How Automated Key Management Improves Time Management

Estate agents have a busy job. They are marketers, sales agents, and administration experts all at once, and they carry a considerable amount of responsibility. Clients trust them to have expert knowledge of the local market, to effectively negotiate appropriate pricing to maximise sales and to ensure all legal requirements are met.

In addition, they have the day-to-day jobs of client management, dealing with enquiries from potential buyers or renters, valuing properties, producing promotional material, keeping the website updated, writing contracts, and liaising with other services such as cleaning companies, surveyors, printers, and maintenance contractors.

Whether they are dealing in property sales or rentals, estate agents face a thousand and one tasks at the start of each day, and the to-do list just seems to get longer. That’s before they have even set out on client viewing appointments for the day. They have long work weeks and are called upon to put in unsocial hours in the evenings and on weekends. In fact, according to research by Careersmart, estate agents work more than 50 hours a week, on average.

It’s no wonder, then, that keys get lost or misplaced. There’s an easy solution for how to manage keys for property management, and these general time management tips will also help.

Time Management Techniques

Time management for estate agents works on the same principles as it does for any busy professional. The more organised you get, the more time you get back; and in order to get organised you will need some help by automating processes where you can. It might take a little discipline to put the advice into practice but using these tips for managing your daily schedule will reduce wasted time-critical for successful estate agents.

1. Prioritise Your Daily Tasks

Maybe it feels counter-productive to pause and think when your business is so hectic, but in this case, you need to take time to make time. Lurching from one emergency to the next is no way to organise your life, so take an hour at the end of each workday to plan your strategy for the next morning. Factor in a couple of slots for unexpected urgent matters, and then just follow your plan. Knowing exactly how you’re going to tackle the following day will also let you relax and put work out of your head for the evening.

2. Only Work at Work

It sounds obvious not to take your work home with you, but it’s extremely important to take time out to refresh and recharge, especially now that more and more of us are working from home on a regular basis. A study by Stanford University found that productivity takes a nosedive when a person works more than 50 hours a week, and the more hours you put in, the less you accomplish. The result is cumulative too; you are so tired from working long hours that all your work time becomes less effective. So, plan your schedule, follow the itinerary, and then put it away until the next day.

3. Maintain a Schedule

Waking and sleeping at the same time every day and following a healthy morning routine will all help you have more energy, be more productive and have less stress. It goes without saying that your morning shouldn’t start by checking your phone for messages. Starting your day with exercise has become a bit of a cliche in modern times, but a study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that finding time for exercise in the morning improves attention and the ability to make decisions for the whole day.

4. Automate Where You Can

A great customer relationship management (CRM) system reduces wasted time for estate agents by keeping track of your sales leads and your customers. Similarly, an automated key management tool, like the one offered by Keyhive, will ensure you never again have to spend valuable time hunting for lost keys or following up on them when they haven’t been returned.

Benefits of Property Key Management

How to manage keys for property management? It’s surprisingly easy! When you sign up for an automated key management system for estate agents, it will take all the hassle out of key tracking. No more manual key logs, no more lost keys and no more ringing around trying to find out who had it last. Thanks to real-time tracking, keys are one thing you can just forget because you will always know where they are.

Using key management systems for estate agents is like finding extra hours in the day that just didn’t exist before.

They offer these great advantages:

• Fast and easy checking in and out with only a tap
• Key tracking so you know where it is, who with and when it’s expected back
• Customised automatic email reminders to the keyholder when it should be returned
• Tracking in real-time
• Access for the whole team

Not only will this kind of system remove unnecessary additional stress and wasted time, but it can also pre-empt those old arguments and finger-pointing between team members. Every office has that one person who forgets to return the key every time, but with a key management system, you no longer have to be the one to remind them. Less stress, less strife.

Estate agents have a long list of tasks that keep them busy, but thanks to automated tracking systems, key management doesn’t have to be one of them.