Do you find the day slipping away? Only just finished one appraisal when your phone pings and your boss needs something urgently, and you’re back in the office? Do you spend so much time chasing your tail your using your own weekends to catch up on admin? Stop!
Here are 4 ways that you can take back control.
1. Utilise technology
Automation, cloud-based tools, and other technologies can make it easier to perform tedious tasks quickly and efficiently, freeing up more time for estate agents. There are so many powerful options – we recommend looking at the partners recommended by Kerfuffle if you want a great bit of software that slots into your CRM or your agency as a whole. When it comes to what you have on your day to day, you may wish to consider:
Apps that can notify you of changes to your pipeline. The Acaboom app alerts you when a prospect is reading their proposal, when they e-Sign their agreement, or when you have an upcoming market appraisal.
Apps that connect to your calendar. Looking ahead at the week and day is critical, so search for the best diary function around.
Apps that can track your time. Some apps allow you to log activities for your own personal awareness of where time is going. This can help when you speak to a manager and discuss your time management, and it can also help bring clarity to any pockets of time you may have going spare.
Toggl, Rescue Time and Forest are some great apps for productivity and time tracking.
2. Set a schedule
Estate agents should set aside specific times during the day to take care of different tasks and stick to that schedule. This is easier said than done, but one way to ensure this can happen is to batch prepare. Many of our latest integrations focus on ways to pre-prepare a presentation and property/market research before the appraisal, taking the ‘confirmation’ as the starting point. Acaboom allows you to get this work out of the way and ready to go, so on the day, you have everything to hand – no more printing before appointments! We even provide a Google Map link.
This can also be called time chunking. It’s a way of taking multiple tasks and grouping them so that you don’t need to start from scratch with each one.
3. Outsource
Estate agents can save time by outsourcing tasks they don’t need to do themselves.
We know – we sound like we are living in a dreamland! Where are these admin assistants going to appear from? Again, technology is your friend. There is an app called ‘Automate.io’, which allows you to create automation scripts that can run in the background and help with admin tasks, leaving you free to focus. For example, the ‘Away Auto Reply’ Bot – can be set up to change your out-of-office message, reply to emails and update your calendar throughout the day.
There are other ways to outsource too – if you are still writing your blog, find someone else to support that area! Still, taking property photos? Find someone to take them off your hands. If you have taken the time to track time you will be able to see the time drains and overcome these with new ways of working.
4. Take breaks (or have a plan to cover for your tired brain)
Did you know that taking a few short breaks can actually make you more productive? Studies have shown that regular breaks improve concentration and creativity, help reduce stress and give your body rest. So many agents rush around – but each first impression matters. As your head fills up, you may fail to deliver an important USP on your agency. You might accidentally forget to send something. That’s why sharing a digital presentation with the client is so important. With Acaboom, you can have the confidence that all your key messages are delivered – with the added bonus of allowing the client to interact and engage with your videos and moving content so you are memorable – even after a long day!
What tips do you find work best to save you time?