What Are The Legs To Your Business

I had a conversation with another agent yesterday that simultaneously made a light bulb go off in my head and also made me realize how easy it is to get off track when you are not accountable to someone else.  I had a business coach years ago that used to talk about the ‘legs of your business’ meaning that you need multiple sources of business to keep yourself balanced and things moving.  You need at least 3 sources of business, but 4 is ideal.

Right now I have 2 sources.  One is my database of friends and clients and another is a neighborhood that I do a lot of work in.  Some years I get lots of referrals from my database and others not as much, but having an extra leg with the neighborhood that I work in helps to balance it all out because the same is true there too.  Open houses used to be another leg of my business.  I have done fantastic business from open houses over the years.  I still do them occasionally, but they are definitely not a focus of my business.  Every now and then I think that I should go back to them, but the reality is that I would rather spend my evenings and weekends with Gary and the boys.  Weather or not I do open houses is irrelevant to the success of my business.  What is relevant, though, is acknowledging that I am no longer using that as a leg to my business so I need to replace it with something else.

This might sound intimidating and un ninja like because when you start talking about ‘legs of your business’ a lot of people instantly think that you are telling them to go out and start working expireds or for sale by owners or cold calling.  If you choose to do those things and are successful with them, great, but that is not what I am referring to here.  There are an infinite number of possible ‘legs’.  Maybe you are active in your church, on the board of a charitable organization, involved in sports with your kids or personally, active in other professional organizations, moms groups.  The list goes on.   Since you have a personal connection with these people you already have an ‘in’ with them so now it is a matter of going with intention to develop those relationships and ultimately turn them into a leg of your business.  This does not mean that you show up at your next function and start asking everyone if they want to buy a house from you.  That is going to feel pushy and awkward, but the reality is that we sell real estate which is interesting to everyone.  One example is that Gary and I do a lot of work with the Boys and Girls Club in our area.  He is on the board so we are at a lot of their functions and each year I purchase the prizes for the raffle so my name and contact information is printed on the back of each ticket that is sold.  The board members all know that I am in real estate and over time our conversations involve talking about the local market. As I build relationships with the people I add them to my database and build that leg, which has turned out to be very successful and enjoyable in the process.

We set a meeting date for 2 weeks from now and each of us needs to bring our 4 legs for our business and an action plan for each.

What are the legs to your business?