Being an independent contractor with the flexibility to work when you want to is often the greatest thing about a career in real estate, but it is often the biggest problem for agents to master. The other issue with our time is how many other people want to control it.
As an agent we can be on 24/7/365 and always willing to drop everything to get that next sale. Unfortunately, many agents are quick to drop everything when it is not necessary to get the next sale. Most people in the world are busy and have schedules that somewhat control their lives - whether set by themselves or by someone else like a boss or spouse, or both! People understand that you have other commitments in your business and life besides just them as long as you set the expectation and know that you will be there when they really need you to come through.
A simple statement like, "I have several clients and other commitments right now on my calendar, but I will make sure we get more than enough time to get you that dream home. I may not be able to answer the call every time as I might be working with someone and I am sure you wouldn't want me to take a call while I am working with you - would you? I promise I will get back to you as quickly as possible and in enough time to make sure that we are able to do what we need to do to get that house!"
Failure to protect your schedule will result in being overwhelmed and out of control so much that you will eventually burn out and not be able to be a successful real estate agent. You must protect and control your schedule to ensure that you are as successful as possible. So, now that you know that you need to protect your schedule - let's look at putting one together...
One of the best ways to manage your schedule is to block out time into recurring blocks so as to make sure you spend enough time doing what you need to do and not too much time doing the activities that aren't productive - but necessary.
Most people find it most effective to have a weekly block schedule to follow. This allows us to have enough routine to find consistency, but not sheer monotony of doing exactly the same thing each day.
One of the key elements to a successful block schedule is allowing for gaps between blocks so as to provide the necessary flexibility to keep you on track. Life happens and sometimes we get into an activity and unless we are Pavlov's dog and set a bell for the end of each block - we are going to run over sometimes. The companion to gaps is the duration of your blocks. There is no rule that says you cannot do the same activity for multiple blocks, but generally - each block should be only one activity. So they need to be long enough to actually be able to accomplish something, but not so long that you can't accomplish multiple things in a day.
I believe the ideal block schedule has 45 minute blocks of activity with 15 minute gaps between each. This 45 minute block should be long enough to not just get started on an activity, but also to actually get it done. For longer activities like prospecting, two 45 minute blocks is a nice amount of time to get a lot done without getting burned out on it. On that note, I don't think you should ever string more than two blocks together without a gap or your mind and body won't get the break it needs to stay at peak performance.
The key to your block schedule really working is preparation. If you schedule a 45 minute block for prospecting and you spend the first 20 minutes pulling the numbers out of your database to call - that is NOT EFFECTIVE! Your blocks need to include not only productive activities, but the non-productive preparation activities you need to be most effective when you are actually trying to be productive:)
Schedule vs. Calendar
One big point of clarification that most agents need is to understand the difference between their schedule and their calendar. In school you had a class schedule that dictated when you were supposed to be where - but is that a schedule or a calendar? If you chose to follow it and be in class when you were supposed to be, then those blocks became events on your calendar. If you had something come up that kept you from attending class, then that new activity is your calendar event and the class was just your unfulfilled schedule.
Real estate is not much different, except it is easier to move schedule blocks around your calendar than say your Calculus 101 class... Your schedule should be your guide for your calendar. The closer the two resemble each other, the more consistent you are with business and the more successful you will be!
Now for the exercise for the week -
A) Track your current blocks - take whatever calendar system you use (electronic or paper) and write down everything that you do each day for the next week. Keep good record of time spent and exactly what you are doing during each time.
B) Once you have your block schedule laid out, spend a week trying to fit that schedule 100% of the time. Ding - it's time to move to the next activity!
C) adjust your block schedule to as realistic and attainable a schedule as possible.
Priority is crucial in understanding how to make adjustments to your schedule based on events in your calendar. Activities like prospecting have to be rescheduled into the calendar if they don't happen per your block schedule because they are business critical. Things like appointments don't have to be rescheduled if they never made it to your calendar - in fact, you should fill in an appointment block with more prospecting activities so you can fill those blocks later in the week.
So what all activities need to be on the block schedule (in no particular order and by no means all inclusive):
- Prospect
- Appointments
- Follow-up
- Admin Work
- Eat
- Training
- Marketing
- Personal Time
- Research
- Property Previews (we talk extensively about this one in the video!)
- Return Emails
- Return Voicemails
Click to enlarge the board from our session
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