It’s never a bad time to set new, SMART business objectives to take your brokerage further.
There’s a widespread misconception that you can only set effective business goals in January. People often think of goal setting like new year’s resolutions. As a result, you might be reading this without any 2021 objectives in mind, even though we’re well into the first quarter! You may be thinking you’ve missed the boat to set goals for your brokerage, but this couldn’t be further from the truth!
It might already be May, but it’s never a too late to set goals for the upcoming week, month, quarter, or year. Goals are a moving target: the only way to miss out is to not set them at all. So, what’s the secret to setting goals and sticking to them?
The secret to successful goals
There are a variety of ways to increase your success in reaching your objectives. For starters, behavioral scientists agree that something as simple as writing them down can have a huge impact on whether you achieve them. One psychologist found that goal setters who wrote their goals down and also gave accountability updates to a friend or colleague were 33% more successful than those who just thought about their goals.
One commonly used tactic psychologists suggest for formulating goals is to make them SMART. There are five key characteristics of SMART goals. Let’s discuss these characteristics and how you can use them to improve your real estate business and make your brokerage better—no matter what time of year it is.
Intelligent goals? No, SMART goals!
Specific
SMART is an acronym, the first letter of which stands for specific. What makes a goal specific? Let’s use an example. Your goal might be to grow your brokerage. This is very general and could mean a variety of different things. To make it more specific, you might focus on one thing and rephrase it to say, “I want to attract and hire new agents.” The market for hiring and retaining top agents is competitive, so to reach your goal, your brokerage might invest in tools that help make their jobs easier, like sleek agent websites for displaying listings, a powerful CRM tool for tracking and following up with leads, or a fully automated social media marketing platform that allows them to focus on customer service, not writing Facebook posts.
Measurable
The second letter in SMART stands for measurable. When goals are measurable, they allow you to track your progress. Behavioral scientists believe if you can see how well you’re doing, you’ll be more motivated to reach your end goal. A measurable goal will answer the questions, “how much?” or “how many?” For example, “I want to attract and hire five new agents” is a measurable goal, because if you hire two, you know you’re almost halfway to meeting your end goal of five.
Achievable
The A in SMART stands for achievable or attainable. Your goals shouldn’t be too easy: goals that take no effort at all to reach probably won’t help you. But goals shouldn’t be too hard, either. If your brokerage has 10 agents, hiring 50 new ones in one quarter is unrealistic. Aggressive goals aren’t bad, but remember that actually reaching a goal helps motivate you to set more ambitious ones later.
Relevant
R is for relevant, i.e., choosing the right goal for the right time. Is your brokerage ready for growth and therefore ready to hire more agents, or would a different goal be more appropriate right now? You must set goals that align with your current business needs and resources, otherwise you may be setting yourself up for failure. Back office software is a helpful tool for keeping track of business resources and knowing when it’s time to invest in growth or set other more relevant goals. A relevant goal could be, “Because my brokerage is in a position to grow this year, I want to attract and hire five new agents.”
Time-bound
The last letter in SMART stands for time-bound. In other words: set a deadline. Deadlines can be very motivating. To avoid waiting until the last minute, set interim deadlines or milestones to help keep you on track. For example, you might say, “I want to hire two new agents by June 30 and three more agents by December 31.”
Accountability: the final secret ingredient
The last tip for achieving your objectives is accountability. If you write your goals down but never tell anyone about them, chances are you won’t succeed. One way to maintain accountability is to share your goals with others. At your brokerage, this might mean including your team in the goal setting process. This creates a sense of ownership, pride, and collaboration, all of which are important for working well as a team. Our CRM solution also features tools to help you keep your agents accountable for their own professional goals.
Be SMART about it
Even if you think you’ve waited too long, set a few SMART real estate goals today. Then, talk about them and commit to updating your team and colleagues, too. By being smart about your goals, you’ll set yourself up for success!
To learn how Constellation1 real estate technology can help you reach your goals, book your personal tour today.
