Staying productive is a challenge when you have to work from home. Here are 3 best practices to employ when you’re working from home as a real estate agent.
So, how are you coping with working from home as a real estate agent? If you find yourself slipping into Katherine Hahn moments, take solace in the fact that you’re not alone.
Some people claim to be at “loose ends” while others are “stir crazy.” Even with a spouse and kids around, remaining at home, day after day, can take a toll on mental health.
It also takes a toll on the bottom line of small businesses, such as a real estate practice.
While there is lots of advice on how to remain sane while stuck at home, very little is being said about how to keep your business afloat and be prepared when we come out the other end of this thing.
Today, we’re meeting the challenge, with three tips on ways to stay busy. The bonus is, you’ll become more productive as well.
Clean up your database
When was the last time you took a deep dive into your CRM? Not just cleaning out duplicates, but really diving into each name it contains?
Working from home as a real estate agent gives you a great opportunity to clean up that pipeline.
Think how much more productive you’ll be when we get back to business if your CRM is cleaned up, the “bad” leads purged or attended to and the warm and hot ones contacted.
Since many of the people in your database are also staying home, there’s a good chance that you’ll reach them with a phone call. At least call your warm leads, check in to see how they’re coping and if there’s anything you can do to help.
If there is information for the lead that is missing from the database, try to get that while you’re on the phone with them.
As you go through each contact and the info included, pay attention to how you feel when you think of them. We’ve all had the stinker client – the time waster or otherwise hard-to-work-with real estate client.
Consider dumping those. We’re willing to bet you avoid following up with them anyway. Why torture yourself?
Rethink your social media strategy
The very first thing you should do is check your scheduled Facebook posts and ads.
Calls to action and other elements of an ad or post may have been ok pre-pandemic but are super insensitive now.
Check everything that’s scheduled for “A way-too-cheerful ad or call to action,” suggests TheAmericanGenius.com’s Jolene Jernigan. Remove anything that might be “insensitive or terribly offensive,” at this time.
Check your tone while you’re at it. “Right now might not be the best time to be snarky or sarcastic, while empathy, understanding and even certain types of humor may go a long way,” according to Twitter’s Alex Josephson (global head of Twitter Next) and Eimear Lambe, director of Twitter Next.
Quit it with the “Now is a great time to buy or sell!” It will not only most likely fall on deaf ears but it’s irritating as you-know-what when so many of your followers are unemployed.
Working from home as a real estate agent? Take a day or two to troll your SOI’s Twitter feeds and Facebook pages. Try to get an understanding of their world during the coronavirus pandemic. Are they working from home? Are they posting about trying to find ways to entertain their kids? What are their concerns right now?
Then, engage with them on social media. When you post, let your followers know how you’re helping the community, your clients, seniors, animals – whatever. If you aren’t doing anything to help, why not?
Even something as simple as blogging about the current mortgage situation, a step-by-step on how to approach their mortgage company if they can’t make their monthly payment, how to disinfect the home to prevent catching the virus would be of value.
Create systems
Have you ever made an inventory of every task that you perform in your business? Lead generation, CRM management, follow-up, open houses, listing presentations, showings.
That’s just a handful of what you do on a daily or weekly basis. Most of these tasks require a system if you hope to stop wasting time and become more productive.
Your system can be something as simple as breaking each task down into steps you need to take, how long each step should take, who carries out each step and how you’ll know when each is accomplished.
Put the system in writing and vow to follow it.
These are just a few ideas to help keep you on task when you’re working from home as a real estate agent. What are you doing to stay productive?
Stay healthy!
