Play the long game to win

I was on a video call at the end of last week and my phone was making its usual assortment of sounds throughout. After about 45 minutes I checked it to make sure there wasn't anything urgent and I had just received a voicemail that brought a smile to my face....

In any business, we are constantly balancing the urgent with the important. There are certain things that feel like they must be done right now but aren't necessarily going to move your business forward overall. That nagging of the urgent sometimes leaves the important at the bottom of the list or worse, getting pushed to another day.

We manage our daily and weekly plan with a combination of urgent and important. The difference is, the important gets done before the urgent. The actions that move the business forward get prioritized over the urgent tasks that feel important. That has allowed us to implement things that didn't create any benefit on that particular day but have created long term benefits that far exceed what we had to do to receive them.

That voicemail that I received was from an out of state investor that had identified a property they wanted to buy but needed an agent to help them. Why did they call me and not any one of the 100's of other agents in Southern Maine? Because they saw the videos that I had created over the last year or two and from that they decided they wanted to work with me before we had ever met. I didn't prospect for them or compete for their business, the seeds I planted a year ago provided for me.

We lead generate and follow up daily and that provides new business in the near term. We have also invested in creating videos and blogs, networking, and other activities that had no immediate benefit to us but have provided for us later. We have built a network that generates 200+ transactions a year for us, which continues to increase as we grow it further. Those transactions become the base that we can rely on, and the daily lead generation becomes the growth. That network doesn't cost us very much to maintain in terms of time or money, and it's fun to stay in relationship with those people we already know. 

If you want to be in this business long term, then you must plant some seeds that will provide for you in the future. Obviously, you need to remain focused on the daily activities that create business for you, but don't forget to play the long game. Your future self will thank you. 

P.S. You can download the 5 Steps to Grow Your SOI below to learn some of the things we have done to successfully grow our network.

Download 5 Steps to Grow Your SOI