a question indicating their interest in buying or selling real estate.

Examples of "Hot" Time:

• ·         Showing Properties
• ·         Presenting an Offer
• ·         Asking for a Price Reduction
• ·         Canvassing Past Clients for Referrals
• ·         Contacting FSBO's
• ·         Follow Up by phone on Mail Campaigns or Web Site Leads
• ·         Doing a Listing Presentation
• ·         Contacting Expired Listings
• ·         Holding Open Houses
• ·         Visiting Unlisted Builders on Site
• ·         Cold Calling for Leads
• ·         Door Knocking Prospecting for Leads

A minimum of 65% of your working time should be "Hot" Time.

"WARM" Time is the real estate oriented time, that is very necessary, but will not give you a "Yes" or "No" answer to a real estate buying or selling decision.

More and more successful realtors are utilizing the services of a paid Assistant to perform some of the "WARM" time tasks.

Examples of "WARM" Time:

• ·         Writing Ads
• ·         Attending Sales Meetings
• ·         Pulling Expiries
• ·         Clipping FSBO's from the newspapers
• ·         Pre-Viewing Homes
• ·         Attending Agents Open Houses
• ·         Attending Educational & Motivational Seminars
• ·         Updating Websites & Web marketing campaigns
• ·         Preparing and Mailing Personal Promotion Campaigns

You must hold yourself and/or your team accountable. You wrote the plan and set the goals with the intent of achieving them.

Break the goals into smaller, more measurable pieces and monitor the results regularly. A Realtor business plan that can't be measured is almost always destined for failure.

Create small steps and measurable wins -- celebrate them with your team and recharge for your next goal. If you find in the future that goals are unrealistic, adjust them, but keep this practice infrequent and logical.

It is Your Realtor business plan after all!