If you’re like me, there’s been a time where you didn’t feel like you were totally in control of your real estate business. Sometimes that’s because we’re setting the wrong goals and setting ourselves up for failure. We’re going to unpack that and fix that.

Most of us set goals this time of year. We set goals like “I’m going to make $100,000” or “I’m going to sell 36 houses.” Those are awesome – I love the intention. I love the energy. I love the drive. However, sometimes that’s not the right goal, because we can’t really wake up and manifest a closing. The problem is these goals are lag indicators.

What’s the difference between a lead indicator and a lag indicator? We usually set goals for the result that we’re looking for, in this case 36 closed homes or $100,000 in income. However, there are activities that precede these outcomes. What are the activities that lead to a closing? Talking to people about real estate needs, presenting our value proposition, having them commit to work with us, writing and negotiating contracts.

The lag indicator is the closing or the income, and the lead indicators are actually the activities that lead you to those results. Ask yourself, how many people am I talking to about real estate every day and how many people do I have a listing agreement or a buyer broker agreement with?

The next question is “Do we set our goals around lag indicators or lead indicators?” We actually want to be focused more on the lead indicator. If I want to sell 36 homes this year, I have to sign 50 people to work with, assuming 36 will actually transact. Go ahead and set your goal of $100,000 but then work backwards to figure out how many appointments you have to keep and how many people you need to sign a commitment to working with you.

This is how you get in control of your goals. As you’re thinking about 2023 and you’re setting goals for yourself, set the lag goal but do a little bit of math to figure out your lead indicator goals. Focus every single week on hitting your lead goal and if not, what do you have to do to get back on track next week?