podcast for Savvy agents

In this episode I've got 13 hacks to share with you. Some are for lead nurturing, some are for productivity, some are to make brain space that results in better productivity. 

< Transcript>

1. Intro text/email.  When you get an online lead - before you call it, send them a text or an email introducing yourself. That way when you call, even if it's immediately after sending the text - the phone (especially iphones - not sure how androids work) will say, "Maybe Heather Wright" instead of just your phone number. So then the person thinks - omigosh, who is this I should answer??

2. Be MORE engaged on social media. These damn algorithm's and their selfish needs of wanting everyone to ENGAGE and stuff on their platform. Sheesh. So this hack is when you're engaging with someone's post on social media, try to be more conversational. The rule of thumb I follow is to leave a comment with MORE THAN 4 words. It's easy to leave 1 or 2 word comments, but when you're trying to hit 4 or more words - it sort of forces the sincerity and makes me more conversational.

3. ENGAGE MORE on social. Then, after you've left your 4 word comment - maybe even a day or so later - send that person a message on that social platform. The algorithm will think you guys are SUPER FRIENDS because of all the 1:1 engagement and it will show you in each others feed more often.

4. Use a calendar. Schedule out all of your blocked time - appointments, family time, gym time - anything that's important to you - schedule it. Then you can add in some time blocking on top of that to get your "to do" or "must do" lists complete. Sitting at your computer with no real direction just results in a lot of wasted time.

5. Turn OFF notifications on your phone. You don't need a ding every time you get an email. Fuck that would make me crazy! But take it a step further and turn off text dings. I still get the bubble on my phone and my phone is usually NOT FAR away from me, EVER, so I usually see the text fairly quickly. ALSO - if your watch is annoying you with notifications - put it on do not disturb or take it off.

6. Set office hour boundaries - then stick to them. I tell people that I prefer to not work after 8pm for a few reasons. 1. My brain doesn't work as good that late at night as it does earlier in the day - and I'll make sloppy mistakes. 2. I'm married and I'd like to stay married so it's nice to have some family time. However I've found that my phone is glued to my hand no matter what. SO, to follow those boundaries you set - create a do not disturb schedule - or use the iphone Sleep function. OR BOTH! My phone goes black at 10:15pm every night. I'm almost never working that late, but I might be sending messages with pals - but this forces me to wind down and get ready to REST. You can also set your phone to do not disturb at 8pm - or whatever time your workday ends. The beauty of this is that your phone isn't in charge of you, you're in charge of your phone and you can decide when to get back to people. Because it does NOT have to be right now.

7. GET SHIT DONE MODE. Do you really need to concentrate on getting something done? Put your phone on DO NOT DISTURB. Find you can't concentrate without checking your email ever 30 seconds? AIRPLANE MODE. It's ok to be off the grid for 2 hours. And isn't it better to be IN demand than ON demand?

8. Create a power list. If you feel like you're totally disorganized and getting nothing done - make a to do list. If you remember my daily recipe for success - I list out 3 things I MUST get done that day. That's your POWER list. Changing the name of the list from TO DO or MUST DO to POWER LIST - now that's going to get shit done. Then, shut everything off and power through to get it done!

9. Pomodoro sessions. Set a timer for yourself and knock out your work for 30 minutes. Or do a Pomodoro session - work for 25 minutes, take a break for 5, and repeat.

10. Make and take time for yourself. I've talked about taking care of yourself first on several episodes - but it's worth mentioning again. When you make time to take care of yourself - you'll be more productive. Jess on my team gave this example: The gym for example—I usually sit down at my desk for 45 minutes and deal with everything pertinent. Then I go to the gym for an hour and come home feeling good and feel like my mind is more clear to work.

11. Create templates. I love a good template. An email template that's saved in my CRM. Imagine having to write the SAME EMAIL over and over from scratch every time! We also use text templates - copy/paste/send! I also have an offer template in my own dotloop folder. We have certain documents that are needed for every buyer and using the offer template makes sure that I don't forget any. Anything you do repeatedly can be made into a template. (And remember that tip to send an intro email/text with your name and phone number before CALLING your new leads - yep, that's a template!)

12. Systems! Systems are kind of templates but they're better so I think deserve their own category. What system do you have in place to manage a new buyer lead? Or a new listing lead? What system do you have in place when launching a new listing? Flying by the seat of your pants is for the birds. Having systems is the way to stay organized and provide a better experience for your clients. A CRM would be a great place to start with your systems. We use Follow Up Boss and that's where we store all those email templates. Plus we have action plans, automations, and systems driven by tags in the CRM too. If you're not using a CRM and want to try FUB - check out the show notes, I'll include a link that will give you 50% off your first month!

13. Put ideas in a parking lot. A parking lot is essentially a place where you park your ideas - but's it's also easy to find those ideas. I will use excel or trello to organize my parking lot ideas. You release the idea to the parking lot and then next time you've got time to work on a project - maybe a marketing idea, for example - visit your parking lot and pick the idea that makes the most sense to move forward. This allows you to release the thought from your head - you won't constantly be trying to remember what you were going to do... and it also gives some ideas time to fizzle out on their own without you wasting time on them. Something may have made perfect sense 3 days ago but today you realize it's not necessary.

If you're thinking about trying Follow Up Boss as your CRM, you can use my affiliate link to sign up and get 50% off your first month: https://bit.ly/3ETrmRF

And, if you're wondering what song I'm trying to remember at the very end, it's by Counting Crows - the one where they say "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot..." which you can watch/listen on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/tvtJPs8IDgU