Have you ever experienced that feeling when you leave the office that you're not quite sure what you did all day? You know the days, where you work and work and work, but you can't seem to recall if you actually accomplished anything?
Even worse, how about the weeks that go by, and it feels as if there is more work than there is time in the day? Too many weeks like this can shift you into burn out mode rather quickly.
Things can become even more hectic when you are not only trying to keep up with mountains of paper work, while also attempting to implement a new marketing and networking campaign.
So how can you juggle your everyday activities while still keep your new referral partners happy all the while adding new partnerships? This may not be quite as difficult as you think.
The first step is to review what you are doing now on a daily basis and find out what is eating up your time. You can do this by keeping track of what you do each day.
As boring and as unimportant as this may seem compared to the more interesting marketing campaigns, this process is essential to your future success. Failing to wrap these issues up prior to building a steady flow of leads and referrals can result in much larger headaches and destroyed credibility as these problems surface when it's more than just your leads and clients that are being affected.
The importance of having a properly built machine, or foundation cannot be overstated. With this in mind, you should go ahead and set aside a day this week to record on paper, everything you do for the day.
This list of your daily activities should include even the most trivial of tasks such as checking your email, or responding to voicemails messages.
Next to each activity you participated in for this day, you will want to also indicate how much time you spent on each activity. Make certain that you make this day as typical as you can.
At the end of the day I want you to sit down and review every single activity. You need to ask yourself what your potential reward was for completing each task. In other words, how many activities did you complete or engage in that had the potential to result in new business?
I ask this question because most originators spend an overwhelming portion of each day engaging in activities that are considered low payoff, or no payoff tasks. In other words, how many of your days activities could be taken over by a less skilled hourly employee? Are any of these activities geared towards bringing in new clients?
Many times when I notice a downward spiral in my business I will perform this exercise. More often than not, the problem I will uncover is too much time spent on low/no payoff activities, while my prospecting and follow-up time is neglected.
Pulling out the magnifying glass like this is a great way for me to get my business back on track. Freeing up my time by identifying the time wasters reduces my level of stress and allows me to focus on the activities that will keep fresh business coming through the front door.
Sometimes I don't have to eliminate anything from my schedule at all. In fact, most of the time I simply have to move the low payoff, but essential activities to different parts of my day. For instance, I write articles almost daily for various magazines, and online publications. I used to just sit down and begin writing on an as needed basis.
However, when I performed one of my efficiency reviews I found that I was losing nearly 2 hours out of my day by doing this. I set aside 1 hour early in the morning and another in the late evening when I would not be prospecting anyways. This allows me a free schedule to focus on new clients during the prime calling hours.
Take the time to review your own schedule. You will be surprised to discover how much time is wasted each day. It is estimated that the average U.S. employee wastes nearly 50% of his/her day! So much time is wasted checking and replying to email, pushing papers, "organizing" and engaging in conversations and activities that would be better handled during non-prospecting time.
Do you have a specific time or day set aside for generating new customers? Do you have a specific time and day dedicated to taking care of the low payoff activities?
Wrapping things up, I hope you can see that in order to deliver the efficient and professional level of service we like to brag about, we need to give some attention to our foundation and internal business structure. The smoother our business runs, the more likely we are to impress and attract new referral partners. Take some time this week to review your own business and I'm sure you will soon reap the rewards.
Written by Chad Weber
www.averagejoelo.com
Average Joe L.O. provides hype-free marketing solutions for loan officers who are determined to build their realtor referral pipeline. Take advantage of additional free training materials and marketing solutions by visiting http://www.averagejoelo.com