How Do You Know What to Say Yes To?

Out of curiosity, when business slows down and your pipeline isn't where you want it to be, how do you decide what to do next?

There are some difficult conversations happening in real estate right now.

Experienced agents are talking about having one of their toughest years in a long time. Pipelines are thinner. Transactions are taking longer. Some are worried about paying their bills or wondering how long their reserves will last.

At the same time, other experienced agents are having very good years.

Same challenging market. Very different experiences.

There are many reasons for that, and it would be unfair to suggest that an agent who's struggling simply isn't working hard enough. Most experienced agents know how to work hard.

What many haven't experienced is a market quite like this one. Some built successful businesses during years when opportunities came more easily, without ever needing to create the systems that provide consistency when the market changes.

And when income drops, the pipeline gets thin, and uncertainty grows, something else can happen.

Confidence changes.

Suddenly, every opportunity looks a little more important. A strategy that's working for someone else gets your attention. Then another idea comes along that sounds promising.

You say yes to one thing. Then another.

Before long, you can have more ideas than you could possibly implement and still be wondering what you should actually be doing.

What if the answer isn't finding more things to do?

What if it starts with becoming clear about what you really want?

How Do You Know What to Say Yes To?

Recently, an experienced agent and colleague called to ask my thoughts about holding an open house for a condo in a high-rise building.

They were doing well. They were on track to reach their sales goal, felt good about their reserves, and yet they were concerned about their pipeline.

My first thought was that the open house might create an opportunity beyond finding a buyer. Could it help them become more visible to other unit owners in the building and potentially create conversations with future sellers?

They told me that had been their first thought too.

Then they explained the challenge. Because the building has a locked lobby, they would need to remain there during the open house. That meant there really wasn't a good opportunity to connect with other owners. Historically, very few potential buyers attended open houses there either.

As we talked, it became clear that their gut had been telling them from the beginning that this probably wasn't the best use of their time.

So why were they considering it seriously enough to call and ask for another opinion?

Could it be possible that when our pipeline becomes less certain, fear or scarcity begins influencing decisions we would normally make with confidence?

There's nothing inherently wrong with holding an open house. In another situation, it might be exactly the right activity. But when we're worried about where the next piece of business will come from, almost any potential opportunity can start to feel like one we shouldn't pass up.

Doing something can feel safer than saying no.

That's when working harder can quietly become the goal instead of working intentionally.

More Choices Don't Always Create More Opportunity

There is no shortage of ways to generate business in real estate.

Open houses, calls, personal notes, social media, DMs, client events, newsletters, online giveaways, Equity Analyses, networking, follow-up systems. The list is almost endless.

Many of them work.

But knowing that something can work doesn't mean it's the right activity for you, right now.

Without clarity, having more choices can actually create more confusion. We say yes to several ideas, implement pieces of each, and never stay with any one of them consistently enough to know what could have worked.

Simply choosing activities you enjoy isn't quite enough either. Enjoyment matters because you're more likely to stay consistent with something you don't dread doing. But the activity still needs to be capable of producing the outcome you want.

Maybe the better place to begin is further upstream.

What do you really want?

And equally important:

Why does it matter?

When those answers become clear, they give you a filter for what comes next.

If what you want requires a stronger pipeline, which activities are most likely to create it?

If you need business now, where could conversations uncover opportunities that already exist?

If you want more predictable income in the future, what systems need to be put in place today?

Now you're no longer choosing activities because they're working for someone else.

You're choosing them because you understand where you're going and what can help you get there.

What Can the Last 90 Days Tell You?

If we were sitting across from each other and you told me your pipeline was struggling, I'd be curious about your last 90 days.

Not to assign blame.

To understand.

How consistently have you stayed connected to your database? How intentionally have you nurtured your pipeline? What activities have created meaningful conversations? What have you done consistently enough to know whether it's working?

And where might you have changed direction before an activity had enough time to create momentum?

Your answers give you information.

Your current pipeline may partly reflect conversations that happened, or didn't happen, weeks or months ago. But your current pipeline does not have to determine where your business goes from here.

You can begin creating new opportunities today while building the systems that help create greater consistency in the future.

Conversations Create Opportunities

This is where Exactly What to Say® becomes so important.

Knowing who to connect with is only part of the equation. You also need the confidence and language to create conversations that feel natural, relevant, and valuable to the other person.

The Exactly What to Say® Five Step Dance is:

Questions → Conversations → Relationships → Opportunities → Actions

Notice what comes before opportunities.

Conversations and relationships.

That's why consistent connection matters.

For one agent, that may include an Equity Analysis using email, text, and a one-to-one conversation. For another, it could be personal notes, DMs, phone calls, newsletters, thoughtful social engagement, client events, online giveaways, or a combination of several activities.

There isn't one activity everyone needs to use.

The goal is to choose activities capable of creating the outcomes you want, build solid systems around them, and stay with them consistently enough to give them the opportunity to work.

Consistency Isn't the Starting Point

After years of coaching agents and building businesses, I've come to believe we sometimes start the conversation about consistency too late.

Consistency isn't the starting point. Clarity is.

When you're clear about what you really want and why it matters, you can identify the results that will move you toward it. Those results help you choose the activities most likely to create them.

And something important changes.

You have buy-in.

You're no longer following a system because someone told you that you should. You're doing the work because you understand how it connects to something that matters to you.

That makes consistency easier.

And when those activities become part of solid systems, you don't have to wake up every morning wondering what you should do, chase the next idea that's working for somebody else, or say yes to every possible opportunity because you're afraid of missing one.

You know why you're doing the work.

You know what it's designed to create.

And you can give it enough time to build momentum.

Over time, that can mean more opportunities, a healthier pipeline, more consistent income, greater confidence about where future business is coming from, and something that's difficult to put a price on.

Peace of mind.

Because the goal isn't better systems for the sake of having better systems. It isn't even selling more houses simply for the sake of selling more houses.

It's building a successful business that gives you the freedom to enjoy the life you're working so hard to create.

So before saying yes to the next opportunity, strategy, or activity that comes your way, perhaps there's a more important question worth answering first:

What do you really want, and why does it matter enough to build your business around it?

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Chris Ruszkiewicz is an Exactly What to Say® Certified Guide, the founder of CMR Coaching & Consulting, a founding owner of a Keller Williams Realty office, and an Executive Business Coach with 32 years of experience in sales, negotiation, and leadership.