Routines Work Especially During Shelter in Place

Over the last three years in our brokerage, Pacific Playa Realty, we have implemented a daily coaching program called ITP (Inspire Train Propel) POWER HABITS. This program is largely the reason that I maintain a solid business routine that has endured even the Shelter in Place challenges to both my business and my sanity. Over the last 14 years in real estate I have trained close to a thousand agents in a wide variety of skills ranging from business development, entrepreneurship, contracts and sales strategies. As a top producing agent and the manager of a large independent brokerage the power of routines in business is paramount. Routines are the foundation of success and the complement to creativity, vision, longevity, consistency and resilience. During this time of being shut in and in some cases shut down, business routines are more important than ever so I thought it timely to share how we have implemented a routine based program simply and successfully in our production-focused real estate brokerage.

ITP Power Habits is a daily coaching program offered for free at Pacific Playa Realty. It evolved within my business but now impacts many areas of my life and is a critical tool for me getting back in the swing of things when I occasionally fall out of my most successful routines and practices. The program didn’t start out as a “coaching program” it really was a labor of love (or frustration, I’ll explain later) by the owner of our brokerage. Three years ago, we were following a franchise program that had a deeply entrenched and extremely expensive coaching program. We felt the program was to expensive for newer agents to afford alone. Since we believe in building talent we decided to invest in hiring an expensive coach from a nationally recognized program to group coach our agents. We quickly realized that a weekly coaching program was not enough to develop the type of routine based performance that a highly competitive real estate market demands. The hired coach was mediocre and dispassionate, he was swiftly terminated. At that point, the owner of the brokerage, who really prefers a solitary existence and who was not involved in the day-to-day transactional business of the brokerage, took over the coaching program – we thought temporarily.

Easily frustrated with excuses given by agents as to why they were not in production, he commenced with a “no-nonsense, get your ass in gear” approach that inspired some and frightened others. His frustrations fueled his commitment to instilling better business habits in our large agent body. Munif had been raised in the projects of Oakland, CA. He watched his mother employ a hard-working resilient work ethic that saved them from abject poverty and ultimately allowed them to move out of the projects and into their own home. She worked tirelessly and often thanklessly as a housekeeper in hotels and homes, often taking home scraps from work to feed her children. His eldest brother left school to work and help support the younger two brothers. The owner of the brokerage who drives a nice car and has a lovely home now has never lost sight of how close poverty is on the heels of success. At this time, when people are truly realizing they have been living one paycheck away from default, routines, habits and a solid mindset are priceless advantages that create stamina, resilience and the ability to capitalize on opportunity despite change and challenge.

ITP Power Habits started as a once a week door-knocking program with a short daily motivational message. Over the course of the next 12 months, week by week, we added accountability for prospecting daily; then we added two more days of door knocking and decided later to add telephone calls two days a week and then weekend accountability for open houses, showings and appointments. Bear in mind, the owner of the brokerage came into the office every day to meet with our agents, as manager I came in every day and a core group of agents also came every day at 8:30am when most real estate agents are turning over in bed. I started taping the sessions and taking notes, developing scripts and practicing scripts in the morning before the motivational message. Now we live stream on Facebook to a private group for our script practice and market training then to ITP Power Habits on Facebook for the motivational message. Over the last 3 years we have contacted over 200,000 prospective clients, we have hundreds of agents that follow us on social media and we have an in-house elite group of 15-20 agents that prospect daily and have implementing some amazing productive routines into their work and personal schedules.

When COVID-19 shut down our city and in some ways our industry, we were able to keep our agents engaged, prospecting and in routine. As the monotony of being at home caused some people to sleep in later, to fall off their routines, the structure and consistency of Power Habits daily coaching helped us keep our routines and when needed get back in routine much quicker. We are healthier mentally and physically because we have structure and activities that we started many months ago. It is not to late to develop your own personal routine, to commit to it and to hold yourself accountable. I sell real estate so my routines are geared around that and being a mother, daughter, wife, sister and friend. Work routines often serve as the basis for your persona routines. I like to start with a work routine because discipline at work is easier to accomplish; I say this because your boss or client usually demand compliance. Once you have mastered your work schedule you can build your personal routines around it.

We use a time blocked schedule, I personally use an Excel spreadsheet with color coding. Every hour from 5:30 am – 9:30 pm is scheduled and then the real challenge commences – patting and prodding myself to stay within my schedule. On some days, I deviate, skip and reschedule things but because daily I work at getting better and hold myself accountable with a group, my days are more productive and reliable most of the time. I start early morning between 5-5:30am (I find that having a wake up time range is helpful, that way if I need a little more sleep on a given day I have a little extra time). I make my bed, drink water etc. then I journal and state affirmations/prayers and recite/revisit my goals. Once focused I make my way into the office for Power Habits; script practice (or skills training) then a market update. Last the owner of the brokerage gives us 12-15 minutes of unadulterated kick ass “get out and grind” motivation, perfect to get even the most dejected real estate agents into motion. You too can benefit from a similar but tailored routine. Challenge yourself to start the day with affirmation, journaling, exercise and mindset or knowledge-based learning, then start your day with your most important activities, have clear daily goals or targets for your activities, measure and hold yourself accountable to a quantifiable result. Build your routine, account for your activities, measure your progress and adjust as needed. An antidote to the uncertainty is routine. You can do it, start today.