Buffini & Company Blog

Start with the Big Rocks

Win the market with our Do It N.O.W. campaign. This turn-key, marketing campaign will help you find and secure listings for the changing 2024 real estate market. Avoid the chaos and serve the listing every time. Outperform the competition and build long-term business.

Let’s do a little exercise:

Place your closed fist on the bridge of your nose.

What do you see?

Probably, not much. Your fist has become a mass that is impossible to see around, right?

That is how most people see their day.

Real estate is a reactive and perpetual business. Most of the time we react to the screaming of customer service which is right in front of us, rather than keeping our cool, creating a plan and sticking to it.

I have coached for 11 years, and I find that priority management is the biggest problem most people face. So, let’s jump right in.

soccer

Create a list of your rocks – begin with your personal and family obligations.

You might have heard about the strategy of putting the “big rocks” of your life in your calendar first, followed by the pebbles, sand and water. I have a little different take on that plan which might make it easier for you to implement.

You’ll still want to start with the big rocks.  Create a list of all of these – begin with your personal and family obligations. When do you want to be home (or when does your family want you home)? Maybe there are kids’ games you want to be a part of, or maybe working out is an important goal, or perhaps you have elderly parents you want to be there for. Whatever it is, plan these things into your calendar first.

Most people try to “fit-in” these obligations, thinking “It’s family, so they’ll always be there, right?” Wrong!  They are the reason you do what you do, so put them first.

Then plan in the rest of the rocks: proactive activities, office meetings, small groups, tracking, return calls and emails — you get my drift.  Everything that is a mainstay gets placed into your calendar as a rock.

To Do List

Make a list of everything else you still have on your plate, the things that you need or would like to do.

Next, you make a list of everything else you still have on your plate – all the things that you need or would like to do. Just write everything out; business, personal, family to do’s – no matter how big or small, add them to your list.

Then ABC that list.

I think mastering this part is so important. This is where we kid ourselves a lot. It will feel like sorting this list will slow you down. But, this is where PRIORITY management comes into play, and believe me, the more you do this, the quicker you will become at it.

[box size=”medium”]Here is how to sort the list:

A is air that I breathe. These things have an immediate consequence. If I don’t breathe I die, think of an A just like that, life or death.

B is food and water. These things might feel like A’s, but there is no real immediate consequence. If you missed a day of eating and drinking you won’t die today – it will hit you later in the week.

C is chocolate and beer. They are the easy things, the things we enjoy doing, but have very little if any consequence to us.[/box]

Okay so you have ABC’d your list, now what?

Take your A’s and place them into your calendar with a start and finish time.  The best place to schedule these items is in the mornings. I like to think your mornings are proactive, and your afternoons are reactive:  for clients, showings, listing appointments etc.

If you do this properly, most of the time you will find that you don’t have as many A’s as you thought and this gives you the possibility of getting ahead and perhaps choose to do some B or even C actions.

[box size=”medium”]Once you set a boundary in time, if you jump that boundary fence, you do so not to serve the client but to manage your own anxiety of how someone thinks or feels about you. e.g., if I don’t call the client right back what they will think of me, rather than, I need to serve them.”[/box]

As I said earlier, Real Estate is incredibly perpetual. It’s really easy to get caught up with the screaming of problems while pro activities are silent. But the people that are proactive always win. So, here’s one final tip – if you take just one thing from this blog take this:

On a Monday and Tuesday morning, don’t check your voicemails or emails until after you have made your calls to your database. Make these calls a big rock; see this as the job in your business. So instead of making 5 calls a day, 5 days a week, do 13 calls on Monday and 12 on Tuesday or whatever you need as minimum standards to hit your goal. When you do this, you’ll win your week early, and you’ll have the rest of the week to react. Do this and you’ll feel incredible, and you’ll win your year.

Coach Bev

One Reply to “Start with the Big Rocks”

    WordPress › Error

    There has been a critical error on this website.

    Learn more about troubleshooting WordPress.