More than likely, if you are reading today’s entry, you don’t collect a salary. Like me, your ability to put food on the table is a function of how many deals you put together. Since I like to eat, and have four growing boys at home who really like to eat, I have a pretty good responsibility to make sure that there’s something of substance on their plates at least three times a day.
To that end, I set goals at the beginning of each year. I track closings to be sure. But closings are dependent on applications, which are dependent on pre-approvals, which are dependent on leads. To get leads, I make phone calls. I know that to accomplish my income goal for the year I need to make 2,500 phone calls, which is just over 200 per month, or 10 per day. That’s really the only thing over which I have any control. I can’t control the number of applications or closings that I have directly, but I can exert myself to make a few extra phone calls to complete my 10 per day.
After doing this for 19 years, I have a pretty good handle on how the number work out. Individually the percentages of conversion ebb and flow, but collectively I know that to get one closing I need to make about 15 phone calls. What’s always interesting to me is that the formula works. Since tomorrow is the first day of September and the year will be 2/3 of the way over, I decided this morning to see how I am coming along. And since we are friends I thought I’d share my progress with you as a percentage of completion of my goals for the entire year.
Calls: 66.92%
Leads: 70.8%
Pre-Approvals: 85.6%
Applications: 70.8%
Closings 67.3%
I can see that I have gone through the pre-approval process for a larger percentage of people this year who for whatever reason have not purchased a home. But in the end my call percentage, statistically speaking, matches my closing percentage. And what makes me amazed, is that both are 2/3 of the way along to path toward my goal for the year.
There is still a lot of year left and I hope that you are accomplishing your personal objectives! If I can help you in any way, let’s get together!
