The Serenity Prayer, Delegation and Automation for Realtors
The key to building your real estate career is to build systems that free your time and build your reputation!
Specifically, realtors need two business systems to streamline their tasks: delegation and automation. Using these very different techniques can eliminate the most tedious and time-consuming but necessary tasks. Often these tasks prevent you from growing your career living the life you always wanted.
For inspiration, we at All-In Hauling use a modified version of the Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebhur that became a keystone in Alcoholic Anyonomous’s 12 Step program. AA’s version of the Serenity Prayer goes something like this:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
~ The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebhur, American Theologian
We love this guiding piece of wisdom because it has helped us through many crossroads, priority quandaries, and frustrating rejections. We hope it will help you too!
The Courage to Delegate
Courage is the act of doing what is right even though fear is raging. Being courageous is not blindly ignoring fear and acting as if you are invincible. Rather, courage is an inner strength to see the fear, acknowledge its existence, and deem it as less important than doing what needs to be done—then following through to completion.
Courage is the basis for delegation. Since delegation is an act of trust, it takes courage to trust your business to another. There is always a sense of risk when you place your faith and confidence in someone else to get something done right, on time, and with the appropriate attention to detail. Successful realtors do not have time to check over the work completed for them. They have to trust that the work is getting done.
When you know something needs to get done but your talents are better spent elsewhere, it is time to delegate the smaller but critical tasks. The essential points for delegation are:
- Be clear on what tasks to be delegated
- Think small
- Delegate the right person for the job
- Give a clear deadline
- Monitor progress
- When complete, analyze results to fine-tune future delegation
Every day real estate tasks that you can delegate include:
- Administrative work
- Real Estate Listing Management
- Bookkeeping & Research
- Real Estate Transaction Coordination
- Marketing Content Creations
- Junk Removal to improve curb appeal
- Website Updates
- Adding deal details to your CRM or customer relations management software
- Initiating the Escrow process
- Sending thank you cards
- Entering the monthly newsletter into your email marketing software
- Maintaining any automated processes
The Serenity to Automate
There is a time to push and a time to let go. What tasks can you let go and automate?
There is often a hesitancy in investing in technology to automate because new technology means learning something new.
The question to ask is, “Will the time and patience it takes to learn the automation steps outweigh the amount of time automation will save”?
If the answer is no, then consider automating the following:
- Pipeline, task, and transaction management
- Appointment Confirmations, SMS/Email Reminders & Notifications
- Bulk emailing
- Lead generation and open house lead generation
- Sync lead to your phone from various channels
- Lead nurturing workflows
- Contracts, accounting, and financial automating
- Analytics, engagement & performance metrics
The Wisdom to Know the Difference
What are the criteria for delegating versus automating?
- Delegate any process that requires problem-solving, light decision-making, and simple analysis.
- Automate any repetitive process or function that can save you (and your delegate) time and effort. Typically these tasks are repetitive, don’t require much problem-solving, and don’t need a human to oversee them.
When in doubt, delegate the task first. Once the process is firmly understood, look for tools to automate the process. The initial cost of the automation is recovered by time saved.
Sometimes the progression from delegation to automation is not always clear.
In these times, imagine the delegation and automation progression as part of a larger flow that eases growing pains.
Delegation and Automation Scenario
For example, Realtors need to stay engaged within their markets.
To keep your thumb on the pulse of our area, personal interact on all your social media. Interacting with your audience and reading their input will help you gauge the hot markets.
Your input demonstrates who you are and develops your brand. However, you don’t need to personally upload all of your marketing content or necessarily write it all. You can work with a content marketing copywriter to write the articles you think your audience can use that reflect your tone and brand. When your content is ready, automate the scheduling and release dates.
Consider All-In Hauling When You Need to Delegate the Clean-up
We know Realtors are constantly fighting tight deadlines and are often overwhelmed. Delegation and automation are just some of the steps overbooked realtors can do to simplify their careers.
Call us today to find out how we can help you close faster and with less stress!
