We have just seen another AREC conference completed, with reports of 5000 agents congregating for upskilling and motivation to propel them into the new financial year.
In my role, I enjoy the honour of being the custodian for our Ray White conferences, and understand the pivotal role they play in maintaining and inspiring the energy required to excel in a competitive environment.
Conferences create space for thinking, something that being a busy real estate agent doesn’t always allow.
They create a crucial opportunity for networking with peers in what can be, at times, an incredibly lonely pursuit.
They also provide masses of motivation.
All of these things are so important for being able to keep growing, although sometimes I think motivation is overrated, let me explain why.
Being a real estate agent isn’t an easy gig, contrary to what some sceptics may think.
It’s the ‘hardest easy money’ to make, with a consistent listing/selling business meaning the culmination of literally thousands of tasks and thousands of hours.
At times, it can be a grind and this grind makes so many people opt out before they realise their potential.
Enter motivation.
A quick shot of adrenaline and energy that keeps us on track, sells the sizzle and reinforces the dream of why we set ourselves on this path in the first place.
Yes ,I can be number 1.
Yes, I can write $1 million.
Yes, I can speak at my favourite conference someday, if I just keep going.
So, what’s the problem?
Relying on motivation as the fuel source for the long march towards real estate self-actualisation is like applying a diet of mixed lollies to win a Miss Universe competition – it just won’t provide enough sustenance to get you there.
Motivation is great, but it’s short lived.
If you can understand that it’s just the spark and you’ll need something else to act as the fuse, then it’s OK to lean on this method from time to time.
So how do you keep the spark alive?
There are three typical internal behaviours to drive you towards continued growth.
Motivation is the first, but as stated, it doesn’t last long.
The second human trait we hear referred to a lot in achieving any goal or ambition is the word discipline.
Discipline is great, admirable, something we should all harness, but in my experience, found in wildly varying-measures depending on the person.
Discipline can be cultivated, it can be learned, but it takes time and commitment.
Ultimately, being disciplined is something some people will find easier to execute than others, so it’s not a framework to be applied en-masse.
While discipline is useful, it is also an unreliable and unsustainable driver for some.
So here we welcome our good old friend, structure.
Structure is recommended by proponents of growth the world over, but I think many people don’t really understand what structure means at the individual agent EBU level.
One of the most common frustrations for lead agents is the inability to effectively delegate, unsure of where to start.
So many agents get stuck in the habit of ‘just doing everything’ themselves, without much thought for prioritisation or order of tasks.
On the other hand, once structure is mastered, it lasts indefinitely – or until the structure needs to be updated for best use.
Structure is a system, a concrete set of rules that you can work within so that you can minimise time spent thinking about what to do and more time on the actual doing.
As with discipline, there are some who are naturally more structured than others, but structure is something you can copy from someone else and you can outsource it to someone who is better at it than you.
When getting started on structure, I find it’s better to compartmentalise your business into different divisions and tackle one at a time.
You might decide to start with your open inspection process, starting to compile your list of non-negotiables, beginning with the activities done mid-week onward, for example, getting your OFI packs ready, how many brochures will you need?
Buyers guides, suburb reports, public transport and school zone information, what about flags, pointer boards, welcome mats, music, scents etc.
The more detailed you can get, the greater chance of success.
Your structures should be dynamic, so whenever you notice something hasn’t gone to plan, you can review your structure and add in more detail.
Most structures can be managed in a Word doc or spreadsheet, although some prefer efficiencies gained from platforms like Monday.com, where you can add in automations for even greater productivity gains.
Remember that you don’t have to do this all on your own.
If you are working in teams, delegate the creation of your structures and lists to the team members who are performing that role.
The benefits are twofold, it means it’s something off your ‘to do’ list and you might find that your teammates bring fresh ideas and innovations that you hadn’t dreamed of.
Once you have created your structure for each part of your business, you will have your own operating manual and training guide.
When new team members join, it’s much easier to take them through your unique business process and so much easier to manage performance and training.
Next time you are sitting in awe of an amazing speaker at a highly motivating conference, take a moment to think about how you can apply some of that motivation to your own business structure.
It’s not the time spent sitting in the conference that’s the most critical use of your time, it’s what you do to implement those learnings after you leave.
If you spend two days at a conference and then go back to your business as usual, without applying any of the learnings, then you could argue the whole thing has been a waste of time.
How can you move from motivation to structure?