In interviews for our book, Billion Dollar Agent - Lessons Learned, almost every top agent said that goals were critical to their business and personal success in life. Click here for a PDF copy of Goal Excerpts from Billion Dollar Agent or read below.

Excerpts from Billion Dollar Agent – Lessons Learned
www.billiondollaragent.com
Almost all of the 70 agents interviewed, who averaged $100 million in sales in 2006, are passionate about written goals, affirmations, visualization, and other mastermind techniques.

We hope you enjoy this free excerpt!

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Karen Bernardi
In my opinion, the best way to do it is to set the goals and have a concrete plan. I have a full written plan. I went to some seminars to help me get started. I have written goals for everything.
It keeps me in motion and keeps me happy. I am not happy unless I am achieving. I am someone who wants to have a goal. I need to be in motion.

Gladys Blum
Yes, goals are important and they must be written. When I was with Mike Ferry we worked hard on goals, a business plan, and daily schedules. I had been in the business about 4 or 5 years before I started following written goals. I believe it is a critical part of the business, although only a small percentage of Realtors actually set goals. I break down the number of contacts and listing appointments necessary to meet my goals. Because of my longevity in the business, a large amount of my business just falls into my lap. A daily schedule is set to match my goals.

Martin Bouma
Completely. I follow the Keller Williams model. I know what I want to make and I work backwards and I know my conversion ratios. You start with what you want to make and I am driven by that. Every week we review our goals. I know that if I do a certain number of things everyday, I will get there. I have a goal of 28 listing appointments per month. If I go on 28 appointments per month, everything else will fall in place. The hard part in this market is getting the number of listings when many sellers are unrealistic on price. I want saleable listings, not overpriced listings.

Tupper Briggs
Absolutely! I can remember taking a goal-setting class in my salad days. I set a goal and then made it. I set another higher goal and made it again. I thought all I had to do is set the goal and I would achieve it. As I’ve made bigger goals, I have now realized that there is more to achieving goals than that. I can only set goals for things I have control over. If I know our numbers and we meet our goals for lead-generation, we will meet our overall production goals.

Jim Byrnes
Goals are your dreams combined with your passion, purpose, a defined plan, some playfulness, and a timeline. Goals are a progressive journey of constant and never ending improvement and abundance. Goals are an extension of your core values and beliefs. Your professional and personal goals are most successful and significant to yourself and others when they are in alignment with your higher self and when they benefit others. Your thoughts create your goals and reality. I think high not low. I think positive not negative. I think abundance, not scarcity, I think great not just good. Consequently, my approach to goal setting, in business and life, is to set goals that will greatly enhance my life and the life of those around me. Your professional goals are the “legs” of your business. These legs create and support your production and operational success of your business. Each goal must begin with a positive statement. For example, “I have (or it’s on it’s way), a world class referral network that drives my business and creates 75% of my business.” Then, the goal needs an strategic element of — what will it take and am I willing to do it. Then the goal needs specific action steps, to achieve it within a specific time frame. Your personal goals are not the legs of personal success. Your personal goals are the legs of your significance, your legacy. Like professional goals, our personal goals involve passion, purpose, a plan, playfulness and have short, medium, and long range timelines. However, the significant difference between professional and personal goals is that your personal goals are much more important and significant than your business goals. Your business goals are only a partial blueprint to achieve you personal purpose, goals, desires, wants and needs. The beauty of Real Estate is that you can combine or integrate both business and personal goals, every day and every way with proper thought and actions.

Bill Cain
Coach Ken Goodfellow worked with me for many years. He has a printout of 20-30 sheets to analyze where each closing comes from and doing budgeting. It is very important. Every seminar I went to - Howard Brinton, Mike Ferry, I was a tape-aholic; I bought every set. I self-taught with the tapes and listened to them between appointments. I built a library. Tapes have been wonderful for me. I have done that for 20 years. Positive attitude is important, and also never stop learning. Attitude is 100% of the game. With a good attitude you can groom a good salesperson and a good smile and a good handshake. I think some of it is an instinctive competition in the belly. You get in the zone like a professional athlete and you know they train and train and train. You need to invest. In this business you have to work at it and build one relationship at a time. Honesty and a fair reputation are important. Don’t be afraid to try different things.

Ron Campbell
I set my goals in October of every year for the next year. I am looking at my sales board; I track everything by month. Our goal is $125 million in sales. Last year goal was $100 million and we did $80 million.

