We all make mistakes. It's part of being human. But the key is to learn from those mistakes so you can grow and improve. On this week's episode of The Whistle Way podcast, hosts Bryan Koci and Kyle Whissel have an honest discussion about a recent challenge Bryan ran for their real estate team that didn't go as planned.

Rather than dwelling on the failure, they have an insightful conversation about what went wrong and how to adjust their approach going forward. There are so many valuable lessons here for real estate agents looking to build their sphere of influence and referral business.

Overview of the Failed Sphere of Influence Challenge

Bryan explains that their team focuses on four core pillars: open houses, social media, sphere of influence, and internet leads. They like to run quarterly challenges around these pillars to help their agents improve.

Previous challenges around social media and open houses went really well, with great engagement and results from their team. However, Bryan's recent 30-day sphere of influence challenge completely bombed.

The goal was to get agents to focus on growing their database by putting their friends, family, and connections into their CRM. But despite Bryan's best efforts, engagement was low and most agents saw little to no sphere growth by the end of the challenge.

Why It Failed

Bryan and Kyle have an insightful discussion about what went wrong and how the challenge could have been structured better

• Lack of clarity on goals: There was no specific target given for how many sphere contacts to add. Without a clear goal, agents didn't know what to aim for.

• Poor timing: The challenge coincided with their big client appreciation event, splitting focus. Most agents defaulted to prepping for the main event.

• Not enough motivation: Bryan focused on features/benefits but didn't provide enough motivation through real-life examples and success stories.

• Loose accountability: Compared to the social media challenge with daily prompts, this only had biweekly activities. More frequent check-ins could have kept agents on track.

• Overwhelming instructions: Giving agents a massive worksheet of 150 categories was daunting vs bite-sized daily tasks.

Key Takeaways for Running a Successful Sphere Challenge

Based on this discussion, here are some best practices for real estate agents looking to run an effective sphere of influence challenge:

• Give a clear goal for number of contacts to add to CRM

• Make sure timing doesn't conflict with existing events or priorities

• Provide motivation through real-life examples and success stories

• Build in accountability with frequent, daily check-ins and tasks

• Break down into bite-sized activities vs overwhelming long checklists

• Offer specific instructions and guidance each day

• Follow up consistently to keep sphere relationships active

• Track results to celebrate wins and refine approach over time

The Value of a Strong Sphere of Influence

Bryan and Kyle emphasize that a strong referral network should be one of the core pillars for real estate agents. Sphere contacts often become an agent's best clients thanks to built-up trust and familiarity.

They share stories of agents on their team who have earned $100k+ in commissions from a single sphere relationship over time. The lifetime value can easily be 5-10 transactions per contact through repeat business and referrals.

By adding just 10 new sphere contacts per day for two weeks, agents can quickly build a database of 150+ connections. This provides a solid foundation for referral and repeat business.

Action Plan for a Successful Sphere Challenge

Based on this discussion, here is an action plan for running a successful 30-day sphere of influence challenge:

Set the Stage

• Communicate the goal of adding 150 sphere contacts

• Share motivating stories of success from sphere referrals

• Explain tracking for participation and growth

Build Accountability

• Daily email prompts for specific tasks

• Reminders to log completed tasks

• Recognition for top performers

Provide Guidance

• How-to modules on finding contacts and outreach

• Templates for follow up emails and scripts

• Worksheets for capturing details on each contact

Foster Engagement

• Facebook group for sharing challenges and tips

• Weekly video trainings with top agents

• Contests for most contacts added

Wrap-Up & Repeat

• Analyze results and solicit feedback

• Refine approach for future challenges

• Continue nurturing sphere with regular touchpoints

Conclusion

The key takeaway from Bryan and Kyle's discussion is that failure is a learning opportunity. Rather than placing blame, they openly analyze what went wrong and how they can improve going forward.

This growth mindset allows them to iterate and better serve their team. There are so many actionable tips real estate agents can implement from this podcast episode to run effective sphere challenges that deliver results.

The core principles - clear goals, motivation through stories, frequent accountability, and bite-sized activities - can help agents strengthen their referral pipelines and build thriving businesses.

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