How to Recover When Your Numbers Are Off

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It was August. It was summer time at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. It was hot. Too hot. The sun was beaming down and you could already feel the humidity. It was 9:00am and we decided to go to the pool. There were 12 of us swimming and having fun. It was the typical family vacation.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, the lightning came crashing down! Bang, bang, bang! Everyone got out of the pool and ran to safety. Our first question was not, “Why did the storm come?” The first question we asked was, “Where are the children?” The second question we asked was, “Where are the adults?

After we determined that everyone was safe, we kissed and hugged the children.  We ask,”What can we do to ensure that we are still enjoying our vacation?” “How can get there, safely?” “Who will drive?”

If I were to ask you, have you ever had a month where you just were not meeting your numbers, I bet you would answer, yes. In real estate we live and die by the numbers. It really does not matter whether you are in sales, leasing, collections, maintenance or acquisitions. I am sure you have had “the conversation” with your boss.

Your boss will say, “Why are we off so much in our XYZ efforts?” Because you are a great employee you answer, “XYZ is off because of the three ABC factors.” Unfortunately the boss does not want to hear about ABC he only cares about getting XYZ efforts fixed. If you have not had this conversation, just wait, you will. The higher you go in property management and real estate, the more you will be forced to have these type of conversations.

There is a fundamental problem with asking your employees, “Why are we off?” The question “why,” does not solve problems. Asking the question “why,” is the most frustrating question to ask because the question why does not obtain results!

To analyze your next thunderstorm situation, when you are behind, ask the following questions for better answers:

Who is responsible for the numbers being off?

What are they currently working on?

When will they adjust their behavior?

Where are we currently at?

Who can help?

What should they be doing to fix the problem?

Where should your employees be spending a majority of their time?

When do they need to have the problem fixed by?

How can they work differently?

The ability to answer these questions gets results!  Keep in mind that you cannot control the thunderstorms, they are going to come, but just like when the thunderstorm ruined our pool party, knowing the right questions to ask did not ruin our vacation. Asking why would have ruined the vacation! Not asking why ensured that we still met our goal of an epic family vacation.

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Nathan Bush is a highly sought after speaker, writer, author and real estate investment professional. One of the most inspirational and motivational men of his time. He delivers a high impact, educational performance that has improved businesses bottom line. With over 10 years of experience in the real estate industry and asset management industry, his systems have generated millions of dollars in bottom line profits for thousands of sales professionals, leasing agents, property managers, & investors.

Nathan is the Founder and President of Priority Investing, LLC. a National Consulting Practice impacting and changing lives across the United States. Nathan holds an MBA with an emphasis in accounting from Keller Graduate School of Management and a B.A in Nonprofit Management from Lindenwood University.  In addition to his degrees, he holds a Missouri real estate license and a National Apartment Leasing Professional (NALP) certification. He is currently a member of SCORE which is a nonprofit organization that serves to mentor start-up and growing businesses. Lastly, Nathan wrote the book Leadership Coaching as a Strategy for Employee Development and has been a guest speaker and facilitator at national conferences on the topics of leadership.

For More information: www.nathanbushmba.com