Effective time management is essential for a real estate agent, not just for advancing in their careers, but also for their financial success. In most situations, real estate agents and real estate brokers are self-employed and are often not paid a base salary. Their income usually consists of 100% of their commissions and their downline. Therefore, effective time management is critical to their long-term success. It can be easy for real estate agents to get preoccupied with their usual client meetings, home presentations, or closings, and then neglect their lead generation and acquiring new clients. In this article, we will discuss a few tips real estate agents can use to become more effective with their time.
Starting The Day Without A Plan
Many people often wake up and start the day without a goal, and without a plan of action. If you do not know where or how you will be spending the upcoming day, then you will most likely be only reacting to whatever the day may bring you. A plan for the day brings clarity to your life so that you can prioritize and focus on the most critical tasks that will lead you closer to your goals, and avoid or delegate tasks that will not significantly improve your life.
Your smartphone today makes it really easy to help you plan out this information. All you have to do is fire up your default note taking or reminders app and spend a minute typing out your plan. It’s easy to put all the information into your phone. It’s editable and way less cumbersome than a diary or notebook. However, you still have thought out a plan for your day. No technology today can replace that.
Not Tracking How They Spent Their Day
Now that you have a plan of action to follow for the upcoming day, it is very important that you can also keep track of how you have been spending your day, and if you followed your daily plan or not. For example, if you were to ask most people at 5 PM what task they were working on at 10:30 AM they would not be able to tell you. This can be especially difficult for real estate agents because their day is filled traveling back and forth to meetings, appointments, sales calls, presentations, and contract agreements. This constant traveling throughout the day makes it very difficult for real estate agents to keep track of how they have been spending their time throughout the day.
Years ago, before the internet and smartphones were readily available, people would have to rely on a pad of paper and a pen to record where they spent the entire day and how long they spent at each location. Fortunately, smartphone technology and apps are now allowing people to keep track of where they went and how long they spent at each site throughout the day. For example, the Visits app available on iTunes, automatically keeps track of its user’s traveling throughout the day, along with the time they spent at each location. With this app, real estate agents no longer require keeping a manual record of where they have spent the day or how long they spent at each location, the Visits app will automatically record this information for them in their location timeline. This automatic tracking will allow the real estate agent to focus on their work throughout the day, and not on recording their location.
In conclusion, there are only 24 hours in a day, and how a real estate agent spends their time will have a significant impact on their overall success and financial well-being. It is essential for real estate agents to start the day with a plan, and then ensuring they stick to that plan. They should also ensure they keep track of how they are spending each day to ensure they are productive, and with apps like Visits readily available, it is easier now than ever before solve these problems.
