Finally had time to sit down and continue on with this piece before I forget. Tend to forget things more easily as I age “gracefully”. Now for all of you thinking or trying to get into real estate this section is the make or break portion. It’s all about the hunt and creating a system that works for you. As you soon as you get that lead, systems should be in place and methodical, like a one way flow. With my past experience with Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma, you learn to fix broken processes by disassembling and reassembling production lines to make them more efficient with less scrap and downtime. This is no different. Time is money and being efficient with your clients will lead to great customer satisfaction and eventually more leads. So lets get down to building systems and then the hunt.
(Part II) – Systems
You’ve probably settled into the brokerage that best fits your style, is teaching you the ropes of real estate, and feeding some leads both good and bad. Understand your system and how to manage your time. Building good habits and eliminating bad habits is a must in order to be successful. If you have time, read “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. It’s a great read and talks about making and breaking habits.
Create your Schedule
- 6 am – 9 am: Wake up, make coffee, get wife/kids up, get kids ready for school.
- 9 am – 12pm: Grab a quick bite, head to the office, start calling/emailing clients
- 12pm – 3pm: Lunch or Break time. I like to multitask by scheduling client meetings during lunch. They’re hungry, I’m hungry. Why not eat and chat about real estate? Back to the office and pick up where you left off. Tie up any loose ends with emails/phone calls. Schedule listing/buyer appointments for the following day.
- 3pm – 5pm: Gym (Health is important) then pick up the kids from school
- 5pm – 9pm: (You) time or Family time. Time to decompress. Hang out with the family or with friends. Do anything to get your mind off of work. It’s crucial to make sure you decompress after a hard days work. You’ll burn out quickly in this business.
- 9pm – 6am – Kids to bed, More You Time (until 10pm), sleep, rinse, and repeat.
Time Blocking
As you can see from my schedule, my time is separated into blocks or chunks. If you listen/read/watch documentaries on CEO’s and how they made it big. Many speak about time, time blocking, and creating an everyday schedule. A lot of them focus on mental and physical health as well. A lot of new agents forget to prioritize and forget things like hitting the gym or decompressing. They’ll burn out quickly and flame out. Yes, I know the most important step is getting in front of clients, but you can’t see clients if you’re ill or in mood swings. You want to feel good/confident going into a client meeting. Always get in the mental/physical health time and you/family time in. Time block everything and do not let anyone change or add to it. If it’s a must, squeeze it into the lunch block, or on the way to the office. Time block on your calendar, let people know you’re away at these times. Have them schedule an appointment with you for a time that you’re free. Try not to deviate. To be honest, your weekends will be skewered and peppered with appointments, so take what you can with your you/family time during the weekdays.
Scheduling
You’re probably wondering, doesn’t scheduling fall under time blocking. The answer is no. As a real estate professional, most of your scheduling involves showings. In this case, most of it will be done on the weekends as most of your clients will have the weekends off from work. This will most likely be the only time they’ll have so make it worth while for you and your clients. As I stated before, time is money. In this case for showing homes, you’ll spend more money on gas and time. Every new agent makes the same mistake. That is showing one house per day. My suggestion on solving this problem is to show multiple homes in one day. Always ask your client a list of homes they want to see. I usually ask for about 5 homes that they like in the given area. I map it out the day before usually on a Thursday or Friday. This eliminates three problems for you: Gas, Time, and finding what they want in a faster time frame. By planning the route and hitting multiple homes, you’ve saved time and gas instead of making multiple trips throughout the week. The best thing about showing multiple houses in one sitting is that you can have your client view what they like/don’t like about each house. It gives you as well as your clients an idea of what they truly want. Have them also rank the houses from 1-5 from best to worst. With clients you need to hold their hand and help eliminate options for them. Not all houses are going to be perfect, there’s always that one thing that bothers them. Your job as a real estate professional is to make them realize it’s not the end all be all.
The Transaction Coordinator / Real Estate Assistant
This is for later down the road when you’re successful with your systems and clients in place. If you’re able to afford it, I’d consider a transaction coordinator to handle the contracts deadline portions and/or a Real Estate Assistant that can take inquiries and do showings for you. Some states require them to have their real estate license so please check with your state real estate rules and regulations regarding Real Estate assistants and the qualifications needed. Time is money and it’s great to have someone harness new leads, make appointments, and also maintain contract deadlines. I’ve worked with a few great TC’s and Assistants and they do make life easy while I focus on building rapport and contract negotiations. It just costs money.
Great! So far so good. Got through the systems part. Next part is “The Hunt”. Probably the most crucial piece in sales. Coming soon!
