Time is a luxury real estate agent’s most precious commodity. The more time an agent has, the more time they can spend on networking and nurturing client relationships, which is directly connected to real estate success.
But too often, agents find themselves caught up in the details, like paperwork, the technical ins and outs of marketing listings and social media—not necessarily because they’re the best at it, but because they’re busy and on autopilot. There’s an underlying belief that if they don’t do it themselves, it won’t get done and their business won’t grow.
However, real estate success stories are rarely created without the help and support of others. Fortunately, it has never been easier to outsource tasks, and there are at least three that most agents can afford to delegate to experts so that they have more time to focus on client-facing matters.
1. Administrative Tasks
The road to real estate success is paved with far more administrative tasks than anyone realizes before they start their luxury real estate journey. There are supplies to be ordered, meetings and business trips to be scheduled, managing a client database, preparing forms, and more.
In the beginning, it can be hard to juggle all of it, but the cost of hiring an assistant or virtual assistant can be a bit intimidating. Even if you’re a seasoned luxury real estate agent, if you’ve never outsourced these types of tasks before, it can seem like a costly experiment.
One way to get around that is by hiring an intern. There are plenty of websites dedicated to finding and hiring an intern for free these days in exchange for giving them job experience, and you can find them with a simple Google search.
You may be dealing with a younger crowd, but many people rely on unpaid internships to get great referrals for future positions and have a lot of incentive to do a great job handling your simple organizational tasks.
2. Social Media
The importance of social media marketing keeps increasing, but your time for it might not be. Hiring a social media marketer to take care of your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram accounts can save you anywhere from 5-10 hours per week, if not more.
Again, there are plenty of sites online that put you in contact with people who can take over this task for you. Posting a job description on any of these sites for a social media marketer with some experience in real estate will likely bring in at least a few qualified prospects who you can interview to find the right fit.
This is one of the areas of your business that might seem like a needless expense if you don’t personally see the value in social media marketing yet or aren’t seeing a return on your own personal efforts, but that’s exactly why you need an expert to take over this aspect of your business. With the right social media marketer, a couple of things can happen. First, your online presence looks more trustworthy if a prospect happens to click on one of your Facebook ads or looks you up online. The second thing to consider is that the regular effort will eventually compound and will help with some of your organic lead generation. Consistency is key, and hiring someone who has the time and expertise in this area can positively impact your bottom line over time.
3. Listing Marketing
Just like social media marketing, getting some help with your listings can not only free you up for networking, client relations and doing what you do best, but also greatly improve your listings.
If you aren’t a strong writer, hiring a copywriter online or locally to write your MLS listing or the copy for a mailer can save you some time and stress. Similarly, a copy or content writer can help with crafting your blog posts to highlight certain listings or Facebook ad copy.
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Diane Hartley is the president of the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, a premier independent authority in training and designation for real estate agents working in the upper-tier residential market. Hartley brings her passion for luxury marketing and more than 20 years of experience growing and leading businesses to her role as president of the Institute.
