I’ll begin by saying that I am absolutely guilty of confusing activity with accomplishment. I initially heard this expression from one of my mentors in Chicago, back in 2006. I had to provide a time log for his review on a weekly basis and he would always chide me about making this mistake. He would constantly tell me that ACTIVITY DOES NOT EQUAL ACCOMPLISHMENT.
It wasn’t until the beginning of 2008 (my first full year as a full-time Realtor) that this expression really hit home with me. I still struggle with it, far more than I should but I have put together a list of tasks that many of us agents (myself included) deem to be “work” but are actually only meaningless activities.
1) Checking email
2) Organizing your desk and/or de-cluttering your office
3) Organizing your contact database
4) Setting up your voicemail greeting
5) ANY type of organizing and filing
6) Social networking for more than 30 minutes a day. (I know I will take some heat on this one, but I TRULY believe that social networking can be mastered in 30 minutes per day max, especially for those of us like myself that are just entering the arena. For those more established social networkers that are generating daily leads from social networking, this may not apply)
7) Changing the background on your email, blog posts or any other website
Updating your email signature
9) Writing blog posts without a specific marketing strategy or purpose behind it
10) Writing goals for next year (OF COURSE you should write down your goals – but this is not a one time process that requires weeks to complete. Goals should CONSTANTLY be reviewed, tweaked and updated as often as necessary).
11) Calling technical support for your home phone, cell phone, laptop or desktop
12) Updating your real estate documents by changing the layout, color scheme, font, etc
13) Going to the post office
14) Buying office supplies – filing trays, pens, pencils, rulers, sticky pads, memo pads
15) Responding to emails and text messages
16) Buying accessories for your laptop, cell phone, etc
17) Buying a new cell phone, laptop or any other electronic device
18) Creating flyers, business cards, brochures and/or postcards
19) Writing your resume
20) Attending networking events but actually only socializing with friends and acquaintances
21) ??? (Fill in the blank with any other activity that is often misconstrued as work, but which contributes nothing to the bottom line)
I don’t know about you all, but my goal starting RIGHT NOW is to get as much of the above list done in my DOWN TIME. Much of this list can be completed while watching TV or after business hours. Virtually none of it is life or death, yet we all so easily allow ourselves to be run absolutely ragged by these activities.
Yes, I know that responding to emails, texts and phone calls FROM CLIENTS in a timely manner is critical. But, how many of us are taking the time to reply to EVERY TEXT, EMAIL OR PHONE CALL right when it occurs – even those we KNOW are NOT important.
Our jobs are really simple and can actually be broken down as follows:
1) PROSPECTING to a specific, targeted audience on a daily basis
2) Listing presentations
3) Showing appointments with pre-approved buyers
4) Accommodating showing requests for listings
5) Writing contracts and/or submitting contracts for acceptance
6) Any side work such as BPO’s, Loss Mitigation Assignments etc.
Sounds easy in theory but, of course, this is much more difficult in practice. How much more time would we have on our hands if we designated the items from the list above to non-business hours???
Danielle N. Pierce
Your Short Sale Problem Solver
(c) 773.551.4769
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