There’s no secret formula to becoming a successful real estate agent. However, there ARE certain things that you need to do to succeed.
In today’s competitive market, being able to differentiate yourself from other agents is key. That’s why it’s important to create a daily schedule that helps you stay focused and organized.
This blog will give you a glimpse into the daily schedule of a successful real estate agent along with some tips to ensure that you have a productive workday.
Why Is a Daily Schedule Important for a Real Estate Agent?
Successful Realtors and agents create a schedule with daily tasks to make their average workday easier to tackle. Working as an agent can seem stressful without a routine or an intentional plan to implement and follow. To be successful in the industry, you need to organize your day in blocks of time.
Here are some essential real estate agent tasks you can organize into those time blocks.
- Listing presentations
- Set appointments
- Phone calls
- Call potential clients
- Update social media posts
- Collaborate with team members
- Schedule contractors
- Attend meetings
- Generate leads
- Creating community pages on your website
- Setting up listing alerts for past clients to keep them informed of where they own (e.g., open houses, new on the market in their neighborhood, etc.)
It’s common for everyone to have distractions in the workplace, and it’s a bigger problem for those of us that work from home. Scrolling on social media platforms is something we try to avoid, but it happens, and if you’re building a “sphere of influence,” it may be part of your job. Unfortunately, you may find yourself watching funny cat videos. Before you know it: the day is over, and you accomplished nothing. A schedule will help you steer clear of these distractions.
Creating a schedule that splits your day into different hourly blocks will help keep you on track as a real estate agent. It will also help you stay focused and energized throughout your workday.
Your day as a real estate Realtor is one big to-do list. Having a schedule is crucial to remembering everything there is to do too. Without a routine, there is no way to get it all done.
Having your day in blocks will also help increase your GCI (Gross Commission Income). A system that enables you to easily prioritize your next action will allow you to focus on the tasks at hand.
A Successful Real Estate Agent’s Daily Schedule
There is no set agent or Realtor daily schedule that all real estate professionals should follow 100%. Each agent’s day will be somewhat different because everyone’s life is different. Your schedule today will look different from it will when you have 1,000+ community pages on your site or 10,000 subscribers on YouTube.
In some ways, your schedule will be the same as other agents. The morning blocks should be for going over the day’s tasks, generating leads, and working on your brand. The afternoon blocks will be for tours, inspections, and listing appointments when more of your clients will generally be available.
Don’t forget to schedule yourself some free time in your daily activities. Free time and personal growth/health are just as important as other tasks. This time is critical on stressful days.
I have put together the most relatable outline for you to go by when creating your own successful real estate agent daily schedule. Remember, it’s up to you to follow the schedule you build. Only your work ethic and responsibility can help you accomplish your goals. Need help following your schedule? Create a close group of 6 – 10 similar-minded entrepreneurs attempting to grow their businesses. Meet weekly to review and monthly goal tracking what you’re planning for the next week, and why you did or did not accomplish the most important things on your plan from last week.
Morning Routine (7:00 am – 8:00 am)
Getting up bright and early helps kick-start the day, especially for a busy real estate agent. Having a morning routine will energize you and set your mood for the day.
Look at this part of the day as a meeting (a requirement). If you go without a morning routine, your day is going to be a disaster.
Here are some genius activities to get you excited for your morning.
- Eat a hearty meal for breakfast.
- Meditate, pray, or have a quiet time of reflection.
- Go for a run.
- Spend time doing something you love, like a hobby.
- Get a coffee.
- Get the kids ready for school.
- Do some stretching and breathing exercises.
The key here is to avoid anything that has to do with work and focus on yourself with some much-needed “me time.” When you have a busy schedule, time to yourself is essential if you want to get through your day successfully.
Successful agents like Ryan Fitzgerald, owner of Raleigh Realty in North Carolina, will start his morning as early as 5 AM so he can get plenty of time to do the things he loves.
Time to yourself is essential if you want to get through your schedule successfully.
The Work Day: First Half (8:00 am – 12:30 pm)
The goal for the beginning of your real estate agent daily schedule is to get the most important things out of the way while you are still feeling fresh and energized. Things like lead generation, online presence, and team collaboration are tasks you will want to do first.
- Before you do anything, start off by browsing over your to-do list. You can even go over this with your assistant or team members to ensure you stay on track. This simple task helps get the ball rolling for your day.
- Next, you will want to spend around 2 hours generating leads and cultivating existing relationships. You should spend the whole 2 hours on this, even if you think you have enough leads.
Lead generation could be focused on short-term leads through activities like cold calling and door knocking or through longer-term growth activities like creating community pages on your site to drive organic traffic from search engines and give you valuable content to follow up with new clients with.
The future of your real estate business and your GCI depend on this task. If you have no leads or deals in your pipeline, you have no clients and no future closed transactions.
