November is almost over, and it's time for us to start thinking about our Business Plan for 2010. How much am I going to make; how am I going to get listings; and how am I going to meet and capture new buyers. It's not going to "just happen". It will take a Plan, and it will take discipline to stick to the Plan.

The components of a Business Plan are these:

Situation Analysis
Mission Statement
Objectives
Strategies
Tactics

Situation Analysis. I like to call this "True Confession". In Situation Analysis, you need to analyze your current situation. What things impact your real estate life? No one but you will see your Situation Analysis, so you need to be as honest as you can. Write in sentences, or write words or phrases. Just keeping adding things to your list that either positively or negatively impact your real estate career. (We'll deal with this list later when we work on Objectives.)

Some examples:

• You're a new agent.
• You have no experience.
• You don't have a base of customers.
• You have previous sales experience.
• You have a positive attitude.
• You've lived in the area all your life.
• You don't know the area.
• I'm disorganized.
• I'm very organized.
• I have no computer skills.
• I'm computer literate.
• I have small children that I want to spend time with.
• I have a full time job that takes up _____ hours.
• I have a part time job that takes up _____ hours.

You also need to list where your 2009 business came from. If most of it came from Phone Duty, then you need to make sure this stays as one of your Objectives.

Start your Situation Analysis on a yellow pad. Work on it, put it aside. Come back to it, work on it again. Keep doing this until you're satisfied that you've listed everything you can think of.

Preparing a Situation Analysis is hard work. It will take perseverance, but it will serve as the base for the rest of your Plan.

Mission Statement. Describes who you are.

• Describes your image.
• You want the world to know who you are.
• Tell about yourself with a minimum of words.

A mission statement states your purpose. Here's an example: Providing real estate services in an honest, ethical, and professional manner to buyers and sellers in Sussex County.

It doesn't have to be long. You can add a slogan to the end of the Mission Statement. Another example: Providing real estate services in an honest, ethical, and professional manner to buyers and sellers in Sussex County. My philosophy: Exceeding Expectations!

Work on these two components, and we'll review Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics next week.

Good luck, and I'll see you next week.

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