The Quest for Time

Relocation professionals all struggle with the same challenge---time. Or the lack of it. I have never come across anyone in our industry who says they don’t know what to do with all of the hours in their work day. It varies for those working in a Relocation Department based on the size of the department and the role the person is in. But no matter what the role, there is a constant struggle against prioritizing what needs to be done and when. I am painfully aware that being in relocation is like trying to drink out of a fire hose. It’s a lot.

For those that handle referrals, time is often controlled by our inbox. And depending on what time zone we are in, emails can be piling up for hours before we start our work day. Since referrals typically come in via email, those definitely have to be tended to immediately as we all know the clock is ticking.  We go into reaction mode. We just react all day to what is coming at us. But I have learned that not everything is a high priority, even though the source sending it may think so.

But what about the other things that need to be dealt with? They have to be prioritized and time blocked. While this might sound like more work, it actually will save us time in the long run. Whether it is working at home one day a week to avoid office chit-chat or not taking calls or emails for a specified time during the day, it is important to design our days.

By designing our day, I mean scheduling time to do specific functions. I am a list maker, so I list what I need to focus on and prioritize it each day at the end of the day for the next day. Sometimes things don’t get done, but it’s ok, they move on to the next day.

The key is to keep our inbox as targeted as we can with high-priority content that will make us money. By managing our day and ensuring we are utilizing our systems effectively, we can find time to focus on revenue-generating activity.

Some tips on how to keep our workday focused:

Time blocking

• If you take a lunch break or eat at your desk, block 30 minutes after your lunch break at least three times a week to focus on marketing activities.

• Try to not overcommit yourself. It’s easy to find yourself on too many committees and attending too many branch office meetings. Be strategic and determine what will bring the most value and return on your investment of time.

• Set aside 30 minutes later each day to return non-urgent phone calls and emails.

• Spend 15 minutes each day checking social media and ‘liking’ sources of business posts and commenting on them. Reshare some company content that might be of value to your clients or better yet, set aside time each week to create original content.

• Spend the last 30 minutes of your workday catching up on industry news, cleaning up your emails, and making your schedule for the next day. I know you are exhausted, but it makes the next day so much more productive.

• Take a stretch break every couple of hours to clear your head.

• Try and push out some sort of marketing effort via email monthly and via social media weekly (or more). It is critical to stay top of mind.

• Use the 4th quarter to create your strategic plan for 2023. Evaluate what worked and what hasn’t in 2022 based on reports and stats and lay out an action plan with timelines and determine who is responsible for each task for next year.

Emails

• When you open your email in the morning, sort it by unread. This allows you to skip over things that are still sitting in your inbox from yesterday that aren’t a high priority and take action on all unread emails that may have been overlooked from yesterday.

• Get into the habit of using folders regarding specific topics, people, or companies to put correspondence that you need to retain, but need no action on. Get it out of your main box.

• Do not have any personal emails come into your work inbox. Unsubscribe to any spammy emails from entities selling products and send many emails. Subscribe to those in your personal email.

• Set a rule to have emails regarding industry and association newsletters go directly into a folder so you can read them at your leisure.

• You are likely to get company-affiliated services marketing emails whether you want to or not. Either unsubscribe from them if it is a service you will never use, or set a rule to have them go directly into a folder for viewing at another time.

• If you get emails at your work email from hotels, credit cards, or travel services because you have a company credit card and use your company email to book company travel, set a rule to send those straight to a folder that can be looked at when you find the time.

• If certain sources of business send you emails notifying you of reports or referrals that are already in a database that you regularly work in, just delete them without even opening them.

• If you get reports from your broker network, put them into a folder for later reading.

• Sweep your ‘Sent’ folder once a week and take pertinent emails you need to track and put them in the appropriate folder. It’s always helpful to keep your thread of emails together if possible and depending on whether you use Outlook or Gmail it may vary as to how you handle it.

• In Outlook, you can use colors to distinguish a variety of types of emails. It helps sort through them faster.

• Don’t forget to check your junk/spam mail periodically, sometimes important information ends up there.

Systems

• Make sure you are using your referral management system to its fullest. I can’t tell you how many of my clients overlook time-saving processes. Set a refresher with your provider to learn of any new features and review your digital manual periodically.

• Collaborate with your coworkers to make sure you are all using the system in the same way and share any tips and tricks you discover.

• Set a schedule for specific reports to run monthly and automatically send them to your leadership. Before you do that, run reports in a variety of ways to ensure you have sound data entry.

• At the end of the month, use your reports to measure against your goals. If you are off on your goals, then revisit your strategic plan and reposition your strategy. As the market continues to change, we need to pivot to meet the demands of the market. 

• Run a report monthly in your referral tracking system to determine new sources of business and their contacts. Add them to your CRM monthly so it isn’t such a big task when you are ready to send out any marketing materials or newsletters.

I can’t give your more time, but if you design your day and focus on the revenue-generating activities, you can control how you react to everything coming at you for a more productive outcome. Be aware that if you aren’t marketing your company, someone else is marketing theirs to take that business away from you.

“It’s not about having enough time, it’s about making enough time.” ~ Rachael Bermingham, Australian entrepreneur, author, public speaker