Generating leads through cold calling can be intimidating to most agents. Making phone calls to those you do not know can be hard. Try role-playing with your assistant to help you prepare, or go over pre-made dialogue. It’s one of those things that I’ve always found makes everyone better at the rest of their careers as it puts you in direct feedback from those you’re trying to serve.
Need help creating a website or adding content to it that will drive traffic for your business? Reply in the comments what you need the most help with, and I’ll reply with a free video, course, next step, or article to guide you. Need a real estate website built? I’m happy to recommend one of our certified partners. Need a recommendation for a great real estate CRM for your needs? I can offer that too based on what you need and your marketing tech stack.
- Another important morning task is to work on your online presence with real estate SEO. It will help you with branding and gaining the trust of the public. Some agents dread this task because it can take over half a year to rank your website with Google.
This is the SINGLE best opportunity for growing your business over the long term. If you have thousands to spend on pay-per-click advertising or Zillow leads, that can help you accelerate your business now, but the data is clear that organic traffic is always the best quality source with the highest ROI. It’s like compound interest or the equity building in your house, it simply gets better over time and builds upon previous months. That’s also why it’s important to set aside time TODAY.
- If you find yourself overwhelmed, try to squeeze in some free time. Take a short walk to help clear your mind.
Have a lunch break (12:30 pm – 1:30 pm)
A successful real estate agent’s daily schedule includes a lunch break. Around 12:30, you will find yourself needing some grub.
It’s super important to rest your mind and steer clear of workplace distractions while taking this break. Your lunch break is a time to recharge and re-energize before the next part of your schedule begins.
You can try doing some of these things while you eat your lunch.
- Call a family member or friend.
- Watch your favorite show.
- Go for a short walk.
- Whatever brings you peace of mind and gives you a mental break.
- Meditate, pray, or have quiet time.
The goal here is to relieve some of your stress. Less stress will help you be productive for the rest of the day.
Working while you eat is a temptation. You may think you are doing yourself a favor by getting ahead of the game, in actuality, you will be more likely to burn out! In order to be productive the rest of the day and avoid burnout, you need to take a break and find your method of relaxation.
The Work Day: Second Half (1:30 pm – 5 pm)
The second block of your day should involve mostly property tours, inspections, and listing appointments.
- Try to fit at least three property showings for current clients into this period. Some clients take longer than others, so try to hurry along the process to start wrapping up the day. However, take care not to t make anyone feel rushed while you are showing properties.
New agents may not have many listings to show. If you have spare time, generate more leads and set up listing appointments or offer to host an open house for another agent. The more lead generations you do, the more tours you can give during this.
- Schedule inspections and call contractors for homes that are under contract.
- If you find more time during this time block, focus on meetings, whether they be in-person or online.
- Left-over time is used for online and in-person meetings, appointments with buyers, and administrative tasks.
Stay on top of things, especially during this four-hour block. Your goal, at this point, is to finish the day out strong so you can go home without work following you.
The Work Day: The Last Hour (5 pm – 6 pm)
When you think of the last hour at work, some people think of sitting around and watching the clock. That’s not the case in the real estate industry, nor for anyone that knows their purpose. An agent or Realtor’s daily schedule isn’t done until all tasks are complete.
Here are some things real estate agents should consider doing during the 5-6 hour to wrap up the day. These tasks will ensure that you won’t need to bring work home with you or tie up loose ends in the morning.
- If you find yourself out of the office and in the middle of an online meeting or a tour, it’s time to wrap things up.
- If you find yourself still in the office, look for possible listings and post them on your social media accounts.
- Check your email one last time, and respond to any you may have opened. If you have an email that may take a while to respond to, make sure you save it for later. You are less likely to forget about emails if you save them.
- Preview the schedule for the next day.
You may want to reflect on the schedule you completed today and go over what you can improve on. Don’t beat yourself up if you didn’t get everything done. Even the best agents have a hard time completing their whole to-do list – that’s why we prioritize.
Once you have wrapped everything up, make a mental note to leave everything “at the office.” In other words, don’t bring work home with you. You want to make sure you have plenty of time with your family and to yourself during the evening.
I’ve found benefits in having a physical trigger to help me shift from work to family time. For me, that generally means turning off the lights in my home office, closing the doors to the office, and changing shirts. A few of my close contacts over the years use a “virtual briefcase” that they close their eyes either in their office or outside when entering their garage that they picture shutting and putting up on the shelf knowing they’ll pick it up again tomorrow. The key is to make as much of a shift as you can, even if you’ll work a few more hours after others go to sleep.
Wrapping up the day and leaving work at the office can be difficult for new real estate agents. When you first start as a real estate agent, you want to do everything you can to succeed. That’s a great mindset to have. However, you don’t want your work to take over your entire life. This step takes a bit of practice, but it becomes easier the more you do it.
Productivity Tips for a Successful Daily Schedule
You now know the best way to put together your own successful real estate agent daily schedule, but there are some other things you need to keep in mind before you start creating it.
- Expect the Unexpected: Unexpected things happen – there’s no way to avoid them. You can, however, prepare for surprises. Leave some margin in your schedule for the unexpected. Now when random things pop up, you can deal with them.