DeLena Ciamacco
Absolutely! I set goals every year. At the start of the year I write down what I want to accomplish for the upcoming year and attach it above my computer so that I see it every day. As a former Re/Max office owner, I did goal setting with the agents every year. I encourage everyone to set their goals slightly higher than what they feel they can achieve because it has been my experience that most people tend to underestimate themselves & their ability. For me, setting goals high is motivating! My Goal categories are broken down to two groups: Business and Personal goals. Unfortunately, very seldom do I meet my personal goals because I love the feeling of working extra hard to achieve my business goals. I know I will always have those “golden” years to enjoy my personal goals. I think I learned about goal setting during my school years, or perhaps by accident. Either way, it works for me and always has. Although it may be against the “norm”, I
have only been to 1 or 2 seminars. I really like to create and discover things that work for me and it keeps my systems unique to the masses.

Kristan Cole
I think goals are incredibly important. Goals are written dreams with a deadline. My husband and I go to Maui in October every year for 10 days. There we strategically think. We look at the big picture — big rocks, for our business and for our personal lives. 20% of what I do creates 80% of our business. My genius is lead generation and leadership. I have a knack or intuitive spirit for seeing what’s coming before anyone else. So I am able to change course in advance of everyone else knowing what’s happening and what’s coming. If I know what’s coming in six months, then I know where we need to be and I know what activities to put in place to make sure we get there first. You have to begin with the end in mind. You need to know where you are going before you set the course. I recognize that clarity of vision is more important than certainty of outcome. Clarity creates its own influence and its own momentum. I also help each one of my team
members set goals. They post them at their desk as a colorful picture collage of their top 5 goals they want to reach. I have found that by visually putting them at their desk
besides writing them down, the higher the outcome that they will achieve them. My husband and I have wheels of life where we note our goals and then add the top three things that can help us achieve each of those goals. We have a master wheel of life, a leadership wheel of life, a market place ministry wheel of life and a family wheel of life. Those wheels represent our master plan, our work plan within the team, our plan at home and our plan within our community.

Jennie Cook
Absolutely. I believe you need to set short-term and long-term goals. They must be in writing. You must review them. I pay particular attention to monthly and yearly goals. I always believed in goals; but, it hit home at a conference given by Century 21. At the conference Floyd Wickman was introducing the Sweat Hog program, which I signed up for. I remember during that time, learning how important written goals are.

Mike Costigan
That has changed quite a bit in my business lately. I’ve always been very “seat of my pants” so to speak. I think this is probably a very common thing among people who are truly salespeople at heart. But as my business has grown, I have learned that it is critically important to have goals. I write out my goals every year. I am in the midst of planning now for 2007. I set goals that are fairly high that I have a good chance of hitting. In my business life, I think I am very good at training myself to be successful. I once read something Donald Trump said: “Dress for the job you want not for the job you have.” I take that to heart every day. I see today as a very small stepping stone in what I will accomplish. When you ask about a billion I automatically think two billion. With my team, we have taken goal setting, and more importantly, constant goal measuring, very seriously this year. We are going to have three levels of agents and start everyone over at level one. We did income and productivity goals and looked at some personal goals for everyone individually. We will be monitoring whether their goals and progress lead us to a mutually acceptable end result. At level one, we will meet twice a month for 30 minutes. As they progress through levels, I will be more hands off.

Mariana Cowan
Yes, goals are very important to my success. I set realistic goals annually, as well as make five and ten year plans. I review both personal and business goals on a quarterly basis. I have learned from working with Craig Proctor that holding myself accountable and being focused helps me to obtain these goals.

Lester Cox
Goals are important and they must be written. I do a goal setting session at the end of every year. I have a dream book where I have my goals for the next year, five years, and 10 years from now. I work with my team and make them write their goals and do a dream session with them. If you eliminate money as a factor what do you want in your life? I read my goals about every month or two months. I was fortunate enough that, in 1974, Tom Hopkins was teaching at real estate school where I got my license. Tom Hopkins was the first one who told me about written goals. About 4-5 years ago I really got into it. When I started to build my team, I went to Craig Proctor coaches. I had been to all the different gurus and I am not sure why I grasped the Proctor system so much but it was because he was doing it himself. That affected me enough to open the book and really get into it. I joined a graduate level and Brian Moses got passionate about it.

