4 Tips for Planning for New Year

With the fourth quarter here, now is the perfect time to reflect on the achievements of this year but also to start planning for 2019.  At Burgan Real Estate, we had our first of three annual planning meetings with our key partners to lay the groundwork for next year.  Planning this far ahead helps to provide us with a road-map for the future and to ensure the successes we had this year, like having our best month and quarter in volume in our 41 year history, continues on in the new year.  But like the quote above says, not having a plan will only lead to failure.  So, as you begin to make your plans for 2019, here are the top 4 things that should be on your checklist to make sure you plan for success in the new year.  

SWOT Team

The end of the year is the perfect time for a SWOT analysis — a review of your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This basic analysis is an honest look at your company and will allow you to determine where your business is in comparison to the strategic plan you established at the beginning of the year and how it can continue in 2019.  This is a helpful tool to help you realign end-of-year action and help future planning so your company can continue to experience success and wins in 2019.  

Leadership And Professional Development

You remember that old TV show, The Weakest Link?  Your company is only as strong as your employees are at their roles within the team.  While most companies plan marketing and promotional elements for the new year, most fail to look at how they can improve their most valuable investment – their employees.  In today’s companies, virtual offices and relaxed stances on working from the office breeds a lack of leadership training to develop future leaders within their organization. As you plan for the new year, focus on what leadership and educational development training you will have for your team.  While we have an enormous amount of training as the only company in the Mahoning Valley that is a part of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, we also put on continuing education series for our agents and agents from around the area. It helps to increase employee retention and engagement with the team as they plan to lead our company into the new year.

History Will Repeat Itself

As you evaluate 2018, make sure to make note of all the things that worked and didn’t work.  History always finds a way of repeating itself so analyze the situations you faced and how you overcame them so you can plan ahead and, possibly, forecast some of them in the new year.  This will enable you to have more confidence and a greater sense of achievement when you look back on the year and use it as a learning experience.

Have Another Cookie…You Earned It

When you lay out your goals and plans for how to achieve them, make sure that you also plan for how you are going to celebrate those accomplishments.  So often, companies are so focused on the goals and tasks at hand, they forget to take a moment to recognize the people and the achievements they made together.  For us, that is our Annual Mystery Bus Ride pilgrimage to…wherever.  Each year in August, we gather all of our agents and their spouses, board a chartered bus and go to a mystery place for dinner, games and celebrations on the accomplishments of the year.  While we look forward to who will be wearing the lampshade on their head, because inevitably it always happens, our team looks forward to the fun and relaxation from a great year made possible with their great efforts.  It is easy to make the goals you want to achieve but it is harder to actually stop and celebrate them when you make them.  Don’t forget to give yourself a pat on the back.

As the 2018 trailers farther and farther in our rear-view mirrors, take a moment to start planning of the new year before it has arrived.  Doing this will ensure that you take time to plan for the successes you will be celebrating this time next year, instead of wishing you had done it when you had the chance.  

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