The Income & Production Roller Coaster

by Tyler Fenn
I’m a sales guy. I have been since I sold Boy Scout popcorn when I was eight. If your real estate career  has been anything like my own sales career has been over the last 20 years, you know the phrase “It’s either Feast or Famine”. Sales professionals, especially in the real estate agents, don’t receive an equal compensation for their time like other professionals; we’re paid on performance. Many of us tend to see massive fluctuations in our income throughout the year, with some months bringing in huge income, while some months bring in very little. While it’s easy to stay busy during the ‘ups’ of our years, most of us struggle to maintain that high-producing momentum during the down months when we aren’t seeing those massive checks as often, if at all. There are a few things, though, that I have worked for me when trying to avoid these slums throughout my year:
1.  Set Specific Goals
A sure-fire way to avoid the ‘downs’ in your business is to have specific benchmarks to strive for. I have a ‘Where I want to be in five years’ goal. Within it, I have set specific goals for my career. Then, I’ve worked backwards in smaller increments with the thought, “To reach my five-year goal, I need to accomplish (xyz) each year. In the first year I need to accomplish (abc).” …and on and on. I’ve done this all the way down to my daily plan (Side Note: my daily plan corresponds with my daily schedule discussed below. If yours doesn’t, one of them needs to be adjusted.) Finally, I’ve shared this with my source of accountability. For me, it’s my wife and my immediate supervisor. For you, it could be a coach or mentor, a colleague, or your spouse or significant other. Having specific goals and a solid source of accountability has helped my business to remain consistent throughout the year, and will remain this way for many years to come.
2.  Have a Daily Schedule
Many agents go into their office each morning with no specific plan for the day; unfortunately, they don’t realize how much of their valuable time is actually eaten up by participating in non-money-making activities. Having a set schedule that incorporates money-making activities on a daily basis provides consistency in income. I make sure to prospect at the same time each day, and set certain hours for appointments or other out-of-the-office activities. I also set certain hours for paperwork, following up with unfinished tasks, and other busy work. And I always include time to nourish the relationships with my past clientele; we all know how beneficial repeat-business can be. Once my schedule is created, I do everything I can to stick to it. Consistency in activity equals consistency in income.
3. Prospect, Prospect, Prospect
Perhaps the biggest reason for the ups and downs in sales is that once I tend to get busy with a full pipeline, I (unfortunately) begin to slack on continuously filling that pipeline with new business. Then, once business slows down, my efforts to fill the pipeline increase, although this takes considerable time. This creates a perpetual roller coaster of both production and income. The key to avoiding this is to making prospecting a top priority, every day. By making a daily effort to generate new business from new prospects, I see the results of my efforts are not only more consistent, but longer-lasting, too.
No sales person, and certainly no real estate professional, is immune to fluctuations in their production, but I have seen a much greater consistency in my business and income from following these patterns. I am confident that if you can implement these steps into your business, you will not only stabilize your production, but will increase it as well. Like it has for me, having more consistent production and income will create a happier, more successful you.
Tyler Fenn is the Inside Sales Manager at the REDX, and joined the REDX team more than  four years ago. He lives in Provo, Utah with his wife, Jenn, and his two boys, Connor and Caden.