Top 10 Hacks to Run Your Business like a Business

All of the so-called “Secrets of Success” will not work unless

BUSYNESS does not make you money; a BUSINESS does!

Which are YOU running? A BUSYNESS or A BUSINESS

Most AGENTS Run a BUSYNESS

Busyness means that people feel that they are very BUSY, but…with what?

◆ They are reactive to what comes at them – calls, emails, texts

◆ They don’t block their time to get things done

◆ They don’t make a budget & stick to it

◆ They allow others to control their schedule

◆ They don’t PROSPECT or plan their marketing

- They hope

◆ They are constantly recreating the wheel - For everything

Does this Describe YOU?

Never Fear… Advisors Run A Business

◆ You plan time during the day to respond to calls, emails & texts

◆ You block time for DEEP WORK to get things done

◆ You have a Profit & Loss (P&L) Budget plan for everything

◆ You have scheduled time to work

- In your Business – with clients, deals, paperwork, etc.

- On your Business – prospecting, planning, analyzing & growing

◆ You have an active CRM for prospecting & a marketing plan

◆ You have systems in place for redundant tasks – for everything

How Many of You Does This Describe?

You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.

Tony Robbins

What We ALL Know

PROSPECTING IS KEY & YET MOST / MANY OF US DON’T ◆ WE HAVE SEASONAL UPS & DOWNS ◆ OUR CLIENTS ARE DEMANDING… AT ALL HOURS ◆ THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH HOURS IN A DAY

◆ WE HAVE TO SPEND MONEY TO MAKE MONEY

◆ THIS IS NOT BRAIN SURGERY!

Let’s Start Here…

Let’s Start Here…

10 Hacks to Help You SHIFT the CONTROL

Time Management

Budgeting

Systems & Checklists

Templates & Forms

◆ Outsourcing ◆ Prospecting

◆ Learning From Others

◆ Using AI

◆ Analyzing What Works Frequently

A goal without a plan is just a wish.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

HACK #1: One Page Plans

We all hear we should have a Business Plan. DO YOU?

One Page is ALL you need for each plan

Business Plan

– Overview of all of your planning

Budget Plan (part of business plan) – Controls & Informs your Spending – Determined by your Goals

Marketing Plan (part of business plan)

– Action Plan for Prospecting & Promoting

This is ALL you need in order to have a Business Plan…

Know your target income

Know your expected expenses (comes from your marketing plan)

Know Your Competitive Advantage

Highlight that advantage in your messaging

Know who your Target Clients are & why

Know the best way to reach them

HACK #1: One Page Business Plan

This is ALL you need in order to have a Budget Plan…

Know your target income

Average Sales Price x Target Units x Average Co-op % x Your Commission

Know your expected expenses

Comes from your Marketing Plan

Track these Monthly as they happen

Actual v Predicted = $$ Variance

Need to know where you are in your income v cost

HACK #1: One Page Marketing Plan

This is ALL you need in order to have a Marketing Plan…

Know Your Competitive Advantage

Investigate what your competition is doing

Know Your Worth

Know how YOUR brand & your E&V Brand differentiates you

Highlight that advantage in your messaging

Know who your Target Clients are & why

Know the best way to reach them & how much they cost

Included in the budget plan

This is ALL you need in order to have a Marketing Plan… is a Calendar

Time is the most valuable asset you don’t own. You may or may not realize it yet, but how you use or don’t use your time is going to be the best indication of where your future is going to take you

Mark Cuban

HACK #2: Time Management Planning

Daily tasks (assumes an 8-9 hour work day):

◆ Prospect – connect with your database – calls, write notes, texts, social comments – 1 hour – morning time

◆ Email – Check, Sort, Delete, File & Respond to – 20 minutes 4x/day – decide when

◆ MLS – Check & Send – 5-15 minutes 4x/day – decide when

◆ Client-related tasks – transaction management, communication, preparation for meetings – 2 hours –after prospecting & in the afternoon

◆ Meetings – client & prospect meals, listing appointments, showings – 2-3 hours

◆ Deep Work – Work on one thing to improve your business each day – 30-45 minutes

In order to SHIFT CONTROL so that WE are in control we need to manage, protect & invest our time

HACK #2: Time Management Planning

Daily tasks (approximately 5 hours of building business):

Urgent tasks:

◆ Time Sensitive tasks requiring your immediate attention

◆ They are important and must be dealt with

− but get RIGHT BACK to work on what you were doing!

◆ Usually a Call or Text that comes in

◆ Remember:

− This is NOT brain surgery and almost anything can wait 30-45 minutes

− determine what is worth breaking your concentration for…

HACK #2: Time Management Planning

How Do I Do This?

Calendar EVERYTHING – events, tasks, work time, prospecting time, email time

Don’t Delete – just MOVE

Set Prospecting Time

Set Prospecting Meeting times – Goal is to fill them!

