Smart Goals

 Happy New Year, 

Many of you are looking for a fresh start, and you are brimming with new ideas and possibilities.

To realize your dreams, you are creating goals. Here’s a framework to help you construct achievable ones.

Smart is an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. Use this template to clearly define your targets for the year.

Let’s specifically relate this to realtors and prospecting.

Create SMART goals based on your circumstances. But here are some helpful questions to ask yourself:

Specific 

• How many customers are you aiming for this year? Since sales is a numbers game, how many prospects will you need to attract to transform them into customers?
• How many warm leads do you already have in your contacts?
• How will you ensure eighty percent of your time will be spent in front of people? (This is suggested in the book—”Seven Levels of Communication” by Michael Maher)
• How will you find leads? Facebook Ads? Workshops for the community? Networking events? How many will you do each month?
• Which organization will you join? The Lions Club? The Rotary? The Chamber of Commerce?
• How many hours can you devote to it?
• What percentage of your time will be spent with connected people? Other prospects?
• How can you locate a few well-connected people with whom you can build a mutual relationship? How often will you connect? 

The more specific the goal the more achievable it is.

Measurable 

Which metrics will you use to evaluate your progress towards your goal?

How many times?

By when?

How many?

For how long?

These are some examples of metrics.

Here is a key strategy which facilitates reaching goals- measure your daily targeted behavior (the drivers), rather than focusing on the outcome alone.

For example, if you’ve chosen to meet prospects on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, at a coffee shop or restaurant, an hour at a time from nine to three PM, are you committing to this strategy?

Measure how well you’re doing each week. Are you faithfully following your plan? Are you finding a pattern emerging? Maybe you’re entertaining two times a week. Explore that. What needs to happen for you to commit to three times a week? We’ll discuss accountability in a future blog.

Attaining a goal is the byproduct of your daily committed action.

Attainable 

How doable is the goal you’d like to pursue?

Indeed, you want to stretch at least ten percent to achieve your goal. It might mean learning new ways to prospect or although you’re a natural introvert, increasing the number of networking events you attend.

However, circumstances prevail. Life happens– a death in the family, a serious health concern, a troubled child needs your attention- these events can easily reshape your goals. Under those circumstances, you’ll need to modify them and that is fine. Goals are malleable.

Relevant 

As you are structuring goals, ask yourself, “Do I have the resources to sustain my goal until it’s realized?” Resources can be time, energy, money, or interest which fuels your action plans.

Oftentimes, we fail to reach goals simply because we haven’t counted the cost. Understand the sacrifices you’ll need to make–missing some of your son’s basketball games, re-allocating money in your budget, or giving up a hobby for a time to attend to this prioritized target.

Timely 

Now, you’ve created your goals and you know how many prospects you’re pursuing this year, but to maintain your focus and urgency, look at your action plan weekly, monthly and in three-month intervals. Reaching your goals on time separates successful realtors from the pack. 

Weekly

Are you performing the agreed upon tasks daily? Are you keeping to your schedule for meeting prospects? Are you attending the number of networking events you agreed upon to bring in new leads? Are you hitting your numbers? Does it need tweaking? What is going well? What do you need to improve upon? What things are distracting you? How can you change that?

Monthly

• You have calculated how many prospects you need to see in a month. Are you on task? Look at your resources. What do you need to adjust? What problems do you need to solve? Are you attending one targeted networking event per month? Are you serving the organization you’ve chosen?
• How many more calls per week will you need to make to get leads? How can you stay motivated to make those calls?
• Are there any personal circumstances impinging on your action plans? How can you address these issues?

Every 3 Months 

Ask the above questions. However, three months is enough time to evaluate the effectiveness of your methods to reach your goals. Stay with what’s working and brainstorm new ways to reach your goal for those tactics that aren’t.

You probably noticed I am big on metrics. Why? The more metrics and structure surrounding a goal the greater the chances of reaching them.

Here’s an example of a SMART goal:

I will generate 45 qualified leads each month though methods such as, Facebook ads, targeted networking events, one workshop every three months for the community, and utilizing connections I already possess. 

Craft your goals using the SMART method, create a plan of action and work it. Watch prospects roll in.

To your success,

Rosalind