Sande Ellis
I love Brian Tracy and The Psychology of Achievement. I believe in setting goals. However, you must give the goal life. Let’s say that your goal is 400 transactions per year. Perhaps you did 200 transactions last year. Your mind does not know that what you tell it is not true. When you set a number, like 400 transactions a year, I think that somehow, in the night, something makes that happen; opportunities just land in your lap. The affirmation must be in the present tense. “I close 400 transactions each year.” You have to say it, write it down, and do it. When I do a coaching call, I ask people to tell me what their number is and put it out in front of them. Similar to taking a picture of the car you want, laminating it, and putting it in the wallet. Whatever it is, put that visual out there for you! When you help others set goals it is important that the goal set come from the agent. You can coach and encourage if you think the goal is too low. Again always be asking … seeking to understand. For example: we have an excellent buyer agent, Fran Jurek, who
had family members this year with distressing health situations. And, Fran would be handling their issues. Nobody could or would do that better. Fran has done a phenomenal job for us when available. Might Fran decide to do her business in another way someday? She might. We all have to recognize that team members and buyer specialists have a “use by date.” We feel that it is important that the goals not be limiting to the person’s abilities. We had a new buyer agent, new to the business, earn $250,000 for himself. Think if I had given him a $200,000 goal. It would have sounded good. He would have made it. We would have applauded and we would not have known what it might have been. The diversity among our buyer agents is incredible. I mentioned that our son Kevin is a buyer agent. His passion is art. His integrity and caring for people stand out. Mark Hilderbrand was a day trader and financial planner. Mike Kornell owned his own printing business in Wisconsin. His son, Tim, was a lender. Dave Kellogg was a radio and tv
personality. He worked for Voice of America. Brian Hall owned a Florida business. Fran previously owned a real estate company. Her family is mostly contractors.

Fred Evans
I used to do some “believe and desire and visualize” techniques when I got into real estate. I wanted to get a Lexus, so I focused on earning enough to get a Lexus. I set goals at Coldwell Banker to get a free ad in the paper that stated I was the top agent. We have a monthly chart and their goal is to sell one house per month. We have a contest for a cruise and if they sell four houses in four months they get a cruise to Mexico. I set some personal goals for myself. I look at numbers and the dollars just come. Right now we are not meeting our goals. In the RE/MAX system, I am still in the top 100 in the whole country. We were number 84 out of 115,000 agents. I am down 35% from last year. We have to stay focused and break it down to a daily routine. I always try to see five properties and call five people about buying or selling.

Jane Fairweather
I write a huge business plan every year. It’s probably six chapters and 90 pages. A lot of people set goals on production. I believe we also need to set goals on customer service, community outreach and community service, public relations, marketing, future business development, wealth development, and planning for retirement, etc. We set goals for all areas in my business. If you do your homework in all the other categories, you will reach your production goal. It is a three-month process and my entire team works on the business plan. When it is complete everyone has bought into it.

Linda Feinstein
I went to a Mike Ferry seminar when he was speaking in Chicago in 1989 or 1990. I went to this seminar and heard him saying that floor-time was a waste of time. I was in an upper-end office, and floor-time was quite good. I did quite well. I listened to him, though, and gave up floor time, and it forced me to get the business elsewhere. I was not going to sit at the desk for three hours and wait for phone to ring. Mike Ferry was instrumental in changing my life and helping me go after expireds.

Valerie Fitzgerald
I think goal setting is vital. I have each buyer agent set a goal number and add 20-25% to their number as a goal for the next year. I have been setting goals for 10-12 years. When you first start out in real estate, very few agents grasp the “independent contractor” theory to put money away to pay their taxes. My original goal setting began by mistake. At first, after making some money, I realized I had forgotten “Uncle Sam”. At the time I had made about $200,000, but owed $100,000 for taxes. So quickly I had to learn how to live and work and pay this off. It took me two years. Many times in business, you find out what you don’t know by making mistakes. Several years ago I started looking at our market which is comprised mostly of houses. I felt the market strongly lacked what other major US cities have, luxury high rise living. There existed very little to offer to people who traveled, or were young and didn’t want the responsibility of owning a home yet, and a place for people who owned large homes and didn’t want to buy another house while moving. I spent a 1 ½ years learning this market and speaking to developers. I am very happy to say that a major New York developer had the same viewpoint. He is building an incredible, luxury high-rise “estate living” building, for which I am the sales and marketing consultant. This is a dream come true for our community. There will be a major lifestyle shift here where it is desperately needed. Finally, we will have estate living without having to have the responsibilities of maintaining a house.

Mary Anne Fusco
Goals are imperative. I am a teacher. I am a marathoner as well. Goal setting is paramount to everyone’s success. If you do not know where you are heading, you are lost. You must know where you are and then plan where you want to go. Day to day, month to month, one year and five year plans are what I work to design. I am goal setting and running a business at the same time. Ultimately, my five-year plan is a focus. My goal is to get to $150 million sold per year.

Corey Geib
We do goals at the beginning of the year. We do personal and team goals. We go over those at the start of the year and look again at the end of the year. I think it is extremely important for goals to be written down and visualized. I am a strong believer in almost daily review of goals. We set monthly goals for the team. We break it down to financial, family, vacations, etc. The first five years I was fairly lost trying to make a sale. It was not until 1997 or 1998 that we really got going. I sold 80 homes and then 105 homes and generally average approximately 80 units a year personally.

