Agents and real estate team leaders often ask me how to set effective real estate goals.
This year in particular, Keri and I have set a lot of big personal and professional goals for different areas of life and business.
I want each year to be my best year yet – I don’t like complacency. I want to grow in all areas of life every year.
With that in mind, here are just a few of my goals for 2021:
- Get our real estate team to hit the $1B yearly sales volume milestone in 2021 (up from $600M last year)
- Complete an Ironman and a 100-mile ultramarathon
- Get over 200 units in our new construction pipeline (up from 100 last year)
I’ll be real with you: I don’t know if I’ll achieve all of these goals. Not knowing whether or not you’re going to hit your goal for the year can be a little scary… but that’s the whole point.
In this post I’m going to challenge the way you think about setting real estate goals – and then I’ll challenge you to set a goal in your personal or professional life that scares you a little.
What’s the real goal of setting real estate goals?
One time-tested way to make your goals meaningful and motivational is to really connect them to your why. Whether you want to build generational wealth or just achieve financial independence and retire early, take the time to really think through how achieving the goal would impact your life and bring you closer to your personal vision.
Here’s another way to set goals that motivate yourself: make them big enough to scare you.
It’s not just about hitting the goal, after all – it’s about taking on a challenge that pushes you to grow.
Make your goal measurable and scary
To make a goal that stretches your abilities, first you’ll need to make your goal specific and measurable. Then you’ll need to make it big enough to scare you a little.
NOT SPECIFIC ENOUGH: Increase sales
SPECIFIC: Sell $1B in real estate volume in 2021
I realize that our team’s $1B goal for 2021 looks astronomical to a lot of agents and teams, but it’s attainable given our position in previous years.
Naturally while you’re racing toward your goal, you’re going to need to know what you’re on pace to achieve. Tracking those leading indicators will allow you to know in advance whether you’re on track – and will give you enough notice to adjust your strategy and tactics as necessary.
Make sure your goals are specific enough that you can check up on them frequently by tracking leading indicators (like leads generated, appointments booked, team member retention, etc.), not just lagging indicators like closed deals and volume already sold.
For example… Our team currently has over 300 ratified and closed contracts on the books, and we’re on pace to sell about $800M in volume this year – so we know that we need to take our leading indicators up a notch to hit our goal of $1B sold this year. So we’re constantly generating more leads, working to book more appointments, and adjusting our marketing.
So if your goal is measurable, that’s a great first step.
Next, a gut check: If you look at your goal and feel a little nervous and think “I don’t know if I (or we) can hit that,” good. Perfect.
A goal that scares you a little will inspire a sense of urgency. It’ll excite you and motivate you. And through stretching your abilities in pursuit of that goal, you will learn and grow.
A big, scary goal can also motivate you to invest in your business and invest in yourself by attending events, getting real estate coaching, reading books, listening to podcasts, or hiring staff. Sometimes achieving a big goal isn’t just about what you do, it’s about who you bring in to take your business up a notch.
Example goals
Keri, Sunil, and I have set some huge goals this year.
- Keri and I have set the goal for The Keri Shull Team to close $1B in real estate volume in 2021
- I’ve set a goal to compete in an Ironman and run a 100-mile endurance race this year, and I’ve taken on some pretty steep fitness challenges while training for those
- Sunil and I have set the goal to get 200 units in our new construction pipeline to replace the 100 we’re going to sell this year
These are just a few of the challenges I’m taking on personally and professionally. I don’t know if I’m going to hit all of those goals. And that scares me a little bit, because I don’t want to miss a goal, right?
While we’re on that topic…
What if you miss the goal?
What if you don’t make your goal?
If you really work hard and go all-out chasing that goal, and you fall short, you still come out ahead if you learned from the experience. If it made you and your business stronger, then reaching for an ambitious goal was worth it.
The best way to change yourself is to challenge yourself. So make sure you’re setting the kinds of goals that you’re NOT 100% sure you can achieve.
Maybe you won’t hit every goal – but the goals you go hard for still make you stronger, faster, and smarter. Along the way, you might just hit a new personal best.
Dan Lesniak has sold billions of dollars’ worth of real estate, developed over 500 homes, and written multiple best-selling books. He is a speaker, real estate coach, six-time Ironman, father of four, and husband to Keri Shull.
📱Text Dan your toughest questions about real estate, business, and investing at (703) 215-1684 or click here: https://my.community.com/danlesniak
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