March 7th, 2021
Best real estate video apps 2021
Property Management
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We know that being a property manager is no easy feat — you have to have a particular set of skills and be adept at juggling a million things at once. That’s why we’ve come up with 10 surprisingly simple tech hacks to help you boost your productivity and achieve more in less time.
1. Condense your reading list
If you spend anything over 30 minutes each day fin”/blogding industry news then you could definitely benefit from this tech hack to boost your productivity.
To condense your reading list, be sure to subscribe to relevant industry websites like Elite Agent, set up keyword alerts for “property” and “real estate” in Google Alerts and monitor competitors using Facebook pages and other social listening tools.
Next, use email filter rules to create a “Newsfeed” folder for all these alerts to create a succinct industry reading list. This way, you can spend 10 minutes each day looking through your “Newsfeed” as opposed to 30 minutes to an hour.
Having the most relevant industry news delivered straight into your email inbox not only saves you time but removes distractions from other emails and websites, allowing you to stay efficient and productive for longer.
2. Automate where you can
With the rise of real estate robots and automation, it’s a good idea to automate where you can. Automation not only reduces human error but also boosts productivity, saving you both time and money. As a property manager, this frees you up to focus on relationships and growing your rent roll instead.
To get started with automation, you can try automated responses on Facebook, virtual assistants that help you do all sorts of admin, chatbots that pop up on your website to offer assistance or even property management software that has built-in automation for data entry, reconciliation and disbursements.
3. Follow the 20-20-20 rule
Do your eyes ever feel sore when you’re working? Well, the bad news is that you might have eye strain from staring at the computer screen for hours at a time. Studies show that even two hours of visually demanding computer work can result in dry eyes, blurred vision and eye-related pain and tiredness.
The good news is that you can avoid this eye strain by following the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes, spend 20 seconds looking 20 feet (about 6 metres) away from the computer. This gives your eyes a chance to readjust to natural light and ensures you stay productive for longer.
4. Stop multitasking
While multitasking might seem like a great way to kill two birds with one stone, it’s actually a massive productivity killer. In fact, mental blocks are created each time you switch between tasks, reducing productivity by as much as 40%. That’s why you need to stop multitasking and remove distractions like your phone to boost your productivity.
Muting your phone while completing a task minimises interruptions to help you better concentrate on the task at hand. Similarly, closing idle browser tabs can help you clear your mind, giving you room to really focus on what you’re doing.
5. Store everything in the cloud
One simple tech hack to boost your productivity is to store everything in the cloud via Google Drive, Dropbox or your cloud property software. As long as you have an internet connection, you can quickly access your documents and data while you’re on the road or at an open home.
Apart from great accessibility and efficiency, there are many benefits to cloud storage including cost savings, simple backup and recovery, increased security and easier collaboration with team members.
6. Track how you spend your time
There are many time-tracking apps such as RescueTime and Clockify that can run in the background of your desktop or mobile and help you track how you spend your time. This can give you an idea of how many hours or minutes you’re spending on a particular project, website, task or app.
You might even discover some surprising insights about how you work. Perhaps you spend double the amount of time on emails on Mondays compared to the rest of the week or you’re most active on social media at 3pm compared to any other time of the day. Either way, you’ll be able to spot inefficiencies in your day, which you can eliminate to boost your productivity.
7. Put your favourite websites on Speed Dial 2
We don’t mean speed dial in the traditional sense, but Speed Dial 2, the Chrome extension. This helpful extension allows you to replace your new tab page with quick and easy access to your favourite websites, articles, apps and bookmarks.
You can sort and organise websites and apps into groups, customise your new tab with hundreds of different themes and synchronise your bookmarks across all your devices.
8. Try these Gmail hacks
A study by Adobe found that the average worker spends 30 hours a week not reading or replying to emails, but simply checking their inbox. It’s fair to say that when it comes to email, we need to find ways to work smarter, not harder.
From email templates to shortcuts to scheduling and snoozing emails, here are seven of our favourite Gmail hacks for real estate agents to help you save time and boost productivity.
9. Get organised with Trello
Trello is one of the most popular project management tools in the world, and for good reason. It uses the kanban method of organisation, which allows users to visualise their work in a series of lists and cards.
You can collaborate with team members in real-time, add due dates and comments, create checklists, drag and drop to reorder cards and lists, automate certain actions and much more. The open-ended nature of Trello allows for unlimited possibilities to maximise efficiency.
Better yet, Trello has a free tier which allows for 10 boards per team with unlimited cards and lists. Their blog is also full of useful productivity tips and templates for your convenience!
10. Declutter your mind
Do you ever find yourself mentally cycling through your to-do list before you fall asleep at night?
Before finishing up work for the day, consider performing a brain dump to declutter your mind. This can be as simple as jotting down your top tasks for the next day on a notepad or using apps like Todoist, Google Keep, Evernote or Notion.
If you have some extra time, you can even prioritise your tasks using the Eisenhower Matrix to set yourself up for success. Not only does this allow you to de-stress and get a restful night’s sleep, but it also means that you’ll be able to hit the ground running when you get into work the next day.
Thanks for reading this blog on tech hacks to boost your productivity! You might also be interested in:
- Best real estate video apps
- 21 new year’s resolutions for real estate agents in 2021
- December product update: Rental listings and more
Let us know your thoughts on 10 surprisingly simple tech hacks to boost your productivity by emailing [email protected].
