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Potential Hang-ups You May Face During the End of the Year

Welcome and good morning to Mike Ferry TV. It is the week of November 2nd. Wow. This year has gone by in record paces. A little bit unusual … not exactly what we had planned, but guess what? We’re at the first of November and soon we’ll have a new year … 2021.

One month ago almost to the day with my group that I work with on Monday mornings … I have a group … I think there’s about 180 people and we have a meeting every Monday for 30 minutes … it’s called Mornings with Mike … and it’s kind of a fun group because there are a lot of new clients to us … there’s also some long-term clients … and what I do is I share ideas on Monday that they can use during the course of the week to remain productive. What’s interesting is about 80% of the group have been in this group with me for more than 8 years, which really is something to be said about all of them and their ability to keep learning.

But on this Monday a month ago, I asked them to write down to start two phrases. I said, “Take out your pen and write down ‘My biggest hang-up is …’ My biggest hang-up is … Or write down, ‘My hang-ups … U-P-S … are.’” And then what I did is I spent some time talking to them about some of the hang-ups that people have about finishing a year strong and/or starting a new year as strong as you’d like to because I think both of these things come into play as we look at October, November and December.

So I gave them a series of examples of what I thought hang-ups are that people are and it’s really simply things that I’ve been told, what I’ve listened to, then heard, people send me emails all the time about some of the problems that they’re dealing with. So in no order of importance at all, but I want to share with you some of the hang-ups that I see you could be facing as you finish this year hopefully as strong as you would like to finish it.

So here’s the first one that I wrote down … My biggest hang-up is setting fourth quarter goals. It’s interesting that the fourth quarter … October, November, December … is often the most challenging time for Real Estate people, and it’s challenging because the people … and let’s hope this is not you … that have no had a strong year, and let’s face it, this year has been divided. About half of our clients have had the worst year of their life and half have had the best year of their life, and it’s all because of the COVID-19 situation we’ve all been facing. But let’s also be honest, it’s because of what’s going on in our heads about the COVID situation we’re all facing.

So about half of our clients have no done as well as they wanted, and many of them … let’s not have this be you, of course … quit as we get into the fourth quarter. Might as well wait for the new year to start. I’ll start over again then, and I understand. We also have a lot of people that have done very, very well throughout the course of this year that start to pull the reigns back and start to slow down, take their foot off the gas, because they’re saying, “I’ve had a great year. What’s the point of pushing so hard?” And, of course, the point of pushing hard is it makes the holiday season better for you and your family … A … and B, it gives you a good, strong January cash flow-wise … closings, commission checks, etc. So one of the hang-ups is setting fourth quarter goals.

A second hang-up is creating your business plan for 2021. I wrote something down I want to share with you. I wrote down … It’s not as if you have to write a 21-page book because you do not. This is your map to the goals in 2021. Your business plan is your map, it’s your guide. It’s your path to the goals you’ve set. Now, the question, of course, is do we know what to expect in 2021? I wrote down, “Yes.” 365 days, 52 weeks and 12 months … and the economy is going to be whatever it’s going to be. The people that are strong, like yourself, are going to succeed no matter what the economy is.

Bernie Gallerani, one of the people that I get to coach personally made a statement to me several weeks ago. I said, “Have you thought about what’s going to happen after the election?” Listen to what Bernie said …

“Well, if Joe Biden gets elected President, I’m going to sell a house the next day. If Donald Trump gets elected President, I’m going to sell a house the next day. So I’m going to sell a house the next day no matter what happens with the election.” So it’s a mindset that you’re facing.

The third hang-up … and this is an interesting one … is getting into the habit of doing what a coach … if I have a coach … your Broker, your Manager, an outside coaching company … is asking you to do. I don’t understand quite why. We’ve been doing coaching for 32 years now. We started the Real Estate Coaching industry in October of 1988. Thirty-two years is along time doing coaching, and I still don’t understand … and I’ll be very honest … why we get involved in a process like personal coaching to build your sales skills and develop your sales production and your career and you resist doing what you’re asked to do.

I’ll often in a seminar say to an audience, “Any of you involved in high school or college sports?” The hands go up. “What sport were you involved in?” Volleyball … soccer … swimming … football … baseball … tennis … golf … “Did the coach ever give you instructions?” Oh, yeah … all the time. “And what happened if you didn’t take the instructions from the coach and use them?” Well, you didn’t get to play. “Oh, so by not doing what your coach says, you don’t get to play at the level you’d like to experience, correct?” Well, that always changes the attitude of the people that I’m talking to.

