We are now almost half way through the 1^st month of the New Year.  Let me ask the question…How have you been executing your business plan for 2011?  How has your focus been?  Has it been laser accurate or could it use some fine tuning?

 I have an ever increasing list of TO DOs and my communication tools (i.e., email, Twitter, Skype, IM, Linkedin, Facebook, etc.) are never short of requests. In working through my own challenges with focus I realize it is certainly one of the top 10 keys to success.

Sales success is no different–focus is critical!

Unfortunately, I’m not sure that focus is something that you can take a course on, pass a test, and consider it accomplished. I think it’s a skill that needs attention every day.

It’s a fact (at least in my personal testing) when I’m focused, I …

•  Get more work done,
•  Create better results,
•  Waste less time in between tasks, and
•  Offer better service to my customers (and audience–like YOU)

Focus is the fuel for …

• New ideas,
• Creative ways to find and engage customers, and
• Helps make sharper, more effective plans

All this leads to less stress and that persistent feeling of being overwhelmed. So how do you build daily focus?

Here are some things that I have found help me focus my sales day. (Please add your ideas in the comments section, below this article)

Set Up Focus Hours

This means that you set certain hours of the day specifically for focus. This means that there will be no interruptions. Unless it is a time-sensitive issue, there should be no communications between members of the office during this time. This makes it possible for people to focus on their work. As much as we’d like to think so, human beings are not capable of multitasking like a computer operating system. Every time we switch between tasks, there is a period of recuperation that slows us down.

Turn Off Email Alerts

Unless this would negatively impact your service, it is a good idea not to answer emails immediately as they come in. Taking the time to switch from one task to responding to emails slows you down. Even if your business is highly centered on providing customer service at a rapid pace, it is very rare that an email can’t wait for at least an hour to be answered. If you designate specific times during the day to check and respond to emails, you will get your tasks finished faster. In most cases, you will end up spending less time on the emails themselves this way as well.

Do Not Use Instant Messengers

Unless these are completely necessary for your sales model, they are nothing but a burden. Just knowing that somebody has sent you an instant message, whether or not you take the time to see what it says, is enough to spoil your focus. In order to concentrate and get your work done, you need to avoid distractions like this.

Stay Away from Your Web Browser

Unless you absolutely need it in order to get your work done, the internet is just a distraction. If you must use the internet to get your work done, make sure that you don’t get distracted and start clicking on links that seem interesting, but are way off topic.

This is my two cents on a topic I continually battle against maintaining the laser focus we need in this industry. How do you improve your focus? How does that improve your sales performance?

I’d like your help to improve. I bet the other folks reading would like your help too.

Here are 10 great questions to ask during your first meeting with prospective clients. Truly listening to the answers will help you understand where they’re coming from and what they expect.

1. How many past experiences have you had owning homes and/or moving?

2. Why is now the right time for you to move?

3. How long have you considered this move?

4. How will this move benefit you (and your family)?

5. Are there any downsides to this move for you, or potential pitfalls you see?

6. Describe to me, in an ideal situation, the best possible experience you could hope for in the sale of your home.

7. If for some reason your home didn’t sell, how would it impact you (and your family)?

8. How will having a real estate agent benefit you? (Listen carefully to this one… it will hit on their expectations of you!)

9. What were your past experiences like with real estate agents? (Or, if they haven’t had one yet, ask them to talk about experiences they’ve heard about with friends / family. Let them know, good or bad, they won’t hurt your feelings with their answers.)

10. Are there any specific issues you’d like me to address or questions you’d like to ask me?

Don’t feel like you have to march them through every question. Don’t try to fix every fear or make every promise– listen and pause before you speak. Don’t try to finish their sentences for them. Follow their line of thought and move naturally with the conversation. Along the way, you may hit upon revelations that the client had not yet discovered on their own… make sure to give them ample time to reflect!

Lean a little on your contacts for their opinion and they’ll reward you.

The art of staying in touch with clients requires you have real conversations– not just show up with your hand out. The challenge comes when looking for a friendly reason to call. While there’s no harm in dialing “just to check in,” there are more effective conversations you can have with clients.

This week, try a “Can I get your opinion?” call. The call is a simple one, in which you rely on your past client or contact’s expertise to guide you. It’s a call for help, a little friendly advice.

Below is a simple sample script to guide your thinking. It demonstrates the basic formula:

1. Ask for their help.
2. Tell them why you need their help, and why you thought of them.
3. Follow-up with a thank-you note later.

“Hi, [CONTACT NAME], this is [YOUR NAME] with [YOUR COMPANY]. Mind if I get your opinion on something? I have a potential client coming into town some time in the next week or so, and I wanted to [TAKE THEM OUT TO DINNER / TAKE THEM OUT FOR A ROUND OF GOLF / HAVE A NICE BOTTLE OF WINE FOR THEM] and I was wondering if I might lean on your expertise in [SUBJECT YOU'RE ASKING ABOUT] for a little advice.”

