Creating Your Own Market
The car goes where the eyes go.
- Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain
The last time our Clients & Team Members were together for a live event was the fall of 2019. During that Business Building and Leadership Summit, my friend and mentor Shaun Rawls spoke with us about target fixation.
If you’re not familiar with the phrase, it’s often attributed to driving skills. Your eyes lock in on the target, and your vehicle goes there. It’s why we’re taught to not focus on the headlights of the oncoming car… why we’re taught to look through and around the corner.
The same is true in business. What you focus on, you will hit. (most of the time)
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Fun side note, you can see the Thought Leader Friday interview that Debbie and I did with Shaun here. That interview was nearly 1 year ago, and we laid out a plan for thriving through the uncertainty of the market of 2020.
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Today’s real estate market, like every market, presents its own set of challenges. As I wrote about in my recent article on Market Conditions, this market is very different from 2008.
According to a recent report from the National Association of REALTORS(r)
Total housing inventory at the end of January amounted to 1.04 million units, down 1.9% from December and down 25.7% from one year ago (1.40 million). Unsold inventory sits at a 1.9-month supply at the current sales pace, equal to December’s supply and down from the 3.1-month amount recorded in January 2020.
We hear agents and brokers say it all the time:
“It’s tough to find listings.”
“It’s tough for buyers to win.”
If you’ve found yourself saying that recently, consider that you may be focusing on the wrong thing. You may be fixated on the wrong target.
We believe that winning in today’s market requires agents and brokers to be:
- Proactive
- Creative
- Highly-Skilled
Here’s an exercise to cause you and your team members to focus on the correct targets.
- Give yourself a score on a scale of 1-10 for each of the three items above, with 10 being the highest score.
- Assuming you didn’t give yourself a 1 in any of the categories, what are the things you’re currently doing well that you’ll continue to do?
- What are the items that you would add that would cause you to be more proactive?… more creative?… more highly skilled?
In one of my favorite books, The Road Less Stupid, author Keith Cunningham asserts that:
Thinking is critical to sustainable success in business; said another way, business is an intellectual sport… It all hinges on Thinking Time.
If you’re anything like me, you’re really good at putting your head down, going to work, and making things happen. And, if you’re anything like me, you might sometimes miss the forest for the trees.
Thinking Time is the structured way to keep your head up, looking for opportunities.
Here’s a way to apply thinking time to today’s market.
Do some homework by asking yourself (and your team):
- What are 10 ways that I could be more proactive in the next 30 days?
- What are 10 ways that I could be more creative in finding listings?
- What are 10 ways that I could be more creative in helping our buyers win in multiple offers?
- What are 10 ways that I could improve my skills?
Schedule a 30-45 minute meeting with your team to review everyone’s answers.
During that meeting, prioritize the list. Don’t chase 30-40 rabbits at the same time.
Pick a few from each category and get to work. Start now.
In today’s market, if you just do what you’ve always done, you’re likely to lose ground.
When you’re proactive, creative, and highly-skilled, you’ll create your own market and lap your competitors.
If you’re looking for resources to help you, check out our On-Demand Skills Courses or schedule a free 30 minute coaching call.
Be Elite!
Bill
P.S. Here’s another one of my favorite Cunningham quotes to further encourage Thinking Time.
The vast majority of our dumb tax is a direct result of emotional, overly optimistic, and poorly thought-out decisions.
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