We’re only 50 days away from 2019. This means that the holiday season is quickly approaching and things are about to get busy. Sometime in the next 50 days, you should be planning for 2019. What will your business look like? What are your goals? There is a lot of important information to figure out! Lucky for you we’re here to help. Here are 5 things that you need to be doing to have a great 2019.
1. Know what happened in 2018
It simply isn’t enough to know what is happening today. It is extremely important to take a look at the past 12 months, both in your own business as well as the real estate industry as a whole. Let’s start with the industry.
Take a look at what the typical seller looked like in 2018:
55 years old
Lived in their home for 9 years before selling
Most common reason for selling was because the home was too small for their needs
Their new home purchased was within 20 miles of their last home
How does this information come into play for 2019? If the average home seller is 55 and looking for a bigger home, you can use that information to your advantage when marketing new listings! When creating Facebook ads for example, start the age demographic around 55 when promoting a larger home! You can also target your ad language to speak to someone who has lived in a home for a substantial amount of time and is looking to have more space. Use the information to your advantage!
Now let’s talk about buyers.
Here is a snapshot of the typical buyer in 2018:
46 years old
63% were married couples
33% were first time homebuyers
87% purchased their home through an agent
55% looked online at properties as the first step in their search
Buyers need 7.2 years on average to save a 20% downpayment
Again, this information is so useful. As online home searching becomes more and more prevalent, it is important to you as an agent to make sure that your marketing is up to par! When promoting listings on the market, target them to married couples around the 46 year old age range. Be clear in what the home features, and even gear it more towards things that a newly married couple or first time homebuyer would be interested in (perhaps a 2 car garage or open concept floor plan for entertaining).
Now that we’ve covered the real estate industry in 2018, let’s talk more about your specific business.
Before diving into this, do us a favor and download Jared James’ 2019 business plan here. Take a look at page 5. Here you will see a sheet with a breakdown of your 2018. Fill this out and recap your year. Learn where your business came from – it will be important when planning for 2019! This brings us to our next point: knowing your numbers.
Download Jared James 2019 Business Plan Now!
2. Know your numbers and how to reach them
To help with this, Jared James has also created a digital plan for 2019 that you can download here. This plan breaks down your business from the past 12 months and organizes it into sections based on your source of business. For example, how much did you invest in social media and what was the return on that? How much business are you generating from referrals? It then asks you to create goals for 2019. Based on your GCI and stats from you 2018 year, it will determine what needs to happen in 2019. From how many listings you need to close to how many conversations you need to be having per week, this planner is the perfect tool to get on track.
3. Commit to change
What will you commit to in 2019? Will it be more social media use? Focusing more on gaining clients through methods other than referrals? While it’s great to know what you should be doing in 2019, the most important part is committing to it.
Commit to your 2019 action plan.
Figure out what your best uses of time are, what you’ve been doing wrong, and what you’ll commit to changing in the New Year. Lucky for you, there is a section for this in Jared’s business plan as well! Get to it!
4. Plan your perfect day and perfect week
Now that you know how much work you need to be doing to reach your goals for 2019, it’s time to map it out in the “perfect day” and “perfect week.” Are you sensing a trend here? We want you to be organized and efficient with your time! Putting things into a plan holds you accountable and keeps you on track.
Anyways, back to the perfect day and perfect week. Go ahead and click here to download the great day planner, and click here for the great week planner. When planning a “great day,” this form plans out your listing activity, sales activity, revenue and closings. While it allows you to create goals for each day, it also holds you accountable by requesting that you truthfully input the actual amounts for each of the goals you set for the day. By completing this, you can keep track of your daily tasks and accomplish things that align with your overall 2019 goals.
In regards to a “great week”, this is all about time management. Take a look at the weekly planner. While it does mention completing and showing to your coach, that applies to those individuals who are enrolled in Jared’s One on One Coaching program (if you’re curious about this click here). Those of you not enrolled in this can still determine how much time each week you will dedicate to things like follow up, exercise, family time, prospecting and things of the like. By blocking out your time for these things, you can again hold yourself accountable to get tasks completed.
5. Follow changing trends and know what is happening in the market
While we touched upon what happened in the market during 2018, 2019 could be an entirely different scenario. It is important to stay up to date with things trending in the industry. There are likely going to be changed in the social media area as video continues to make an impact on the market.
Don’t lose track of these things! Be sure to follow us on Instagram at @jarja_media as we post real estate stats and news trends to keep you in the game.
You have 50 days to plan – take advantage of them! Start practicing time blocking now and figure out how you want to implement it into your 2019 plan.
It’s not too late to make a change and commit to changing your business. Questions about any of this? Comment below and reach out! We’re always happy to help.
- Alicia, Marketing Assistant
