5 Questions to Ask Your Team for a Successful 2014

"The power of questions is such an important thing," says real estate coach Mike Lindstrom. "A good broker or good leader is always empowering the agent to ask those questions."

With 2014 right around the corner, it's the perfect time for real estate professionals to take stock of where they want to go in the year ahead. Last week, we featured five questions from Mike Lindstrom that agents should ask to ensure a successful new year. This week, Lindstrom offers five questions that "brokers should always be challenging their agents with--constantly, throughout the year."

1. Why are you in this business?
2. What are your goals?
3. What is missing?
4. What are your shoulds?
5. What is your identifiable niche?

Lindstrom was one expert selected to provide one-on-one training sessions to the winners of the 2013 HomeFinder.com Agent Makeover Sweepstakes. For more details on these questions, read the transcript on the next page.

1. Why are you in this business? We have this term, "secret agent." You're in this business, you have your license, but you're not really doing it full-time. You have to really identify your "why." I love the acronym S.A.S. -- Something at Stake. When you have something at stake, when you really know why you're in this business, and a broker can convey that to an agent, there's a lot more power in that.

2. What are your goals? What specifically do you want to do in the next 12 months and beyond in this business? If you're going to make this commitment to being a full-time real estate professional, you have to understand what are your goals, specifically. I don't mean how much money you're going to make, and how many listings you're going to do, but identifying a full business plan as to what you're going to do to get to that next level.

3. What is missing? The power of questions is such an important thing. A good broker or good leader is always empowering the agent to ask those questions. What are you not right now that you could be doing to get to that next level?

4. What are your shoulds? When "should" turns into a "must," you start to see action. A good leader is always going to challenge a good real estate professional by saying, What should you be doing that you're currently not doing?

5. What is your identifiable niche? In your marketing plan, what is that thing--that niche--that's going to make your really identifiable with a certain market that's going to take you to that next level?