What’s your hang-up … number four … following the Mike Ferry Sales System? If you’re watching Mike Ferry TV, I’m always talking about the fact that you have to manage your time and prospect and lead follow-up, etc. What’s your hang-up on following the Mike Ferry Sales System? It’s interesting because if you can identify what part of what we are asking you to do … we’re the only company that I can find that has a specific step-by-step-by-step-by-step system for making a sale or taking a listing and getting it sold. Everybody else talks about different things and they dabble in it, but we have a very simple … step-by-step. It’s like going to the Ford factory in Detroit and they start out with a piece of steel and end up with a beautiful car. It’s a step-by-step approach, and if you follow the approach, you’re going to win. What’s your hang-up with the system? Look at that and then stop fighting that system because that system is what’s going to get you to where you want to go.

I wrote down next … What is my hang-up with being told what to do? I had a friend of mine years ago that … he was an okay golfer … he wasn’t a great golfer … and he wasn’t a bad golfer, but he was adamantly learning all the time how to play golf and he was taking golf lessons to the tune, twice a week, at $200 an hour. The guy had a lot of money and he was willing to spend it on golf. He would take the lessons and then he never did on the course what his golf pro taught him. I said, “What’s your hang-up? I mean, you have the best instructor in the world teaching you what to do. Why don’t you follow it?”

“Nah. That’s his advice. I’m doing what I think is right.” Sounds like a Real Estate Agent to me.

What is your hang-up regarding listing property? And that is a big hang-up in our industry. Most agents would take that path of putting a Buyer in the car. What is your hang-up regarding scripts? Because it doesn’t matter whether you work with my company or your company or a competitive company, they’re going to offer scripts to use. Are you willing to look in the mirror and say, “I can take this script … I can learn it and become a better Real Estate Agent”?

I wrote down … my expressive friends of course don’t like to hear what I just said because they like to talk … I wrote down next … What is my hang-up on developing a little bit stronger work ethic? Work ethic … see, each of us has to decide the depth and the strength of our work ethic. Easiest way to see if your work ethic is working is to identify whether or not you’re achieving the goals you’ve set. If you’re not achieving the goals you’ve set, your work ethic is not in line with the goals you’ve set.

I wrote down next … What is my hang-up regarding following a schedule? It is the single biggest challenge in our wonderful, exciting business of Real Estate is following a precise schedule day after day after day. “Mike, it’s boring. It’s not fun. I don’t like it.” I know, but it also pays off if you’re following a routine of doing certain things a certain way all the time.

What is your hang-up regarding being an independent contractor? Everyone looks at us at a positive or a negative. You know, you get all the freedom all you want. You can do what you want, and if you don’t do anything that the Broker says, the Manager says, that I say, you’re still okay. However, if you do what we say, watch you become just a little bit better. So, taking that independent contractor label and taking it off every morning and doing your job, following your schedule, using your scripts, following the system, and then when you go home, put it back on so you can feel good about yourself.

And then I wrote down … What is my hang-up in asking for support? Because the truth is … there’s a lot of people all around you that will support you in achieving your goals for November and December if you are willing to ask.

And then one more thought I wrote down … What is my hang-up regarding handling a lot of success that I will probably have in November and December if I can get through some of these things that Mike is talking about today?

So I’m going to recommend a couple things to you, and I don’t do this very often, but I’m going to recommend that you strongly consider getting involved in our Mornings with Mike. Go to my website, sign up … it’s $250 a month, 4 times a month, a half hour call with yours truly, Mike Ferry, and a great group of people. And the reason I say that is because if you’re not involved in coaching, and even if you are, that extra support can make a big difference.

But the second thing I’m going to recommend … this might be one of those messages today that you listen to 3 or 4 times this week. Let’s find out what is stopping you. What is getting in the way from you having a great, productive November and December? Remember, the majority of agents have already quit working for the year. Maybe not physically, but mentally. Let’s not let that happen to you.

See you next week. Have a great week and a great November and December. Thanks for today.

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Mike Ferry is the global leader in real estate coaching and training. Watch Mike each week as he discusses a variety of topics to help real estate agents and brokers. Grow your real estate business by improving your mindset, developing your skills and creating a plan of action to increase your production!

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