In every real estate agent's career there comes a moment when the truth really needs to be told. And that truth is - how committed are you to achieving the greatest success imaginable in your real estate career? The answer at first may sound simple. After all, doesn't every agent want to make incredible amounts of money every year in this business? While the answer may be "Yes," it really doesn't tell the entire story.

If you're like most agents, you've probably worked in an office surrounded by tens of other real estate agents at one time or another in your career. In fact, you may even be in a situation like this right now. And if this is true for you, you've probably also noticed something very interesting...Although most if not all of the agents in the office seem to be very busy throughout the day, very few of those agents will ever end up being among the top producers in the office.

If someone outside of the real estate industry were to observe the inside of a real estate office for five minutes or so, it would probably be hard for the person to differentiate the top performers from everyone else. Everyone will appear to be doing the activities that could have them be a top performer.

The proof though lies in the results produced at the end of each year by each of the individual agents. So while keeping this in mind, where do you normally rate at the end of the year in terms of how much commission you've put in your pocket? Are you always one of the top-producing agents in your territory? And are you continually achieving the level of success each year that you know you are capable of?

If your answer to either of these questions is, "No," then what are you doing to change this situation? Are you continuing on with the same routine each month, hoping that your results will somehow end up changing? If so you need to realize how off base this assumption probably is for you. If you've been working the same basic routine for months and your results are not what you want them to be, you'll probably never produce the results you are looking for. That is unless you change your routine to those habits and behaviors of the top producer you want to be.

Think about this for a moment:

The difference between being a top-producing agent and being a mediocre agent often has nothing to do with the amount of hours you're working. It instead has everything to do with how you are spending your time.

With this being true, doesn't it just make sense to learn how to do what will maximize your income while continuing to work the exact same amount of hours you've always been working? If you see other agents making more money who are working the same amount of hours that you are, doesn't it follow that the reason they're making more money is because they're doing different activities than you are?

Unfortunately we can easily become creatures of habit. We can become more attached to being comfortable working the same old day-to-day routine, instead of doing what will have us produce the results we've always dreamed of. And sometimes when we think we've changed and are now working a new routine, we can easily slip back into our old routine without realizing it.

If any of this sounds familiar to you ask yourself, "Is it time for me to change my old routine to one that will begin producing much more effective results for me in my real estate business?"

If the answer to the above question is "Yes," you need new learning combined with the focus and accountability to ensure you change your old habits to ones that will easily produce the results you're looking for.

Take a look at the different options you have available for real estate training. And if you've tried traditional real estate training but have found yourself slipping back into your old habits, consider hiring a real estate coach. Oftentimes the focus and accountability of real estate coaching is what will make the difference in transforming an agent to an entirely new level of production in their business.

Either way, know that in order to produce better results you must work a different routine than the one you're working right now. And along with this, you must find a way to provide the focus and accountability that will make your new behavioral change a permanent one.

Published: November 12, 2004

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Jim Gillespie, Ph.D., is America's Premier Real Estate Coach℠. He has over 20 years of experience in real estate sales and is a past president of three different real estate companies. His FREE real estate E-newsletter with tips and creative ideas to help agents make more money is now read by over 35,000 agents nationwide. You can subscribe to his FREE E-newsletter by visiting RealEstateSalesCoach.com or contact him at Jim@RealEstateSalesCoach.com.