Now is the time you should be doing your business planning for next year. Sure, the year isn’t over. You still need to take a look at how you can make a big impact in your results between now and the end of the year. However, you can make sure you hit the ground running on January 1st by knowing where you are going and how you plan to get there. Much has changed in the last 12 months; your plan can not be based on the realities of the past, but must contain some new strategies to leverage the understanding you have of what the 2007 consumers are going to want and need from you. In addition, your clarity of what you want out of your business is key to being happy and relaxed!

Here are my top 10(+) steps to get your business plan working to give you maximum results in 2007:

Start by completing 2006

1. Block The Time: Make an 8 hour appointment on your calendar to do planning for the coming year.

2. Gather your 2006 numbers. Research for the first 3 Quarters of the year, looking at the critical numbers. Here are some you should know. There may be others that you track for your personal effectiveness as well:

   • Total Dollar Volume

   • # of Units

   • Average Sales Price

   • # Hrs. worked

   • Value of your time hourly

   • # of Presentations made/closed

   • # of Buyers worked with/sold

   • Marketing Budget/effectiveness

3. Write down: What worked? What didn't? Look for trends, for places to raise standards, strengthen systems. Every single transaction should be a learning experience. This is especially true with the ones that fell thorough. It is equally important to see where you have strengths. This allows you to leverage the strengths and do more in the areas that you have an affinity for.

4. Write down: What did you learn? Asking yourself this question is a good habit to get in after each listing appointment, buyer representation or contract. Then at the end of the year, you'll just review so you can learn from it and be even better next year.

   Plan the next 2 months to give it your all in the last couple of months. This helps finish the year with a bang and sets you up to have business that is going to close in early 2007! Take a calendar and identify the days you are going to take off. Then plan appropriately for the days you will be working by seeing them as peak performance days. Stay very focused on dollar productive activities.

Now, you can look to the future and plan 2007:

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." -- Harold Whitman

5. Create or review your Escape Plan. How many years do you plan to work in real estate? What is your financial independence number? Your goal each year should correspond to this long term thinking.

6. Set Your 2007 Goals. What goals are going to motivate you? How do they fit with your escape plan? Are they big enough to create reserve? Remember-this should excite you and give you a real stretch-either in making more or working less.

7. Determine the Market Segments. Determine what percentage of your goals will come from what niches or market segments? Most agents should have 3-4 market niches, such as Past Customer/Clients or Sphere, Internet Leads, Farm Area, Price Range or type property (ranches, waterfront).

   Take a look at the 2006 numbers and see what percentage came from each niche last year. Then project, given strategies you will put into place what will be generated in the coming year.

8. Allocate your Marketing. Your marketing budget should be 10 to 30 percent of your gross. Look critically at where it was well spent last year. Can you increase that? With the market segments you intend to focus on, where could you spend marketing dollars to increase your brand recognition and results? Try to creatively find ways to get known and remembered that don't involve advertising where all the other agents are. Perhaps a moving truck, regular client get togethers, an ad in a rental magazine for first time home buyers.

9. Where are the bottlenecks that could limit you? If your goal is big enough, it will be stretching the limits of what worked structurally last year. Imagine that you are already producing each month what your goal is for 2007. What will you need to add to be able to do that? A virtual assistant? A better website system for automatic follow up? Some new tools to WOW the buyers and sellers?

   A tablet computer? Plan these things in your budget for 2007.

10. Set times for monthly, quarterly reviews and course corrections. Schedule these on the calendar now. Just as you'd do for any trip, check regularly with the map to make sure you are on course. When a bridge is washed out, you find a way around it by another road, instead of sitting in front of the washed out bridge crying. Stuff will happen next year. Course correct, have a Plan B and as there are shifts in the marketplace, don't be afraid to re-invent and create new strategies.

    Relax and go with the flow. After the planning is done, allow yourself to have the flexibility to adapt to what comes at you. There may be opportunities, people or events that take things in a very different direction. Look for the opportunities all the time and trust the flow. You are attracting to you. If you relax and have trust in yourself, the vibrations you are putting out and those you are attracting will provide what you have envisioned and intended. Your biggest job is to have a very clear vision of what this should look like. Then have fun!