Let’s face it, there’s a lot to do — especially in real estate. There are 180-plus activities that a real estate agent does on a consistent basis. However, only a few of those things are actually revenue-generating activities.
Here are five tips to increase productivity and sales.
1. Concentrate on discipline and essentialism
It’s easy to get caught up in putting out fires and handling client requests. It really takes discipline to take time out of your calendar to focus on what’s important.
Gary Keller’s question from the bestselling book The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results is a great question to consistently ask to stay disciplined.
“What’s the one thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”
It’s amazing the clarity, focus and productivity that comes from focusing on one thing versus many.
There is also a great bestselling book called Essentialism: The disciplined pursuit of less by Greg McKeown.
McKeown believes you should focus on what’s essential, and you’ll see how all the little things you may have invested time or focus on in the past are not that important. They probably don’t even need to get done.
When you focus on doing less, you actually achieve more. Take time to identify the most essential tasks or “the one” task to win your day, and watch your productivity increase.
2. Delegate
What’s your hourly rate? If a company were to hire you as a consultant today, what would you ask for in an hourly consulting rate?
When you really know what your time is worth, you will start to treat it like it’s valuable.
There are probably several things you do on a dally basis that aren’t worth your true hourly rate.
Delegate those tasks to trusted staff or maybe even consider outsourcing through a virtual assistant company.
Delegation can be very difficult for some, but once you find great people to help, you will enjoy a better lifestyle and have a more successful business.
3. Use technology
One of my favorite technology tools is an auto dialer. It’s a great way to manage your leads, stay productive and absolutely crush the phone.
Once the system is dialed in, it’s plug-and-play. Instead of taking an hour to call 20 prospects or clients, it can take less than 15 minutes!
There are many other great technology tools out there as well. Use auto filters in Gmail to clean up the clutter from your inbox.
Use Unroll.Me to automatically unsubscribe your email from the emails you don’t want. There are many other great technology tools out there. Ask around, and use what you like.
4. Plan early
Take time before the start of each week to plan out every single day. Schedule out all of the personal and family things you need to accomplish, and then fill in your most important activities and time-block to complete your income-generating tasks.
Take a few minutes each night to plan out the next day. Believe it or not, when you have your to-do list completed the night before, your subconscious mind will actually start working and processing those tasks while you sleep.
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
5. Stay hyper-focused, and review your goals
It’s easy to lose focus, especially if we don’t start to see immediate results. Stay focused on your game plan, and watch your productivity increase.
It’s amazing how distractions and situations can divert us from our plan. Don’t let your emotions control the logic of any situation.
Know what you want, and stay focused on the plan to get you there.
Nick Najjar is the founder My Company Gifts. Follow Nick on Facebook or connect with him on LinkedIn.