Real (Estate) Talk: Differentiating Busy and Productive in Your Brokerage

What's the difference between being busy and being productive?

In today's society, we tend to use those words interchangeably. If you're productive, you're busy. And if you're busy, you're productive.

But there's a key difference we tend to forget about when it comes to being productive versus being busy.

Busy is when there's a lot to do. It's stressful, overwhelming, and sometimes careless.

Productive is when there's a lot getting done. It's focused, purposeful, and intentional. In other words:

"Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort." – Paul Meyer

So as a broker, how can you encourage productivity over busyness in your office?

Help agents prioritize what's important.

Agents and brokers don't always have the same priorities. For example, it's common for brokers to want agents to focus on the client experience to bring back repeat business, while agents are prioritizing getting deals signed and out the door.

Sometimes it requires more in-depth coaching, but balancing and managing those priorities can be as simple as introducing a tool that can help them do both.

Encourage agents and staff to say no.

I'm not saying to encourage your staff and agents to go full teenage-rebellion-mode on you. But it's good for them to know they can say no to something if they have to.

Isn't it better for them to tell you they can't take on that extra client than say yes, take on that client, and then let the relationship fall apart because they're too busy to be high-touch?

"Well done is better than well said." – Benjamin Franklin

Encourage schedules.

A real estate agent is never truly closed for business. But encouraging your agents to set (and, if necessary, enforce) schedules and boundaries with clients can help prevent them from feeling like they can never take downtime.

After all, you can't hustle if you don't rest regularly, too.

Find ways to make their jobs easier.

This looks different depending on how your office and your team operate. Coaching agents can help with knowledge sharing, so agents aren't unknowingly doing things the hard way. Introducing tools that automate the repetitive tasks of a transaction means staff have more time for big-picture work, and agents have more time to build relationships with clients.

As a broker, there's a lot you can do to help your agents and staff be more productive and less busy at the same time.

To view the original article, visit the Lone Wolf blog.