Where do you see your real estate business in three years?
Maybe you’re an investment firm now overseeing 15,000 units…
Or you’re a realty company who’s completely taken over your local territory…
Or you’re becoming a thought leader and helping to spread your knowledge through speaking and events…
Regardless of the area of focus, you know how important it is to have an edge in business, especially real estate.
And a recent study, which surveyed 183 entrepreneurs, revealed that:
Of the businesses with an average revenue of $2.5 million, the average growth of those with a vision versus those without was more than double.
But it’s up to YOU, as the entrepreneur, CEO, or founder, to communicate your vision to the people needed to make it happen.
And that’s where a Vivid Vision comes in: The document that paints a picture of what your company looks and feels like three years into the future, as if it’s already happened.
The concept was developed by Cameron Herold, who wrote the book Vivid Vision: A Remarkable Tool For Aligning Your Business Around a Shared Vision of the Future after he and his partner scaled 1-800-GOT JUNK to $100M in revenue (you can get the full story here).
When you’re clear of your vision, it can help you:
Stand out against competitors when hiring new agents and team members
Maintain focus and clarity when scaling, knowing everyone is aligned with where you’re headed
Be a confident leader who enrolls everyone in the vision of the company
Attract clients, vendors, and key partners who are inspired to push toward your shared vision
The Vivid Vision® has been used in dozens of different industries, and in just a moment, we’ll share real-life Vivid Vision examples from real estate companies you can model to create your own.
How To Write A Vivid Vision For Your Real Estate Business
We outline the exact process for creating a Vivid Vision in this post here, but here are the first three steps:
Think about what you want your business to look like three years into the future.
Don’t focus on HOW you’ll get there (that’ll come later), just make sure to imagine what it feels like.
Get it down on paper and repeat this for each part of the business (like team, culture, marketing, and sales—more on this below).
They sound simple, and they are. So don’t overthink them.
Here’s an example: Maybe you’re a broker attempting to break into a highly competitive market. Your goal is to double your listings and do 300+ transactions despite several teams already dominating the market share.
Here’s what your Sales & Marketing section might look like in your Vivid Vision:
I turned down an offer by the largest brokerage in our area to partner. It was a nice offer and all, but I knew she didn’t want to be a true partner. She just wanted access to the creative marketing processes that allowed us to increase our listings and do 298 transactions—in the last year alone. We’ve differentiated ourselves in the market through crafty direct mail campaigns, with a systematic approach for targeting neighborhoods our competitors already control. Those campaigns have flooded the sales team with calls. And the phones aren’t ringing off the hook with people just fishing for the highest quotes… Once our agents are sent out to their homes, prospects are EXCITED about the visit, making the sales process more efficient, with each deal turning into three to four more thanks to referrals. Our clients want us to be part of their families, and our secret sauce is simply to go out of our way to give them the best experience buying or selling a home they’ve ever had. In fact, local media recently ran a segment on our methods, calling us ”The First Human-Focused Real Estate Brokerage With Heart.” We gathered around the break room TV to watch, and I could see in the eyes of each team member how proud they were to be part of a company that helps people make the right decisions for their financial well-being (not just taking all we can get). This has ignited a fiery passion in each department that runs efficiently with little oversight and allows leadership to better focus on our next big move.
See how the imagery and language bring this to life? It’s much more specific than saying, “Our goal is to double our listings and do 300+ transactions.”
And to create a complete Vivid Vision document, all you have to do is apply what we just did to every area of your business.
At Vision Driven, we’ve helped 400+ businesses create their Vivid Vision. Part of our signature Vivid Vision Method™ is to start with a Mind Map, which you can download for free here:
Want The Vision Driven Vivid Vision Mindmap™ So You Can Design Your Company’s Future
To Be A Place You Want To Visit?
You can use it to create each section of your business, and the finished product should be a living breathing document that shows a clear picture of what your business looks and feels like three years into the future.
Real Estate Vivid Vision Examples
To inspire you, we’ve selected a few real estate Vivid Vision examples we’ve helped our clients create. You can use them as a model to follow as you create your own (and you can click here to get even more examples).
Real Estate Business Example #1: Rod Khleif
Rod Khleif is a multifamily real estate investor on a mission to help professionals create wealth for themselves and their families. He’s driven to help them improve their financial lives and get clear on what’s most important to them, which is evident throughout his well-crafted Vivid Vision.
Key Takeaways
Their Products and Services section clearly defines how many people they want to help and exactly how they plan to do so through their various offerings.
Rod’s belief in education and the sharing of value shines through—how the business leaves people better than when they found them is illustrated by what he does, what he plans to do, and how the business is set up to support that guiding light.
Their core value of “Integrity: We’re driven by the desire to improve other people’s lives and build a better world, which pushes us to always do the right thing” is easily recognizable, which will only attract people who embody those same values, just like Rod.
Real Estate Business Example #2: Arrows Capital Group
Arrows Capital Group is an investment firm that offers opportunities to investors who want to know their money is making a difference by prioritizing the people and communities they invest in, while creating returns.
Key Takeaways
1. The language in their Headquarters section is so rich and detailed that it’s almost like you’re there walking along the river to their busy office in Nashville.
2. Their mission to create “Immeasurable Return” for their investors through both financial gains and “social human capital” are always aligned at the hip when mentioned.
3. A vision for growth into new asset channels is something they had not yet achieved when creating their Vivid Vision with us, but they wrote it down as if it already happened.
Real Estate Business Example #3: New River Valley
JB Klein founded New River Valley, a veteran-owned and run real estate company. He won a contest when Cameron Herold was a guest on the Bigger Pockets Podcast, speaking on the power of Vivid Vision, and Vision Driven turned it into a masterpiece.
Key Takeaways
It is immediately clear in the Snapshot who they are, who they help, and what’s most important to them: the people they help.
They share the importance of their team’s well-being in detailed language by saying, “Team members leave the office at the end of the day feeling proud of what they accomplished.”
They combine their values and commitment to community, with the benefits their investors and customers receive when working with them. If you’re aligned with what they do, you’re instantly drawn into the vision.
Want To See More Vivid Vison Examples?
Download The Vivid Vision Example Guide™
24 Real-Life Examples To Inspire You As You Create Your Three-Year Vision
Or Check Out These Other Vivid Vision Resources
The Vivid Vision Mind Map – A guide with question prompts and templates to help you begin to craft your three-year Vivid Vision.
How To Write A Vivid Vision (With Examples) – A step-by-step breakdown of how to write a Vivid Vision, with more examples from other industries.
7 Mistakes To Avoid When Writing Your Vivid Vision – These mistakes could cost you hours of time, or force you to abandon your vision entirely—so make sure you know how to avoid them!
13-Point Vivid Vision Checklist – Use this checklist to help paint a clear picture of what your business looks like in the future, with language that comes alive and pops off the page.
