News: Fail to Plan…Plan to Fail

Indialantic-FL

The fourth quarter of 2014, the home stretch. Where did the year go? If you’re like me, I don’t get new year jitters in January of the new year, but right about now. Why? Because I want to end the year strong which catapults me into a strong new year. Quarterly review of the business plan, year end projections and strategic planning is in high gear.

You may even start to look like this…but better to look this way during planning and not because of lack of planning.

To ensure a high success rate,

Keep it simple and uncomplicated. This will increase your odds of staying on task.

Start off with a one page business plan.

Your strategic plan can be as simple as jotting down, in bullet point format, five things you want to get accomplished during the coming year.

Remember to include start and end dates for each task on your plan.
Create a master calendar.

Work on your contact list of past and present clients. Place them into a customer relationship management (CRM) system.

There is a direct correlation between the number of client contact and sales results.

48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect

25% of sales people make a second contact and stop

12% of sales people only make three contacts and stop

Only 10% of sales people make more than three contacts

2% of sales are made on the first contact

3% of sales are made on the second contact

5% of sales are made on the third contact

10% of sales are made on the fourth contact

80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact

Source: National Sales Executive Association

If you tend to be a procrastinator, pick two to three associates, work on your respective plans as a team. This is a great way to hold each other accountable.

Start today. Add one new item to your to do list which

will help you reach your goals. This time next year the planning

won’t seem so monumental and you can look like this.

Contributor Lilyvette Rodriguez

Lilyvette Rodriguez is a real estate broker servicing the Inland Empire of Southern California for over 24 years. She specializes in equity sale, short sale, foreclosure, probate and corporate relocation. She is an NAR instructor of the Employee Assisted Housing Program.

Lilyvette serves on a number of boards, holds multiple certifications/designations and is a consumer advocate. She believes that an informed community is an enlightened community.