Welcome and good morning … to Mike Ferry TV the week of April 29th.

Back in January, we were very lucky to have a nice, big, enthusiastic crowd of not only our customers but also a lot of new prospects at our annual production retreat. Some of you probably attended that production retreat. I think it was day two is when I went through a little bit of an update to the business plan. We’ve often used and recommended to agents like yourself, and then I went a step further. And I said, I’ve written down 16 different words, and I’m going to go through eight of those words with you today, and then eight again next week, and take you through that first part of what we did in January, to get everybody in the right mindset to become very productive in the calendar year 2024.

Here we are, April 29th. Now we basically have four months of the year completed. And the one thing I’m hearing all the time, and I’ve heard this virtually every day for probably 45 days. Mike I’m a little behind on my goals because of January. Well, the reason you’re behind in your goals, because of January isn’t because of January, it’s because of what you did or did not do in October, November, and December of 2023. And the reflection of your investment of good work habits in the last part of 2023 affects your January early February.

And I told several people in the last week, if you have a good, strong second quarter, you’re going to make up for whatever took place or didn’t take place back in January of this year. I recommended 16 words to him. I’m going to take you through eight of them today. I would watch this particular Mike Ferry TV every day for the next five or six days and make sure that each of these words resonates in here, because what is going on here determines what comes out of here and the actions we take every day.

Understanding Commitment: A Key Pillar in Achieving Your Goals

The first word was the word commitment and meaning. Committing to a business plan, committing to a work schedule, committing to achieving not only the financial goals you’ve set but a commitment to achieving the production goals. I wrote the following. Commitment. The attitude of someone who works very hard to support what they want to accomplish. Commitment. The attitude of someone who works very hard to support what they want to accomplish. Are you as committed today as you were back in January to the goals you have set? Or did a slow start or a hiccup in your life take place and you threw that business plan right out the window?

Mastering Discipline: The Key to Consistent Success

The second word is the word discipline I wrote. I looked in the dictionary, which I often do when I don’t have a very strong feeling about a word, and we hear the word discipline thrown around so much in our business and our life that we all think discipline is part of our life, and discipline is very much not part of most people’s lives.

The dictionary said a way of behaving that shows a willingness to follow or obey certain rules, a way of behaving that shows a willingness to follow or obey either a set of rules or standards that are being put into play in the work we do. Do you have the discipline, for example, to follow your daily schedule from, say, 8:00 until noon? Do you have the discipline to follow the scripts that we recommend you use in your pre-qualifying, your listing, presentation, handling, objections, etc.? The discipline, a way of behaving so you’re being able to follow scripts or your calendar or your daily schedule. Tell us exactly what your levels of discipline are.

Reigniting Your Desire in Today’s Market

The third word was the word desire to want for something in your life or business that you don’t have, or something you want to enhance, to watch, to want something in your life or business you don’t have or you want to enhance. That’s having the desire. The problem we have in real estate today is two years ago, a commission check for a real estate agent was pretty good size.

It was this size. Today, a commission check is this size. And that’s because of the inventory shortage and the inflation that has taken place throughout North America. A lot of agents have lost that desire and that discipline to the commitment that they had because their checks are growing and they’re really not responsible for the growth of the check. Folks, let’s forget about how big the check is in terms of amount, and let’s see how many we can collect each month. Based on the quality of service we offer buyers and sellers.

Harnessing the Power of Intensity

The fourth word is the word intensity. We just came back from doing a superstar retreat in Italy in a place called Sorrento. Beautiful part of Italy. We had 400 great Italian agents there. It was a wonderful crowd and it’s interesting. And the front three rows were our Italian coaching clients, and I could feel the intensity of the conversations that they were having in Italian. And I don’t speak Italian, but I could also feel my intensity in getting up stronger and stronger as I talked to them because they were looking for new ideas and new thoughts and new ways of doing business. And they all recognized that there’s nothing new except improving. The quality of what you do is very new to most people. Under intensity, the dictionary said the degree or amount of strength that something or someone has toward accomplishing something they’re trying to do, watch the amount of strength you’re willing to put into what you’re trying to do.

Exploring Intensity and Work Ethic

And that’s such an interesting part of life, is the intensity. And you can be very intense and be very meek. You can be very intense and be very quiet. You can be very intense and not be overbearing at all. As long as you have the amount of strength necessary to accomplish what you’re trying to accomplish. Number five is two words work ethic. First, the word work a job or activity that has a person doing something regular in order to earn money. The second word ethic, a belief that something is important and possible to actively do through the work that you accomplish and do each day. People talk about work ethic like, you know, it’s like having breakfast or lunch. Work ethic is a vitally important part of what all of us do, what we’re trying to accomplish. The stronger the work ethic, the more we are able to accomplish or do but understand. The word work is involved in work ethic.

Embracing Competition in the Real Estate Arena

Number six is the word competitive, and the word competitive is vitally important. Having a strong desire to win or to be the best at something. Not everybody in Real Estate can be number one in their office.

Not everybody wants to be number one. But there are times when you have to be a little more competitive because you’re going against somebody else that is trying to do the same thing you’re trying to do. Two of you could have a conversation working in different companies with the same potential buyer and or seller. Not uncommon if you’re a listing agent to be in a competitive situation, meaning that they’re talking to 2 or 3 other agents while they’re talking to you and the person that is most competitive, that has the strongest work ethic, that has the intensity, desire and discipline and commitment is the one that’s going to get a contract signed.

Navigating Real Estate Results

Let’s go to number seven. The word results to be caused by something else that you’re doing. What are the results you’re looking for. Or in essence what is the goal you’re trying to achieve. And in real estate, we often measure results based on our gross sales volume. And, you know, you could be blessed in being in a market where the average price is 7, 8 or 900,100, 250 million to a down to 150,000 and everything in between, I’ve always said quit counting gross sales volume, count the number of transactions that you’re doing each month. If your goal is 24, get out of at the end of the year due to per month. The results are what we’re trying to accomplish.

Sharpening Your Focus

And then word number eight is the word focused. It’s hard to remain focused because the distractions and real estate are the biggest challenge that we face almost every day. The one thing I ask all the clients that I get to work with closely is let’s see if we can complete one day and not be interrupted, not be distracted, not have anything getting in the way of what your job is on your schedule each day. That is a very difficult thing to be focused. And the word focus said a main purpose or intention. If your morning schedule says from 10 to 11:30, you’re supposed to be doing lead follow-up … Let’s see if we can do it just today. Let’s see if we can do it two to three days in a row. Focus on the end result. Or as Earl Nightingale told us back in 1956, we become what we think about most of the time. Let’s make sure we’re focused on the right results, make sure competitive that our work ethic is strong, that we’re intense because we have the desire to achieve what we’ve set, and we have the discipline because we’re committed to what we’re trying to accomplish. Next week, which will be in the month of May, we’ll look at points 9 through 16. Thanks for today. See you next week.