Time Management For Real Estate Brokers

Do you feel drained at the end of the day with a dozen important things remaining to be done? Do you leave tasks half-finished as you respond to an endless stream of urgent interruptions? Are you sacrificing time with your spouse and children? As a hard-working broker, you manage all types of tasks every day and may work long hours to accomplish them, from creating a marketing campaign to training new agents. Developing a work-life balance all comes down to using your time wisely. It’s easy to say but surprisingly hard to do, especially for brokers.

Here’s a few tips on how you can have the business you want, along with the lifestyle you deserve, from the experts at Weichert Real Estate Affiliates.

Principles of Broker Time Management

Time management is learning to accomplish more tasks in less time. It means better productivity and more quality time to renew and recharge. In turn, scheduling your time provides a more nurturing work-life balance that helps avoid broker burnout. There are a few main principles of broker time management that will have you working more productively with more time for yourself and your family:

1. Organize your daily goals
2. Delegate, delegate, then delegate some more.
3. Use automation and tools
4. Establish operational checkpoints on a regular basis

Daily Goals – The Most Powerful Part of Your Day

One famous dissertation on time management says you should write down 6 important goals you want to accomplish each work day. Whether your number is 5, 6, or 10, taking that 5 minutes each morning to define your priorities for the day is probably the single most important thing you will do all day.

Then as you accomplish each goal, cross it off your list to give yourself that feeling of accomplishment. Don’t get overly upset if you fail to achieve your full list, but make sure you follow through the next day.

Delegation

The temptation to take on certain tasks that you know you will do better than anyone else is strong and common. Yet if you never allow someone else to challenge themselves at this, you will be forever obligated to do it yourself. As a brand representing hundreds of brokers across the nation, Weichert experts will tell you that the most successful brokers have managed to be almost 100% strategic in their tasks and have delegated tasks they never thought they could.

Today pick one time-consuming activity that “I have to do myself”, and train someone in how to help you with it. They may stumble at first, but with patience and consistency, it is you who will run faster in the end.

All The Right Tools

The promise of so much technology and electronic capability is to do things faster and more efficiently. Unfortunately for too many brokers, technology promises have been offset by technology complexity and cost and brokers we see are either not using their tech properly, or at all.

And yet when you and your team are properly trained and fully utilizing modern systems like real estate CRMs, online lead generation and marketing, or even just using Microsoft Excel better, you achieve a level of organization and time management you can only dream of. You don’t have to be a computer geek. You just need to be willing to learn or leverage learned resources to be sure that the promise of the technology you use, is realized.

Trust But Verify (Regularly)

Even if your team is trained and motivated to use the systems and tools you have in place, establishing regular operational checkpoints is a must. This is an activity you can’t delegate. Having a look into how critical systems and initiatives are performing in the brokerage, provides you the critical insight you need to make larger, more far reaching decisions. For instance, you may find that agents are interpreting data in your open house management system in several different ways, causing problems with follow up. Or that the whole system simply doesn’t work the way you need it to, leading to an important strategic reinvestment in a new CRM.

As you grow, your verification activities should rise as well. Insist on the lower level process and tech reviews, but conduct your reviews with your team leaders. Hold them accountable for metrics at the lower levels while you up-level your view.

A Little Discipline Saves a Lot of Time

You don’t have to run your brokerage like a military operation, but a little discipline is certainly necessary. Having proper processes and systems in place that you don’t have to invent or constantly change is a big part of time management, success, and achieving that elusive work-life balance. Don’t spend time thinking about things that can be automated. Save that thinking time for the bigger strategic issues you really need to put thought into.

Management Systems. Digital Tools. Selling Systems. These are all things the team at Weichert can offer your business that you can plug into.  If you think this could benefit your business and put you on the path to growth call 877-567-3350 or visit weichertfranchise.com for more information.

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