Real Estate is a profession in which we handle so many tasks, that we need to organize our days in such a way that we get everything done...and then some.
It's not enough that we take care of our current clients' needs, whether they are looking for a home, selling a home, or are in escrow where "time is of the essence".
This normally takes up each and every day, depending on how good you are at scheduling.
Oh, yes, clients and escrows will throw you "curve balls" that will derail the best of plans--and your day.
Or worse yet, will cancel, not show up at all, get "cold feet" or any number of other ways to make your day stressful.
ON TOP OF IT ALL, YOU ALWAYS NEED TO LOOK FOR FUTURE CLIENTS.
We can't take for granted that future clients will (1) call you at all, or (2) all nicely spaced so as not to show up all at once. The months go by at a rapid pace in this business, and the overhead needs to be paid.
WHAT TO DO? NON STOP MARKETING EFFORTS. HOW?
1. Networking: It's not enough to just go out there and shake people's hands while walking to the post office, but go to functions, follow up with personal leads, and generally talk to a whole lot of people. This has been a primary focus of mine this year!
2. Websites: I have several real estate related ones, plus quite a few "community" ones that I keep updated and on which I advertise myself. I tend to bunch up my work on them, it's not an every day thing because it tends to eat up hours.
3. Blogging: My main one is ACTIVERAIN. Some months I tend to be more prolific in my writing. But I do try to go there at least once a day, just to check in and see what's happening and comment on others blogs.
4. Keeping up with past clients: I am not one to send out email blasts and leave it at that. I will get in touch personally to see what's happening in their lives, and chat. It's amazing what business leads I've gotten that way.
5. Advertising and public relations: For most of the past 10 months, I've done some high profile print advertising. Now I'm following that up with "publicity" wherever I can. Free plugs with my name.
6. Joining business groups: I've never been much of a "joiner" but am rethinking that again for next year. One of them is the Chamber of Commerce. I used to belong, then dropped out when I didn't see any direct benefit. But am willing to give it another shot and this time by not being a "passive" member.
WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH TIME MANAGEMENT?
Well, I wanted to point out all the different aspects of my real estate brokerage that eats up my days with the result that I'm having a banner year,
HOW IS MY DAY SPENT?
I get up early in the morning and start right in doing all the "ugly" tasks first, you know, the ones that would be fun to push off until later in the day. Only thing is, I find that as my day progresses, I start losing control of it because UNEXPECTED TASKS are thrown in my way that NEED TO BE DONE TODAY.
ERGO: TIME MANAGEMENT ON THE GO.
Like many other people, I keep my phone close at hand at all times, check emails often, text short messages to respond to people who need encouragement or an answer right away or, if I have to make a call, excuse myself, go outside and make that call. My clients appreciate the service.
Let me give you an example of my day yesterday, a beautiful day:
Rather than lying around the house, a friend and I took a stroll around Carmel-by-the-Sea, having a great brunch followed by visiting our retail store owner friends--who usually work it themselves on Sundays. When patrons follow us in, we leave (an unwritten rule) so they can service them. In the meantime, my phone kept ringing because agents wanted to schedule last minute showings of my oceanfront beach listing and others. My friend, in the meantime, had to deal with her clients who were air freighting FEMA shipments to the Carribbean. So all of us "time managed" what we had to do, yet we all enjoyed the day as well.
Have a great week.
This is my entry into the Activerain October contest about time management.
And, no, my office is small and I don't want cleaners to come in and rearange my paperwork.
I am trying to get up earlier and start my day...I find it really does help.
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