If you’re a Realtor, time blocking is essential. (Arguably, it’s essential for most professional businesses.) Today, we are going to show you one of the keys to success in the real estate industry, and it’s simpler than you may think. Success follows clues, so let’s look at how the top producers use their calendar and time block.
Spring and summer are the “harvest season” for real estate. This is the crazy, busy time of year where many Realtors are losing their mind a little bit. You may find that you have so much business that you have no time to do anything but juggle your existing clients through showings, contracts, and closings.
This harvest season period causes many Realtors to “shut down” their marketing department. They aren’t actively generating new business anymore. They can only manage to keep their head above water with the clients they have right now. This is a critical error.
How can you prevent this issue? Don’t focus 100% of your time on customer service. As a Realtor, time blocking will save you from this. You must make the time to continuously generate business. Yes, even when you are busy during the harvest season. This is what separates the top producers from the wannabes.
Realtor time blocking will help you get off the intense real estate roller coaster. Going from dry periods where you have no business to intense seasons where you can barely handle the amount of business you have is just frankly unhealthy.
There is no balance in this lifestyle! “Well, real estate is seasonal. This is just the way it is.” This is not the mentality of a top producer. If you can find a way to time block to ensure that you always have time dedicated to pipelining future business, you won’t suffer these crazy highs and lows.
Implementing time management and tracking systems will get you off the real estate roller coaster. Realtor time blocking can get you moving in the right direction.
Like any business, you have a customer service department and a marketing department. The customer service department services existing clients and the marketing department generates new clients.
If your marketing department is “shut down,” you are not performing business generating activities. Business generation activities need to be your focus!
Realtor time blocking will ensure that your focus is on the right activities.
At ICC, we advise a minimum of two hours a day devoted to business generating activities. That’s a total of 10 hours per week. As a Realtor, time blocking for these activities is best done in the morning, before you begin to service your existing clients.
You might be thinking, “I don’t have time each morning for that! I’m so busy!” Let’s say you’re a normal person with a 40-hour workweek. Dedicate 25% of your weekly hours toward your goals. The other 75% will be devoted to customer service.
Can you imagine any other successful business that dedicates 75% of their time to customer service and only 25% to sales? There aren’t many. Most successful businesses dedicate far more of their time to generating more sales. All I’m asking for is 25% of your time. Very few Realtors understand this. Very few Realtors know that time blocking a mere 25% of their time to lead generation will make all the difference.
Successful, top-producing real estate agents know they can’t do it on their own. They are self aware that they need accountability to stick to their calendar. That’s why a lot of Realtors quit and opt for the standard 9-5 job. They need guidance and accountability.
Top producers get a coach. They hire administrative support. And, they know how important time blocking is for Realtors. They live and die by their time-blocked schedule.
Curious about what a day in the life of a top-producing Realtor looks like? Today we are giving you a FREE download of our Daily Schedule for Realtors. You’ll see that it looks simple. It’s true — anyone can time block! The key is sticking to it. Make the time and keep the time. Then, you’ll see the results.
Here’s a huge Realtor time blocking tip. Your lead generation activities (for your marketing department) need to happen in the morning. Here’s why.
Your calendar is not just for appointments with other people! It’s also for appointments with yourself! This is absolutely key to successful Realtor time blocking. Protect your important activities. These are the three things you must protect on your daily schedule through time blocking.
Here’s another huge tip. Get rid of your to-do lists. They will let you down, time and time again. Take your lists and put them into your calendar. Assign a time to each list item, and they are more likely to happen. This is Realtor time blocking 101. You must make these appointments with yourself.
Fiercely protect your time. Honor your time blocks.
Remember the rule of balance and counterbalance. You’ll have busy weeks where you need to burn the midnight oil. You might miss out on a few family commitments. Just make sure you counterbalance and take the next weekend off. Plan a getaway with your family.
Just as you will have busy weeks now and then, you will have crazy days. Emergencies will come up. Your kid will be home sick from school so you can’t do your lead generation activities for the day. You can “erase and replace” by moving those lead generation hours to next week.
That might mean that next Tuesday, you do four hours of lead generation in the morning instead of your usual two. This ensures that no lead generation time is sacrificed, and your time at home with your sick child isn’t negatively affecting your business. You should never feel that you have to sacrifice one thing for another. Simply erase and replace.
