10 Steps to Planning Your Best Year Ever – #TomFerryShow

November 14, 2017

Warning:
This episode of the #TomFerryShow requires you to do some work…
And it might take a while.
But here’s the good news:
It will impact ALL of next year…
And it can be the key that unlocks your Best Year Ever this year.
It’s all about creating your Business Plan for this year.
It’s not about thinking about creating it, partially creating it or wishing you’d created it.
It’s about DOING THE WORK.
So here’s what I’m going to ask you to do…
Open up your calendar right now and reserve one full day in the next 10 days.
Write it in with a permanent Sharpie (or the digital equivalent).
Because completing your Business Plan might very well be the most important task you do between now and the New Year.

Step-By-Step Instructions to Plan Your #BYE

Here in the blog, I’m going to walk you through the important steps of completing your business plan.
This year, I’m sharing the exact plan we use with our coaching members with you.
First, start by downloading your copy here.
You may also want to meet with your broker to review the previous year.
The more information you have about what got you where you are today, the more effectively you can plan a successful future.
Once you have everything you need, find a comfortable spot where you can dig in and do the work.
Let’s begin…

Step 1: Break Down Last Year

Hopefully you’ve taken my advice in the past and you track and measure everything.
If you’ve been doing this, it will help to know your 2017 numbers for

GCI
Sales Volume
Number of Transactions (Broken into Buyers/Sellers/Leases)
Average Sales Price
Average Retained Commission Percentage
Lead Sources

If you haven’t been tracking your stats, the Deal Tracker in the business plan will help you in the future.

Step 2: Set Goals for this Year

Here’s where the actual business plan begins, on the “What You Want” page.
Fill in your goals for the following:

Revenue/GCI
Expected Expenses
Profit
Savings & Debt Reduction

Step 3: How Will You Get There?

Break down your goals into sellers, buyers and leases, including what percentage each will contribute to your total this year. Factor in your average sales price and your expected commission as well.
Then, determine how many transactions of each are needed and how many appointments you’ll require to reach that goal.

Step 4: Get Your “Daily Number”

So now you’ve established how many appointments you need to achieve your goals.
The next step is determining how many conversations will be needed to generate your needed number of appointments.
If you know your numbers, use your average here.
If you don’t know your numbers, I estimate that most agents close one transaction from every 40 business-focused conversations conducted with a new lead or a database contact.
Multiply your transaction goal by 40 to determine how many conversations you need to conduct.
Then, divide that number by the number of weeks you plan to work this year.
This will give you your Weekly Conversation Goal, which you can then break down even further into your Daily Conversation Goal.
While analyzing these numbers, be sure to note where your transactions are coming from and where you can seek out new growth opportunities.

Step 5: Take Stock of Lead Sources

The next step is to analyze what lead sources have worked well for you in the past and which you will rely on this year.
What works? How can you do it even better? What do you want to add?
To keep things manageable, it’s best to identify 4-6 core lead sources that serve as pillars of your business. When you get too many various lead sources, things quickly become overwhelming.

Step 6: Go Deeper on Each Lead Source

Here’s where things get time consuming.
The next step is to take the primary lead sources you plan to use in 2018 and build out a one-page strategic plan for each.
The more specific you are, the more useful these documents will be.
You need to go deep into the tactics you’re going to use.
Consider this step as creating your road map for how you will generate leads in 2018.
Dig in and DO THE WORK!

Step 7: Create Your Optimal Daily & Weekly Schedules

Even having mapped out your plan to this extent, you can’t just hope it works.
You need to make it happen.
That means determining what your optimal day looks like to ensure you do the tasks necessary to achieve the results you desire.
Our Optimal Day and Optimal Week worksheets will help you do this.
Give these some strategic thought, create them and then get them up and visual or programmed within your project management software.

Step 8: Conduct Your SWOT Analysis

Part of building a business plan is taking stock of your own strengths and weaknesses so you know where you can improve in 2018.
The “Where to Improve” page will help you identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the coming year.
Evaluate yourself in each category: Lead Generation, Organizational Skills, Wellness, Lead Conversion, Mindset and Communication Skills.
Then use 2018 to focus on those areas that most need growth.

Step 9: Find Your Why

You’re never going to perform to your full potential unless you have a reason.
So that’s the next question to answer:
What’s going to drive you?
What’s your “Why”?
Is it your own pride? Is it to contribute to your community? Is it to buy a boat?
The driver itself doesn’t really matter for this exercise.
What’s important is that you have something that motivates you to do the work every day.

Step 10: Get Smart About It

As 2018 arrives and you execute your business plan, you need to think about these five specific actions:

Focus on your goal
Act on your KPIs
Keep your goals up and visual and scoreboard your progress
Create a cadence of accountability
Celebrate your wins!

Also, be sure to use the transaction tracker, personal and business expense trackers and the wealth tracker within the business plan to measure your progress.
When you track and measure and inject accountability into your business, your results will go through the roof.

Get Started!

You have a lot of work ahead of you, both in completing your plan and building in accountability to ensure you put the plan in action in 2018.
If you need any help, let us know!