Do you know exactly what you need to do on a daily basis to hit your goals for this year? Do you know exactly how many sphere of influence calls you need to make, or how many appointments you need to go on each day? How about escrows? Do you know exactly how many escrows you need to close in order to hit your goals for 2008?

These are some tough questions that many agents choose not to ask themselves. The problem is if we don't know exactly what to do and when to do it achieving consistent predictable success becomes virtually impossible.

Some agents and even top producers will scoff at setting up a goals and tracking systems, but without these mental scoreboards we tend to become efficient at maintaining a level of production that has become our comfort zone.

So let's take a few minutes together and break your comfort zone to pieces! Let's challenge your status quo and create a visual system to keep you on track and help have an awesome 2008!

Five Steps to Building a Business Tracking System:

1) Set Up Simple Goals

Goal setting is often looked at as being a mystical experience that when done properly should take a long periods of time, deep soul searching, and a ream of yellow legal pads to figure out.

Hogwash! I am a firm believer that most of us know what we want; we just have to ask ourselves the right questions. Below are some questions that you must answer to set your business goals.

• Within the next year what amount of money would you need to make to provide the quality of life that you and your family deserve to enjoy?
  Hint - Don't just think in terms of your lifestyle today, think in terms of how you want to live?

• What debts do you need to have paid off, within the next year, to increase your financial security?
  Hint - What debts are mental anchors to your success i.e. Credit card debt, vehicle debt, consumer debt...

• What investments do you need to make into savings to feel secure about your family's future?
  Hint - What amount of money would free you from worry & insecurity?

• What investments in your business must be made in order to achieve your true potential?
  Hint - Think in terms of productivity - New computer, hiring an assistant, a new printer, a Blackberry...

• What reward (make it a big one) do you need to give yourself to stay motivated to help you achieve your goals?
  Hint - Don't limit yourself pretend you're a kid asking your parents for what you really want...

If we add our numbers together from the above list we should have a clear picture of the monetary goals that we need hit. Now let's move on to stage two and really get fired up!

2) Set up Targets in Line with Your Income Goals

Based on your income goals you have to make some decisions about how you will achieve the goal. Because in real estate we have multiple ways to receive income we have the unique flexibility of setting up different targets to achieve the end result.

Let's look at an example of one agent's income goal and target picture:

Jon Douglas
Income Goal: $100,000 Dollars
Average Commission: $2000 Net after Expenses

# of Closed Deals Needed to Hit the Target = 50

Notice this first step which is crucial to setting up a target. This step breaks the income goal down to a closed deal basis by dividing the average net commission by the overall income goal. Notice this is a net commission figure not the gross commission figure. As a practical matter you should know your average cost per sale.

Now the crucial question is how Jon will achieve his goal of 50 closed deals.

Let's take a look at his targets:

30 Closed Listing Sides / 2-3 Closed a month
20 Closed Selling Sides / 1-2 Closed a month

These are his targets that if met monthly will take him to his overall monetary goal for the end of the year. Does this sound to simple? Good, it is meant to be a simple and straight forward system. If the system is to complex your mind will just say no and dismiss it. Simplicity is the key to success!

Now on to stage three!

3) Set up a Daily Action Plan

If we think of this process as working backwards from a predetermined destination we can begin to unravel the secrets to good goal setting. Remember we started with a money goal, we then set simple targets to hit that goal, and now we need to have a simple list of daily actions to hit the targets.

The key here is that the actions must be pro-active. In other words your action plan must be just that--a plan of action, not a plan of reaction. For instance we can't just set as one of our action steps to sit by the phone and wait for it to ring. That is a reaction plan, not an action plan.

So let's look back at Jon:

Target Goal 30 Listing Sold:

1. Call 5 FSB0's a Day!

2. Call 5 Expired a Day!

3. Call 5 Sphere of Influence Members a Day!

Target Goal 20 Closed Selling Sides

1. Call 5 Sphere of Influence Members a day!

2. Host 2 Open Houses a Month

3. Mail out 200 referral letters a month to Neighboring Cities!

This action plan again is very simple. But if this simple plan was implemented and used consistently it would provide incredible results. The question isn't if the plan will work, but if you will work the plan?

This takes us to the fourth stage:

4) Building Visual Cues!

Goal setting is often done in secret, kind of like creating a wish list. The problem is once we have written down our goals at the beginning of the year we tend to keep it a secret even from ourselves. We tuck the little yellow note paper in our desk or under a folder and there it sits until we finally decide to clean up!

To build a successful goal system you must have visual cues to keep yourself honest. A visual cue is something that you see everyday that resets your natural tendency to veer off course.

Did you know that every airplane in America has a visual cue? In fact they have several - An altimeter, a horizon line, a directional compass just to name a few. Why? Because without these simple tools the pilot would become hopelessly lost. In fact did you know that 95% of the time the pilot is off course? In order to regain the right flight path he must continually readjust the plane based on his visual cues.

Our business is exactly the same. To keep our business level and steady heading straight for our destination we must constantly keep visual cues in front of us to measure our own success.

Perhaps it's chart, or thermometer showing your progress. Maybe it is simple as 12 month calendar above your desk that outlines your prospecting activities for the year. Simple things do work!

5) Don't be Afraid to Change!

Many agents feel that once a goal has been set that it has become cast in granite. Not true! Goals are as flexible as you make them. You control your destiny and know one else. If the goal that you have set is too much, ramp the goal down to a manageable level, if the goal is to low - ramp the goal up to a more challenging set of numbers.

The real key to getting better at your profession is to look for ways to improve and modify your action plan. This should also be something you are analyzing and re-evaluating on a weekly basis. Although we shouldn't change, just to change we should keep our minds open to new, innovative way to improve our business model and our own efficiency.

So can you do more in 2008? By asking ourselves some simple questions, setting attainable goals, creating realistic targets and building a powerful action plan every agent can build a better career in the coming year!