Building Your Blueprint for Real Estate Success

This time, I want to talk about a very, very important strategic plan, and that is all about measurement. You see, it’s one thing to be that entrepreneur and finally recognize I need a clear vision, I need an organized strategic marketing plan so I know to whom I’m trying to market, then I need to actually follow up with the people that want to and show some interest in communicating with me, but is it all working? And how I know that?

Measure Your Progress

Well, you measure it. So when entrepreneurs get their first introduction to measurement, the first thing they think is a look back, an income statement, A minus B equals C, did it work? And look, shame on the industry for not teaching this, because here we are so many people still running to the shoebox sometime after the end of the year, and running to the accountants only to find out uh oh, I didn’t escrow enough for taxes and I’m behind, or I didn’t make enough of my quarterly payments, whatever it might be. That is the bare minimum that you need to pay attention to. Hire a good bookkeeper, even if you’re only doing a few deals a year, get some guidance. But more importantly, it’s the operational measurement that leads to A minus B equals C look back. So in other words, what do you need? You need lead indicators, meaning they’re in front of the result, they’re milestones. So you’re measuring milestones early on in the process. How many leads did I get from people I don’t know, or referrals from people that I do know? It doesn’t matter, I need to pay attention to that flow that’s telling me maybe I’m in trouble if there’s not enough, or maybe things look pretty good and I might have strategic follow-up challenges to follow.

Measure Your Engagement

Next, am I manufacturing a higher level of engagement? In other words, when somebody comes in, am I measuring how many of those people were really just whimsical inquiries that are never going to engage me, and am I moving them out? So I’m measuring my trash, I move them out. I don’t mean to talk about people like that, but get them out of the way if they don’t want to do business with you. Business is ruthless, you don’t have time to make friends. So now, moving those leads onto prospects where people are beginning to give you a chance. It’s like dating, I got a second date, a third date – I’m starting to build relationships here. So lead becomes a prospect. Are you measuring that? That is a huge milestone. The next thing to measure is, of course, how many active clients you working with and not getting stuck there and saying well everything looks good back here. No! It may or may not. You have to get up high above your business and see it as a measurable operation along the way, so that when you finally get the A minus B equals C it’s a pretty good story when you look at the bottom line.