Managing a real estate business takes time. Here are the 10 tools and systems you need in place boost your real Estate productivity and grow your business.

Until you’re in the field working to grow your real estate business, it’s hard to realize how much time and work go into building your new career. Maybe you’ve just completed your required hours to earn your real estate license - if that’s the case, you’ll quickly realize that the classes you just completed were the easy part of your new career choice. 

Managing a real estate business takes time and lots of it. You have to juggle meeting clients, showing homes, conducting open houses, and handling all the paperwork associated with closing a sale. 

That’s why it’s important to have productivity strategies in place to help you get the most out of your day. 

Below are ten tips for boosting real estate productivity and growing your business:

Knowing Your Most Productive Working Hours

Not everyone is productive at the same time of the day. Some agents are morning people, while others work best in the evening. That’s why you need to figure out when you’re most productive and use that time to do your most important tasks. 

By identifying your best hours, you’ll quickly see a boost in your business since you won’t be struggling to concentrate and get your to-do list completed.

The best way to find your most productive hours is by tracking your day. 

The bonus of knowing when you’re the most productive is connecting with clients who share the same schedule as you. You never know when being a night owl or an early bird will allow you to help someone who otherwise would struggle to connect with an agent.

Productivity Apps to Track Your Schedule

With a little assistance, it’s simple to figure out which hours are your most productive. Toggl is a great option because it integrates with many tools you’re already using. It also has the capacity to keep track of how much time you spend on tasks and produce reports so you may better optimize your workflow, and you can easily time-block your day thanks to its calendar functionality so you don’t overwhelm yourself.

Another great option is Calendar. If you feel like you’re always busy but not moving your business forward, this tool can help you see where you’re spending most of your time. You’re able to view analytics to see how much time you spend in meetings, in the office, and more, allowing you can re-adjust your time based on your goals. 

Create a Morning Routine and Stick to It

Starting your day off with a plan helps to ensure you’re productive from the get-go. 

Your routine can be as simple as checking email and voicemail, reading industry news, or mapping out your day. However you choose to start your morning, make sure it’s something that will help jumpstart your real estate productivity. 

If you have a set routine in place, it’ll be easier for you to stick to it when things get hectic during the day. This way, you won’t find yourself wasting time trying to figure out what you should do next –you’ll already know!

Take Breaks and Reward Yourself

It’s important not to overwork yourself. When you work nonstop all day long, not only are you physically and emotionally worn out, but you’re more likely to make mistakes. 

Your real estate productivity will take a hit if you don’t give yourself time to recharge throughout the day. Every couple of hours, get up from your desk and walk around for a few minutes or have lunch away from your office. The key is not thinking about work while taking these breaks so they truly are breaks. You want them to be refreshing so that when you get back on task, it’s with energy and focus.  

It’s also important to reward yourself at the end of each day for getting things done! Whether it’s treating yourself to dinner or allowing yourself to relax and watch TV – whatever makes you feel good – do it because you deserve it after a productive day.

Don’t Be Afraid to Set Boundaries

When you’re self-employed, it can be difficult to say no to requests. You may feel like you need to take on every task that comes your way. However, this isn’t healthy and will only lead to burnout. 

Learning how (and when) to set boundaries is key for real estate agents who want to stay productive without overworking themselves. 

The best way to set boundaries is by being upfront with your clients. Let them know when you stop answering phone calls, texts, or emails to allow yourself time to relax at night and put your personal life on the calendar first. If someone wants to meet with you during your child’s softball game, politely let them know you’re unavailable and provide them with times you are available.

By setting boundaries, you’re ensuring your clients are taken care of, and you don’t push yourself to the point of burnout.

Prioritize and Delegate Tasks

As a real estate agent, it’s important to know when to delegate tasks. You can’t do everything on your own, nor should you try to! 

When you prioritize the tasks at hand, you’ll be able to better manage your time and delegate accordingly. 

