Out with The Old, In with The New: Setting Realistic Goals for Your Business in 2021

Close-up of real estate agent giving new house keys to a couple.

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Setting New Year’s business resolutions and seeing them through is a hallmark of successful businesses everywhere. If you are looking to continue growing your real estate business in 2021, the new year is a perfect time to set your goals.

According to market trends and analyst expectations, the real estate industry will continue to grow this coming year. Thus, real estate agents and industry players thinking about their 2021 business resolutions need to set realistic goals that will position their businesses for success and bring positive changes that hand them an advantage over their competition.

Here’s why realtors need to make New Year’s business resolutions to serve as a roadmap for accomplishing 2021 business goals:

• By setting micro-goals such as the number of daily client meetings or call-number goals, you will accomplish more in the new year.
• Once you make new year’s resolutions for your real estate business, it becomes easier to review the partnerships and tools you will or will not need in 2021.
• Annual sales and operations planning ensures the needed effort is focused on realizing sales and revenue goals.

How to Set Realistic New Year’s Business Resolutions

If you are looking to get started by setting realistic sales goals for 2021, here’s a list of sample business resolutions for your real estate business:

• Learn to manage cash flow more effectively.
• Step up online and social media marketing campaigns.
• Invest more time in professional development.
• Provide 5-star customer service.
• Growing your team by delegating more tasks.
• Find a business buddy and network more.

5 Tips for Successfully Developing Realistic New Year’s Resolutions

1. Communicate Your Resolutions.

Keep your team in the loop when developing your business resolutions and take your customers’ input into account. This will not only compliment your goal-setting efforts; it will also give you the feedback and insights needed to make solid business resolutions for 2021.

2. Make SMART Goals That Align with Your Resolutions.

As you sit down to set your 2021 resolutions, you need to ensure the resolutions align with your real estate business’s goals. It is essential to have specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based (SMART) goals. However, your goals should regularly be fine-tuned to support the business resolutions.

3. Create A Plan On How You Will Reach Your 2021 Goals.

As you set your business goals for 2021, be sure to back them up with a comprehensive plan to reach the goals. Creating a plan for achieving the goals will ensure that you remain motivated all year round to reach your goals.

4. Keep Your Goals Small to Make Them More Real.

If you often find yourself committed to your goals early in the year, but you always end up losing track of your annual resolutions later on in the year, try breaking them down to daily commitment statements. Writing and displaying them is an excellent way of making your daily resolutions real and actionable.

5. Create Deadlines, Incentives and Accountability Checks.

If you are looking to inspire a quicker realization of your business goals, it is always good to incentivize them. Keeping your goals on a timeframe and establishing deadlines within which specific resolutions are supposed to be realized makes them more achievable. Additionally, instituting regular performance reviews and accountability checks for your annual resolutions will ensure they remain top of your mind.

Why Unrealistic Expectations Can Lead to Disappointment.

When planning for the future, getting overly ambitious will cause burnout and disappointment when you fail to accomplish unrealistic goals. On the other hand, resolutions that are not challenging enough tend to dupe realtors into a false sense of success.

Your 2021 business resolutions can bring positive changes and some motivation for the year, or they could be a de-motivator. Here’s why unrealistic expectations become hurdles:

• At times, agents make unreasonable resolutions forgetting how quickly things can change on the economic scene.
• Sometimes agents set annual resolutions beyond reach then become demotivated when their plans prove unattainable.
• During strategizing sessions, real estate agents will attempt to shoot at a pipe dream that is insurmountable within a year-long deadline.
• Failing to prioritize resolutions or pushing them aside in favor of other things sets up agents for disappointment.

Endnote

By designing realistic business goals now, real estate industry players can be more successful in 2021. The best thing about setting strong, realistic resolutions as a real estate agent is that you can be sure your business will have a solid plan and clear roadmap for the new year.