Chad Goldwasser
About five years, I thought I was doing really well. After all, I was only 28 years old, had a very successful business and many opportunities. I attended a breakfast meeting at RE/MAX where Rick DeLuca was speaking. He asked us, who had a business plan. Only one person responded, yes. He basically said, ‘have you written it down because that is the first step?’ I bought everything he had, took an afternoon and sat at my house and followed his instructions. I broke down my numbers and the activities I would do to hit those numbers. I was super excited because it was my first business plan. The next day my wife typed it up for me and laminated it. One I put above my visor and the other above my office desk. Now it is about setting goals for the team and teaching them to write their own business plans. I love helping other people. I like giving them opportunities.

Phil Herman
For me, it is as simple as this: you cannot hit a bulls-eye if you do not have a target to shoot at. It gives you a sense of purpose and focus. It ignites the passion and drive from within; it’s the juice. I think top-level achievers are more goal-oriented. You figure out what you want and then put a plan to reach it so you have a sense of direction. When you have enough “whys” you figure out how. The more “whys” you have, the more motivated you are to find the “how to”. I grew up across the street from a park. In my day, there were hundreds of kids in the park. No, matter what season, the two best players among 50 kids would play pickup games and they would alternate picking players for their teams. You did not want to be number 50! I would always surround myself with people who were bigger, faster, and smarter than I. I wanted to meet with them and find out how they were “baking that cake”. I remember meeting a guy named Darrell who hit the ball better than anyone, and I asked him to improve my hitting. This 18-year-old worked with me as a 13-year-old and told me, “Try to read what is on the ball as it is coming at you.” That experience taught me to find the best of the best. I remember going to a 1988 Tony Robbins Seminar called “Date with Destiny” at his house. That seminar appealed to me and ignited and added fuel to the fire for me. Since then I have continued to seek out people at the top of their game so I could learn and be the best possible student, then put into action what I learn. The key to personal power is action!

Noah Herrera
We have weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual goals. The reason they are important is we have to quantify on a weekly basis. In this business, you either move forward or you move backwards. For us, there is no moving backwards. Many people do a little of this, and a little of that, and only track at end of year. They only analyze at the end of the year. When I was 17, I read Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill. It says you are in charge of your own destiny. That was influential. Real estate is what I do to provide for my family. It also gives me a life so I can spend time with my family. I constantly read. I am a seminar junkie. I went to Stephen Covey classes. I am always trying to improve myself. I think only 1% of agents are running a business. We have systems in place to get stuff done.

Pat Hiban
I have always had goals. I have set them since day one. I am an affirmation guy. I put on an affirmation CD and listen while going to work and going home. It is about five minutes long. I am all about goals. I have about 30-40 goals. I read the goals into a microphone; and burn them on a CD. Think and Grow Rich influenced me for goals. When I first got into business I took Floyd Wickman’s Sweathogs. He was very into goal-setting.

Melisa and Doug James
Absolutely, we try to sit down once a year and write down things most important to us financially and personally and set numbers accordingly. We need to work on having a better focus. Melisa uses goals every month to move the team forward. I set goals for various types of projects. We went through Tony Robbins conferences and events and learned that goal-setting is personally very important. We did that two years ago and set some very large goals for ourselves. We guess that only about 10% of Realtors have written goals.

Jay Kinder
Absolutely, every year I write down and plan my goals. My business was soft the one year I did not do it. You should review goals at least monthly. We track our numbers at every meeting we have with the business manager and accountant. Coldwell Banker had a goal planning worksheet. Every year, my Dad passed it out to us and it asked many thought-provoking questions like: where did my last ten deals come from? As I started to look at where my business was coming from, it showed a pattern.

Wade Klick
Yes, I have had written goals before I started in real estate. I started in 1987 with my first plan. I read a book called, More Wealth Without Risk by Charles Given. Then I went into the goal setting and brainstorming section. I asked myself the question “If you could have anything, what would it be?” I grew up in an environment that was dysfunctional. There were many arguments about
money and I knew that was not going to be an issue with me. Now, money is important but it is not what drives me.

