Recognizing the underlying reasons about what motivates you can give you great insights that will help you to achieve even greater success in your real estate career.

People are motivated to take action because of two basic desires-to either gain pleasure or avoid pain. And, generally speaking, more people in the world are more motivated to avoid pain than they are to gain pleasure.

So what does this mean in terms of success in real estate sales and leasing? Top producing real estate agents tend to be people who, over the long run, are motivated primarily out of their desire to gain pleasure. They are the classic cases of people who are motivated by the "carrot on the stick." They always have goals that they want to achieve, and they are motivated toward achieving those goals. And as long as those goals exist - out there in front of these agents for them to achieve - they are motivated to constantly take the action towards achieving those goals.

Real estate agents who produce inconsistent results, on the other hand, tend to be people who are more motivated to avoid pain than they are to gain pleasure in their lives. Maybe you even know someone like this. At some times these agents can be outstanding producers and at other times their production can be flat-out horrendous.

As an example, a real estate agent who is motivated primarily to avoid pain could be motivated to succeed primarily to pay his or her bills. Now keep in mind that this agent may also have financial goals that they would like to achieve, but when the truth is told, these goals are not what truly lights the fire to have this agent perform his or her best. And most likely all of this is completely outside of the agent's conscious awareness. He or she is simply busy selling real estate in the manner that he or she has become accustomed to.

The truth of the underlying motivation can be seen in the agent's varying levels of production. When the bills are piling up and the mortgage has to be paid the agent may rise to the occasion and always come through in the clutch, closing transactions to make sure that everyone gets paid in the appropriate timeframe. And if the agent closes some big transactions and makes a lot of money in a short period of time, the agent then may find his or herself coasting for awhile afterwards and not doing what will continually have them develop great new real estate business. And if they are true to form they will again start to get motivated when they realize that the money is beginning to run low again-- and now it's time to get moving again.

Top-producing agents who are constantly motivated towards new, higher levels of achievement don't experience the same tendency to coast after they make a lot of money. They're just continually motivated to make even more money. They have internal, driving reasons to continue to do so.

So how can an agent who is motivated primarily through moving away from pain still beat the system and become a consistent top producer?

One way is to proactively get your money out of your hands in a productive way as soon as you make a big chunk of it. Instead of coasting after you earn a big commission and watching your reserve of cash dwindle down, invest your recently- earned money somewhere where you can't get to it. This way your mind will get that you're low on cash again and know that it's time to get moving now! And besides, we both know that you feel better anyway when you're doing great in your real estate career as compared to the times when you're coasting.

There are also other ways to increase your production if you find that you're someone who is motivated primarily by the hot seat instead of by the carrot on the stick--you can increase your monthly expenses. And if you want to do it in a way that serves your financial future you can have a fixed amount of money taken out of your checking account every month for investment purposes. Or if you'd prefer to indulge yourself in more immediate material desires, you could consider buying a new home or a new car.

Anything that increases your monthly cash outflow will force you to coast less and produce more. And when your monthly demand for cash is higher you can only coast for shorter periods of time. And if you really get good at knowing how to do this with yourself you'll get closer and closer to eliminating your coasting time altogether. But again, I recommend that you orchestrate doing this in a way that best serves your financial future first--such as through investing your money instead of spending it.

Agents who have had tendencies in the past to run hot and cold with their production can definitely learn how to become consistent top producers. Sometimes it's just a matter of understanding how their own internal motivating mechanism works and then designing an approach that gives them only one alternative--the alternative of becoming a consistent, top- producing agent.

Published: November 21, 2002

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