One of the best ways to give your business a boost is to make a conscious effort to get your business organized.  Last week I addressed computer file management.  Here is a list of some additional areas in your business that could use some organizing.

EMAIL MANAGEMENT
Email management is not just about responding to emails in a timely manner. It is about being able to keep important transactional communication easily accessible for when you need it.  Losing just one email could be very costly to your business, not to mention that it could put you or your client in a legally precarious position if that one email had important information in it.

Every client you are working with should be given their own sub folder under a main file titled CLIENTS.  Those sub folders would be for BUYERS and SELLERS.  Every transaction that closes should also have its own dated folder titled CLOSED FILES with the year.  You should also have a folder for POTENTIAL BUYERS and POTENTIAL SELLERS.

The best way to manage your email is to have a place for the emails that come in. This is your Inbox. How you handle your email from there depends on how you manage tasks. Is every email that comes in a task for you to complete? Depending on how you manage those tasks, that email can either sit in your inbox until that task is complete or you can go ahead and file it as you add that task to your task management system.

However, every email should have a folder that it can be filed to once complete. Depending on the email management system you use you need to know what it can do for you.  For example, if you are using Outlook then you should to get to know some of the time saving functions.  Getting a handle on your email is one of the best ways to save time and to be more efficient in your business.

WEB OR BLOG MANAGEMENT
Website and  blog management is by far one of the most neglected areas of an agents’ business.  It is important to not set up a website or blog and then forget it.  Good web management requires a plan to update and add information, especially if this is part of your lead generation strategy.  Adding new content regularly is essential to getting noticed, and having a plan to add this content at least monthly is critical. However, if you are serious about blogging you need to be adding content weekly and should have a plan for doing so.

PRESENTATION MANAGEMENT
One of the most important things you will ever do for your real estate business will be to create a buyer presentation and listing presentation that will make your business stand out. While many agents “wing” it, a visual presentation will wow your potential clients and make you money.In order to create this you will need to set up and manage the props or tools you will need to bring to the presentation.  Make sure that you have at least 2 visual tools or props for each of the following categories:  Pricing, Communication, Marketing, Home Presentation and  Photography.  For example if you want to visually wow your clients in the photography category then make sure you have a large photo book that clearly showcases the quality of your photography, also have a separate photo book with a sample of another listing you have done so they can see the quality of your work.  Nothing is as powerful for an agent as getting their visual props in order to impress their potential clients.  Too many agents use only their words and not enough visuals at their presentations.  Remember your presentations are what help you win those listings so take the time to get this part of your business organized. To read more about the listing presentation and props, click on the below:

• Polish Your Presentations!
• Powerful Pricing Tools
• Powerful Marketing – the Signature Virtual Tour
• Powerful Home Presentation Tools
• Powerful Print Marketing Tools
• Powerful Technology Tools

MARKETING MANAGEMENT
It is one thing to have nice marketing materials for your listings, but what about the marketing you need to market you and your services? Do you have materials ready to go such as a personal brochure, buyers package, sellers package, or even a video marketing campaign? It can also include the marketing you would use to farm a geographical area or any specific lead generation system or any marketing that you send to any potential, current or past clients.  Even your past client care needs to be a well thought out cohesive marketing plan.  Getting these marketing materials ready to go allows you to focus on selling real estate and being able to easily utilize these materials when you need them without having to recreate the wheel every time.

FINANCIAL PAPERWORK MANAGEMENT
Every real estate business costs money to operate. The better organized  an agent can be with their financial records, the easier it will be for them at tax time and for getting the maximum deductions based on their true expenses   Many agents over the years have told me that they don’t’ have time to track “every” expense.  A good financial record keeping system should actually save you time and money.  One of the best ways to simplify your system is to have a system on the go for keeping your receipts in order.  I have been a big fan for years of keeping all business related expenses in one folder in my wallet.  Each time I get a new receipt I simply put it behind the last one and that way they are automatically organized by date.  One of the biggest time wasters in financial filing is organizing things by date. It is one thing to have a fancy accounting software program you can use but it still requires you to have your paper trail which this system does for you.  Financial organization literally can save an agent thousands of dollars per year.  Little changes like this can have a huge impact on your financial bottom line.

MOBILE OFFICE MANAGEMENT
I can’t tell you how many times my organized car system helped me to either solve a problem in the field or impress the heck out of client or potential client.  Real estate today is a business where you need to be constantly on the go and very mobile.  Your vehicle needs to be a moving office fully stocked with the tools of your trade.  You will be surprised once you put this car kit together how many times you will actually find a need to use it.   Have a look at the list of things you need to have in your car so you are ready at all times to handle anything in the field.

If you want to take your business and your productivity to the next level,  do your business a great service by taking the time needed to get your business organized first.