Brad Korb
Goal setting is critical. I just got back from a four-day Focal Point with Brian Tracy. What they say is 97% of people with written goals achieve them. Only 3% of people without written goals achieve their goals. Write your major definite purpose in life every day and write 10 ways to get to it. I write my 10 goals on the treadmill. The Focal Point is a quarterly class in San Diego.
If you write it down and look at it daily it has an impact. You should have all kinds of goals. I have business goals, workout goals, spiritual time goals, family time goals, and financial goals. It is a pie; it is not all business. What are your goals with your wife? What are your goals with your business? I work on balance. In fact, Friday is a date night for my wife and I! I wasn’t happy with what I was doing and got into Brian Tracy about thirteen years ago. In addition to Brian, I also rely on my business coach Bob Corcoran of Corcoran Consulting & Coaching. He is there to hold me accountable to my goals, both business wise and in my personal life. Also, I read many positive motivational books and authors who have accomplished great things.

Sid Lezamiz
I have personal goals that I set for myself. The first of January I set them. At the office, we close down the office on December 30th and we plan everything for the coming year including the number of listings, sales, etc. We also look at how much money we spend on TV, radio, etc. We talk about what programs we going to put into place. I ask people about personal and professional goals, etc. Then we look at how our goals relate to the office numbers. I used to take it a step further and have a two-hour lunch brainstorming. It is amazing when you write down your goals and are conscious of them. The likelihood of you’re being successful is so much higher. I guess under 3% of people write out goals. When working at the ranch, I always had goals in my mind. All year long I was thinking. When I started in real estate, I told my broker that I thought I would like to be a million dollar agent. I had to sell 25 properties between then and the end of year. I read once that it is worth taking 20 minutes a day and visualizing your goals and what you are trying to accomplish. What is the most productive thing I could do? We get all caught up in
busyness. You should have things you want to accomplish each day. I had written real estate goals. It has had a huge impact on my business.

Patrick Lilly
I believe goals are key to your success. I believe strongly that people who have a random pattern of business achieve random results. I was first exposed to goal setting about six years ago when I started studying with Dr. Fred Grosse, a life coach. He is based in Arizona and New Zealand. He opened my eyes for the need to set goals. It amazes me I did not think that way before meeting Fred. I coach here in New York and I am teaching all of my clients about life and business goals. I create written life and business goals each year. Business goals support my life goals.

Richard Machado
Goals are extremely important. We go over and help our agents set their goals. We like to explain to them that there is a point at which they should plan to hire an assistant. We use an acronym called DIPA (direct-income producing-activities). That focuses agents on the important activities that will earn them the most return on time invested. Helping them to leverage themselves with people (assistants) and technology can really increase their profit potential. We do an exercise with them called “the time of your life” that we were taught by Craig Proctor. In it, we strap a watch timer on their wrists that goes off every 15 minutes. They wear it for three days, and will write down on a provided sheet EXACTLY what they are doing at each 15 minute interval. When they are done, we attach a dollar value to each activity, and create job descriptions for an admin position for them. This is very effective in demonstrating to them that most of the work they do can be delegated to a $10/hour assistant. We have set goals for income that we would like to make and what we’d like to accomplish. I put together the list with my wife Kimberlee and we have many goals. She is much better at getting them into writing and keeping us on track than I am. This is probably one of my weak points – and the devil really is in the details. I acknowledge the importance of setting and achieving goals, but she is much better at keeping us on track.
I usually get off track by doing, doing, doing it. I’d like to implement a lot more planning and systemizing for my business, and that’s part of our ongoing process.

Jerry Mahan
Definitely. No question about it. Every year we sit down and set goals for the company and try to structure what we plan to sell each year and the number of homes we have. I’m involved in 3,000 properties currently. For builders to be successful they have to have the raw materials, which is land and ultimately lots. One of the biggest things for me was to learn how to delegate. Let people take the load off your shoulders. Oftentimes, they get better at it than you are. I take 2-3 months off a year because I have confidence and feel my employees are well trained.

Blake Mayes
I think goals are extremely important and I set goals a lot. I started in goal setting with my coach, Walter Sanford. I went out to Walter Sanford in 1996 and 1997 and he coached me a bit. I did some one-on-one coaching and flew every three months to Long Beach for him to coach me. It worked out really well. I read my goals daily. One of my goals is to be a coach or motivational speaker.

Willie Miranda
My approach to goal setting is, that every year I do an annual goal and then break it down into monthly goals. I then break that down into weekly goals. I also do that with my agents. I need to give it to someone else. I have peer agents outside of my company. Most of them are in Craig Proctor’s Platinum Group. The other person that holds me accountable is my coach at Brian Buffini. His name is Nick. We talk twice a month and it is all about team culture and the culture of the office and P/L statements.

Gregg Neuman
Yes, I am a great believer in goal setting. Without goals you just have dreams. If you set it down, it is a map to your dream. They become manageable bites. I look at my goals once a week. I do not have life goals. I have financial goals. I started to write goals when I was ten years into the business. If not written down, the goals were more nebulous.

