Run Your RE Business With a Smartphone Using Your Phone’s Calendar

Written by Posted On Thursday, 12 December 2019 05:25

Article #4 in the series. Is it just me or is life more hectic now than ever before? Being self-employed, a contractor and an entrepreneur means our life is filled with appointments, phone calls and to-dos, which doesn’t even include our so-called social life. We need one place to see everything going on in our life, whether it’s work or play, and be able to see it quickly. What is the one thing we have with us 99% of the time we are awake? Yes, our smartphone. I travel often and use public restrooms, I learned just because somebody is talking doesn’t mean they are talking to you! Embarrassing!

Let’s talk calendar and how we should start using it effectively. In this series, we will be covering different parts of the smartphone and I am doing them in order of importance. We started with contacts and now we’ll continue with calendar. How in the world do you expect to be organized without having a calendar to keep track of events, reminders and important dates?

I believe the two most used calendars are Apple and Google. Many of the tips work for both and I will do my best to explain features. Let’s start with a fun one in both calendars: Go to calendar and rotate your phone to landscape to give you a view of your week. I use week view regularly. The great thing about both calendars is that they sync to all your devices. If your Apple devices don’t, go to Settings> Top of screen your name> iCloud> and confirm your calendar is on for iCloud.

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I love the categories by color feature on both calendars. On Apple, go to your Mac> Calendar> File> New Calendar and name the calendar. To change the color, highlight calendar, Control-Click and tap “Customer Color”.

For Google go to Calendar.Google.com and sign in. On the list of current calendars find other calendars and tap “+” and name and create a new category. Once done click on the 3 dots and pick a color.

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Let’s put the first three articles to work together. Need to catch up? Take a minute and read the last two articles, “Run Your RE Business with a Smartphone using Text Replacement” and “Run Your RE Business with a Smartphone using Your Phone’s Contacts”. First “Text Replacement”, follow the instructions on how to set up text replacement. Decide how you want to set up what works for you when it comes to contacts. For example if you wanted to build a shortcut for me you could either do db or dick – notice no caps. Let’s say you have a new buyer or listing, set up a text replacement for each person. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but it’s not really when you see how quick this will help you and when you see the amount of time saved. I suggest you go to “Contacts” and add the text replacement shortcut for reference.

Back to the calendar, now every time you do an event, reminder or hopefully anniversary when you sold them a home, use the text replacement. Both calendars have the search feature. Use the text replacement to see every entry in the calendar for that contact. Speaking of anniversaries, set it up for an annual reminder with maybe a 5-day notification so you have time to handle how you contact past clients. Remember all the bells and whistles promised in the calendar part of CRM? I could write about ten more articles about the calendars offered free by Apple and Google, but need to move on.

Next article will be all about Apple Notes and Google Keep and Information Management on your smartphone.

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Dick Betts

Dick Betts, REALTOR® The Villages, FL with Touchstone Real Estate, Addie Owens, Broker, Mount Dora FL.  Dick has been working in the real estate industry for more than 20 years and brings his experience and expertise to help you find the best solution for your real estate needs.  Moving to Florida in 2008 he started in Ocala and began searching where in the state of Florida he wanted to call home, Florida has so many options, Beaches, Southeast, Southwest, the Panhandle.  After weighing his options, he found where he wanted to call home just 20 miles south of Ocala, The Villages!  Living fulltime in The Villages since 2011 his only regret was not moving there sooner.

Dick has traveled across North America since 2000 speaking, training and helping REALTORS® in 47 states and 5 Canadian Provinces hone their skills to better serve the public.  He now brings those years of experience to The Villages to help folks who also want to call The Villages home.  People looking to buy in The Villages are from around the world and need a tech savvy REALTOR® to serve their needs.  Selling in The Villages you want to list your home with somebody who knows how to market your home to the Facebook Generation and bring the most exposure possible to attract a buyer.

Want to really learn about The Villages Lifestyle?  Want to see what The Villages has to offer?  Let Dick Betts be your guide and help you call The Villages your NEW HOME TOWN!

www.dickbetts.com

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