Smartphones have accelerated our desire for instant access to useful tools to make our lives easier. There is an app for almost anything we can imagine to make our lives more efficient, entertaining, and successful.
But is downloading an app really what we need to be more successful?
There is a modern myth that technology equals productivity, but it’s a myth that may be costing us real dollars. Our Smartphones (or laptops or iPads) keep us connected, but connected isn’t productive. Sometimes connected is the opposite of productive. It’s easy to believe that organizing our database or posting to our social media accounts or answering 50 emails in a day is actually moving us closer to our goals, or at least keeping us from slipping backwards. But technology is only a tool. Success is an attitude, a mindset that drives how effectively we use technology to achieve our goals.
No matter how many emails we send in a day, in new home sales there are only three benchmarks of success: traffic, sales, and closings. (Customer service is a valid fourth, but without the first three there won’t be a lot of customers to satisfy.) If we are not achieving our goals in this area, the answer may not be downloading a new app, rushing out for the latest gadget, or using new software. It might be an adjustment in our thinking that is needed.
Here’s our pick of three “attitude apps” for success in new home sales:
Fortitude 4.0
Success in new home sales today requires a very strong mind, mentally and emotionally. Fortitude is the ability to condition our mind for success, much in the same way champion athletes do. It’s easy to believe that there are too many obstacles to our success: the economy, the competition, pricing, location, financing, time of year, no marketing budget, lack of resources. The list is endless. Fortitude is developing the mental attitude that we will be successful, no matter what.
Perseverance Pro
Success in new home sales isn’t built on a few Facebook posts, a couple of follow up calls, or some online postings. It’s all of those, systematically and consistently, even when the immediate results are less than spectacular. It’s picking up the phone again and again, creating and maintaining a diligent follow up schedule, working with Realtors every week, developing a bi-weekly email schedule, and more. It’s making the daily commitment, even when we don’t feel like doing it.
Optimism ‘06
Remember 2006? We knew when we walked into our sales offices back then that we would sell a home that day or week. Today the market has changed but our ability to stay positive does not have to. Ask yourself, “Which home, specifically, am I going to sell this week? Who am I going to sell it to?” Optimism is a powerful sales tool. Buyers can feel it. This isn’t about fluffy wishful thinking. If you have a mindset for success and perseverance in your process, optimism is the confidence that you have done the work and you will see results. A helpful optimism exercise is to complete your Sunday Night Reports the previous Monday. How much traffic will you generate? How many brokers will you visit? How many sales will you write? Write it down in a Sunday Night report as though it has already happened and use it as your compass to schedule an action plan for the week.
Unlike the apps on your Smartphone, these three attitude apps are not instant downloads. They take time to develop and we never completely master them. It’s a daily practice. (And believe me, I am speaking to myself too.) In today’s market, our attitude is our strongest asset. Technology is just the tool.
Are you productive or just connected?
