Time management is one of the most important aspects of being a successful real estate agent. Yet, it’s one of the hardest skills to master.
Time happens to be the only equalizer in the real estate industry. It doesn’t matter your experience or skill level — we all have the same 24 hours in a day. The only difference is how each one of us makes the most out of our time.
The more you get out of your day, the more successful you stand to be. This, however, depends on how well you manage your time.
You can greatly increase your efficiency, profitability, and overall real estate success if you manage your time well.
So let’s take a look at 5 time management tips that will turn you into a top agent.
You only have so many hours in a day, so you need to make the most of every minute. Start prioritizing your everyday tasks, depending on how important they are.
Place tasks that are more likely to land you a listing at the top of your to-do list.
Once you’ve listed your tasks in order of importance, determine which ones need your immediate attention and which ones don't. A good way to determine this is using the 3D test: Do I ‘Do” it? Do I ‘Delegate” it? Do I ‘Dump” it?
Now that you know where to start, create a to-do list and construct your daily schedule.
Make sure you maintain your to-do list and update it regularly. You can use free tools such as Google Calendar or todoist.com to manage your to-do list. This will help you stay organized and focused.
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to let a day to go by without doing anything productive?
You get to work, open your computer, ready to begin calling clients. But before you do that, you get the urge to check your emails. As you peruse through, you remember a post you wanted to share on your Facebook business page…and before you know it, the day is gone.
Save your days by utilizing time blocking.
Time blocking is the practice of setting aside specific times to complete important business tasks without any interruptions. Instead of working by the clock, you focus on finishing tasks one at a time.
Time blocking helps to limit distractions, thus allowing you to get things done faster without getting overwhelmed by long to-do lists.
To be able to time block effectively, figure out the tasks you need to do daily, monthly and even yearly. Then, put a schedule in place and stick to it.
So for instance, set aside 2 hours between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. every day to call clients or read and respond to emails. Remember, do not spend more than the allocated time, and spend that time on the specific task you’ve chosen.
Figure non-work activities into your time-blocking schedule to make your overall life easier to manage.
Using sticky-notes to keep track of your day-to-day tasks likely won’t help you get a lot of value for your time input.
There are lots of contact, project, and task-management systems available. A few good ones include: Asana, Trello, Basecamp, and Zoho Projects, among others.
Most of these tools will integrate into your website’s back end and your CRM, so use them to stay on top of your day-to-day business activities.
You won’t be able to achieve much with your time if you’re not able to control where your mind wanders.
Today, there are so much distractions flashing in our faces that if you don’t take control, you might as well kiss your productivity and success goodbye.
To avoid getting side-tracked from your goals, use these tips to avoid distraction and focus on work:
Tasks such as posting to social media, blogging, researching leads, adding contacts to your CRM, following up with leads, scheduling meetings and listing appointments, updating your schedule, etc., can be done by someone else in your office.
You might find it hard to delegate if you’re one of those people that likes everything to be done exactly the way you want. However, the more you allow yourself to concentrate on the most important real estate business tasks, the more successful you will be.
If you’re having a hard time delegating, start small and delegate only the smallest tasks, then gradually work your way up. As you get to know your team and learn to trust others to do your work, then you can delegate more tasks.
Create a visual team calendar so everyone is aware of what they need to do and when. Let everyone be aware of their assignments for the day, week and month.
If you run your real estate business by yourself, consider hiring a virtual assistant to handle these tasks. How do you hire them? What do you pay them? How do you train them?
Imagine you had a business like this:
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Time management separates top agents from the rest. If you want to be on top, it’s time to adopt these time-management strategies to maximize the hours you spend on the job and decrease your business stress!