2008: The Year of the Successful Routine
Make routines, well, routine, and watch your business blossom

By Denise Lones

What’s the secret to success in any endeavor on Earth? One word – routines!

What do I mean by routines?
A routine is something that you do on a consistent basis that becomes second nature to you. You do it without even thinking about it. Or it could be a learned behavior that you do for a short period of time with the purpose of generating some kind of effect.
Let’s look at “Dancing with the Stars.” If you’ve been living under a rock for the past two years, “Dancing with the Stars” is a popular television program. Twelve celebrities who can’t dance to save their lives are chosen to receive training from professionals. Over the course of several weeks, they compete until one dancing couple is remaining.
What a perfect example of routines in action! What exactly is it that the professional dancers teach the celebrities? The very same routines that they themselves use every day. And suddenly, voila! You can’t tell that the celebrities could never dance. (Well, for the most part. Some will never be able to feel a rhythm, but they are eliminated fast.)
Most become incredible dancers (practically overnight!) because they’ve subjected themselves to the routines of the professional. They learn the basic steps, then add subsequently more difficult ones as they master them.
It is the same for every field of endeavor on Earth.
Look at Tiger Woods. From an early age, his dad Earl instilled in him the basic routines of golf. They were programmed in his head. As he matured, he perfected his routines. He follows a set list of things he does every week and every day to stay the world’s No. 1 golfer.
Tom Hanks once said that the reason he has so much success isn’t because he’s a great actor. He said that he made it a routine to only audition for movies that would be directed by certain directors. This kept him “in the loop” of the big-name Hollywood elite.

Routine success
When I read this, it was powerful to me. I started to think about the routines that are the foundation of my success. Everything I do is a routine.
Years ago, I set up marketing routines. I still do them every day. I have routines for everything – communication, office management and dealing with crises.
All successful people have routines. They may not even be consciously aware of them, but they have them. Routines are the key to success.
I’ll ask an agent, “How’s your lead generation?”
“Well, it’s kind of rough right now,” they may say.
“The reason it’s kind of rough,” I say, “is because you don’t have a routine.”
The same applies to following-up, client care and marketing. Creating and managing routines for each of these areas – a set series of steps you do without even thinking about them because you’ve done them so often – is the missing element from many agents’ lives.

Seek advice in developing routines
Develop strong routines and you can’t help but succeed.
Having trouble coming up with routines? I started creating powerful real estate routines more than 20 years ago. I’ve refined them, improved them, and now have them down to a science.
You could be successful beyond your wildest dreams with just a few of them.
“But Denise,” you may say, “I already have routines!”
That’s great. Good for you. But how successful are you? It’s one thing to have good routines, but it’s something else to be banging your head against a wall every day because you’re doing the wrong routines. Bad routines will knock your business into the ground as quickly as good ones will propel it skyward.
A consultant can examine what you do and tell you what you need to cross out of your list and what you need to add. Like the professional dance instructors on “Dancing with the Stars,” a consultant can set you up with the exact routines that have been proven to work time and time again.
Trust me, I’ve been at this for a long time. There is no need for you to re-invent the wheel when somebody already got it rolling.
Let’s make 2008 the Year of the Successful Routine!