7 Ways to Manage Your Time Better as a Real Estate Agent

If you live in an area that follows Daylight Savings Time, you’ve probably heard the expression “you gain an hour” when the time changes in the fall. Of course, that’s just an illusion. But wouldn’t it be nice if you could snap your fingers and get an extra hour or two whenever you need it!

Unfortunately, that’s impossible. However, you can feel less time-crunched and get more done if you implement just a few simple tips on time management for real estate agents. Here are some proven ideas:

1. Find and use a good real estate CRM. Make sure it’s designed for real estate agents and includes features that make it faster — and easier — to manage your contacts, leads, and active business. Especially when you’re on the road.
2. Automate your marketing. How much of your marketing are you managing and doing manually? How much time is that taking away from working with clients, selling and closing deals? By using an automated real estate marketing system, you not only save a lot of time, you also get more leads and referrals.
3. Use your tasks list and calendar. It may seem like an old-fashioned technique in time management for real estate agents, but keeping a daily to-do list and blocking out activities and appointments on your calendar, ensures important things get done, every day.
4. Leverage your peak energy times. Chances are, there are times of the day when you’re particularly productive. Whenever possible, schedule important tasks and appointments during those times. For example, if you tend to be energized Monday and Tuesday evenings, book listing appointments at those times.
5. Return calls and emails promptly. Contrary to popular advice, responding to calls and emails promptly actually saves you time. Why? Well, just think about the time required to deal with a customer or prospect who has become frustrated trying to reach you! That doesn’t mean you must be a slave to your smartphone. Just schedule several times in the day for cleaning up emails and messages.
6. Front-end your weekly schedule. Doing this makes time for unexpected opportunities that inevitably come up later in the week, such as a meeting with a new prospect. As time management expert and author Laura Vanderkam advises, “…schedule fewer things toward the end of the week, so there is space to absorb spillover from Monday when life happens.”
7. Think long term. Activities with long-term rewards, like geographic farming, often get sacrificed when a real estate agent is under a time-crunch. Don’t let that happen. Make sure activities that will build your business, short-term and long term, always take priority on your schedule.

Want more time on your hands this week? Try one of these techniques. See how it works for you. If it helps you get just one more important thing done this week, without having to work extra hours, it’s worth it.