Modern technology makes it easier than ever for employees to work from home—and that’s especially true for already-mobile workforces like real estate agents.
For many, that’s a good thing. It isn’t exactly unheard-of for agents to find themselves too busy to head into the office on a daily basis. And that’s exactly why home offices have become so popular.
Especially for newer agents, it can be hard to make the mental shift to working from home. So how can you help them become as productive as possible outside of an office environment? Here are a few tips to get them started.
1. Help them find their work style.
This may sound like a no-brainer, but if your agents are new, or are used to working in an office environment with management close at hand, they may not know how they work best. And if that’s the case, they’re going to have a bad time being effective while working remotely.
To help them make the shift, give them a few tests to help figure out their work style. Give them a few lower-priority projects to work on and ask them to monitor themselves. See how they split out the work, how they tackle tasks, what distracts them the most, etc.
2. Ask them to set up a dedicated space.
Just because your agents aren’t working in an office doesn’t mean they won’t need an office of some description! And for their purposes, just about anywhere can serve as a home office. The important part is that mentally, they can differentiate between home, and the home office—because feeling like you’re “at home” means you aren’t in a working mindset.
Ask your agents to find a location or two where they can consistently get their work done, even if that means sitting for a few extra minutes in the car to email clients or setting up camp at the local coffee shop, and to take the time to remove any known distractions from the area when they know they’re going to be there.
3. Make sure they have the right tools.
Much like working in the office, there are some tools that your agents are going to need to be able to work from home effectively.
Nowadays, most of the work a real estate agent needs to do can be done on a phone or tablet. And with TransactionDesk, it’s that much easier to send and sign contracts to clients—and to send them back to the office—from just about anywhere and without a file folder in sight.
Making sure your agents have what they need to work from wherever they are will help them be more productive, which means good things for your bottom line! What are your essentials for working remotely? Share in the comments below.
