By Kirk Shelton
Edited by John Fierst
In business, leverage is everything. From technology to time, each company big and small is constantly searching for ways to do what they do best, but in a more efficient way. Here’s an outline of the day for a typical real estate agent: (*often involves travel)
- Drive to the office *
- Make phone calls for business
- Follow up with leads/clients
- Check-in meeting with your team *
- Lunch with fellow agents or clients *
- Afternoon showings/listing appointments *
- Follow up on current deals/send docs to be signed
- Prepare for the next day in the office
- Drive home *
A big part of the day is working in your office, but 40-50% of your days usually involve leaving and having to go out to your car. While, you need to stretch your legs and take breaks every so often, there will be times when it just doesn’t make sense to get up and go anywhere. Enter March 2020 as the Coronavirus pandemic takes the world by storm and forces people to rethink how they operate day to day without getting infected. If you’re an essential service provider, that means that during the quarantine you may still be going to the office but will have to rethink all of your meetings and lunch outings. But if you are an entrepreneur sitting at home because your business was deemed “non-essential”, look at it as an opportunity to streamline your business. Once COVID-19 is safely behind us, it will have changed the way we do things moving forward. Here are some tips to streamline your business operations so that you are ahead of the curve.
Zoom Meetings: In the age of digital technology and social media, the argument for face-to-face interaction has not gone away yet. People still prefer a physical connection to service providers as they go through the steps of their lives tackling professional and personal challenges. With this technology, you allow yourself the flexibility to be engaged with your client or team, without the inconvenience of having to go to the meeting. Professionals all over the United States and across the world can connect via Zoom in a manner that is more professional than FaceTime, but costs a lot less in gas and mileage.
DocuSign: Many in business have a goal to not only meet with clients but also handle getting contracts and other legal documentation signed in a timely manner. You’re prepared with the paper and pen, only to realize that after they have signed this glorious document, you can’t read what they’ve written. Or even worse, they left a box blank. What do you do with this time-sensitive document? You upload your template to DocuSign and correct the mistake quickly and efficiently. This platform allows you to email a filled out template completely and then send it to your clients for a few clicks with their signature. Once it’s completed, DocuSign will notify you through email that it’s fully signed and will attach a PDF of the document for you to review or save. There’s even an app that notifies you when this has taken place, although I wouldn’t recommend using it over the desktop for the heavy lifting.
Photo by Matthew Guay on Unsplash
Trello: How do we keep track of leads coming in and going out efficiently? If there is a lead coming in that you need to focus on intensely, compared to someone who may not be ready to buy or sell until a while out, you need to know how to most effectively manage your time. As it relates to the composition of a real estate team, each role that is filled has a purpose that can be identified and utilized with this platform. If a client hasn’t been called but wants to see a property, tag a buyer’s agent so that they get notified. If a client has been receiving follow up calls and moves from a warm to hot lead, tag the listing specialist to schedule an appointment that same afternoon. If someone hasn’t received paperwork to extend an option period, tag the transaction coordinator so they know to send over paperwork before the option period expires. This keeps your business in sync as a whole, even if some of the boards you create are privately curated by 1-2 members. Let’s say you don’t sell real estate, but you have a product going through a supply chain before it’s ready to sell. Tag each member of your team as it moves through development, instead of pulling out a whiteboard at the next meeting. Trello is also a mobile-friendly app that allows you to seamlessly browse your boards and monitor your business with ease.
Matterport: A big part of the real estate business is carving out time to show new homes to prospective first time home buyers or investors. Once you see a home appear on the MLS (multiple listing service), if it matches your criteria, you may browse the home and wonder if you can see it in person. Pending your realtor’s schedule, you may be able to see it at the start of the week or the middle of the week. But what if there was a way for you to tour the home from your computer? Matterport offers a virtual perspective for visitors looking to take a personal tour of a space, but want to do it online. Not only can you see everything from the general layout of the floor plan to the stairs in between each level, but you can share a link to this online map with other decision-makers as well. From a listing agent’s perspective, you will have more leverage on your time if you hire a personal assistant and buy yourself a Matterport camera. That way, after the entire home is scanned, they can upload the data onto your Matterport account, then you can share the link on the MLS. It’s not cheap, but it’ll free up your time to focus on other aspects of the business like lead generation.
Hopefully these tips on technology will help you come out the other end of the pandemic as a stronger and more efficient businessperson!
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