There are lots of freelancers available - whether you’re looking to outsource your real estate marketing or to hire a virtual assistant. By hiring a freelancer, you can pay as you need the assistance instead of hiring a full-time employee, which can be a benefit to your bottom line.

Productivity Apps to Assist with Delegation

With so many people working from home nowadays, there are many different tools out there that can help with delegation such as Asana or Trello. These platforms allow for team collaboration so everyone is aware of what needs to get done and by when. This way, no task falls through the cracks and gets lost in your email inbox.

Invest in Tools to Automate Tasks

Whether it’s posting to social media or scheduling a listing appointment, there’s a lot of scheduling that takes place in the industry. This is where real estate productivity tools come in handy. 

With automation tools and real estate productivity apps, you don’t have to be at your computer all day long to get the job done. You can schedule things out in advance so that they post automatically throughout the day without having to stop what you’re doing each time. You can use a real estate CRM to streamline your real estate marketing efforts, such as email marketing and sending out postcards, or even powering your personal website and advertisements. 

Since you’ll know when you’re best working hours are, and time blocked your calendar, instead of wasting time going back and forth in an email to schedule a meeting, sign-up for a scheduling tool and share your calendar with clients, allowing them to easily select a date and time that works for both of you.

Scheduling Tools for Real Estate Agents

There are a lot of great apps that allow you to streamline your real estate business and allow you to stay focused during the day. Acuity and Calendly are perfect options to integrate your calendar and schedule meetings. When you affiliate with an online brokerage, such as Radius Agent, you get access to the highly-rated KVCore CRM to handle all your real estate marketing needs.

Have an End of Day Routine

Having a routine at the end of your working day is just as important as your morning routine. This is the time when you reflect on what you accomplished that day and what still needs to be done. 

As your wrap up your working day, now is the perfect time to plan out your to-do list for the next day in order of priority so you know exactly what you need to work on first. 

It’s also a good time to reflect on any tasks you may have delegated and make sure they were completed. This way, you’re able to stay on top of your real estate business and ensure everything is running smoothly.

Create Templates for Quick Replies

Responding to emails can be time-consuming, and while all clients are unique, many are going to have the same questions when it comes to buying and selling houses.

Instead of typing up the same response every time a client asks, “has the appraisal been scheduled”, set up an automated text or email template that allows you to quickly drop in the answer that corresponds to their transaction without having to type out an entire message.

This will save you time when working on other tasks, allowing you to focus and get more done throughout the day.

Set Up Email Rules and Filters

If there are certain real estate agents in town that you work closely with, set up a rule in your inbox so those messages go straight into their own folder instead of cluttering your inbox each morning. This way, they’ll be easier for reference and you can easily keep track of all the communication that’s been going on between the two of you.

You can also set up rules for emails that come in from real estate leads. This will help to automatically filter those messages into a folder where you can follow up with them later, rather than having them get lost in your inbox and forgotten about.

Schedule Time to Check Your Email

How often do you have a plan for the day, but then you receive an email that takes your attention away from what you’re working on? 

The best way to combat this is to schedule a couple of times in your day specifically for checking email. This can be first thing in the morning, after lunch, or at the end of the day. 

This will help you stay focused and not get sidetracked by emails that come in throughout the day.  While being responsive to clients is always a priority, having 24/7 access to you and interrupting your tasks means you haven’t set the proper boundaries for your success.  

Know Your Money Making Activities 

As a real estate agent, you don’t want to be spending time on tasks that are not going to make you any extra income. 

Instead of spending your time scrubbing data and cleaning up lists, delegate those kinds of real estate business tasks to someone else so you can focus on what really makes money for your real estate business.

Implementing Real Estate Productivity Strategies

Being productive as a real estate agent doesn’t mean working all the time - it means being efficient with your time so that you can get the most important tasks done without sacrificing your personal life or health. By setting boundaries, prioritizing your time, and using helpful tools and templates, you can be more productive while still maintaining a healthy work-life balance while also being able to manage client expectations.