- Digital Sphere of Influence: Don’t forget about promotions and SEO! I’m mentioning this for a second time because it is that important. If you want your brand and business to thrive, you must promote it by creating a community page for SEO.
A community page is for:
- Boosting lead generation
- Gaining trust
- Sending to hot leads
- Informing a potential client about the surrounding area.
Make sure you include this in your schedule to stay consistent with it.
It takes about 6-9 months to show any meaningful results on a page for SEO, so keep at it on a daily basis!
- Personal Time: Make sure you save time at the end of every day for some “you time”. This can be quality time with your family, reading a book, or working on a hobby. Take a break from your job.
- When to Stop And Start: Since you create your own hours, it’s easy to sleep in and or work late. Instead, set your own work hours, especially your start time (when you go into the office) and your stop time (when you leave the office). Lead yourself well.
Having a start and stop time will help keep yourself accountable to a schedule.
- Work in Time Blocks: Set aside specific times to work on different parts of your business. This helps you focus on what you are doing at the moment. Setting up blocks in your schedule will ensure you are getting everything done.
- Adjustment Period: If you find it hard to adjust to your schedule at first, don’t beat yourself up. It takes time to create the perfect schedule for you to follow.
You may find that over time something doesn’t work for you. You may have to move tasks around to a different time slot on the schedule for them to fit your needs. The keys to life-changing wealth are 1) consistency and 2) iteration until you find what works.
- Goal Setting: When making your schedule, you need to know what you want your end results to be. In other words, you need to know what your daily goals are. Then, you can form your schedule around your goals to achieve those end results.
FAQ’s
Here are some other questions you may have about a successful real estate agent’s daily schedule.
How flexible is a real estate agent’s schedule?
The real estate profession allows agents to create their own schedules. This means you can come and go to the office as you please. You can work 40 hours, 30 hours, or 90 hours. However, you only get out of the job what you put into it. For example, if you only work 15 hours a week, you will only receive a paycheck worth 15 hours.
Flexible scheduling doesn’t mean you have a ton of free time on your hands. You still need to complete tasks and meet deadlines. However, no one micromanages you when you are an agent. You are your own manager and set your own tasks. You have the freedom to do things when you want.
Agents need to be protective of their schedules because of this flexibility. Family members and clients don’t understand how important it is to stick to the schedule you created for yourself and for your business. They may unintentionally take advantage of your free time. Here are some common examples of this very situation.
- Mom guilts you into taking her shopping because you are the only family member who “has time” during the day.
- A client wants to take forever deciding on a house; they think you have all the time in the world. You know, the ones that want everything on their list or are still figuring out what is on their list.
In these situations, you can avoid playing the bad guy. Your mother will have to wait till the evening to go shopping with you. You can direct the client to listings you have online to your website to find one they think might be perfect. Let them add properties they like and make notes in their dashboard using Showcase IDX for you to see what they like and do not like.
Last and most importantly, you have flexibility with how much income you can make. The sky’s the limit when it comes to earning a wealthy living as a real estate agent.
Does a real estate agent make their own schedule?
Yes, a real estate agent will always make their own schedule. Aside from a huge income opportunity, this is one of the biggest perks of being an agent. There are, however, some stipulations to creating a schedule.
If you want to be successful in the real estate industry, you need to be consistent in the schedule you make. A successful agent’s schedule should include all the duties it takes to list, present, and sell a house. What time of day you do your tasks doesn’t matter, as long as you do them.
Since most of your financial success comes from the client purchasing a home, your life can sometimes revolve around their lives. For example, most clients won’t come out to see a house at 1 AM in the morning; then again, who does? So, consider your clients’ needs and intentionally build a schedule that will allow you to meet their needs and grow your business over time.
Is real estate a stressful job?
Doesn’t every job have those days? The answer is that a real estate job can be very stressful but very rewarding.
Unfortunately, you will have those extremely picky clients who won’t settle on a property unless it is absolutely perfect. You may be stuck with a client who won’t seem interested in a piece of property but still wants to take up your time.
In fact, according to The National Association of Realtors, this job makes it on the list of top 10 stressful jobs. Why? Unfortunately, things don’t always go as planned, which can cause a lot of stress. Due to flexible scheduling, many things can go wrong and change throughout the day. It’s also why there are a ton of funny real estate memes.
It’s easy to stay at it because the more you work, the more money you can bring in. You get what you put into it, nothing more. Some agents find it hard to pull themselves away from their work. This causes stress and strain in relationships, marriages, and kids. The key is to make intentional decisions about your schedule and build in margin for the unexpected.
A few ways to make it less stressful for you and your family are to form a schedule for your daily working hours (stick to it!), have daily habits, and keep work and family separate.
Conclusion
To increase your GCI (Gross Commission Income), you must do everything possible to maximize your sales potential daily, and sticking to a daily schedule is the first step.