Ray Otten
We look at our sales numbers very hard each year and set Team goals based on past statistics, current market situation, and projected markets. Goals are set in terms of number of listings, number of buyer sales, and number of listing sales. We review financial statements and cash flow on monthly basis. Personally, my goal is to lead by example. That means working hard each day, prospecting, continually upgrading my skills, and staying focused.

Craig Proctor
I take a day off the first week of each year. I unplug the phone and complete what I call my “One-Hour Business Plan”. In one hour I write down my big objectives, break them down and then work backwards. I call it a living document. We are continually finetuning it. We set a yearly goal and look at it every month. What’s key about this planning – and I teach agents the importance of this – is that your personal goals must also be set at this time. There are twenty things I want to accomplish this year from a personal standpoint. I will accomplish them because I have built them into the plan. My training business is important because I’m helping other agents set goals for themselves and engineer change in their lives. My real estate business is my laboratory. By running a successful real estate business myself, I’m able to continually test new and better ways of doing things, such as delivering quality leads at the least possible cost. That’s a very important part of things, but these days I’m most passionate about the training part of it. It is immensely gratifying. I rarely get a seller calling me to say I helped change their life. But, I could tell you hundreds of stories of agents who have dramatically bettered their lives because of what they learned from me. My big goals are in that area.

Russell Rhodes
Yes. I absolutely feel that setting high but achievable goals is paramount to growing your business. On a daily basis, I review the Keller Williams web site that reveals the top 100 agents within Keller Williams. I need to look beyond my own little part of the world to enable me to see the possibilities with the proper systems and personnel. We have an internal goal of a minimum of 20% growth per year. We have exceeded 30% growth five of the last six years.

Brad Rozansky
Goals are very important at our level; I am unsure how we would have gotten here without any goals. The goal can be as simple as numbers of listings, transactions, volume, etc. A good idea is to put your business plan on audio and listen to it every day. Most importantly, you need to share your plan with everyone in your staff, and make them a part of it to succeed.

Jeff Scislow
Yes, I think goals are very important. No goals, no (significant) results. Set goals and you can move mountains! I also believe there are different ways and means of ‘accomplishing’ goals. I have been successful with different approaches. One approach is to set a goal and then determine what specifically must be done to achieve it. To cite an example: how many calls, how many appointments from those calls, and how many listings from those appointments, how many listings sold from those listings. Another approach is to set a goal and then “focus on the end, rather than the means,” as Stephen Covey so wisely wrote in his Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” Both of these approaches will work. The common denominator is that a goal is set, and put in writing! Today, however, I use “tracking” as my means to accelerate and accomplish. I need to know what works and what does not work. I measure the outcome of the dollars and activities I engage in. Each year I analyze a spreadsheet of expenditures and dollar returns for each expenditure. The spreadsheet clearly reveals what works and what does not. This gives me more insight into profitability than anything else I can do and keeps me focused on the activities that bring me the success in real estate sales. I don’t end just here, however. I make it a point, possibly every five years or so, to intentionally come up with something new, something different in my business, and the way this business is done. I’m not talking about a new system or something relatively “minor”, but something “totally major”. It creates a big challenge for me, but it is fun. When the idea comes along, I not only run with it, but I run with it with a new passion and enthusiasm that cannot come from the routine of doing business as usual. The sky is the limit and I intentionally engage my imagination!

Bob Shallow
Absolutely! Without a business plan you have no idea how you are going to accomplish your goals. My wife and I have put our business and personal goals in writing for the past 25 years! Goals and business planning go hand in hand. Continually educating yourself is extremely important in this industry! In order to provide customers and clients with the best possible service and advice you have to be good, and you have to be there! One of the most important tools available in real estate is attending conventions! Attending RE/MAX conventions are a great way to stay abreast of the latest trends and happenings in our profession. You should seek out the top producers and learn from them; always taking home one or two things to improve your business.

Russell Shaw
Goals are vital to my success. What I used to do was an involved and complicated effort. I used to spend a lot of time on affirmations and working out the correct affirmation. Unequivocally, the correct wording for affirmation is critical. I believe having the exact goal is critical. Now, I just decide to do something and do it. The key issue is ‘have you decided’ to move forward in that direction. I think that ½ of 1% of Realtors have decent written goals.

Leslie Sherman
I am a firm believer in goal setting. It is a driving force in my life and I share this belief with my entire Team. In our office, every year I have everyone do a business plan for me based on a format I use. We also do an art project in which we each put down short term and long term goals in all aspects of life. We attach a plan of action to each item, then laminate it and keep it in our offices. For new agents, they have to laminate it and carry it on their key chain for 30 days. I want it to promote conversation and be present in their day-to-day activities. I learned it in Floyd Wickman. At appointments we have that thing dangling, it starts conversations. I read my own goals every morning and set a plan for the day of what I can do today to achieve my goals.

