Maximizing Your Potential!

More and more people are getting connected through sites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. And while these are a great way to find old friends and make new ones, they have to be approached with some caution.

I recently saw an article on the National Association of Realtors website saying that very little if any actual real estate business or lead generation, for that matter is done on the web.

Ultimately, the business of buying and selling comes down to who do you know, who do you trust?

This is not to say that you can not start to establish relationships through these many social media sites. Not that long ago I met a new person via a friend. He recommended that I check out this gentleman’s Blog.

I did so and it turns out that he knows two really good friends. I suggested that we go out for coffee. We did so and had a wonderful time. He is not a candidate for my services but a great person to know and who knows, I might get a referral as a result, down the road.

That is social marketing, at it’s best. Please note, I was willing to ask for an appointment. If you don’t do that, what’s the point??? All to often, I will run into clients who are afraid to ask for the appointment for fear of rejection.

So, the person says, ‘No!’ Next!

Ask for the appointment and start building you pipeline.

Technorati Tags: Afraid To Ask, Appointment, Association Of Realtors, Blog, Business Lead, Caution, Coffee, Estate Business, Facebook, Fear Of Rejection, Find Old Friends, Gentleman, Good Friends, Lead Generation, National Association Of Realtors, Pipeline, Real Estate, Referral, Relationships, Social Marketing, Wonderful Time

Last time, we reviewed a little bit about what time management is. I think we all agree that good time management is a very valuable thing.

The question becomes – where to start? That is relatively simple to answer. We MUST start with a CLEAN slate. That clean slate is our work area.

I recommend that you set aside a block of time when you won’t be disturbed. Turn off the cell phone, the pager, the home phone if you are there. Shut off  your email alerter, Twitter, or any other potential interruption as all of these are a distraction from this very important task.

Ideally you have a partner there to help you sort out which one of the 4 “D’s” to apply. Get three baskets and set them on a corner of your desk.

Mark the first or top one ‘IN‘. This basket is ONLY to contain those items or dispatches you have just received. The middle basket is labeled ‘PENDING‘ and will contain those items which have been reviewed but do NOT have an immediate solution. And the lowest basket is labeled ‘OUT‘ and contains all the items which have been completed and are now ready to be filed, mailed or otherwise moved to another person’s work area.

Once you have labeled your baskets you should gather everything that is sitting on your desk and put it in your ‘IN’ basket. Or if there is too much stuff, place it in the center of your desk. One time when I did this with a gentleman, we had to get a 55 gallon trash can and place everything in there and pull things out one at a time until they were ALL sorted out. It took 2 days but it was worth it!

OK. Now you are ready. You pick up the first item in the pile. Read it fully and then decide which of the 4 actions you need to take to complete this task:

1. DO it - complete all the actions necessary to the completion of this task.

2. DELEGATE it – realize that it does not pertain to your work and pass it on to the correct person. *Note:  You must pass it on with enough information so that the person you have passed it on to can actually complete the actions necessary to fully deal with it.

3. DELAY it – Place the item in your pending basket to complete later. *Note: You must make a note on the item specifying the exact steps needed to bring the task to completion later on AND you must also estimate how long that action will take and block the time in your schedule to actually complete the task.

4. DUMP it - Throw it away. This is one of the HARDEST things for most people to do. They feel that if they don’t keep the information they will be caught flat footed someday without this ‘vital’ data. I recently had someone who needed the info on lottery rules in California and was able to find the information, thanks to Google in about 5 minutes. Piece of cake. There is NOTHING which can not be found on the internet in a very short period of time.

So, away you go. You just start getting things done. A very simple rule of thumb on keepsakes or news articles, etc. if it is not going to help you make money or bring you pleasure, let it go.

I guarantee that if you do this and do it fully, you will allow new pure clean energy to move into your life. A cluttered area actually sticks your work and energy flows. It’s a fact of life which has been demonstrated hundreds, if not thousands, of times throughout the last 15 years. (can you believe I have been doing this for 15 years?!?)

Anyway, Stick with it! Don’t give up. Pick up one item at a time, sort out what is needed then apply the appropriate D to the situation.

You’ll be glad you did!

Technorati Tags: Baskets, Cell Phone, Clean Slate, Corner Desk, Correct Person, Delegate, Desk Top, Dispatches, Distraction, Disturbed, Email, Gentleman, Good Time Management, Interruption, Last Time, Little Bit, Pager, Paperwork Management, Trash, Twitter

All of us have some concept of ‘Good’ time management.

Make a list of things to do, block out the time required to do it and then take the steps necessary to achieve the desired result. Right????

So, why, oh why are people spending hundreds of millions of dollars every year to become better time managers???

Let’s face it, opinions vary on exactly why people do not actually DO the above mentioned steps but the fact of the matter is that this is a HUGE problem for some people and they can never seem to get a handle on it no matter how much money they spend.

I’m going to take a few minutes to very quickly educate you on what Time Management IS and then how to apply these principles to your life.

First, let’s define the words…

Time -  ‘Any specified or defined period.’ From World Book Dictionary

Management -  ‘The process of dealing with or controlling things or people.’ From Oxford American Dictionary

What is Control?

It is defined as, ‘The power to influence or direct people’s behavior or the course of events.’ Again from Oxford American Dictionary

Control could further be defined as the ability to start, change or stop people or things related to life.

OK. So, how do we use this to help us to be better time managers.

Each of us has 24 hours in the day and 7 days in a week. How is it that I could help one gentleman go from doing 44 deals per year as a Realtor to 110 and still have more time off?  I did not wave a magic wand and make all his paperwork disappear. Nor did he hire ten additional staff to help him get everything done.

The God’s honest truth, we removed all the distractions from his life. We handled anything and everything that was preventing him from getting the job done and then we focused on getting the job done. Simple, right???

The biggest drain on a person’s ability to stay focused and get stuff done is all the backlogged and incomplete projects hanging around the person.

I’ll never forget working with another gentleman. He was in a very cramped office and he had tons of clutter and incomplete projects around him. I spent a full day and helped him clean it ALL up. He was so thrilled that he raced home and cleaned up his office and the garage. His wife called to thank me. Needless to say, he was twice as productive that year and made more money in that one year than he had in the previous three years.

Of course, you can do this on your own but most people that I know are too easily distracted and fail to handle every thing. It really helps to have someone there to help you sort out what you should do with each and every thing you come across.

Next I’ll teach you about the 4 D’s of good time management!

Have a productive day!

Technorati Tags: Better Time, Dictionary Management, Distractions, Fact Of The Matter, Few Minutes, Gentleman, Good Time Management, Honest Truth, How Much Money, Job, Magic Wand, Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford Dictionary, Paperwork, Realtor, Time Managers, Time Off, What The Heck, Why Are People, World Book Dictionary, World Dictionary