Ninja Group Coaching in October

I got behind in transcribing my notes – we had a Ninja Group Coaching session on 10/31/07 with Walt Frey.  There were about a dozen of us in this session.  It was held in the Keller Williams Realty Bellevue’s office.

Accountability

Each of us is supposed to be tracking our time using the PIN system, the count of new contacts we are making and the number of FORD calls we are making.  The PIN system tracks the number of hours spent in Productive, Indirectly productive, and Necessary activities.

• Productive activities – face-to-face sales activites – eg Listing presentations, buyer’s consultations, offer presentations, etc.
• Indirectly productive – activities whose result should be the generation of Productive activities – eg marketing, FORD calls, networking events, newsletter generation, open houses (as long as there are guests), etc.
• Necessary – things that we need to do, but don’t generate production and won’t lead to it – eg continuing education classes, paperwork, previewing houses, open house where nobody comes, etc.

FORD calls is making contact with people you know and like to continue to be part of their lives.  The focus is on Family, Occupation, Recreation, and Dreams.  During these calls, the goal is not to bring up real estate – instead it should be about connecting to your friend.  We need to be in their lives enough so that when they think of real estate, they think of us.  We can’t make them think of real estate – it is not important to them until it is important to them!

We had a long discussion about how well we are doing – our ratios of I to P and amount of I time spent.  Each person’s business style will determine their desired ratio – but higher ratios will force the agent to either put in more time or limit their income.  If the ratio is higher than desired, then you need to look at how you are spending your I time and try to perform activities with more leverage.  For example, spending 4 hours hand addressing envelopes will cause a higher ratio than outsourcing that activity or using labels.  Walt gave an example of an agent that plays golf every day for 4 hours and uses that time to stay connected to his contacts – his ratio is 4 to 1, but that matches his desired business style.  Another agent has a 15 minute to 1 hour ratio – she prefers a higher leverage on her connections.

We also talked about the resistance to making the FORD calls.  Procrastination, fear, disbelief, etc.  Also, lack of accountability.  When we pick an accountability partner, that partner needs to really push us to fulfill our goals.  If we don’t make our calls, we should get real grief from our partner – and we should give it when they don’t accomplish their goals.  The goal is something they wanted – we should help them attain it!

A system is like a recipe – following the ingredients in the right proportion and in the proscribed order will give a predicted result.  We all want the result without the work of following the recipe!

Walt suggested a few books:

When things aren’t going well – we need to ask ourselves “what is the win for me with this situation?” or ”What is the benefit that makes me create this situation?”

Goal Setting

Reasons we don’t set goals:

• Herd Instinct – nobody else is, so why should I?
• Success Exception – find an example of somebody that did succeed without goals – so wh should I?
• Fear of Failure – if I set a goal, then I could ‘fail’
• Unclosed Sale – never been sold on goal setting
• Lack of Knowledge Alibi – need more information to set goals
• Satisfied Life – life is okay, why set goal for more?
• “Chevy” Syndrome – don’t want to appear more successful than others
• “Fire Fighter” Role – like having crisis in life
• “Big” Score – waiting for the ‘big deal’ or lottery

Harvard did a study on incomes of their MBAs over 25 years.  They found a definate relationship between goals and higher incomes

• No goals – 82% of those studied – this was the baseline income for the study
• Vague goals – ‘want to make more money’ – 14% of those studied – these folks made 3 times more money than those without goals
• Specific goals – ‘want to make 100K more next year’ – 3% of those studied – these folks made 10 times more money than those without goals

It does not require a large change in performance to greatly affect the result.  For example, in 1990, Curtis Strange made the most money on the golf circuit.  He had a 70.56 shots / round of golf average. He made almost a millions dollars that year.  On the other hand, the 98th highest income golfer had a 71.61 shot / round average and made just under $100K.  Just over 1 shot average changed the income by an order of magnitude!

Goals should be written in the form of an affirmation – in present tense, personal, and in positive terms.  For example, ‘I am healthy and fit’ is better than ‘I want to be healthier’ or ‘I don’t want to be sick anymore’

Major Goal Areas:

• Financial
  •  Earnings
  •  Savings
  •  Retirement
• Professional
  •  Education
  •  Achievement
  •  Contribution
  •  Advancement
• Material
  •  Family Necessity
  •  Family Luxury
  •  Personal Necessity
  •  Personal Luxury
• Personal
  •  Physical
  •  Social / Family
  •  Experience

Goals should be:

• Written
• Believable – the goal to reach the top of the mountain may not be beleivalbe right now, so set your goal to the top of that ledge, then when close, move the goal higher in believable steps
• Specific
• Measured – how do you know that you reached it if it is not measurable?
• Visible
• Shared – limit your sharing to those who support you, not those who would ridicule you or the goal
• Short / Long Range – should have both kinds of goals
• Deadline – more measurement but in time!
• Overhauled – as you approach a goal, move it farther out  Strive for more!
• Luck – Laboring Under Correct Knowledge – tell the truth about what you are doing and you can adjust it.  Lie to yourself and you can’t improve.