While we coach and train around a variety of topics at Metrix, one of my favorite concepts to discuss with our clients is that of clearly defining what it looks like to “win the day”.  As a team owner, rainmaker, or sales team agent my guess is that you arrive at the office each day with a good plan in mind. “Today I will lead generate for 2 hours.” Or “this morning I am going to focus on eliminating some unnecessary expenses.”  But not long after getting to your desk chaos ensues, deals are on fire, and clients need your immediate attention. We all build models, systems, barriers, and/or processes in an effort to protect ourselves from this mayhem, and sometimes these steps are effective.  However, sometimes they are not.  

I believe that no matter your role, in order to really know if your day was productive you first need to clearly define what, exactly, a “victory” for the day looks like.  And this victory should not be based on a lag measure result. Rather, I want you to focus on an activity, driver, or lead measure for the desired result, and make that early indicator the scoreboard for the day.  

For example – If I am a sales agent, I likely have a goal around the number of transactions I would like to close this year (for sake of this exercise, let’s say my annual target is 36 units).  This goal can be broken down further into a monthly goal which, in this case, is 3 units per month. How many listings (buyer or seller) must you take to procure 3 closings? Based on your previous sales history, let’s say you determine this monthly total to be 4 listings.  How many appointments must you attend in order to secure 4 listings? Let’s call it 6 appointments attended per month. Now, how many appointments must you set each month to make certain you attend 6 of them? For this example, let’s call it 9. Now, how many contacts must you make on a monthly basis to set 9 appointments?  Let’s just call it 500 contacts. At 500 contacts per month, and assuming 20 “lead generation days” in a month, you must make 25 contacts per day.  So in order to WIN THE DAY….you must contact 25 people!  That’s it, plain and simple.  

Restated:  3 Closed Units = 4 Listings = 6 Appointments Attended = 9 Appointments Set = 500 Contacts Made = 25 Contacts Per Day

This is the business plan of the sales agent!  Show up and get me 25 contacts per day. And if you do this, all else falls into place.  In spite of the chaos, daily challenges, client demands, paperwork, and all else that’s possible, if you can just get 25 contacts then you’ve won the day.  

This same approach works for all other roles within the real estate sales team.  All you need to do is take your objective, break it down by the activities or targets you must perform or hit along the way to reaching that objective, break the process down to its most granular level, and define it in terms of 1 single day.