My professional purpose is to help you, the broker, optimize your productivity and help you become the best version of yourself. Why? Because happy brokers sell more real estate. I do that by helping you handle challenges and opportunities that you face every day. If you can effectively manage certain situations that arise on a daily basis in your business, you'll be more productive and live a life that is the best version of you.
Today, as part of my "Championships are Won in the 4th Quarter" series, I want to describe the formula that ultimately drives your "GCI" (Gross Commission Income).
Before I do that, I want to back up and review some of the key points that you should be thinking about as you build your 3 Year Vision and your first quarterly initiative. My goal is that as many of you as possible will join me on my 3 Year Vision cycle, supplemented by 12 quarterly initiatives, that will start January 1, 2022, and run through December 31, 2024.
So, I have some quick questions for you:
- Have you read "The 12 Week Year" by Brian Moran (my new operating manual)?
- Have you taken the necessary time to start building your 3 Year Vision?
- Have you completed or scheduled in your "Ideal Planning Session?"
- Do you understand why we are moving to a quarterly execution plan over an annualized plan?
- Did last week's MMPT start you towards building boundaries in your business?
- Did you started building out your goal board to document your 3YT?
I've talked a lot this year about the importance of creating a vision and a plan, and today I want to discuss the GCI formula that will drive the financial segments of your vision and give you ideas for quarterly initiatives. It's simple really… It goes like this:
The Value You Create x The Number of People You Provide Value = Your Compensation (GCI)
So, let's break down some ways that you can impact both sides of this formula. The areas we will discuss can be the starting points for your quarterly initiatives:
The Value You Create
- Your listing process: Do you have a detailed plan on how you manage your listings from a marketing and transaction perspective? Are you providing proper feedback to your sellers? Do you take overpriced listings? What is your niche? On a scale of 1-10, what is your knowledge of your hyper local market? Do you have built in service providers that help create convenience for your sellers? What is your job description? What does your team add to the listing process? Is your listing presentation well thought out, rehearsed and documented? Are your clients talking about their experience with you and your team?
- Your buyer process: Do you have a list of questions you ask during the initial consultation? Do you have boundaries pre-built into your business plan? Do you have a transaction team and service providers that you can recommend to assist in creating a high level experience? Do you need to change up your referral partners? How do you identify opportunities for your buyers? Are you a broker or an order taker? Do you have a detailed process beginning to end for all of your buyers or are you recreating the wheel each time? What is your follow up strategy post close? Are your clients talking about their experience with you and your team?
- Client Experience - post closing: Do you one night stand your clients or do you have a detailed, follow up process for the first 90 days after closing? Can you say for sure that your clients transitioned smoothly into their new living situation? Do they know that they can contact you if they need service providers to maintain their home? Do you have a service providers list at the ready?
These are just some questions that you should ponder and build your quarterly initiatives around to improve in those areas. The better you are building systems, processes and procedures, the more value you can create. The more value you create, the higher your business' revenue.
The Number of People You Provide Value
- Retention: Are you focused only on lead generation only? Do you recognize your clients on the anniversary date of their closing? Do you reach out or gift for major milestones like birthdays, weddings, births, etc? Do you have a CRM or a process that will help you track your TOP 100? Do you have a TOP 100? Do you strategically gift? Do you follow your clients on social feeds and interact accordingly? Are you getting a 20% return on your database?
- Lead generation: Do you know your Top 3 most successful lead generation strategies? Do you have processes in place to drive those strategies? Does your digital footprint properly display your contact information and represent you in a way that you want to be represented? Do your social feeds display updated content? How often do you post? Do you have a separate database for referral partners?
You can impact your production volume by increasing the quantity and quality of your prospects and TOP 100. Impact this side of the formula to increase your production or "strengthen" the enjoyment and predictability of your business.
Just by asking these questions, your head might be spinning. Good. If you want to go to the next level, you have to contemplate the answers to these questions. You can answer these questions one by one during the quarters that make up your 3 Year Vision. How would your business be performing if you tackled these questions in 2022, 2023 and 2024? Most entrepreneurs don't consider a longer-term approach. They get up every day and pound away hoping that their businesses and lives will improve and that is not normally what happens. Hope is not a plan.
If you go into each day thinking, how can I provide more value to more people, you will gain a sense of calm knowing that you are on the right path. If you stay focused on your 3 year vision and quarterly initiatives, you will not recognize your current self or your business in 3 years but you will recognize your vision looking at you in the mirror.
If you focus on improving or strengthening the "# of clients x value provided" as a guiding principle, your business will improve either from a revenue standpoint or ease of execution standpoint. You choose.
Team, my goal for you is and will continue to be to give you well thought out and proven strategies that will help you live big. This strategy that I am laying out taking you through the "Championships are Won in the 4th Quarter" business planning process is proven.
Are you committed or just interested?