Patrick Stracuzzi
I would say definitely yes. The coaching with Howard Brinton made me see life in a totally different way. My life experiences also shaped me. During my heart surgery, I went code red and
needed a transfusion. They had to bring me back. You begin to look at life differently after an experience like that. You don’t sweat the small stuff. I was working probably the first 11 years of my career. Looking back, I probably should have done something other than trying to be #1. It drove me but for the wrong reasons. At RE/MAX it mattered to be number 1 agent and where you ranked in the world. I wish I did the first 11 years differently. One of the major growth things, opening up my own companies, and from it I had many plaques and statues. I must admit the one thing that my driver said, when I asked him if I should hang them up. He said to throw them away. I took four boxes of trophies, and I felt the power to throw them away, all that I worked hard for, medals and stuff. I went to an incredible funeral three weeks ago, the kids got up and said, “My Dad didn’t have any trophies, but his kids were his trophies.” You are not working for a
statue. I have my team do a dream board once a week. They cut out all their dreams of what they do and every week we share those dreams out loud. As a team, we get together and throw out ideas and brainstorm. The team can judge and critique the idea and then we put it into action. Always stand out - be different. If there are 100 white sheep, you want to be the black one. You constantly want to use a unique selling proposition. Everything happens by the law of attraction; so always be conscious of laws of attraction. Nothing happens by chance. When you can, look at life outside in.

Jim Striegel
Goals are very important and so is a full business plan. When I was 18 years of age, I took a business class and the guy told me I would never succeed in life if I did not have goals and know where I was going. I guess only 5% of agents have solid real estate goals. I think that they, down deep, do not know how to run a business and do not know how to execute. My BHAG is to have one of the greatest coaching businesses there is, as well as a successful real estate business that can run without me being there at any time. And, to continue at the level. I started two years ago working with KW agents. I started doing my own one-on-one coaching. I have run other companies in other industries.

Larry Thompson
Absolutely. I started a few years ago after reading a book about setting goals and keeping them in front of you. I have a journal that I write in. It’s more of a life journal. I write about how the business is doing and reflect on things. When my father died last year, I wrote about that. I also write about the status of the business. My journal helps show me where I have been. My goal for this year is 120 transactions and 200 transactions for 2007. My long-term goal is to do 300-400 transactions a year. My goal for the real estate business is to break even. All the leads that are generated for the mortgage business are where I will make my profits. I put all the capital for marketing on the real estate side of the business. I have a very large equity line for my investment business that allows me to buy investment property. One advantage of that is if I find a one million dollar foreclosure, there are not a lot of people who have one million in cash that can buy that house. This ability opens the market for me. I can invest in foreclosures, and moreover in listings that I compete for to improve their home with my own money. Not many agents will spend their own money to fix up a customer’s house. That makes me different. I am spending $120,000 on the TV and $20,000 on the Internet. I have a program that includes having a local flyer person do 10,000 flyers a week. Currently, I am spending 40%-50% on marketing. This is the entire profit of the business but remember that it is not my goal to make money for now off of the real estate side, only for mortgages. Next year, I will turn the real estate into a profit center.

Todd Walters
Goals are very important to me. My goals have always been set much higher than I could ever achieve and they keep changing or evolving. You can equate it to dreams, that you write down, and would like to see come true in your life time. It is an evolving paradigm for me. My BHAG is to have a 10,000 transaction a year team system. I have had this goal since I left RE/MAX. I figure it will take me about 10 years to see it materialize.

