As summer slips in to fall and the days get shorter, perhaps your business activities need to change with the season too! When was the last time you checked in with your business plan for 2000? Look right now.

We are ¾ through the year…are you ¾ to your goal? I hope so! Actually, I hope you are almost there. If you have stayed focused and checked in a long the way, chances are you are right on target or ahead.

But, what if, that isn’t the case and you are not on track? Or what if you’d like to produce the year’s intended result by the end of November, so you can cruise during the holidays and be really picky when you work and with whom? You need to create a killer fourth quarter!

Setting the Stage for a Killer 4th Quarter

It’s back to basics: Time block at least 3 hours for a business planning session with yourself and/or your team. Then follow these steps:

• Take a look at where you are right now-pull up all the numbers.
• Identify what has been working (where have your sales/listings been generated from this year?)
• Create a vision of what a killer 4th quarter would include. Give yourself a quantifiable measure, i.e. gross production, number of units,
• What actions will be necessary to create this?
• Now, add 25% to the actions you THINK will be necessary
• Enter on your calendar appointments with yourself for the prospecting and other actions that will be necessary each week to achieve your goal.
• Share your intention with others and implement a support structure to stay accountable.

Give Yourself Some Insurance

Taking the above actions and following your plan will absolutely create results. But for a KILLER quarter, you will have to do more than you would ordinarily…or you are just going to get a slightly enhanced version of what you’ve got already. Amping it up will put you in the “more, harder, faster” mode. This may be OK if you haven’t been working at 100%, but is not a sustainable method to increase results for long periods of time, because you will burn out. You can, however, do “blitzes” of focused activity as long as you know for how long and why you are going to be out of balance. The make sure you are also scheduling in the time to rejuvenate and recover. Lee Denton with Prudential California Realty in San Francisco, finds do something every day to center herself helps her focus and operate at peak performance. She likes regularly running or walking.

Have a clear picture of where you want to go and keep it in front of you. DeAnne Ottaway (dottaway@apr.com) with Alain Pinel Realtors in Los Gatos, CA says she stays excited and on track by visualizing & thinking about how it will actually feel once she has achieved the goal. Dannie Walker(dannie@teleport.com) broker/owner of Real Estate 2000 in Roseburg, OR has found hiring a coach keeps her on track and focused. Surround yourself with folks that will encourage and believe in you.

Marilyn Urso of Long Island Village Realty in Syosset NY recommends NOW is the time to organize and get ready for next year. She spends 1 day per week focusing on her business to increase the technology and systems. She’s taking a long weekend in October to attend The Real Estate Game Business Planning Retreat to be ready for 2001 to be her best year ever.

The most powerful way of leveraging your working time is to be very clear about what you do well, and do more of that. Know where your best source of business comes from and increase your exposure to those folks. It is 10 times harder to generate new business than to create business from a warm source. It’s time to call those who already know and trust you! It’s time to call those other business folks who you have referred business to……To do something special in the areas that you have farmed and that you have some name recognition…… To use new technology to reach more people, more quickly and less expensively.

Here are some ideas from agents that are focused on wrapping up the year with a bang:

J. C. Posey of Century 21 Posey Properties in Plano, TX has a client appreciation party in October so it doesn't get lost in the Holiday parties . He has found a wine tasting party is a hit! Risa Saltman (link to www.risa.net) of RE/MAX Town & Country Realty in Winter Springs, FL has found a wine and cheese party well received also and she goes a step further by sending the menu with the invite. A casual dutch-treat client’s nite out for crabs was a recent success for Risa, proving it needn’t be formal and complicated. Just think what could happen if every couple of weeks you got together casually with 6-8 clients!

Gail Stoewer of RE/MAX Rancho Bernardo in San Diego CA finds this is a good time to get high visibility with her farm area. She arranges for bloodmobile in the neighborhood. The Red Cross will give you free flyers and press coverage is also easy! Gail also organizes a contest for a Christmas house decorating party - to enter they call her! She drives by on a certain night and give the winner a free dinner and a certificate and the announces the winner to the press. Along the same lines, Holly Kaufman of RE/MAX Masters Realty Inc. in West Vancouver, BC notices houses with real curb appeal when she is driving her market area and then drops them a note acknowledging the house. This could turn into a “house of the month” recognition with a certificate or award. Holly uses a book is called New Home, New School a value-added with her clients. You can get a copy for free by calling 877-95-LMNOP.

Pat Argo, CRS with RE/MAX Aerospace Realty in Titusville, FL is already working on 2001 to make that a killer year by becoming more organized. She is eliminating the energy drainers by taking them out of her database. To make the closing experience more memorable, she has developed a special "After Celebration Experience" (ACE) so there is a real on-going relationship.

Jan Poscovsky with Remax Heritage in Sugar Land, TX find “being there” is 1/2 the battle! Be obvious and make sure people KNOW you are a real estate agent. She has T-Shirts printed to wear when out shopping that plugs her website: “Find your new address at our new address “ (her web site URL) on the back. She has also found value in sending out daylight savings cards don't forget to turn your clock back or forward and “remember to change your batteries in your smoke detector”.

A women’s investment club is one of the ways Melinda Bartling of J.D. Reece Realtors in Kansas City , MO gets more involved with networking. Victoria Harman of Real Estate Professionals in Orlando ,FL just hand addressed 500 formal looking invitations to announce her new office and offered a coupon for a $500 discount offer on the next transaction and they could give it to someone else. She volunteers at her children’s school, getting to know the teacher, who hears first when kids are moving.

A Few Final Thoughts:

Have fun creating a KILLER last quarter and make it game to see just how EXTRAordinary you can. Give yourself a BIG goal and then brainstorm some new, creative ways to accomplish it. If it is big enough, you won’t be able to accomplish it by just taking a little more action…it will force you to think outside the box! be!

• When you have created your goal, write it on at least 5 post-it notes and place them where you will see throughout your day (the bathroom mirror, your car visor, your computer screen, etc.). State in present tense what you are creating. For example, “I list 5 houses per month and net a minimum of $10,000 per month.” Your subconscious will begin to work on it.
• To maximize your effectiveness: end the day by looking at what you did that was productive, then ask, “what do I need to do tomorrow to be more effective?”
• Remember, what you focus on expands…..End each day being grateful for what you DO have and what you DID accomplish.

Start now, by envisioning how you are gonna feel at the end of December because you focused on this now!

Published: September 29, 2000

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Joeann Fossland ePRO, GRI, MCC, PMN, SRS is a dynamic speaker and business coach. Co-creator of THE REAL ESTATE GAME® and NoBloggerLeftBehind.com, she provides coaching solutions to enhance your effectiveness and life balance. You can subscribe to her free weekly tips, attend free monthly tele-seminars, and find out about classes delivered by email and personal coaching by visiting Joeann.com or email her at .