Most people lack time management skills at one time or another, but as a small business owner it’s important to focus and keep yourself on track and as efficient as possible. Time management involves planning your day and assigning set times for the important tasks you need to complete each day of the week – this involves putting it on paper and tracking your progress either in your mobile device or a day planner, whatever works for you.

When you have a listing or buyer appointment, you make sure to block it out as a VERY important date in your day planner, right? Well, it’s also important to make time in your day to do the things that GENERATE those appointments. For example, from our Prospecting for Leads piece, we know that you can get a listing out of every 800 cold calls you make – so allot time to make those phone calls. Take 1 or 2 days to make those phone calls and every 2 weeks you can wind up with a listing. Yes, you are going to work to get that listing appointment, but the point is that you come up with numbers you KNOW will result in a listing or buyer agreement and then you block out time to do those activities.

Even real estate agents have slow times – maybe an open house is dead. Well, since you should be contacting people in your sphere of influence a minimum of once a month, use that slow time to write out thank you cards. You should always have a stack of cards and shipping materials on hand when you’re out and about, you never know when a slow moment will allow you to get some extra work done. In the same token, use your phone duty time at the office correctly also. Don’t write contracts and do paperwork on phone duty (unless they’re urgent) – use that time to contact your sphere!

Time management is often a weak spot in many people’s skill sets. You’re either a natural at it, or you’ve got to work hard to keep yourself on track. By sitting down each Sunday evening and writing a detailed schedule for the following week, you can more easily keep track of the activities you do and flow from one to another as efficiently as possible. This way you’re not floundering around for ten minutes at a time trying to figure out what to do next – with your schedule you’ll already know!

If you don’t always make your deadlines, it’s not the end of the world. But you still have to FINISH your tasks. So if you’re not done them by Friday evening, guess what you’ll be doing on Saturday?  That’s right, finishing up your work. If you stay focused and be strict with yourself, you can master time management and run your real estate business as efficiently as possible.