Pat Wattam
It has to be written down. You need time to think about your goals. You need to visualize your goals. I set my goals with my team at the end of the year to decide what each team member can do. I ask them to set their personal goals, which has nothing to do with real estate. Achieving personal goals will help them achieve their real estate goals. I have personal goals as well as business goals. They are broken down by annual cycle. You have to understand where your business is and track accordingly. I know that when school gets out in May, business tanks for a few weeks. When school starts in September the same thing happens. Those are great times for me to take a big vacation! The first time I heard about goal setting was at a CRS class taught by Ed Hatch. I could not understand what he was talking about – you know, you set a goal and it just happens or what? How on earth can you see 5 years down the road! I was doing about 16 deals a year and could not see how I could possibly do any more. I told Ed that and I will never forget what he said to me, “Until you can see it, it will never happen.” That was the beginning of affirmations. Every morning in the mirror I would say to myself, “I am a three million dollar producer and I love the benefits that it brings me.” My mind would reject that thought . It would tell me ‘no, no, no – you can’t do that.’ My mind was rejecting my affirmation. So I had to say it again to myself out loud – looking into the mirror. Very bizarre because it worked! He also mentioned an agent who wanted to visit 100 countries in the world and had made a list. He has already been to 60 of them. I thought to myself,” all I want to do is go to England and see where the Beatles started!” So, there was a personal goal that could be a benefit of the professional goal. (And it was – more than once!) Move forward one year and I was doing three million in sales. I then focused on units and set goal of 50 units. Amazing, that worked too! Next I was stuck at 45 - 50 units for three years and I could not break past that number. Then, I went to a Star Power Convention in Naples Florida, I’ll never forget. I was sitting in a class, and in my mind everyone was doing 100 deals a year. I looked around the room and a light bulb went off, “That is easy,
I can do one hundred.” You can’t just say you will do one hundred units and it will happen. You need to break that goal down. I learned that my part-time assistant should to be full-time and needed to be licensed. I needed help with more than just paperwork. I came back from that
conference, fired my part-time person and hired a full-time person with a real estate license. Education is so important in helping you take these steps. When I first heard about goal setting, I did not understand how you take a goal and break it down to steps. CRS classes were a huge step forward. Whenever you want to break a habit or change a mindset it takes 21 days. You have to affirm it everyday for 21 days. If I am in a slump, I will do an affirmation while waking up and while going to sleep. When I left a company where I was a Top Realtor for 20 years and moved to RE/MAX, I got all this negative feedback from people. I turned it around. I started doing my positive affirmations to get on the fast track back to success at my new company. Some of my affirmations were: “I list 10 houses a month, I go on four listing appointments a week”. Since I love to travel, I fill my office with photos taken during various trips to help keep me motivated!

Rae Wayne
Judy: Absolutely. I got into goal setting from the start of my career in retailing. We had a Beat Yesterday Board and a Beat Sales From Last Year attitude. Each month we write on our blackboard what we have done in that month over the past five years. We compare where we are because we need a certain number of sales to break even. Each of our buyer agents compares themselves to the other buyer agents. They do compete with each other. Rae: Successful people always set goals; written goals in particular. There are all sorts of theories about writing things down. We need to teach that to all the people on our team.

Steve Westmark
Goals were important to me from day one. I took a goal-setting class in early 1970s through World Vision/Ted Engstrom and I learned the importance of having goals and plans built. Stephen Covey, in his book “Begin with an End in Mind”, says to know where you want to go — look to your future. You need to know where you are going. It is important to begin 15-year goals. Look 15 years from today, and make goals in the 7 equities. Business, Financial, Social, Education, Family, Spiritual, and Physical. Make at least one goal in each area to have some type of balance in your life. Then make 5-year goals built upon the goals of what you want to accomplish in 15 years. Then make 1-year goals built upon what you want to accomplish in 5 years. Then break them into monthly goals with plans and strategies. Come up with a perfect week and communicate it to your team and those close to you. Do you want more business? You need to find leads to turn into prospects, and then into customers, and later into clients, and finally into raving fans that send you referrals. One simple plan to implement is to have a hour of power every day to make out going calls to anyone that will move those leads into raving fans. “If it’s going to be ... it’s up to me.”

Jeff and Marsee Wilhems
Absolutely. Marsee and I sit down once a month and review our goals. It is probably more me that is goal-oriented and driven. The goals are reviewed monthly. Our goals are based on units sold and profitability. Our goal for profit is to run 40% of gross of profit. Right now we are closer to 30%. We just keep track of the number of listing appointments and work the numbers backwards. I have been doing written goals since I was 17 years old. Tony Robbins was instrumental to my goal setting.

Sherry Wilson
I have always had goals, but in the past I never used to write them down. In 2001, I attended a Brian Buffini seminar that made it all clear to me. To achieve your goals, you must write them down and review them every day. You can’t go anywhere unless you know where you are going and how to get there. If you write down your goals and affirmations, and review them each day, you would be amazed at what you can accomplish in just one year. I’ve since shared this strategy with the rest of my team members and it’s working for them too.

Debbie Yost
Yes, we do have goals. I used to think it was only about the numbers. I used to impose the goals on my team. When you have been in the business for a long time you start to shift priorities. I used to work 70 hours a week minimum and now I work about 30 hours. I want my team members to have a life as well. The epiphany for me was in 1999. I had to have time off for surgery and at that point I was the only person taking listings for our team. I took 125 listings a year minimum. At first I could not face the thought of being out of the office for the six weeks I needed to recuperate after the surgery because at that point the business couldn’t function without me. I had to bring in a listing partner and learn to delegate and stop micro managing.

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Excerpts from Billion Dollar Agent – Lessons Learned
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