Posts
by Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown,
October 23, 2008; revised November 2013
Have
you ever watched a 100 Meter Dash where the runners seem to slow down just as
they reach the finish line? You discover
that the winner actually set a world record for the race but as you watch the
replay, the runner did in fact slow down the last yard or so (meter or so for
those so inclined). What could the
runner have accomplish had he or she run THROUGH the finish line rather
than coasting to the win? One could only
imagine.
December
31st of each year is not quite a finish line because in sales there
are no “finish lines”, it simply continues throughout the year. Yet so many people in sales set December 31
as the “end” and January 1st as the “beginning.”
In the
past the Thanksgiving decorations and products began appearing as early as July
followed almost immediately by Christmas decorations and products showing up on
the shelves. Now the Christmas
decorations and gifts start showing up weeks before Thanksgiving and this year
the stores are opening on Thanksgiving. The mindset begins to shift immediately from
the first 7 or 8 months of the year to the last 4 or 5 months that include
Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas, New Year, College Bowl Games, the
Super Bowl and in our area, Mardi Gras.
Those holidays engage us for as many as 6 months.
Everyone
in sales understands the sales pipeline theory.
The imaginary pipeline involves sales agents inserting lead generation
activities into one end of the pipe such as telephone calls, personal meetings,
mail-outs, brochures, etc. It is a constant
and uninterrupted “feeding of the pipeline” and eventually successful sales
start to emerge, or for the more successful agents, continue to flow from the
other end of the sales pipeline. If
nothing is fed into the mouth of the pipe, nothing flows from the end of the
pipe.
Enter
the Holiday Mode of thinking for a great many sales people. The pending holidays tend to take the edge
off lead generating activities and people and families get into the “holiday
mode” of thinking. The focus shifts from
conducting mail-outs, telephone calls, face-to-face meetings, etc and more on
scheduling family outings, purchase of gifts and, let us not forget the
parties. Is it just me or do people seem
to get more tense and distressed during the holiday season than at any other
time of the year? Why is that?
Let me
put my spin on it and this is nothing but spin, no research, no study, just an
opinion. Let’s look at income
taxes. If you are like me, I tend to put
it off until I absolutely MUST do something in order to meet a deadline. In the mean time I either consciously think
of what I SHOULD be doing or subconsciously (including dreaming) thinking of
what I should have done days, weeks or even months ago. If your mind is not clear of
“need-to-do’s-that-should-have-already-been-done activities”, how can it focus
on the things that need to be done at this very moment or tomorrow? There is a
guilt feeling as a result of not doing something. These feelings compound and build on each
other. They are like having a page of
half-circles each representing an incomplete job. The more half-circles, the more depressed we
become. Not only are there things we
need to do in the future, there is an entire page of activities left completely
or partially unfinished. How does that
make you feel? Depressed, inadequate,
discouraged and even a failure. But it
is the Christmas holidays when everyone is supposed to feel good.
Enter
the “monkey wrench!” What else happens
during the holiday season? We spend more
money on “stuff” and “activities” than we normally spend during the rest of the
year. Some of this spending has been planned;
most has not. While spending increases,
income for salaried individuals remains stable but for people in sales, no lead
generation, no additional sales, decreased sales, decreased income. In fact, sales typically and routinely
decline due to the seasonality of the sales business. The thought process goes like this, “Everyone
is thinking of spending time with their families over the holidays, they are
not thinking of buying or selling real estate (or whatever it is you sell)
so…..why bother?” That is exactly what
most sales people do; they begin to shut down their sales generating activities
about mid-October and do not restart until well into January of the following
year. In the Southeast
Louisiana area, this shut down is extended into March and even
April while people gear up for Mardi Gras.
It’s
called the “holiday mode” in sales; it would better describe the attitude by
calling it the “holiday slump”. Now
enter the 80/20 rule. In this case, 80%
of the people do what 80% of everyone else is doing and if that 80% of our market
is in the holiday mode, the sales people also get into the holiday mode. As a result - sales drop, anxiety increases
because income decreases while at the same time expenses increase. Then when the 80% get charged up to start
doing those activities they should have been doing throughout the “holiday
mode” season, so is everyone else. As a
result, there is no market share shift in YOUR direction because you have being
doing what 80% of your competition has also been doing - NOTHING! Or at least NO LEAD GENERATION ACTIVITIES! No one seems to realize that whenever you
STOP doing something with the idea of STARTING it again in the future, it takes
time to restart and to reenergize your business. Therefore even if you set a restart date of
January 15, chances are and history shows, you really don’t get started on
January 15 you only get ready to get started.
In the mean time your pipeline of potential sales has completely dried
up. Therefore you must start pumping in
the leads and culturing them until the leads begin to produce sales and that
does not happen overnight. And the
20%? They have been lead generating all
during the holidays and their businesses have a more steady result.
The
“holiday mode” happens every year as certain as the sun rises every day. If you want to be part of the 20% of our
business who easily does 80% of our business it involves being steady for 12
months; not just 7 or 8! That is the
rule! Work 12 months of the year. Work “through” the finish line, not up to the
finish line. If the market IS
seasonal in nature and if the market tends to slow during the holiday season,
does it slow because it is the holiday season or because 80% of the agents in
the business slow thus slowing the market?
Great question don’t you think?
Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? It doesn’t matter! If you continue to feed your pipeline, 12
months a year, results will be forthcoming 12 months a year. Even if the market does slow, real estate is
being bought and sold. If that is true,
and it is, then why shouldn’t those sales be yours? If you are in the “holiday mode” the sales
could be right in front of you and you would never be aware enough to realize
the opportunities.
The sad
part of our business is that there are no surprises. There are models that have been proven to
work. All one really need do is make a
study of The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, written by Gary Keller, Dave Jenks
and Jay Papasan and then implement the model.
The model, however, involves not giving up or taking off during the
holiday season.
Let’s
go back to the 100 Meter Dash (or 100 Yard Dash for us old timers). If you as a real estate agent remain focused
during the holiday season and continue to perform lead generation activities,
it would be like getting a 20 meter head-start at the beginning of the 100
Meter Dash when it begins shortly after the holiday season. If you want to be an industry leader, learn
to be a leader during the holiday season and you will excel the rest of the
year not to mention winning the 100 Meter Dash!
Here
are more questions to consider:
- Do people moving from one area to another often take the holiday
period to house hunt so they won’t have to take off extra time from
work? From personal experience, the
answer is YES!
- Do homeowners have guests in during the holiday season? Is it possible that these guests may see
a home for sale and think it might be just the right place for a friend?
- If a home does not look magnificent during Christmas with all the
decorations when will it look magnificent?
Christmas may be just the right time to show your home at its
absolute best.
- If you are working as hard as ever during the holidays, would it not
be a point-of-difference in your favor to explain that to buyers and
sellers? Again, I’ll answer that –
YES!
- How are you going to pay for all the holiday expenses if you go into
the holiday mode? You-know-who may
need some help answering that one.
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