If you are one of those Agents who wake up and wonder what you can do today that will be productive, I hope you find this blog entry useful.  There are a multitude of ways for you to be productive that doesn't include writing an offer for someone, taking a listing or even driving Buyers from house to house.  

Here are some suggestions on things you can do on a daily basis that you will make you feel accomplished and will also assist you in getting closer to a closing.

• Update your Listings on all of the websites that you post them to. Repost the listings as often as website allows. Re read the descriptions, make sure you are using as few abbreviations as possible and PLEASE use spellcheck! Be sure you have the maximum amount of pictures allowed on each posting. Look at the pictures you have, do they flatter the property? How is the lighting, the angles? If you need new pictures, go and take them. If you can enhance the ones you have by using a photoshop program, do it. Pictures and clear, thorough descriptions is what sells the property. A good price doesn't hurt either, but the Agent is not in complete control of that. If you would like a list of the websites that allow free postings of your listings, let me know, I am happy to share. Of course there are places such as Realtor.com that charge each month for enhanced listings. If you can afford to do this, I would recommend it. As you know, Realtor.com is the first place that Buyers go to search for houses and if yours has more pictures and better descriptions and complete contact information, you are ahead of the game!

• Attending seminars and classes can take time and sometimes money, although there are a ton of free ones to be found. There are many to choose from so pick a subject that interests you and expands your knowledge- maybe digital photography, how to write special stipulations, 7 Stupid Mistakes that Smart Agents make (that was a humbling class to say the least). The point is to take advantage of classes offered.

•  Tweak your website. You are spending money to have a website, you spend time and effort sending people there - shouldn't it be the best it can possibly be? Pull it up and objectively look at it. Better yet, have your best critic pull it up. Ask them what kind of functionality they would like to see that is not already there, what kind of tools and widgets would enhance your website? You would be surprised at the amount of services your website provider can offer you. Taking the time to update and create a good, solid website is worth so much! I recently went to the website of a property management company that was recommended to me. Believe it or not, they did not have their phone number on the main page! It took me a solid 15 minutes to browse through every page they had on their website and scrolled through a bunch of text before I found their phone number buried among the text. So, be objective and honest when you look at your website, then pick up the phone and call the website administrator and let them help you make your website the best it can be.

• Update your database. I am probably preaching to the choir on this one, but if you are one (like me) who procrastinates this task until you can't fit another business card in the rolodex, completing this task will guarantee you peaceful nights of rest. If you are starting from scratch, choose a database manager(Outlook is free, Top Producer costs) I use Prospect Maximizer and it is complimentary when you sign up for the lead generation system that I use at GetMyHomesValue.com. No endorsements here, just suggestions. So, now you have chosen your database, pull out all the business cards you have collected for the past 10 years and give yourself lots of time to enter the contact info into the database. I recommend that you set up categories for the contacts and add information when appropriate. The category of former sales clients would benefit from having the anniversary date of the closing entered into their contact info, you get the drift. I know, I know, I would rather have my eyelashes pulled out one by one instead of doing this, but when I get it done, I look forward to the best sleep ever instead of the nightmares I have about losing all my referral business because I don't know where the phone numbers are of past clients.

•  Join a network group and attend the meetings. Networking is one of those things that you either really enjoy or you do because you think you should.  It falls into that category of "I joined all these networking groups and I attend the meetings, but no one has given me a referral." I say that every week when I have to drag myself to the 8 am meeting, give a 1 minute or so speech about myself and my business, and then exchange cards with everyone. I am a strong believer in telling people when you receive good service and I have found that my network group is the first place I look when I need a service performed. You would be surprised how pleased the service provider is when you tell the whole group what a good job they did for you. I have been part of this group for a year and I just got my first referral from it last week. It's one of those things that you have to stick with and you will come away with new friends, a new list of service providers that have a roomful of recommendations and sooner or later - a referral that you can use.

I hope this blog gives you some ideas that you can use. If you have any suggestions for things I have not mentioned, please share them with a comment for all to see.