As a real estate agent, you might feel compelled to be putting in more hours at work, especially if everyone around you is working 60 hours a week. You might even think it will benefit you and your team. The problem with this mindset is that those who work more don t necessarily close as many deals. In fact, they might not be working as efficiently as you would assume.
While working 60 hours a week might have its benefits, what will set you apart as an agent is your time management skills. Below are five tips you can utilize for better time management:
Stop Multitasking
If you re currently working 40 hours a week, you might be tempted to multitask to do more. However, it has been proven that multitasking often leads to poorer results since doing multiple things at the same time diminishes the amount of effort you put into each task.
When it comes to working, it is best to focus on one task at a time. By doing so, you can give your full attention to what you re currently doing. This allows you to accomplish more, catch any possible mistakes while working, and leads to less confusion.
Another problem that can arise with multitasking is the possibility of mixing up events or double-booking appointments. Not only does this tarnish your reputation, but it also decreases your chances of selling a property.
One of the best ways to stop multitasking is to plan and organize your schedule. Consider utilizing schedulers like this https://www.proagentsolutions.com/real-estate-showing-scheduler/ to know what appointments need your immediate attention.
Organize Your Schedule
Time management is mostly about knowing how to schedule your tasks. For an agent who manages their own time, knowing what to do and when to do it is incredibly important. Aside from scheduling apps and tools that can help you view all your appointments at a glance, take note of the responsibilities you need to accomplish within the day. As you keep on doing this, you will eventually be able to establish a pattern that allows you to plan ahead.
The process of organizing your schedule not only helps you plan for the future, but also enables you to set specific days for open houses or going to the office. It gives you more control over your time and makes your schedule less confusing.
Set Your Goals
Before you can start planning, it is important to assess your work and set a goal for yourself. Once you ve determined your pattern, you can begin to see essential responsibilities that you might want to keep or cut down on tasks that have little to no bearing on your performance. In this manner, you can start aligning your responsibilities with what your long-term goals are.
Your long-term goal depends entirely on what you want to achieve. Most agents might be satisfied just to sell houses, but you might be different and have benchmarks you want to hit. For some, it can be to attain higher income, for others it s to start their own real estate brokerage. Once you realize what your end goal is, you can begin prioritizing jobs that can help you get closer to this.
Plan Ahead
Now that you have your goals in mind and you re able to organize your tasks, you can start planning ahead. Planning ahead can be as simple as assigning tasks for later dates or noting down deadlines that have been set yearly. This kind of strategy allows you to maximize your time, so you can take small steps to start on bigger projects while balancing it with daily or urgent tasks.
Planning ahead also means preparing for worst-case scenarios because not everything will always go according to your plans. Preparing for any unexpected situations, or even predicted outcomes, can help you deal with any situation. Not only will it help you overcome the problem, but it will also lessen the emotional and psychological impact of the situation.
Delegate Tasks
You never truly work alone as a real estate agent. You always have colleagues or team members who can assist or help you out. While you may be working with people of the same level or position, this doesn t mean that you can t ask them to help you. Splitting the work between your team can greatly increase overall efficiency.
Employ interns and recruits by assigning them to work on tedious tasks like data entry or filing documents that might otherwise eat up your time. These kinds of jobs are important but can disrupt client relations or cause schedule conflicts. While they can seem menial, these tasks often prepare younger agents for the work ahead of them.
Aside from these people, consider hiring a customer relations manager (or CRM) to manage your clients. A CRM helps you and your firm keep track of its clientele, manage their information, and help you to deepen your relationship with them. Oftentimes, these managers can send out emails and invitations to showings or property listings that they or their friends might be interested in.
By utilizing all the members of your team, you decrease your workload but increase overall job performance. Consider the tips above if you want to learn how to best maximize your time and become more effective real estate agent that make significant contributions to your company.
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