Changing Times, New Direction: Goal-Setting for Independent Agents & Brokers

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There is only one way to ensure that this year ends better than the last: you must have a plan.

Let’s face it. Most agents are like sailboats without a rudder, just going where the tides take them. When the sales seas were calmer and the winds of compensation were more predictable, there didn’t seem to be any real danger to this blowin’-in-the-wind strategy.

Unfortunately, over the past few years, the sales seas have gotten rougher with commission-cutting cyclones and rogue rate-cutting waves threatening to capsize directionless sailboats for good. Now, most producers have put their life jackets on.

But the reality is, all you need to reach a tropical paradise safely is a working rudder and a destination.

“If you have a brain in your head and feet in your shoes,
you can steer yourself in any direction you choose.”
Dr. Seuss

Whether you choose to recognize it or not, the condition of your life at this moment—where you are, and who you are—is because of the daily, weekly, monthly choices and decisions you’ve made over the years.

YOU are responsible for your own success. You either make a plan for what you want or you don’t; if you want to be successful in any endeavor, be it your sales career or life in general, you must take complete ownership of making a plan and setting goals to achieve it.

If you want the coming decade to be exponentially more prosperous than the last, follow these 5 simple steps to make a plan that will keep you on the right course.

1. Climb the hill, not Everest.
   One of the reasons most independent agents would rather shave their head than set goals is because they simply don’t want to experience more failing. An old adage in sales is that you fail forward—but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a painful process.Their thinking is often, “I get enough rejection on a daily basis just doing my job … why would I want to set myself up to add to that feeling of failure?”And when they have set goals, most often, they didn’t reach them, and it stunk.

   But in most cases, the goals they set were pretty darn lofty. They aimed at a few Mt. Everest-sized goals, felt confident, and then a few months later, they weren’t even at base camp.

   An essential “secret” to goal-setting, especially if the thought of doing so leaves a knot in your stomach, is to start by selecting bite-sized goals to reach.

   For example … start off by determining just four goals related to your career that you’d like to accomplish in the next six months.

   Instead of “I want to be financially free in the next six months,” (a Mt. Everest), try “I want to find a company I can work with part-time that will allow me to generate renewal income that will supplement my commission payouts,” (Base Camp).

2. Get it in writing.
   If you don’t put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and put your goals in writing, you’re wasting your time.Unwritten goals that remain in your head lead to vagueness, misdirection, and frustration.When you create something that you can touch and see, you add power and momentum to it.You are the architect of your life. Even the most imaginative and brilliant of architects must eventually put their mental plans to paper in order to make it a physical reality.

3. Think short-term.
   As the saying goes, “Goals are dreams with deadlines.”But until goal-setting and goal-achieving becomes a lifestyle habit, there’s no sense in setting goals too far into the future. That just opens up the doorway for excuses to postpone action.

   Keep your goals in 3-month and 6-month time-frames and make them simple and realistic enough to be reached within that time-frame.

   Once your goal is reached, you can either cross it off and say, “Yes! I did it!” Or, you can build upon it by adding a few more steps to be completed in another three to six months.

4. And … Action!
   Once you’ve determined your four goals that can be achieved in three to six months and have written them down, the next thing to do is to define three simple action steps that will get you closer to its actualization.In his best-selling book, The 4-Hour Workweek, author Tim Ferris offers this guidance:“Set actions—simple, well-defined actions—for now, tomorrow (complete before 11 A.M.) and the day after (again completed before 11 A.M.) … If the next step is some form of research, get in touch with someone who knows the answer instead of spending too much time in books or online, which can turn into paralysis by analysis … Tomorrow becomes never. No matter how small the task, take the first step now!”

   Tragically, an unbelievable number of people who set goals do so and then never look at them again. Don’t let that be you.

   Instead of just writing down your goals, deadlines and action steps, make sure you review them every single day. And, at the end of each day, write down what actions you did take that day to progress you toward achieving your goal. If you did little to nothing related to reaching one of your four goals, man-up, swallow the bitter pill, and reposition your rudder to get back on course.

   Remember … It’s never too late to start. It’s always too late to wait.

5. Flock with the right birds
   If someone isn’t making you stronger, they are making you weaker. Period.Therefore, it is imperative to surround yourself with people and events that help you fulfill your objectives, teach you what you need to know, and enable you to think and act like a top producer.Motivational speaker, Jim Rohn, is famous for saying that “you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

   If the five people you surround yourself with the most have a negative philosophy, are consistently complaining, living in the past, and blaming others for their difficulties, then chances are slim to none that you’ll reach your goals.

   Why? Because it’s incredibly difficult to see what’s possible, raise your standards, and make a compelling vision for your future when you’re not interacting with others who want to progress in life too.

   When we see others closing 20 sales at the end of the month, getting bonuses, offering new services, or earning higher compensation, we see the possibility that exists and can build upon that.

   This is why it is so important to become acutely aware of who you surround yourself with. What destination are they headed for? Is that where you want to be headed? Are they people who live the kinds of lives you aspire to live?

At the end of the day, the simple truth is that you are either going for your goals or giving up on your goals. There is no in-between.

So what about you?
Do you have a compelling vision for what you really want?
Do you have strong enough reasons to follow through when the going gets tough?
Are you willing to review your goals every single day?
Are you willing to raise your standards and do little things each day that will get you victoriously to your goal?