Keep Your Eye on The Prize
By: Dan Petersen
Keep your eye on the prize. I took this photo at our family dinner table and when I really sat back and started looking at it I was wondering what is going through our dog Ollie's mind. Obviously you could see he is focused on that last opportunity that sits before him. I realized he's keeping his eye on the prize, so focused and determined that he is not going to let this opportunity get away.
In our business in real estate sales and marketing, distractions constantly come at you from all different directions. It's very easy to lose focus on the prize.
How does one keep your eye on the prize? For many years it was a struggle. Our team is now hyper focused on what really matters. We have to subscribe to the four disciplines of execution. It's a very simple practice yet very effective.
What are the four disciplines of execution? The book of the same name discusses these four disciplines and how to implement them. First, determine your widely important goals (WIG). In sales, an individual's WIG is generally to hit a certain sales number whether it be volume, commission amount or units and also when this goal needs to be achieved. Ollie's WIG? Securing that treat!
The second discipline is determining what the "leading" indicators are directly impacts your WIG. Many of us focus on current pendings and or closings. These are "lag" measures. These are the results of your past activities/behaviors. Conversations, appointment set are key "leading" indicators. These are activities/behaviors you can control today. How many appointments you set (or don't set) will determine your future closings. What leading indicators could a dog like Ollie possibly have? He knows the more he (and his accomplice Astro) give us the sweet puppy dog eyes, snuggle up on our lap or gently give us a nudge towards the snack room, the more treats he will achieve.
How do you know if you're winning or not? By a scoreboard of course. This is the third discipline. Keep a scoreboard that is visible in your workspace but also visible across your team. The scoreboard is a tracking measure to show if you're winning or not but it also lets your accountability partners knows how you are performing towards your goal. I believe Ollie has a mental scoreboard. The look he gives me when he achieves his WIG tells me he is thinking Ollie 1 - Human - 0. He has been winning big lately.
The fourth discipline is the cadence of accountability. Having an accountability partner or having accountability within your team will help you stay focused and on track to achieve your WIG. Here on the Petersen Partners team we have a weekly team huddle every Monday morning that last no longer than 30 minutes. Each team member will talk about their wins from last week and what the top two or three measurable goals they have for the week that they want to accomplish and that will have the biggest impact on reaching there WIG. It's important that it's measurable and that it will directly will move the needle towards achieving the WIG. Ollie has an accountability partner in his older brother Astro. The two of them will get each other riled up when they think its treat time and become obnoxious enough that we generally will give in to their WIG.
If you are looking to find focus in your business to grow, I highly recommend getting the book Four Disciplines of Execution (written by Chris McChesney and Sean Covey). Implement it for yourself or implement it on your team.
For a brief summary check out the short for videos below:
