For most real estate professionals, time management is an arduous task. From lead generation to prospecting to following up with clients and attending home functions, these activities can be overwhelming if you don’t set a specific schedule for each.
Not only this, but there are tons of other elements that can be time-consuming, including marketing yourself online, blogging, managing social media accounts, and the list goes on.
Whether you are a new or seasoned realtor, time blocking for real estate agents is a must-have skill. However, time management is not an easy skill to master, as it takes months of practice and trial-and-error to get it right.
To help you out with this process, we have compiled a detailed article that will give you some insight into time blocking and how to use it in your real estate career to increase productivity.
What is Time Blocking?
Time blocking is a strategy used by many successful people to maximize their efficiency. This method consists of allocating specific days and hours for each task you need to complete, allowing you to precisely determine how much time you will spend on each job.
For example, if you are a realtor, you may want to block out Mondays for blogging and marketing purposes. Tuesdays may be dedicated to networking with potential clients or attending home shows. Wednesdays could be focused on prospecting via cold-calling.
Thursdays can be reserved for follow-up calls with your leads after the initial meeting. Fridays might be spent answering any questions that your clients have about the buying process. You get the gist, now let’s dive into more detail as to how time blocking works.
How to Time Block?
Now that you know what time blocking is, the next logical question is, “How do I implement this awesome idea in my real estate career?” Well, there are several steps involved, so pay attention!
Step 1: Analyze Your Time
Before you can start time blocking, you first need to take an honest look at how your time is being spent. Grab a pen and piece of paper and write down everything you have been doing in one week.
Start by noting your daily tasks such as making sales calls, showing properties, following up with expired listings, etc.
Once that’s done, add in anything else that may be relevant such as attending networking events or going out for dinner with clients. Make sure that you list every single activity that eats into your day so that there are no time-wasters left out.
Once you’ve finished writing down all of your activities, it’s time to go over them with a fine-toothed comb. You must identify which of your tasks are the most productive and which ones end up cutting into your day.
For example, if you spent two hours on social media, but this did not result in any new leads or sales, then perhaps it would be best to cut out or reduce some of these activities.
Step 2: Schedule Your Activities
Now that you know where you are spending your time, it’s time to start scheduling everything to ensure that every minute of the day is productive. If your daily activities are listed down on a piece of paper, try connecting them with other items to form one continuous activity.
For example, if you said that answering customers’ questions about real estate was part of your daily activities, schedule this before or after the sales calls.
This way, whenever someone asks you any property-related queries, you can quickly refer them to the information sheet without disrupting your current task.
Step 3: Implement Time Blocking
Once you have analyzed and scheduled all of your tasks for the week, it should not be too hard to start time blocking. Rather than starting with an entire week, you may want to start small by doing it for a day or two.
Once you are confident in your ability to manage your time, slowly increase the number of days dedicated to this strategy until you can finally do it on a full-time basis.
If you find yourself struggling at any point during the week, don’t be afraid to go back and look at your schedule and analyze where there were holes to better prepare for next time.
Step 4: Evaluate Your Schedule
After several weeks of using the complete guide on the real estate time blocking system, you need to take a step back and reassess how effective it has been thus far. During this time, go over your schedule to see any improvements you can make.
For example, have specific tasks been taking up too much of your time? If so, this would be the perfect opportunity to reassign or delegate some of these responsibilities to other members of your team.
On another note, has the number of new prospects increased since you implemented this strategy? While it is important to prioritize existing clients and customers, it doesn’t hurt to devote a great deal of attention to attracting new business. This way, everyone wins.
The above real estate time blocking template is so simple and easy to follow. If you do it the right way and with consistency, it could be beneficial to your career.
Tips on Time Blocking for Realtors
Now that you know how to time block, it’s essential to understand a few key points to ensure that your schedule runs as smoothly as possible.
Don’t make multiple plans at the same time
One of the worst mistakes people make when blocking time is fitting too many activities into one day. It may be tempting to try and juggle all of your projects and prospects, but doing this could backfire on you big time!
First off, if you are committing to more than one event or meeting in a single day, then chances are that not all of them will run as planned.
For example, if you have an appointment with a new client at 11:00 AM and another appointment with someone else at 2:00 PM, try your best to arrive ten minutes early for the first meeting and then end the second one a few minutes before time.
This will ensure that you can properly focus on each prospect without wasting too much time making back-and-forth trips.
Prioritize
You should not try and do everything in a single day as this would be an impossible feat, even for Superman!
With that being said, it is still important to prioritize what needs to get done first before tackling those which can wait until later.
Whether it’s lining up appointments with new prospects or catching up on all of those emails from your co-agents, make sure that everything gets done in order of importance, so there won’t be any awkward situations where you have to reschedule something urgently.
Be Flexible
One of the best things about time blocking is that it allows you to be flexible and adapt your schedule whenever necessary. For example, if a meeting runs longer than expected, this would give you enough time to complete other tasks without feeling pressed for time.
On the contrary, if some prospects contact you out-of-the-blue and ask for an impromptu appointment, then it can allow you to rearrange your schedule to accommodate them quickly.
Integrate personal goals and tasks
If you are time blocking to improve your professional life, there is no harm in integrating some personal goals into this system.
For example, if you have a goal of working out five days per week, try slotting it in before or after work to not interfere with any other activities on your schedule.
Aside from physical activity, you can also use this method to learn a new skill by taking up evening classes at your local community college or spending quality time with family members during the weekends.
Get support from your real estate team
As you can see, time blocking is a powerful system that can help you become more productive and successful. However, to get the most out of this strategy, you must also bring your real estate team on board.
One way to do this is by having an open conversation with them to explain how it works and why they need to support your efforts 100% when it comes to following through on tasks and appointments.
For example, if you don’t show up for an appointment, this can reflect badly on them, so try and establish some ground rules to ensure that everyone will act professionally.
Benefits of Real Estate Time Blocking
There are many benefits to using time blocking, such as:
- Helping you gain a structured and organized approach
- Increasing your customer service by helping you work more productively
- Muting distractions and focusing on crucial tasks at hand
- Helping you manage your time more carefully instead of wasting it on unnecessary activities
- Making sure you can get things done on schedule without feeling rushed
- Helping you get more work done during the day instead of feeling exhausted at night
- Allowing you to prioritize tasks by order of importance, so nothing gets pushed back or forgotten about
The Most Important Thing To Remember About Time Blocking:
As you can see, there are many benefits to using time blocking, but ultimately, your ability to use this system will depend on one key factor that needs to be emphasized. It all comes down to consistency.
In other words, whether you are looking for new prospects or attending meetings with current clients, try and block out some time each week to maintain a structured routine.
By doing so, you will find it easier to stay focused and productive, which will enable you to accomplish more in a shorter period.
Realtor Time Blocking Tools & Resources
There are many time blocking apps and tools you can use to schedule appointments, manage your team, etc. Here are some of the most popular ones:
Google Calendar
One of the best things about using Google Calendar is that it is free to use. Simply by opening an account with this platform, you will quickly draft up a plan for each day by inputting essential tasks into specific slots.
Also, you can set recurring events to make sure everything gets done on time without any problems whatsoever. Other features include the ability to create sub-calendars for multiple projects or clients, as well as sharing calendars with other members of your real estate team.
Schedule Once
If you are looking for more advanced options that will allow you to manage your time more efficiently, you may want to consider using Schedule Once. This premium platform offers many different tools and features for professionals such as real estate agents.
It also provides the ability to add in-app payments to help generate additional revenue from clients, which can come in handy if you need to cover monthly costs.
Asana
If you would prefer a more collaborative approach to managing your time, then Asana might be the right platform for you.
It is free to use and offers a wide range of tools to help real estate agents stay on track with their daily tasks. This includes the ability to create specific projects, assign tasks and subtasks, and upload files, notes, etc.
TimeCamp
Another great option for those who are looking for something practical and affordable is TimeCamp. You can try this tool for free by creating an account that will allow you to monitor how much time each task takes quickly.
You can also view reports from past weeks/months/years to spot any potential problems that may have occurred over time.
Remember, your ability to be more productive throughout the day will depend on more than just the tools you use. It also comes down to how much effort you are willing to put in to block out time each week for specific tasks, meetings, etc.
If you feel rushed or overwhelmed during particular periods of the day, take a step back and review your schedule by looking at what you have already done and what still needs to be accomplished to avoid any serious problems down the road.
Bottom Line
As you can see, time blocking is a handy tool that all real estate agents should consider using. You will find it easier to prioritize what needs to be done before jumping from one thing to another by blocking out key periods of the day for specific tasks.
Also, by sticking to a daily routine with this system, you will avoid feeling rushed, which will give your brain time to prepare itself for each new task ahead of time. In other words, it gives both your mind and body a chance to adjust accordingly to complete any given task effectively and efficiently throughout the day.
