Unless you and your team don’t have an office carpool, odds are that you’re all spending a lot of time driving yourselves from the office, to open houses, etc. What are the best ways to ensure the time you spend in the car doesn’t feel like gaps in the workday, but full parts of it?
RISMedia spoke with Marie Claire Ntam, a Compass REALTOR®, who shared some helpful tips along with an evergreen safety reminder:
“Remember, safety should always be the top priority when driving, so ensure that any multitasking does not distract from the road.”
Map out your errands/destinations for the day
If you can, map your daily schedule out based on location. It would be a waste if you had an open house in the morning, then had to drive back to your office for a client meeting, then go out for another open house only five minutes away from the first listing.
Prioritize the most important task as where you have to go first so that you have a concrete starting point. If, say, you have an open house on the same day as meetings (whether team or client), schedule the open house at the beginning of the day so that you aren’t driving back and forth.
Stay in touch
Just because you’re behind the wheel doesn’t mean you have to be off the grid. In fact, Ntam says she often schedules calls for when she knows she’ll be driving: “I reach out to clients who are currently in a transaction with me: seller listing, buyer under contract or buyer searching or in negotiations—essentially, check-ins with clients, follow-ups. (I) also call into team meetings during this time.”
While a first meeting with a client is better served face-to-face, follow-ups can easily be carried out over the phone. Just make sure you’re giving clients the proper attention so that the phone call format doesn’t seem like you’re blowing them off or deprioritizing them.
Prepare for once you’re in the office
Ntam states, “I use this time (driving) to reflect on my business, think about goals and brainstorm new marketing ideas or client engagement tactics.”
The planning can be both short- and long-term. You obviously can’t do a paper-and-pencil to-do list while you’re driving, but a mental checklist is still available. Think hard on the things you need to accomplish once you’re at the office and how they should be prioritized. Once you have a mental checklist prepared, start thinking about exactly how you’ll tend to the task.
Then there are the benefits of being alone: out-loud rehearsal. Ntam shares that she uses her driving time to, “master/prepare for a client presentation or negotiation. I practice the scripts or talking points out loud to build confidence.”
Listen to audiobooks and/or podcasts
Ntam shares her go-to listening material while driving: “I listen to news updates or market reports to keep abreast of any changes that might affect my clients or listings or impact the market.”
It doesn’t have to stop at newsbites; for longer drives, there are also audiobooks and podcasts. Listening is a hands-free activity that fills a void if you don’t have the time to sit and enjoy a paperbound book.
It can also be leisure or strategy, and no two days have to be the same. There’s plenty of business or real estate-focused books out there with audiobook editions. Find a series or author you like and pin down what you’ll be listening to in advance. You can easily pass around recommendations among your team, too.