Set Alarms & Reminders – everything should beep at you to stop & start

Turn Phone Upside Down – use Focus feature on iPhone

You Are The Greatest Asset Of Your Company And Time Is Your Greatest Asset

Do not let everyone else control your time

Put the most important things in FIRST – Family & You Time

Put your GOALS in SECOND – Prospecting & Marketing

Everything else comes after that!

HACK #3: Budgeting

The easiest budget format is to have Actual vs. Predicted vs. Difference

Track them monthly

Keep the categories simple

HACK #3: Budgeting

The easiest budget format is to have Actual vs. Predicted vs. Difference

But where do you start?

◆ Keep the categories simple:

◆ Figure out unit costs for things.

−

Personal Promotion and Marketing −

Listing Marketing −

Education / CE −

MLS Fees and Shop Costs

− For example: if you send postcards to market yourself, how much is it to send 100 postcards? How often will you send them/ month? That is your monthly cost on that.

− Add in Adwerx, print ads, etc.

−

Technology −

Travel

◆ Don’t forget to factor the cost to go to EVX and other Engel & Völkers events to grow your network!

HACK #3: Budgeting

HACK #4: Systems & Checklists

We Do Essentially The Same Thing For Every Buyer Or Seller

◆ We Should Not Recreate The Wheel Each Time

◆ We Should Have A System Or Checklist For Everything We Do

HACK #4: Systems & Checklists

Systems & Checklists Involve Templates & Forms

All professionals use them

Doctors − Lawyers −

−

Teachers

Inspectors ◆ So why do we think we don’t need them?

HACK #4: Systems & Checklists

In Order to GROW your Business, what you do must be SCALABLE

You need to be able to bring people into your business to help you grow

Admin Assistant

Team Member

Buyer Agent

These people need to do things the way YOU have done them

You should be able to hand them an OPERATIONS MANUAL of how you run your business Systems & Checklists

HACK #4: Systems & Checklists

HOW DO I DO THIS?

For the next 3 months, write down literally every step you take when you are on a new phase of a transaction

Planning a buyer tour

Negotiating a Contract

Taking a listing to Market

Create a Digital Checklist / Word Doc / Chime Checklist for Each Phase involving a client

After you have Client Checklists in Place, start on your Marketing Checklists

HACK #4: Systems & Checklists

HACK #5: Templates & Forms

Templates & Forms Are A Huge Part Of Systems And Checklists

Again… All professionals use them – You fill them out when you arrive or they fill them out, while they are working to be sure they don’t miss anything

Doctors −

−

Lawyers

Teachers −

−

Inspectors

So why do we think we don’t need them?

HACK #5: Templates & Forms

Gmail Templates

HACK #5: Templates & Forms

Hack #6: Outsourcing

In Order To Grow Your Business

What You Do Must Be Scalable

We create Systems, Checklists, Templates, and Forms in order to be able to have concrete systems that we can turn over to other whom we hire so that they perform operations just as we would do!

◆ Hire a Virtual Assistant to do your Admin Work

− filing, preparation, paperwork, tour set-up

◆ Hire a Part-Time Assistant to help manage your listings

− sign riders, brochures, flyers, open house materials to the house

◆ Find a Graduate Student to help with promotion

− be your photographer, videographer, social media content creator

GIG WORK

◆ Gig Work is a phenomenal opportunity for us in a post-pandemic world where people want to work from home or be hybrid

◆ Hire a Virtual Assistant to do your Admin Work

◆ Find a Graduate Student intern

Hack #7: Prospecting

CHIME provides the opportunity for you to put some of your prospecting on autopilot

Hack #8: Learning From Others

Study your Competition

◆ Create a Special Report in your MLS with Broker IDs so you can see what they have listed, sold, etc.

◆ Grab their brochures, listing information, etc. at their listings

− see how they write, what they include, how they look

◆ Follow them all on social media and track what they are posting & doing

Chat GPT: Give it a question and let it answer it and give it some features of your listing and let it write your copy

Hack #9: Using AI & Automation

Automation – having systems that run automatically is a great tool

◆ Drip Campaigns - Rezora or Chime - set them up and stay in front of your prospects automatically

- Seasonal campaigns on Rezora

- Quarterly report...Q1 coming soo!

- New listing, change of price, uag sold campaign on rezora

◆ If This Then That – IFTTT

− If I post to Facebook, Then Post to Instagram

− If I add a contact to iPhone Contacts, add x Spreadsheet

− Send me a list of all New Contacts added to my phone each week

Hack #10: Analyzing Your Business

◆ The BEST Hack is the one you Use!

◆ Look at your business and adopt just one of these “hacks”

◆ Look for your greatest weakness and turn it into a strength.

◆ In looking at your competition, figure out how your business can better compete with theirs!

◆ Be brutally honest with yourself!

You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough!

You must take action.

Tony Robbins

All templates and tools will be emailed out after the meeting!

Set up your business meeting with Valerie and me today.