“All that really belongs to us is time; even he who has nothing else has that.” (Baltasar Gracian), from my favorite source for quotes – the Jack’s Winning Words Blog. Good advice to keep in mind as we start a new business year. As Realtors, we generally all have access to most of the same tools and services that we might use in our business. Some of the things that we could use might cost too much right now, so we don’t use them. Other things that are available just might be effective in a particular market. Some agents face competition from huge teams with star Realtors at the top, while others toil away in little backwater areas without a lot of competition. Each Realtor’s situation will be a little different.
However, what we all share and what is the same for us all is time – the limited amount in each day and the amount given to each person. It’s how we each chose to use what time we have that sets up apart. If you look at the lives of enough successful people in the field of real estate or any other field, you will eventually notice something that they have in common – they all have developed systems or work habits that make the best use of the time that they have. That is a key part of their successes, along with such things as having clear and well-defined goals and the self-discipline to put into daily practice the things that they know they need to do to meet those goals.
It is that commitment to the best daily use of time, through the implementation of systems and practices that differentiates the truly successful from the wanta-bes. I find that I have the intellect to understand what I need to do, but not necessarily the will to commit to actually doing those things – I’m still a wanta-be. I plan to work hard this year to change that shortcoming in my own personality.
The main shortcoming that I need to work on is my aversion to prospecting, when that involves cold calling. I like doing mailings and working on my Web presence and I actually enjoy talking to people once I’ve met them; however, making cold calls on people that I’ve not met is something that just scares the bejesus out of me and I can’t force myself to do it. I suppose it’s that old fear of rejection thing, since cold calling offers such a high probability of being turned down. I’m also not comfortable with using scripts when making calls. They always sound artificial to me.
However, what we all share and what is the same for us all is time – the limited amount in each day and the amount given to each person. It’s how we each chose to use what time we have that sets up apart. If you look at the lives of enough successful people in the field of real estate or any other field, you will eventually notice something that they have in common – they all have developed systems or work habits that make the best use of the time that they have. That is a key part of their successes, along with such things as having clear and well-defined goals and the self-discipline to put into daily practice the things that they know they need to do to meet those goals.
It is that commitment to the best daily use of time, through the implementation of systems and practices that differentiates the truly successful from the wanta-bes. I find that I have the intellect to understand what I need to do, but not necessarily the will to commit to actually doing those things – I’m still a wanta-be. I plan to work hard this year to change that shortcoming in my own personality.
The main shortcoming that I need to work on is my aversion to prospecting, when that involves cold calling. I like doing mailings and working on my Web presence and I actually enjoy talking to people once I’ve met them; however, making cold calls on people that I’ve not met is something that just scares the bejesus out of me and I can’t force myself to do it. I suppose it’s that old fear of rejection thing, since cold calling offers such a high probability of being turned down. I’m also not comfortable with using scripts when making calls. They always sound artificial to me.
I’ve just mailed my latest newsletter to the 500+ people on my mailing list and in that letter I told everyone that I’d be calling them to see how they like the newsletter and to make sure that they still want to receive it. That exercise should help, since I have some relationship (or had) with everyone on that list. At least I can convince myself that these are not cold-calls, but rather friendly follow-ups after years of sending newsletters. For me it’s a start and good use of my time.
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