80/20 Rule for Realtors

Realtors – Do Less, Accomplish More!

A few years ago I read the book, The Millionaire Agent, by Gary Keller (a must read for every real estate agent) and in this book he mentions that most Realtors have "busyness" rather than "business".

How right he was! 

This describes exactly how I felt most everyday working as a Realtor in my first few years and it certainly seems to ring true for most every Realtor I hear from today. 

Many Realtors are busy every day, so busy that they don't have time for the things that really matter in life like family, friends and alone time. 

What's worse is that they aren't even getting done what they need to get done to achieve their goals, indeed some are just "busy" and confused about what works …

A few months back I read the book, Living the 80/20 Way", this book was written on the Pareto principle …

… which says that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts.

So what does this mean?  Simple!  It means that you need to focus more on the 20% activities and less on the 80% activities that don't produce results, right?

Sure, that is the easy part, anyone could figure that out! 

The real challenge for most of us seems to be identifying which activities fall into the 20% category and which fall into the 80% category. 

So I put together a list of routine activities that occupy the day for most Realtors apart from actually showing and listing homes. 

Feel free to add any other activities to the list that you find yourself doing regularly and leave them in the comment section below!

• Email (reading & sending) -
• Social Media (facebook, twitter, etc…) -
• Blogging (writing posts, commenting, etc…) -
• Door Knocking -
• Cold Calling -
• Direct Mail (stuffing envelopes, licking stamps, etc…) -
• Market Research -
• Previewing Properties (taking pictures & videos) -
• Making Flyers -
• File Coordination -
• Scheduling Inspections -
• Spending time in your CRM -
• Continued Education Courses –
• Getting Involved with Association Committees
• Volunteering in your local community
• Attending coaching retreats

"It's true hard work never killed anyone, but I figure, why take the chance?"  ~Ronald Reagan 

You can't spend all day networking on social media sites, writing blog posts or marketing and expect to make any money.  

So how do Realtors apply the 80/20 Rule to their businesses?

1. Before you can move forward you must clearly identify your targets and the desired outcomes for each.  Are you trying to generate more leads.  Are you trying to close more transactions?  Are you trying to sell a listing?  Are you trying to expand your brand equity?
    
2. Once you have clearly identified your target goals, you will need a plan. Your plan should consist of daily actions that can be taken to move you closer to your goals.   
    
3. Now comes the hard part … this step requires you to be brutally honest with yourself; it will also require a couple days of keeping track of everything you do throughout the day.  Keep a journal and write down every single thing you do throughout the day and what kind of result you gained or lost.
    
4. At the end of every day mark each task as being a 20% or 80% task

This will be tedious and will no doubt feel like a waste of time, but it is important that you muster up the strength & discipline to follow through with this step.

All tasks are not created equal … 80% of your value to other people comes from 20% or less of what you do!

So what are the most vital tasks a Realtor can do consistently?

 Ass AsAss AsAssuming my goal is to close more real estate transactions in 2010, I might categorize some of my tasks like this:

This is not an exhaustive list – merely an example of how I might categorize my activities when pursuing a goal of closing more real estate transactions this year. 

Regardless of which column an activity ends up on, each one must be tracked & measured to ensure I continue to get the maximum results from the given activity.

Which 20% activities are you getting 80% of your results from?