Determining Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics

In military terms a strategy is a plan of action designed to accomplish a specific goal. First you need to know where you are going in your business and why-you need to have goals. Once you have a goal in mind you need to define objectives for reaching the goal, for example:

The goal is to create a full time real estate investment business. An objective that fits within that goal is to build a solid pipeline of deals coming into your business and to close at least 3 deals per month.

There are many strategies that you can use to accomplish the objective of consistently closing three deals each month. You can market to more real estate agents to recruit a group who will routinely turn to you as their transactional buyer or creative real estate specialist for those unconventional deals. You can market directly to homeowners looking for people who are in distress or otherwise motivated and need to sell. You can pick up a list of pre-Notice of Default homeowners within your target area and write or call these people to find those interested in selling.

Strategies for closing more deals may include employing a professional negotiator for your short sales rather than trying to it yourself. You may also be more selective on the deals you tie up in order to weed out the deals ones that are going to be time-suckers without a worthwhile payday at the end.

The specific tools that you use to accomplish your strategies, your tactics, really do not matter much. When you start, you are going to want to focus on the tried and true methods of direct mail, networking with realtors, and signs. However, as you get more experience, don’t get hung up on whether the tools you use are going to be SEO, pay per click, Facebook, mobile marketing, direct mail, telephoning, or a host of other specific processes that are designed to drive traffic to you. The best tactics for your particular needs will become clear as you test each one out to determine which bring you quality leads. Stick with those tactics that work best for you. For example, door hangers work amazingly well in some areas (I’ve had great success with them in Jacksonville, Florida, but they were a huge flop in our target areas of Miami). Make sure you are tracking your marketing to determine which is the most effective.

There is no one “magic bullet” that will work best all the time for every marketer. The best set of tactics will depend on your message, your market and the resources that you have available to spend.