You know you must focus time on building future business on a consistent basis to be successful and to even out the peaks and valleys of your production. For many agents, this area is one of frustration and one that they beat themselves up over not doing “right”.

In my experience as a coach, I have found that trying to be more “self-disciplined” in this area is something most agents feel they should do. But, I have found, the struggle often comes because the agent is trying to defy their natural ways on doing things. When they shift to incorporating this with their natural strengths and rhythms, they will do it more consistently and easily. Some 21st century thinking is what’s called for.

The Old Way

It’s been an accepted belief that the best way to handle goals and prospecting is to do a certain amount every day. You look at the goal for the year, then break it down into monthly, weekly and daily actions. Then every single day, you must make calls.

Many agents set a number of calls to make every day or set a time, like an hour a day, aside for these calls. For agents who are good at consistency and like each day to look the same, this works. But, I find, that is usually a very small percentage of agents. The problem is: sometimes life gets in the way…usually the first thing an agent will drop out is their prospecting actions, when there are other fires to put out or hot buyers to work with.

I find, also, most agents are drawn to this profession because of the freedom and flexibility they have with their schedules. They get bored doing the same thing every day. Trying to force this, if it is not their natural style, creates a struggle and then internal questioning of their own motivation and worth. The downward spiral begins….

The Better Way

Creating your ideal week plan based on your own personality style will enable you to integrate activities in a way that is easier for you to do naturally. You know if daily consistent action is something you love, or if you’d rather do things in big chunks and vary every day.

Here is an effective way, if you love the variety of different activities each day: Plan 1-2 days a week for your Peak Performance time. On these days, plan for 80% of the activity to be on dollar producing activities. Your prospecting is then blocked in like an appointment with a client on these days.

If you are like most agents, you probably spend 5-10 minutes getting ready to prospect: getting a cup of coffee, clearing the desk, or getting out the numbers, thinking maybe this is a good time to go do something else…anything else, actually (one agent said even doing laundry could entice her!). If you are doing it the old way, you are wasting this 5-10 minutes 5x per week. If you, instead, have one or two longer sessions each week, you’ve already become more time effective!

A two to three hour prospecting session is better than a shorter one for a couple of other reasons. First, that initial call is usually the hardest and then you begin to relax. Secondly, as you relax, the energy and authenticity that comes through to the prospect is of a more natural quality making it easier for you to connect to them.

You get on a roll and start to find more people are home, they are more are receptive and it isn’t as bad as you had imagined. You get into the flow and the time passes with more positive results. Your feeling of self-worth increases and it makes it easier to face the next prospecting session.

Give up trying to force yourself to get more self-discipline and start looking for ways to do things in a way that suits your style. Life is too short to perfect your weaknesses!

Published: January 29, 2002

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Joeann Fossland ePRO, GRI, MCC, PMN, SRS is a dynamic, international speaker and business coach. She personally coaches a small number of extraordinary agents who want to leverage their production results and have a life they love! She was recognized as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in Real Estate in 2008 by Stephan Swanapoel. Subscribe to her free Tuesday Tips, attend Fossland's Forums, free monthly tele-seminars, and find out about classes delivered by email and personal coaching by visiting Joeann.com or email her at . You can also connect at Facebook and Twitter.