7 top Zig Ziglar insights on success in real estate

One of the most revered motivational speakers and trainers of all time is Zig Ziglar. His work has inspired, encouraged, and instructed salespeople for more than 50 years. He was known for power quotes that have been the catalyst for dramatic personal and business growth in the lives of many.

Here are seven of his most famous quotes. Put them to work to grow your real estate business.

1. You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.

Waiting until everything is perfect to start is a recipe for failure. I’ve watched agents wait until they can completely understand the nuances of a neighborhood before they start farming. I’ve watched agents gather data and information about an expired listing for hours before picking up the phone and having a conversation with the owner about their intentions with the home.

Take action and the results will follow.

2. If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.

Do you have a specific plan for growth in your business? Do you have your yearly goals broken into daily activities? If not, then how will you know if you are on track?

The clearer your goals are for your business, the easier it is to put together a trackable strategy to achieve them. Then, you can reverse engineer the goals down from annual goals to daily activities.

For instance, if we know you want to close 24 transactions this year and we know that, on average, 50 real estate-related conversations generate 1 transaction, then we know we need 1,200 (50 x 24) real estate-related conversations for the year. That means we need 100 conversations per month, 25 per week and five per day if we are making calls five days a week.

By understanding the daily goal, you can develop a clear understanding of the daily activities needed to achieve your goal.

3. You can have everything you want in life if you’ll just help enough other people get what they want.

This is my favorite quote of all time. This quote embodies the core principle of my entire life and business. The beauty of our business is that the more buyers and sellers you help get what they want, the more likely you are to get what you want.

What is it that buyers and sellers want? They want market data. They want a clear understanding of the process. They want consistent communication throughout the process. Ultimately, they want to know they are working with a professional who has a complete grasp of the buying or selling process.

Focusing on the wants and needs of your clients will lead to an abundance of everything you want.

4. Remember that failure is an event and not a person.

Struggle, disappointment and failures are unfortunate realities of the real estate business. I don’t know a single top-producing agent that didn’t overcome failure before finding success. As a matter of fact, my experience has been that the agents who faced and overcame the most struggles are the highest producing agents I know.

If you’ve been facing struggles and failures in your business, understand that these are the very seeds that will lead to your future success.

5. You can change who you are and what you are by changing what goes into your mind.

What are you feeding your mind? Is it positive or negative? Do you watch YouTube videos, listen to podcasts and read books or articles that help you become more of the person you desire to be? If you want different results, change what you have going into your mind.

Feed your mind the positive and life-changing material it needs and your business will follow.

6. There are no traffic jams on the extra mile.

While it is true that the number of Realtors hit a new record high last year, there are still agents that thrive in the current market environment. The biggest difference I’ve found between average agents and high achievers is the work ethic and amount of value they add to the marketplace.

Is the market challenging right now with low inventory and high demand? Absolutely, but these are the times when going the extra mile for your clients stands out the most.

If you’re looking to separate your business from the pack, provide more value than you’ve ever done before and go that extra mile.

7. Success is the maximum utilization of the abilities you have.

It is so easy to compare ourselves to others. To wish we were more like them and that we had their talents. Your success will always look different than what success looks like for others. You’re two different people with completely different abilities and strengths.

Self-awareness is extremely valuable. The ability to understand what success means to you and to not be influenced by what that looks like for others will lead to fulfillment and satisfaction that few ever realize. Do your best and find your personal definition of success for you.

If you haven’t ever heard Zig Ziglar speak or if it has been a while, I would encourage you to spend some time on YouTube watching a few of his videos. If you watch his videos or apply the quotes above to your business, in the words of Zig, I’ll see you at the top.