RE/MAX Agent Work-Life Balance Over The Holidays

RE/MAX Agent Work-Life Balance Over The Holidays

If you’re a real estate agent we’ve got good and great news for you. The good news is the demand for real estate doesn’t stop over the holidays. The great news is… the demand for real estate doesn’t stop over the holidays.

With many buyers eying up the possibility of a holiday home post-covid, RE/MAX Agents have a huge opportunity not just locally but internationally to leverage their global network and assist international buyers.

We know the holiday season is busy enough as it is. With presents to buy and wrap, parties to attend, school plays to watch, and relatives to visit, it can be easy to neglect your business and your own energy levels.

That’s why we’re going to give some quick tips on how you can keep things ticking over with your core activities whilst also taking time to recharge.

 

 

 

 

Schedule your social media posts

Number one on the list has to be the automation of social media activities. If you haven’t done so already, check out content aggregators like Buffer or Hootsuite. Each of these tools has a free version with basic scheduling functions. If you primarily work with Facebook and Instagram, it makes more sense to use the built-in scheduler function in Facebook Business Manager.

Great news, you can now schedule stories directly from the Business Manager too!

Take some time to plan what you’re going to post over the holiday period and schedule it in advance. Make things easy on yourself and tick off the low-hanging fruit first: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day. These can all be simple messages of good wishes if you don’t want to spend too much time.

Remember though, this is the time of year screen time peaks, so you shouldn’t scrimp on your content output just because ‘tis the season. Use those low-hanging holiday days to springboard your motivation and put down three to four more content pieces per week.

Get started early, as this can take a few hours. However, you’ll be glad you did once the time comes to enjoy the season of goodwill.

 

 

 

 

Bring your CRM tool into play

Similar to your social media automation, responding to client requests can also be handled by your CRM tool. Make sure the pipeline is up and running so there are no unexpected errors whilst you yourself are offline. Your CRM prioritizes client communications and will let you know who needs to be called on what day. This brings us to our next point.

Plan your ON and OFF days - and stick to them!

Just as social media and client communications should be planned out in advance, you should also plan what you’re going to do (roughly) each day of the holidays. Make sure you have a clear objective for each day and define which days are reserved for you.

Bear in mind that the rest of the world might not be as motivated to work as you. So, don’t leave projects which require input from multiple people for the winter break. Either wrap them up beforehand or accept they will be left until the new year.

Mid-winter is the perfect time to work with those who want things moving forward (buyers/sellers) or to tick off some of the things you didn’t have time for during the year or could always do more of. E.g, prospecting, building a web presence, developing new marketing ideas or reaching out to old clients for reviews.

 

 

 

 

Be transparent with clients

Your customers don’t automatically know which days you’ll be available and which you’ll be with your family. Be clear about this as early as possible and let them know what measures are in place to keep the lines of communication open. For example, over certain days you won’t be responding to emails but you will check in with them on an agreed date.

Combine work with pleasure

Work doesn’t always need to be hard going, and the holiday season provides plenty of opportunities for productive fun. The holidays are one of the best times of year to reach out to new and existing clients. It’s something the best have been doing for generations.

Here are a few things you can do to stay keep business healthy whilst enjoying the season:

- Create personal holiday cards for new and existing clients.

- Organize a charity event in your area or volunteer.

- Host a festive open house event with warm drinks and cookies.

- Reach out to other agents in your area for a winter networking event.

- Catch people whilst they’re home. Give old and new customers a call.

It’s important to keep your productivity up over the holidays, but remember to prioritize.

Only do meaningful work

It can be easy to spread yourself too thin over the holidays, so it’s important to know what meaningful work is for you. If you’re not sure, we would recommend prioritizing these three work types:

- Critical:  Work which needs actioning right away such as deal closures or emergencies.

- Slow-burn benefits:  Networking events, PR opportunities, and charity work.

- Functional:  Tasks that need to be done such as checking emails and client updates.

 

 

 

 

Catch up on developments

This might not be everyone’s idea of an end-of-year activity, but taking the time to catch up with the latest real estate trends is a must for the coming year.

As well as any new technologies coming on to the market to make your job easier, you need to be aware of any upcoming regulatory or legal changes to your area.

Use your downtime to read through some of your most trusted real estate opinion leaders or refresh the fundamentals by watching a RE/MAX Europe YouTube series.

Conclusion

If you stay focused during the holiday season you will not only have a happy and productive winter season, you will also enter 2023 ahead of competing agents who closed down completely. Be sure to take the time to recharge your batteries but also keep yourself in good form for the coming year.