At this time of year, everyone’s reflecting on the past 12 months and looking ahead to the next 12 (or just scrambling to get ready for Christmas!). If you’re looking for guidance on preparing for 2014, two articles I’ve read recently offer steps to follow.
Finances
Inman Next contributor ActiveRain suggests poring over your November credit card statement for any unnecessary business spending. I would add be sure to check your unpaid invoices and other sources of expense information, too.
Staffing
Our friend James Dingman encourages his readers to consider hiring support staff and perhaps a buyers’ agent or two and a listing agent. Analyze your workload and workflow to determine what business model would make the most sense for you at this stage. If you need more guidance on this important topic, set an appointment with your coach for next month.
Marketing
This is a broad topic that ActiveRain and James bestow with their attention. ActiveRain suggests attending holiday parties, and you might want to be prepared with a year-end market analysis you can summarize for anyone who asks. Knocking on doors with this information is another suggestion. Longer-term, the company’s blog post says you should re-examine your market niche. Who or what is your ideal target market? James thinks expanding your reach, specifically your targeted neighborhoods, could be a good move. He also advocates “supercharging your marketing” on the Internet, whether it’s on real estate sites like Trulia and Zillow or with pay-per-click, targeted ads on Google and Facebook.
Updating
ActiveRain says this is a good time to take control of your contact management system. Update it with your latest leads and any new contact information so that you can reach out to them next year. Get all of your social media profiles in order (or shut down ones you’re not actively using). Review your website page by page. Do you have inaccurate or expired information posted? What about pages that have not been localized with your office name and location?
If this seems overwhelming, it doesn’t all have to be completed by Dec. 31, just have it on your radar for early 2014.
You can read the full articles on the Set Fee Blog and Inman Next.
Have a prosperous New Year!