When the summer rush starts, busy season doesn’t have to stress you out.
By planning ahead, automating manual tasks, and finding affordable help, you can keep your real estate business growing during busy season and enjoy a bit of “me time”. We talked to numerous agents and real estate professionals to find out their best workflow and productivity secrets. Here 5 of the best.
5. Hire a Real Estate Virtual Assistant
Real estate virtual assistants are a life saver, and they don’t have to cost an arm and a leg. In fact, a good real estate assistant acts as a third arm for your business as they keep day-to-day tasks in motion while you focus on the big picture.
You can find fantastic help by looking locally, or outsourcing overseas through companies like Safi Virtual. Companies like Safi focus heavily on the real estate industry so their assistants have training in place. That lets your VA hit the ground running with client leads and support, title insurance, escrow and closing paperwork. Not to mention they can update listings in the MLS, Zillow and Redfin.
If you’ve been on the fence or are already looking for an assistant, we’ve put this guide together for you with interview questions to ask your real estate virtual assistant to help you find the perfect match for your business and needs.
4. Streamline Printed Materials
By knowing who and where to send printed materials including postcards for open houses, signage that gets hung, and one-sheeters that buyers take with them; you can save time by having your designer or VA send to the printer, and your credit card on file. Many printing companies will be able to print and send mail on demand vs. you having to upload your lists and send specs each time.
Try using an outsourcing marketplace like UpWork to find a designer if you don’t have a local one, and use a print and mailing service you trust like PSPrint, PostcardBuilder, or any of the others. We don’t have a personal favorite, just sharing some options with you.
3. Create Time Blocks & Break Times
Nobody can run a successful business when everything runs without a schedule, and no person can run 24/7 permanently. Set up time blocks on your day to complete required tasks, and also include breaks for food, decompressing, and other relaxation moments. You have time to take care of yourself. Even the busiest of us do. We tend to make excuses for why we won’t do it, vs. why we need to.
Those 15 minutes of downtime may help you focus and accomplish more for the remainder of the day. And once you get in the habit of taking a break, it becomes easier and easier to keep consistent.
2. Automate Your Follow Up Emails
Many of us get intimidated by technology, especially when it comes to databases and code. Good news, there are tools like Drip, Klaviyo and SailThru that allow you to create automated email follow ups.
You can set the email flows to automatically send a different email depending on whether or not the buyer lead has converted into a client, and same with an open property that has not sold.
Pro-tip: Have an automated email go out one year after your client closes to see how their new home is. This is a great way to stay in front of them and get a referral.
Another example of an email flow could be someone that wants to sell their home. You can start with your deck and case studies, and you can also feed in examples of homes you sold above market value, depending on the answers they gave on your form.
If they said they have a 3 bedroom home with a pool and in a specific zip code, you can pull a recent example of a similar home in their area with a client testimonial. Then if the person doesn’t hire you, the system can automate sending a couple more follow ups over the next days or weeks with more examples to further show why you’re the right agent to sell their house. Then once they convert into a client, have the system automatically opt them out so you don’t annoy them.
This automation is easier than it sounds, and it works for you around the clock so you can focus on clients, not following up with leads.
1. Templatize the Documents You Are Tired of Creating
If you have documents that are the same, but need done for each client, templatize them. In many cases you can set up dynamic inserts to include specific paragraphs or pages into a PDF. Once templatized, you’ll only have to type in the client’s name and property information. If everything else is the same, just copy and paste or select to insert the content if you have an automated system.
By using these templates you can save yourself time, and not have to do tasks that are simple but feel like a burden.
And that is how you can automate your workflow for productivity during busy season and beyond. If you have a favorite tip, share it in the comments below.
