The greatest challenge that real estate agent's face is time management.
However, before painting this problem with such a broad brush, agents should first determine the core of the problem. Is the challenge that 1. They don't know what to do with their time or 2. They are running out of time trying to keep up with what they have to do.
Quite the dilemma. However, the solution starts by considering which of your mindsets is controlling you.
Simply put, how can you "manage" anything without a manager's mindset. As I contemplate the concept of a manager's mindset, I'm always drawn back to Michael Gerber's E-myth where I first recognized that the Manager was indeed a persona unique from the Technician or Sales persona.
It's natural for a Sales persona to assume that you can manage a better business through the mindset of a Technician where your focus is on the present and performing the hands-on work of the business. However, a manager's mindset is that of a planner who takes the company's strategic vision and plots tactical action plans to accomplish that vision in a certain period of time.
After considering this for many years, I've chunked up what I believe is the manager's modules of concentration: Marketing Module, Conversion Module, Closing Module, and Past Client Module.
Once you consider that these modules are the time managed blocks that produce the outcome of a happy client, only then will you be able to organize the tactics that will properly consume your time. Therefore, for each module, there must be clear, tactical plans that should be put in place in order to effectively manage time.
You must memorialize your tactical plans in your CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) in order to ensure that your time to execute these actions is clearly blocked. For example, when are you actually going to manage your time to make lead, prospect, and client calls?
Once you get into a rhythm of completing task plans within allotted time frames, it's important to measure your results against the plan. You should constantly measure your results to check if your managed time plan is working in order to make refinements along the way to ensure that you reach your financial goal.
P.S. If you feel like you're getting nowhere, ask me questions, post comments, and I will help you make those "guided missile" adjustments so that your time management plan is always on track.
