Commercial Real Estate Agents – Find the Time to Do Your Work Well

In commercial real estate agency there will be days where you will struggle to get things done.  So many other pressures will take over the day and productivity will fall backwards.  You will get to the end of the day and look at your diary only to see a massive list of things that are not done.   Yes, I know that it is ‘stressful’; I have been there many times myself over the years.

In commercial property sales, leasing, or property management the tasks are many, the clients are challenging, and the deals can be complex.  Control should however apply to your actions and business day, so you can get through the day with the least amount of frustration and the most amount of achievement.

So don’t worry about it; we all have days that are difficult, and in some cases a few days where everything just piles up around you.  When you work in a sales related business like real estate, some things will need to be shifted or others dealt with urgently. The point is you must do the best you can and remain in control.  We all have choices.

Yesterday was a pressured day for me.  I had two property inspections to do right across the city that related to leasing, some other clients to talk to face to face about rental matters in active negotiations with tenants, and about 20 fairly important things to get to with existing listings.  The reality here was that all the things on the list made up about 3 days of work, and they would never have fitted into the allotted time available.

All the best planning in the world could not have helped with the problem.  In saying that I like to take the following approach on days that are pressured:

• When all else fails, I try to do one simple thing from my list.  The achievement of that one thing will help me know that did get somewhere and I am still headed in the right direction.
• I make it a rule to make at least one telephone call per day to a client, and one to a prospect.
• When something important arises that needs to be handled, I write it down and come back to it later.  I find that writing it down removes the ‘stress’ of remembering it.
• I like to ‘tick things off’ on a written task list, so I get the feeling of momentum and direction even on the most difficult of days.

My view here is that these things are simple and will at least give me some sense of momentum and control when the working day is challenging.

One key point should be understood when it comes to our productivity as agents; written task lists really do work and will help retain ‘sanity’ under the pressure of the day.  When clients and brokerage colleagues want a slice of your time, your task list will still get you back on track; you are still in control.

Time is a valuable resource for commercial real estate agents.  If we cannot manage our time then we will not achieve much at all.