1. Actually treat your schedule like a CEO. You don't have to be a CEO to act like one...heck, if you act enough like one maybe one day you will have the opportunity to CEO a company. What I mean by this is show up early, stay late and most importantly, have your activities time-blocked in advance. Get your lead generation and lead follow up out of the way in the morning and save the afternoon for your presentations. If more people took me up on this, more people would see more $$$. The good news is, our focus in 2019 will be on the morning schedule so you are about to have some help with that, but you shouldn't wait until then to get started.
2.Block out all negativity. This means everything from the material that goes into your brain and to the people that you spend your time with. Think about it...what you put into your head eventually will come out of your mouth. If you can avoid negative people in your life, do so, they are only holding you back. Or, alternatively, if you know someone is negative, do them a favor and call them out on it. Not calling them out on it is a dis-service to you and quite frankly anyone that they associate with. During a market shift agents have a tendency to point the finger at others or make excuses for their lack of success. "Well if I just had more leads", "If I didn't have to drive 20 minutes to the office everyday", "If I didn't have to share an office"....all of those plus about two dozen more examples are all thoughts that actually kill the positive momentum that is so desperately needed in this business and this type of market. The reality is at EVERY company there are going to be people, policies and things that you don't agree with (this is just a fact of life) so instead of letting things affect you negatively, try embracing them positively by seeing the good in situations and not just the bad.
3. Make it a point to go see a potential client every day. Even if you don't have an appointment to go on...on your way home stop at a FSBO, door knock around a listing you just sold or drop off your business card to an expired at their door. In a market shift, the agents that get in front of the most people each year are the ones making the most money. Personally, I used to treat it as a "penalty" if I didn't have an appointment that day instead I would go out and door knock around a new listing or sale. There's a reason why this quote is plastered on our office walls..."If I didn't have an appointment today, seriously, what did I accomplish?" Turning in listing paperwork or making a flyer is not something that is going to move your business forward-- seeing people face to face is the only thing that will.
4.Get good at expireds. We are already seeing more and more expireds each day and less for sale by owners. The reason for this is simple, less sellers have confidence that they can sell on their own. When the market toughens, it is harder for agents to give honest advice about the price and therefore we see more expireds daily. I was selling 100 homes a year just off of prospecting expireds. This is nothing other than picking up the phone every morning and evening. Don't overcomplicate it and stop thinking "there must be a better way" This line of thinking will only distract you and stunt your growth. Tired of the phones for a day? Grab 3-4 from the list from the last few days and go see them face to face. Bring something of value and see if they'll let you in or set an appointment for another time.
5.Evening prospecting. During a market shift there are actually more opportunities in the evening hours because all of the part-timers that got into the business when the market was good end up getting out. Therefore, leaving a ton of opportunity for evening dials. When is the best time to call? I used to finish every work day with 60-90 minutes of outbound calls between the hours of 6pm-8pm in the winter months. Now, I am not suggesting that you work every evening (even though I did from 2007-2014) I am instead suggesting you identify at least two days a week to get an extra 90 minutes in. This could be Monday and Wednesday or could be Tuesday and Thursday, for example. Also, If you need to get home by 5 or 6 for an obligation, lock yourself in another room and get them in later in the evening at home. I promise it will be worth your time.