Let’s face it. Real Estate has become a very “reactive” industry.
In Ninja, we often ask the question, “are you being On Purpose or On Accident?” when it comes to how you are showing up in your real estate business. What this really means is are you being proactive or reactive in your business? And, the demands of the modern-day real estate industry have made it even harder to be proactive. There is a constant barrage of phone calls, emails, text messages and pop-up notifications all vying for your time and attention, so what is a real estate professional to do?
Here are 6 tips and tactics to help you be more proactive (On Purpose) with your business.
- Proactively manage your email Inbox with an Auto Responder message to define response times.
Most people only think about using an Auto Responder message when they are out on vacation or will be away for an extended period, but Auto Responders can be used for much more. It is easy to turn your Auto Responder on and off and customize the message, so use this tool to its full potential. Nothing says you can’t turn it on for an hour or two in the mornings when you are focused on something else. The messages you use don’t have to be elaborate; they simply need to contain two key pieces of information:
- When you will be responding to email
- What to do if it’s an urgent matter requiring immediate attention.
For example:
Thank you for your message. My time this morning is committed until 11am. I will be reviewing email then and responding accordingly. If this is an urgent matter please text me at 815-555-1212.
If you want to take it one step further, you can also update the message to include the current date so that people know you are updating your Auto Responder message.
For example: Thank you for your message. Today is July 5th. My time this morning is committed until 11am. I will be reviewing email then and responding accordingly. If this is an urgent matter please text me at 815-555-1212.
- Proactively manage your phone calls with a voicemail message to define response times.
Very similar to the email Auto Responder this message allows you to let your calls go to voicemail without having to interrupt your proactive time by answering each one. You can even use nearly identical language to your email Auto Responder in your recorded message.
Your voicemail messages don’t have to be elaborate; they simply need to contain those same two key pieces of information:
- When you will be responding to voicemail messages.
- What to do if it’s an urgent matter requiring immediate attention.
For example: Thank you for your call. I am currently unable to take your call but I will be reviewing all voicemail messages by 4pm and will respond accordingly then. If this is an urgent matter please text me at 815-555-1212.
- Customize your email Inbox View to show high priority messages first
Depending on the email provider you use, you can often customize your email Inbox to show messages that are important to you first.
For example, Gmail allows you to customize your Inbox with up to five criteria that you establish and can change at any time.
You could use this feature to be sure emails from clients you don’t want to miss appear at the top of your Inbox and don’t get buried. This can allow you to glance at your Inbox and know if that important message came in without scrolling through all of your email.
- Hire help to screen and direct incoming calls, text messages and emails
It is important that you have the time and energy to focus on productive activities.
In this day and age, there are plenty of people looking for work-from-home opportunities and being your virtual assistant can be the perfect fit for them. They can screen calls, text messages and emails for you and you don’t have to hire them for 40 hours/week. Maybe you decide two or three mornings a week is perfect for you or maybe find a few people in your office that would be interested in splitting an assistant and see what you can put together. View the money spent on assistance for these tasks as an investment in your business.
- Proactively make calls to eliminate the calls requiring a reaction from you.
One part of the Ninja Weekly Routine is to schedule time each week to do all of your Customer Service Calls. By proactively calling all of your Under Contract Buyers, Sellers and Active Buyers each week you are keeping them informed and proactively answering their questions before they call you, thereby eliminating the need to be reactionary.
- Proactively schedule Reactive Time
Build time in your day that you can use to “react” to pressing matters. This could mean that you use 30 minutes before lunch and 30 minutes before leaving the office in the evening to respond to any pressing emails or phone calls. It could mean that you use the last 10 minutes of each hour for these tasks. The important thing is that you establish a cadence that works for you so that you have blocks of uninterrupted, focused time to be proactive and established times to be reactive.
It is not possible to eliminate all the reactive time from your real estate business. The goal is to maximize your proactive time and minimize your reactive time. These six tips can move you down the road to being an On Purpose professional.
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