Obviously, you need to tailor the conversation for specific situations, but the basic is the same:

“Client coming into town” = I’m still in business.
“Mind if I get your opinion” = I respect you and your advice.
“I wanted to [do something for them]” = I’m a thoughtful agent.

 Not only does it show you respect them and value their opinion, but it opens the door for small talk which could lead to a discussion about their real estate needs.

Losing touch is a top-5 regret!

“Only connect!”
–E.M. Forster, writing in Howard’s End

An article that’s been making the rounds lately online has been Bronnie Ware’s “Regrets of the Dying,” (http://bit.ly/d09LTc) a short piece about the top five regrets of people she worked with who were in palliative care. Palliative care is end-of-life care for those who have chosen to die at home.

Of the top five regrets, one jumped out at me (#4 on the list): “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.” As you know, we’re big believers that the #1 reason we miss out on opportunities is because we do not adequately keep up with clients and prospects. But Bronnie’s article also underscored that beyond the business case, it could be we’re also doing ourselves a deathbed disservice by not taking the time to keep connections alive.

Is it any surprise that some of the fastest growing websites are now centered on connecting with others? While Google has always connected us with information, Facebook and Twitter are connecting us with one another. Yet it still doesn’t seem like enough. The hunger for human connection isn’t satisfed with a Tweet or a status update.

Now, I bring this up not to start your day with a downer, but to reinforce two ideas:

1) Put today’s stresses, strains, and challenges into perspective. After all, as the quote goes: Life isn’t a dress rehearsal.

2) Never mistake a quick post on a website for the equivalent of a face-to-face meeting or the sound of someone’s voice on the phone. While social media has been a great tool for expanding our connection, it still falls short of the gold standard in the bank of human connection.

Let someone know you haven’t forgotten them today.

Set the goal, measure the habit, reflect on the goal.

“Habit is a cable; we weave a thread each day, and at last we cannot break it.”
–Horace Mann

One of my favorite concepts is “things that get measured are things that get done.” The simple act of measuring change, tracking time spent, or logging events can not only give you powerful transparency in your life, but also help you align your behavior with your goals.

Making an improvement in yourself or your business is not a single “sea change” event, but the gradual application of effort over time. If you have an area of your real estate career you’d like to improve, don’t get bound up in planning for change… start changing today. To hold yourself accountable, simply measure your effort on a daily basis.

The key is beginning with a small change. Pick a habit you’d like to adopt. Say, for example, you’d like to do a better job staying in touch personally with clients. Imagine you’d like to have one 5 – 10 minute conversation with past clients or prospects six days a week. Just a chance to check in and see how they’re doing.

If you setup a spreadsheet with the date in one column and a simple YES/NO answer to the question, “Did I make my stay-in-touch call today?” you’ll be able to see quickly how much effort you’re putting into your new habit. Odds are, it sounds completely doable, right? Just think: If you add up the time, that’s between 780 and 1,560 hours of “stay in touch” time over the course of a year!

Horace Mann’s quote about building an unbreakable cable one thread at a time is true. Pick one thing you’re going to practice and track this month. Pick something realistic, something you can say, “Yes I did it!” or “No, not today.” You might just accomplish something remarkable.

Stop thinking of it as social media, and begin thinking of it as BUSINESS social media

Are you using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube this way?

Start creating daily/weekly/monthly value messages that your customers would find so interesting and informative that they would save them, print them, put them into action, and forward them to others.

This can be much more powerful than cold calling and groping, grasping, begging, or manipulating your way to an appointment – these old ways most likely result in rejection – even using your fanciest, newest, “closing technique.”

Increase your brand by using business social media.  You can improve your image, reputation and value with your customers and your business community.

Think about what will help your customers produce more, profit more, understand what’s brand new in the market, improve morale, improve attitude, and/or improve their life. Then write about it, tweet about it, and post it on Facebook.

Remember to quote yourself, not Benjamin Franklin. It’s tempting to quote Benjamin Franklin, but it will not build your value in the eyes of your customer.

Talk about your buisness. If you sell toilets, then you have to talk about plumbing. But if you sell real estate, then you have to talk about building equity, home repair, and front yard safety. It’s ok to talk about other things but remember to come back to your message often.

BUSINESS SOCIAL MEDIA SELF TEST:

■Make a list of your last ten tweets. Are they relevant to your business success? Did they help others in any way? How many got re-tweeted?

■Make a list of your last ten Facebook postings. How many people like your business page? Do you even have a business page?

■List the last ten actions you took, or messages you sent, on LinkedIn. Anyone join you or want to link as a result of them?

■List the last ten videos that you posted online. Do you even have a YouTube channel? (It’s free!) Are you posting value messages that your customers and prospects would watch, learn from, and think of you as a resource? Any video testimonials posted on your YouTube channel? (Short testimonial videos will help prospective customers buy, and reinforce your own belief system.)

Lastly, all business social media is interconnected. You have to do them consistently to gain effective results.