How to Create a Real Estate Agent Business Plan – 3 Steps to Success

Step 1 – Set Your Goals (Outcomes)

The critical steps to achieving your goals:

1. Identify clear, concise, SMART goals and know your WHY for each of them.
2. Write them down for all areas of your life (Personal, Financial, Business/Career, Relationships/Family, Spiritual)
3. Create Action Plans – break the goal down into steps and next actions.  Take action every day!
4. Measure and track your progress – you can’t improve what you don’t measure.
5. Celebrate your successes along the way – make any necessary course corrections.

Read these posts for more information on goal setting:

• How to Write Powerful Goals, Part 1
• How to Write Powerful Goals, Part 2
• 5 Principles of Success
• Download Keys-to-an-Achievable-Outcome.pdf (Goals Template)

Step 2 – Create Your Business Plan. Documents to download for writing your Business Plan:

• Review_of_your_Business.pdf Start by analyzing your previous year’s business – this form will help you gather and calculate key factors for your specific business.  Everything from sources of business to average days on market and listing to sale ratios.  Before you launch into your plan for the coming year, it’s critical to review what worked last year and to know your basic numbers.
• Basic_Real_Estate Business_Plan This is a 2-page easy-to-use, basic real estate business plan.  Just follow the step-by step formula to turn your desired income goal into the number of listings, sales, contacts and appointments required to obtain it.
• Use this SAMPLE Basic Business Plan to use as a guide:  Sample-Basic-Real-Estate-Business-Plan.pdf
• Listing & Sales Goals Formula – his excel form auto-calculates the total number of listings and sales you need to close in order to reach your income goal.  Don’t forget to calculate the estimated number of appointments, contact and  presentaions necessary to reach your goals – which is the second page of the Real Estate Business Plan above.
  
• Allocating_time_to_build_your_business.pdf An eye-opener exercise about the value of your time.
• DailyWorkPlan.pdf A simple daily planner page that also helps you track productive activity.
• Attitude-Affirmations-TimeMgmt.pdf A good review of what you already know!

Step 3 – Measure and Track Your Results. You can’t improve what you don’t measure.   An excellent tracking system will allow you to make necessary course corrections and adjustments as well as gage your overall success.  Here are some excellent tools to track and measure your performance and results -

• Income_statement.pdf or (Excel Version) Income_statement_blank.xls .  A basic real estate business income and expense form.
• BusinessBudget.xls.   Another excellent customizable business budget  (compliments of  Brian Buffini & Company)
• PersonalBudget.xls Don’t forget to complete a personal, home budget as well as business budget – also from Brian Buffini & Company.
• Escrow Tracking Report – This is a basic excel form – easy to modify – to track all of your escrows
• Commission_tracking_80.xls This is a customizable spreadsheet to track your commissions and all related expenses.

SECRET to SUCCESS: Create Your Daily Action Plan and Just Do It!

Once you have your business plan in place, it is critical to review it and make necessary course corrections at least quarterly .  On a monthly basis, make sure to use the performance dashboard or a suitable tracking form to record your actual results and compare them to your plan or goal.

From the business plan you can create your daily, weekly, monthly ACTION PLAN.  This plan will outline the income-producing activities and other tasks you are committed to in order to achieve your  desired outcomes.  Review and stick to your Action Plan DAILY!

• Write your Action Plan on index cards – and keep one with you
• Put one in front of your dayplanner
• Post it in your workspace
• Tape it to your bathroom mirror and review it daily
• Review and record your results daily also

A basic mantra or affirmation for your consideration and real estate success could simply be:

“I make one qualified appointment daily!”

Create an Action Plan that works for you – it may consist of some of the following activities:

1. Make ______ contacts daily
2. Send ______ personal notes weekly
3. Add _______ people to your database weekly or monthly
4. Contact _____ FSBOs weekly
5. Contact ______ Expireds weekly
6. Hold ______ effective open houses weekly/ monthly
7. Mail or email to your SOI/Past clients valuable market information monthly
8. Mail or email to your designated farm of ______  properties monthly
9. Door knock/ door drop _________ houses monthly
10. Take ____ past client to lunch monthly
11. Network with ____ business to business referrals monthly
12. Hand out 5-10 business cards, 5 days/week and actively ask for business or for permission to add them to your database

More Recommended Resources:

Brian Tracy International – I highly recommend anything written by Brian Tracy.  Sign up for one of Brian’s free newsletters and receive a free 326 page eBook entitled GOALS! How to Get Everything You Want – Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible.

David Allen’s Getting Things Done -  GTD is an effective Action Management System.  Read or download and listen to this book.  There are abundant free resources and blogs on this site.

Free Motivational & Success Classics as eBook downloads:

• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
• As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
• Acres of Diamonds by Russell Conwell