The real estate industry is once again booming, which makes this the perfect time to think about how you can better streamline your business. It’s easy to get caught up in day-to-day operations without thinking about efficiency and organization. What are the benefits of streamlining your business, you say? Well, a percentage of your time is devoted to serving your clients, a percentage is devoted to business development (marketing, planning for growth, etc.), and a percentage is devoted to administrative duties (i.e., actually running the business). By streamlining your operations, you can reduce the amount of time spent on administrative duties and spend more time on business development and serving your clients, which means more growth! Three simple steps are the key to better organization:
Lease Agreement Software
Lease agreement software is a must-have for real estate professionals. However, many are not getting the most out of their software. This software not only makes it easy to create customizable leases, it also maintains your contact list (important for those moments you need to find a client’s information on the fly!) and keeps track of your paperwork. The importance of an efficient filing system cannot be stressed enough, especially a paper-free system. Set a time each week to scan any leases, contracts, or other paperwork that has accumulated and file it in your computer system. Create online folders for each type of lease. Finding the right software makes this process incredibly easy and saves you time! If you absolutely need to preserve physical paperwork as well, then create a color-coding system and designate different drawers for different types of leases. Make sure to throw away outdated files monthly or quarterly.
Book Keeping
Use Microsoft Excel or a similar program to track where money comes and goes. Doing it all on the computer prevents paper clutter and promotes efficiency. Excel has built-in functions that do the math for you. Furthermore, when tax time rolls around, you will save significant time by having all of the information you need in one program, right at your fingertips.
Time Management Program
For businesses with three or more employees, a time management program (such as SharePoint or Alfresco) will improve communication and keep employees on track with their deliverables. The “shared calendar” feature reminds employees of important meetings and deadlines, and the “task list” feature enables supervisors to assign tasks to specific people, who receive notification of the task as soon as it is created. Time management programs also provide a platform for uploading and sharing files and sending messages internally. These programs reduce the amount of time spent speaking with employees about their progress on projects and improve efficiency on multiple levels.
