As a loan officer, i struggle many days to fit everything into my 9-5 world.  Sometimes there's jsut too many tasks to fit and I have to prioritize.  I break my tasks down into those which are high payoff, low payoff, can be delegated, and cant/shouldn't be delegated.  From there, I set each days schedule.

As salespeople, our high payoff activities are prospecting, working our presentations or appointments, and following up with leads and people we have presented to.  Other tasks, such as status updates, paperwork, and scheduling closings are low payoff activities and should be delegated to our processors, assistants, or transaction coordinators.

I'm at my best in the morning, so I try to set my prospecting time then.  Its kind of like excercise in that if the days gets going before you do it, something will come up that gets in the way, so do it first.  If its 30 minutes, an hour, or 2 hours, schedule it and don't let anything interfere with it. 

The next most important, high payoff activity is actually selling.  Those appointments and presentations lead to applications.  The actual setting up of the loan file is actually an important, but low payoff activity that I do, but I'm considering handing that off to an assistant when volume warrants it.

Finally, the last high payoff activity is following up.  Many sales people fall short in this task.  They call the lead, leave messages, maybe follow up a second time and if there's no response, they give up.  Do you know that most sales happen after the 5th contact?  You need to have a systematized follow up to convert those leads that don't immediately become your client.  Where do think next months and next years business is coming from?

Other activities such as status updates can be accomplished with a quick email early in the morning.  My processor can answer my questions with minimal intrusions into her work flow.  Other tasks such as call backs can be grouped into a block of time for better efficiencies.  As long as you get to them the same day, you'll be fine.  I set aside 2 blocks of time for call backs, one in the morning after prospecting and appointments, and the other towards the end of the afternoon after the afternoon appointments.  similarly, emails can be used effectively for things such as program questions and loan scenarios.

By prioritizing your activities and scheduling them, you can go home knowing that you've done all the important task that are vital to your business.