8 Solutions to Keep 2009 from Going Down in Flames

Compiled by Juris P. Fernandez

First, thanks for reading, and responding.

Second, thanks for your leadership. Your courage. Your honesty. Credibility. Tough love.

Third, Thanks for being a real estate practitioner who upholds the standard. Who excels at winning. And winning right.

Fourth, you’ve got a rough road ahead of you. But you don’t need me to point that out to you. I only want to give you solutions. My main motivation in writing this is to give you an idea…a direction…that will hopefully guide you to success in 2009.

So, here’s a list of 8 solutions to your current economic, real estate woes.

1. Start from scratch.

Halt the progress, purge all your current baggage and re-evaluate what you are trying to accomplish. You need a clean slate for 2009.

2. Think like a king.

You probably haven’t been doing enough of this lately. But you need to think like a king. Or queen, someone who is in charge. Who’s sovereign. someone who’s responsible for results. Someone who won’t let the vision go dormant [Go ahead. You can do it.]

3. Create a dedicated team passionate about real estate.

Your career is so important that you dedicate your life to it. You depend upon it. Your family depends upon it. All of your resources should place it at the same high priority.

4. Create a unique selling proposition (USP).

The book Made to Stick demonstrated that an idea spreads when it is simple, unexpected, credible, concrete, emotional or a story, or a combination of all the above. Why do you exist? What makes your business better than the other ones out there? Let’s spell it out: USP.

5. Filter and test every idea through the USP.

Every idea you come across must live or die based on how it sizes up to your USP

6. Define metrics.

What will determine success or failure: Sales? Houses sold? Listed? Buzz? Penetration? Recall? Website visits? All of the above?

7. Determine an economic engine.

Low maintenance ideas require little to no funding. High maintenance ideas require more funding. You need to decide if you want any idea to be a low or high maintenance idea…and then build strategies and creative to match the revenue required.

8. Meet a new person everyday.