Coach Patti's Blog

"If you have a goal in life that takes a lot of energy, that requires a lot of work, that incurs a great deal of interest and that is a challenge to you, you will always look forward to waking up to see what the new day brings." - Susan Polis Schultz

Not long ago I checked off one of my lifetime goals – to see a Space Shuttle launch. I'd dreamed about it for a long time. It took a lot of scrambling and rearranging of my schedule and my husband's for us to be able to make the trip for California to Florida. The launch was scrubbed…and then delayed again…and again! We rescheduled some more, grabbed the last two seats on a flight, and got there to see an extraordinary event from a front row seat.

What I couldn't understand was how some people who had the same chance we did, and who could have been there for the launch, bailed out after one or two scrubs. After all it took to get there, I wasn't about to give up without reaching that goal. Why did they?

I don't have an answer for those folks, but I do know that one answer might be that they didn't really have a goal. They sort of wanted to see the launch, and would have liked to if it worked out, but it wasn't a goal that they had set and worked toward with resolve.

What's the difference? Wanting something is just wishful thinking. Making it a goal gives you a roadmap to reaching it, and a way to measure how you're doing in your quest. Setting a goal gives you direction and an action plan. 

Here is a six step process you can use today to produce greater results through goal-directed action:

1. Step one - Define the problem you want to solve. You can't reach a goal if you don't know what it is!
2. Step two - Make the goal large enough so that it is challenging without being impossible to attain. Effective goal targets fall between a stretch and a pipe dream.
3. Step three - Develop a goal that is measurable, has a time frame for completion, and then write it down. For example, "I will develop and implement five new systems that will increase my net margins by 2% by November 1^st, 2009."
4. Step four - Ask and answer these fundamental questions:
   1. Why this goal?
   2. Why now?
   3. What is the cost if the goal is not met? What are the consequences to my business if I do not reach the goal? 
   4. What is the value if the goal is accomplished?
   5. What resources do I need to reach this goal? Think in terms of both time and dollar costs.
   6. After examining the potential benefits and costs, are you still committed to move forward with the goal? This is the time to reflect and be certain the cost involved in achieving the goal is worth the result. If so, move forward. If not, work on something else.
5. Step five - Define an action step and take it immediately. The action can be small but it will help move your goal from paper to action.
6. Step six - Create a measuring tool that contains the elements of constant review and resetting action steps based on actual progress. Be rigorous and tell yourself the truth about how you are advancing.

There's an old saying: "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you're standing still." Goals keep you moving in the right direction – the direction you've chosen, the one that is right for you and your business.

Mine got me to the Space Shuttle launch. Where will your goals take you?

Patti Kouri, Accelerated Performance Coaching
Helping You Through Self-Made Limitations! 

Will you Take My Challenge and increase your income? Here's what one student said:

"In 2006 I left REMAX and went to Prudential in West Chester OH. I was in a slump and Bob Daniel handed me $100 and told me to sign up for some Real Estate Game that Patti Kouri was conducting. It was the best money spent.  Last year (2008) I did 100 transactions. It all began with you, Ms. Patti. My thanks." - Pamela Bensen

Play The Real Estate Game®

It was one of those "things to see and do in our lifetime" goals – to see a Space Shuttle launch in person.

I am so glad we made the decision to go to Florida to see the launch of Endeavor. It was all at the very last minute – my husband, Matthew, and I had just three days to make air reservations (we got the last two seats and were even upgraded to first class!), we had to clear both of our schedules which were very full, and then had to reschedule air travel and re-clear our schedules again when the launch was scrubbed three times, and there was a day in between the third and fourth try. All our clients realized how important this was to us and supported and cooperated with our rescheduling. They were almost as excited as we were that we were actually going to realize this goal, and at the same time, they could see that we do walk our talk. 

All in all, my husband and I agreed that we would realize the goal of seeing the Space Shuttle launch no matter what and no matter when it went off - and that was it. 

The blast off was one of those moments that absolutely takes your breath away. We were invited to observe the blast from only 3.8 miles away, closer then anyone else could have gotten. It was in the area where the astronauts going up on other flights, and their families, were watching. It was so close we had very strict instructions on what to do if there was a failure at blast off, and on how to get to safety. Thank God, it was a perfect blast off.

We were honored to have been personally invited to be with the VIP group by my husband's cousin, Ray, who works with NASA. Not only were we included in the launch viewing, but the pre- and post-launch events as well.

