The single biggest problem/challenge for agents is, hands down, time management.
Let’s face it, most agents got into real estate because they didn’t want to be tied down to a 9 to 5. They wanted freedom. They wanted to be able to come and go as they please.
So, that’s why if you’re reading this in your office on any given workday, you’re likely surrounded by less than half the agents who work there.
That’s why some agents come in a couple of days a week.
That’s why some agents “work” from home.
That’s why some agents never get into the office before 10:30am.
That’s why some agents leave at 3-3:30pm (and I’m not talking about the one’s who have to pick up their children from school).
That’s why some agents take a three hour lunch at 11:30, after they just took a 45 minute coffee break at 10:30.
That’s why some agents come in at a decent hour and screw around on the computer for 2-3 hours before they actually start to not make calls or door knock for new business.
And, consequently…
That’s why many agents take any call at any time and run out to show people property to unqualified buyers.
That’s why many agents will sit all day at an open house, on a dead end road that people actually have to try to find, on a rainy Saturday.
That’s why many agents will go on an unqualified listing appointment at 7pm and come back without the listing.
That’s why the average number of homes sold a year per agent in the U. S. consistently hovers around four.
And, that quite possibly could be why you, the reader, may not have the listings, pendings, closings and money you really want.
Being able to manage your time is the single biggest key to your success.
The simplest way to manage your time is to create habits, routines and schedule. Start to go to bed at the same time every night. Get up at the same time every morning.
If creating a schedule is taboo for you at this point (we’ll work on that later), then create a to-do list. However, the key to managing your to-do list is to make it “time” oriented, and NOT “task” oriented.
Time oriented means you assign time limits to the tasks at hand rather than just work on the task until it’s done. I know it sounds like I just told you not to finish your tasks, however it’s been proven that human beings will stretch out their tasks to the time allotted.
For example, let’s say you have 5 real important tasks to do today, that if you really got down to it you could probably get done in 2.5 hours of consistent work. If you don’t limit yourself to roughly 30 minutes per task, you’ll find that it will take all day to get the tasks done. All sorts of things will happen to ensure you don’t get your work done in a timely manner, some of it will be self-imposed.
However, when you give yourself a time limit, you will work diligently to get the tasks done.
Does that mean you’ll get all your work done in the time alloted every time? No. But you’ll get much more done, much faster, when you work in time increments, than if you simply go about doing your tasks with no thoughts of time at all.
I’ll go into more detail on tips for time management in the next post.
By Scott
Retrieve 28 November 2012 from http://www.yourethedifference.com/2009/04/the-single-biggest-problemchallenge-for-agents/
