Battle-tested Time Management Systems for Commercial Real Estate Agents

In commercial real estate agencies today, it is a fact that your time is the only resource that you can carefully manage and control as an agent. Everything else is more difficult. When you have controlled your time to a program and a process, you can get far better results with listings, clients, and commissions.

This then says you need several systems within your agency and personally to integrate into your day plan and diary process. Build your system and processes as an agent specialising in a property type and a client base. In those two focus channels, you will find your new business as a real estate agent.

Time Management Results for Agents

Here are some rules to help the process and allow you to consolidate further results in your commercial real estate career:

1: Meetings and Your Diary Day

Meetings in a commercial real estate agency can take up much of your time. Generally speaking, no meeting has to be longer than one hour. It is simply a matter of keeping people organised and focused on the tasks at hand. 

The same can be said of the weekly sales meeting with the team. Could you keep it to one hour? Start the meeting early so the team can get back into the marketplace and continue prospecting.

2: Agent Habits Matter

It is a fact that the habits that you have developed over the years are the habits that are shaping your results today. If you haven’t got enough clients, listings, or commissions, take a serious look at your daily habits as they apply to build market share and prospecting.

You may need to modify your processes and time management systems. Develop new habits, most notably those that can help you gain a bigger and better market share. Use your time daily to create conversations with new people and those you already know. Those conversations will take you closer to a property lead or transaction.

3: Creating Priorities as an Agent

Prioritise the things (1,2,3) that need to be done so that the high-priority items are completed daily. Second—and third-level priorities can wait until time permits. Always complete item 1 issues every day.

Expect that your time will be pressured each day, as things will happen that you do not expect, and yet you will need to respond to those things. What are the most essential things that can impact your real estate business and career? When you answer that question honestly, you will know what you should do as part of actioning your diary of activities.

4: Pareto Principle in Real Estate

Generally, 80% of our business will come from 20 to 25% of our day and activities. The formula is driven by the ‘Pareto principle’ and is well-known in business circles worldwide. What, then, is the most critical 25% of your day, and what should you do with it? The answer is usually ‘talking to people’. Conversations create leads and opportunities. How many conversations are you making each day?

If you can spend 20 to 25% of your day entirely focused on the tasks that matter, your market share will start to lift, and sales and leasing results will begin to occur. The trick is to get the 25% right.

5: Using Your Circadian Cycle for Results

The Circadian Cycle is a proven fact of human physiology and psychology that indicates we are more inclined to perform at the top of the class at certain times of the day. It also says that we have a certain amount of downtime or slow time regarding personal performance.

The circadian cycle usually has two performance peaks in a given working day. Understand where your opportunities are and adjust your diary accordingly. For most people, the most productive business time in real estate is between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. daily. Around the middle of the day, things become less effective and take longer to achieve; you slow down.

At around 3:00 PM, another smaller peak of personal performance starts that you can optimise. It lasts about 2 or 3 hours. A simple pattern like this will help you build better results when your mind and actions align.

6: The Twenty-Minute Challenge

When you start anything new or take on a fresh task as part of your daily business processes, it takes about 20 minutes to get into the task. On that basis, you should remove any distractions and people that can take you away from the task at hand.

Get into the focus process, stay with it for the first 20 minutes, and continue for another 2 hours. That’s how you get things done. Making prospecting calls is a prime example of what needs to be done and how it can be more effective when you stick to the process.

Creating Agent Control

This shows you that your processes and results as an agent take time and are a deliberate choice. When you get your time and your diary under control, the commercial real estate business seems a lot easier and more direct.

If you have been struggling with time and results, look seriously at how you’re currently using your time. Use some of these advantages and systems detailed above.