Success: a goal we all share, but one that can be surprisingly difficult to define.

At Rialto Academy, we’ve discovered that understanding the distinct components of success serves as an essential framework for achieving it on your own terms.

What are the main ways top-producing agents measure their success?

When agents get the systems in place to sustain and build on success, greater quality of life—along with new worlds of possibilities—begin to take shape.

Measure 1: Volume

Volume, of course, is the foundation of success in real estate. Sales volume reflects activity and drives income. Within the real estate profession, agents are labeled according to their annual sales volume.

• “Mitch is a $6 million producer.”
• “2017 was an $8 million year for me.”

Because of this, volume is often viewed as the overarching—if not the only—measure of success. The challenge with a sole focus on volume is that it only tells part of the story. Volume is only an outward indicator of success. Other behind-the-scenes metrics serve as a far more accurate reflection of an agent’s growth trajectory.

• Benefit of Using Volume: It’s easy to measure and understand.
• Challenge of Using Volume: It doesn’t tell the entire story.

Measure 2: Profit

Profit is the key indicator of business success, and too often, agents overlook profit as a critical metric.

The most successful real estate agents run their sales careers as a business. They focus on profit as a business discipline and analyze the returns that result from their investments of both time and money.  

A sudden spike in sales volume only matters if it accompanies an increase in profits and an understanding of the factors that led to it. Marketing, advertising, and prospecting among different audiences and using different scripts can all drive volume. Successful agents are focused on analyzing what works, ensuring that returns (sales) outweigh investments, and that success is repeatable.

• Benefit of Using Profit: Profit is a great barometer for the health of your business. If you don’t have profit, you don’t have a business!
• Challenge of Using Profit: It can be a challenge for many agents to determine profit, and there are many factors that impact profit. It’s a signal that more digging is required.

Measure 3: Database Size

Many databases live only in the minds of agents. Better databases are at least in spreadsheets. The best databases—the ones that provide the best return—are those that are organized in a CRM.

A database that is constantly growing and cultivated is a critical metric at the core of a success trajectory that is sustainable and positioned for continuous growth. A real estate agent’s database reflects his or her reputation and sphere of influence. It is through cultivation of a database that referrals emerge, and agents remain top of mind among past and prospective clients.

Many databases live only in the minds of agents. Better databases are at least in spreadsheets. The best databases—the ones that provide the best return—are those that are organized in a CRM, a customer relationship management software.  This is the easiest way to measure the size and effectiveness of your database. A well-organized and “communicated to” database is key to the success of top agents. It is also a great way to measure year-over-year growth. In short, a growing database means growing opportunities.

• Benefit of Using Database Size: It’s a great way to measure the scale of an agent’s impact.
• Challenge of Using Database Size: It can be complicated to set up and track a database.

A sharp focus on the above three measures of success is foundational for real estate agents. When the outward-facing measure of success (volume) aligns with business success (profit), and a database strategy that positions both for sustainability and growth, the careers of real estate agents enter into a new dimension of success.

Measure 4: Quality of Life

Work is only good for the life it helps you create. When successful, agents are able to live the life they desire. Too often, big dreams are kept in check or never truly emerge because they simply don’t seem possible. When agents get the systems in place to sustain and build on success, greater quality of life—along with new worlds of possibilities—begin to take shape.

Are you measuring whether you’re achieving the life you’ve intended? Have you defined that life? All the business achievements are meaningless without the life to support them.

• Benefit of Using Quality of Life: In the end, quality life is all that matters—and it’s fueled by the first three measures.
• Challenge of Using Quality of Life: It requires a sharp focus on what matters most—the results of the business, not the business itself.

As you grow your business, consider these four measures of success. Are you in touch with the health of your business? Is it delivering the life you’re seeking?

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