Work When You're Working

A couple of days ago I reblogged Clint Miller’s excellent post on things you must do if you plan to be a successful real estate sales person.

One of the points he made was that it is vital to stick to a set working schedule – not allow yourself to decide that you don’t feel like working today. I agree with him. I also think it’s important to “Work when you’re working.”

I can’t count how many times I’ve watched real estate agents sitting at their desks gossiping, or shopping on line, or playing video games. Now there are even more ways to fritter away time – such as playing around on Facebook.

Why do they do this?

For one thing, it’s awfully easy to get pulled in when someone else wants to waste their time talking about last night’s episode of some TV show, or gossiping about one of the closers at the Title Company, or telling their tales of woe about spouses, kids, or in-laws.

Sometimes those folks just come right on over and pull up a chair and start talking.

While it isn’t a great policy to be rude to co-workers, you do have to find a way to take back your time. You need to learn to say “Gee Helen, I’d love to hear about that, but I promised to have this done by 2:00. I need to get back to work.”

When the person trying to steal your time is a guest who just walked in to visit knowing that “You aren’t doing anything” because you’re at a desk, you can use the same tactic. Or… if you know the person is too rude to take that hint, you can look at your watch and say “Oh gosh! I didn’t realize it was so late. I have to be somewhere in 15 minutes!” (It's not a lie, you have to be anywhere except sitting there wasting time!)

Then excuse yourself and actually leave the office. If you think your guest will hang around talking to everyone else, use the time to check on your signs or refill your brochure boxes. (Of course you do have extra copies in your car at all times, don’t you?) You could also pick a neighborhood and drive through looking for FSBO’s – if you find one, stop and offer your free report. Maybe there’s a home nearby that you’d like to preview – use your cell phone to call the agent and see if you can go there right then.

Now for the toughest one… what if it’s YOU who is stealing your time?

This happens for a lot of reasons. Sometimes you’re just plain tired or discouraged. You might need to schedule an evening out just having fun. You might even need to schedule a day or two away from the office, doing something totally unrelated to real estate. Everyone can get bogged down when they think about the same thing day after day, and if you’ve just had a disappointment after working hard on a transaction, depression can also set it.

That’s when you need to do something pro-active to pick yourself up - wasting time is apt to make you feel even worse.

But often, not working when you’re working is because you haven’t set up a system to reach your goals. You haven’t told yourself what you need to accomplish each day, so when you find a free hour you don’t know what to do with it.

This can especially be a problem if you really have just an hour or a half hour before your next commitment. Everything you think about doing seems like it will take too long – so there’s no sense getting started and having to stop.

What’s the cure?

Make a list and keep it handy. When you have a free half hour, take out the list and choose a task to fill that time. Start with things that will only take a few minutes.

• Follow up calls to current prospects
  
• Staying in touch calls to past and present clients
  

For both of these, put names and #’s on the list so you don’t have to hunt for them. Then when you call, note the date next to each name… so you’ll know where to begin next time you have those extra few minutes.

• Checking your briefcase to make sure you do have those extra flyer box brochures in case you see a box that’s empty.
  
• Transferring notes on phone calls, etc. to the permanent file on a current transaction.
  
• Uploading photos from your camera.
  
• Checking the MLS for Expired listings.
  
• Working on a post for Active Rain!
  

Now, for those times when you have a whole day with nothing scheduled, add some items that can take an hour or a few hours:

• Following up on all your leads
  
• Writing an ad for your new listing, or updating an ad for an old listing.
  
• Working on marketing copy for print publications.
  
• Writing a letter for your autoresponder series.
  
• Writing a prospecting letter for mailing
  
• Updating a property brochure for a flyer box
  
• Working on your own personal brochure
  
• Creating a postcard to go to your farming area
  
• Working on your newsletter
  
• Working on your “special reports” for buyers and sellers
  
• Writing another Active Rain post
  
• Taking new photos to use in a Localism post
  

 I know you can add to both of these lists – they’re just examples of what you might include - the important part is to make them so that you do have something positive to accomplish when you find yourself with a little free time.

I don’t know the “why” of it, but sometimes even when you know there’s plenty to do, you just can’t think what it is! And yet, you know that when the hour or so is up your brain will kick in and you’ll say “Darn, I could have used that time to… “

So make the list - don’t let free time turn into expensive time because it was wasted time.

Since you DO have plenty of things to do each day, you might also enjoy reading these two posts about the "Highest and best use" of your time.

Delgate the Busy Work and Should you be Writing?