I love NASA. The pride they show, the highest of standards and boundaries they maintain. They take such a stand for their vision and what that vision does for mankind. Nothing gets in the way of them realizing their vision; they focus on what it takes to get it done. NASA is a real community, too. They treat all of their employees and their families just like family. They never take a flight for granted, and they hold human life so high with extreme safety and care. Every time they have to scrub a launch, it costs somewhere around $1 million dollars. But if the conditions are not perfect, they didn't care - safety is still more important. They are so proud to be American and number one in space flight. They want to keep that position and are not willing to be number two, yet willing to work with other nations for the good for all. WOW! We should all run our business and our lives this way. 

I also realized how many people just aborted their goal of watching the blast off and went home once the first try was scrubbed. Even more left on the second try, and and a whole lot more left after the third scrub. I asked myself, "How many people let go of their goal before the miracle of realizing it? What would their life and business be like if they just went that extra mile or extra 1%?"

Experiencing the NASA environment and seeing the Shuttle launch as a very powerful experience that I will never forget. It made me even more proud to be an American. 

Safe flight and happy landings to the astronauts of Endeavor and all the fine people of NASA!

Patti Kouri, Accelerated Performance Coaching
Helping You Through Self-Made Limitations! 

Will you Take My Challenge and increase your income? Here's what one student said:

"In 2006 I left REMAX and went to Prudential in West Chester OH. I was in a slump and Bob Daniel handed me $100 and told me to sign up for some Real Estate Game that Patti Kouri was conducting. It was the best money spent.  Last year (2008) I did 100 transactions. It all began with you, Ms. Patti. My thanks." - Pamela Bensen

Play The Real Estate Game®

Back in the “old days,” when I was an agent at Jon Douglas Company, Jon Douglas would frequently talk about the importance of staying in touch with people. This was before computers took over our business, and Jack (as he’s known) would say, "You need to go through your Rolodex, card by card, and keep calling people so that everyone hears from you on a regular basis. When you reach the end, start over." He called these “warm calls.”

He was talking about creating referral business, and although the technology has changed, the facts have not. The main element of Jack’s message is that real estate is a people-to-people business, and the people you know – your friends, family and past clients – know other people who need real estate help or may need your help themselves.

But the subtext here is that just like you have to ask for the deal, you have to ask for the referrals. Don’t assume that your clients/friends/family will give you referrals just because they know you’re in the business. For one thing, they forget. For another, they may think you’re too busy, or you don’t handle properties of this type or in this location. Ask For The Referrals.

Technology is very seductive. Contact management software, elaborate websites, blogs, viral marketing, lead generators, and phones that are more sophisticated than we are all promise huge returns, massive business and fabulous success. Agents spend enormous amounts of money purchasing and developing these tools. But here’s the rub: the agents who are the most successful using technology are usually the same ones who are the most successful without technology.

Marketing brings people to the gate. But it’s you – the prepared, professional, savvy agent – who lets them in, creates the relationship, and escorts them through their transaction. If they arrive at the gate and you can’t deliver – you don’t have the skills, or you don’t answer their questions or their phone calls, or you don’t control your schedule (or your temper), or you don’t know the market – you won’t get the client, you won’t get the business and you won’t get referrals down the line.

Once somebody has been your client, you don’t need to blast them with weekly postcards or dozens of intrusive auto-generated e-mails, but you do need to remind them periodically that you’re still in the business, that you’re still interested in their well-being and that you still appreciate their referrals. The more personal this contact, the more likely it is to yield results, even in our techno-savvy world.

This is a true story: A friend of a friend sold real estate marketing materials to agents all over the country, so of course she knew hundreds, if not thousands, of real estate agents. When it came time to sell her own house, she selected a local agent who had been sending her mailers consistently. He represented her, the sale was successful and they had a very compatible interaction. The escrow closed and she never heard another word from him. Not a call. Not a mailer. A couple of years later, she ran into him at a conference and she asked him why he had dropped her like a hot rock. His answer: Oh, he just assumed that once they had done business together, she would always come back to him when she needed help. Guess what? This agent, by failing to “go through his Rolodex,” lost himself uncounted numbers of referrals and who knows how much income. Big mistake.

The market will continue to change, technology will continue to evolve and become obsolete, your approach will change, but referrals will remain a vital business-generating tool. Pick up the phone. Connect with people. Ask for referrals. Give great service. Repeat as often as possible.

Patti Kouri, Accelerated Performance Coaching Helping You Through Self-Made Limitations! 

Will you Take My Challenge and increase your income? Here's what one student said:

"In 2006 I left REMAX and went to Prudential in West Chester OH. I was in a slump and Bob Daniel handed me $100 and told me to sign up for some Real Estate Game that Patti Kouri was conducting. It was the best money spent.  Last year (2008) I did 100 transactions. It all began with you, Ms. Patti. My thanks." - Pamela Bensen

Play The Real Estate Game®