Time Bandits And Productivity Saboteurs – Identifying And Managing Them
Today’s working environments are riddled with interruptions and distractions. Just when we get focused on one task, a new e-mail arrives, the phone rings, or someone stops by and off we go on a new tangent. Later, when we return to the original task, we need to get back up to speed before we can make any progress. The net result is lost time and greater anxiety.
Unfortunately, interruptions or distractions are a part of the workplace. Consequently, we must understand the nature of each to better manage them.
Dissecting Time Bandits
Productivity saboteurs originate from one of three sources – You, Them, and It. Let’s examine the role of each source in diminishing our productivity.
You. The most insidious time bandit is yourself. We each allow, even create, distractions that reduce our productivity and cause our workloads to pile up even higher. A classic example of this is flitting from task to task or place to place during the day. The act of just “touching” your work is a distraction you create rather than actually doing anything substantive on any one task. For example,does this sound familiar? You’ve got to get a task completed, but you find yourself incessantly checking your e-mail Inbox, your Twitter account or your Facebook updates. Nothing is getting done, but there’s a whole bunch of activity going on! The most productive way to manage this type of self-inflicted distraction is to sit quietly in front of the work you need to do. Yes, just sit there. Quietly …maybe with a blank screen or pen and paper in front of you. Let your mind settle down and allow yourself to think just about what it is you need to get done. Resist the urge to dart off to some other perceived exigency. As your brain settles down and begins to focus on the task at hand, you’ll discover the path to completion for this project.
Them. Everyone in your workplace is a potential time bandit. Without warning, these folks can pounce on you, delivering up huge interruptions. Some of these interruptions are substantive – they actually require your assistance. However, many of them are unnecessary and do nothing but cause you to veer away from your well-intended and productive efforts. Moreover, keeping an “open door” and managing by “walking around” are highly lauded management practices that must be considered when seeking to manage unnecessary interruptions for fear of communicating an unwanted message – leave me alone! The best tact is to divide your time physically between periods when interruptions are “acceptable” and periods when they’re not. Thus, during “acceptable” periods, make yourself available via the open door, etc. When the interruption occurs, quickly determine its priority and manage accordingly – deal with it right now, schedule time with the interrupter (in the future) to deal with the issue, or stand up (to indicate closure) and accept any physical manifestation of the interruption and place it in the Inbox for future consideration. Conversely, during “unacceptable” periods, make yourself unavailable via a closed door (with or without a note on the door asking not be disturbed) or simply by leaving – go to a place where you’re unlikely to be found such as a conference room or empty office.
It. The “it” to which I refer is most often technology. We are bombarded by various interruptions and easy-to-access distractions via modern technology. For example, take new message alerts! “You’ve got mail” became the banner of the Internet age. Today, busy workers deal with tens, if not hundreds, of e-mails every day, with a corresponding “Ping” and screen flash every time a new one arrives. What’s the point of knowing every time “You’ve got mail”!? If it’s so darn important, why aren’t you calling me or coming to see me? You get my point. The same goes with the onslaught of social media – updates to Twitter and Facebook and their progeny are bombarding us with largely unexamined and generally unimportant information. The best way to handle this particular productivity saboteur is to take command of the technology and drive it, instead of being driven by it. Specifically, turn off all new message/update alerts and visit each technology source as often as necessary to remain in control of the information being delivered via that channel. Thus, you can turn off your new e-mail alert and check it every 20 to 30 minutes to make sure you’re remaining responsive. With social media, check it on your breaks – they’re “social” by definition, so treat them as such!
Doing What You Can With What You Have
In short, interruptions and distractions can never be eliminated from our days. In fact, some matters are truly urgent and require an interruption. However, if you realize that these emergencies are in the great minority of events and construct mechanisms to efficiently attend to the rest of the productivity saboteurs that come at you during the day, you’ll find that your focus goes up and, along with it, your productivity and sense of accomplishment!
By: By: Paul H. Burton
Paul works with clients who believe individual performance drives organizational success. As the creator of the QuietSpacing productivity method, he is a frequent speaker and recognized expert on getting things done. Paul works with individuals, groups and organizations to create more productive working environments via high-content keynote addresses, interactive training seminars, and one-on-one coaching sessions. You can learn more about Paul’s work and subscribe to his complimentary newsletter – Six Minutes to Success – at www.quietspacing.com.
Article Source : Time Bandits And Productivity Saboteurs – Identifying And Managing Them : ArticleDashboard
Let go and your real estate business will grow! Contact us today to find out how a Virtual Real Estate Assistant can be that support for you.
3 Quick & Easy Ways To Get More Traffic To Your Site From Youtube
Youtube is definitely a social networking website. It gets millions of visitors each month looking for videos on topics that interest them the most. But even though Youtube is a social website, that doesn’t mean you can market your business on Youtube successfully.
In fact, alot of online business owners are using Youtube to promote their business successfully and get tons of new visitors to their website – and you could be one of them. The trick to use a few little-known marketing techniques that have been proven time and time again to get traffic from Youtube, and I will share some of them in this article for you.
The fact is, it doesn’t matter if you’re a realtor, lawyer or doctor – you can market your website via Youtube. Here are 3 ways to market your business whether it’s online or offline – via Youtube:
1) Submit your videos to Youtube
Sounds easy right? Duh. I wonder why so many business owners aren’t actually doing it. The fact is, by simply uploading your videos to Youtube you will get traffic from them. Many business owners are perplexed when it comes to social marketing, so they opt for the choice of not doing anything – which is a terrible mistake.
And if you have no idea of how to make a video for uploading to Youtube, then I have a special treat for you. There’s a great software on the internet that is free that you can use to create your Youtube videos. It’s called ‘Camstudio’, and it’s a great free tool for making 2-5 minute long videos in a snap.
When creating your video, you will want to write an interesting title for it. Write it for the user, not the search engines. You can’t trick the search engines, you can only trick yourself. The search engines will pick your video up after it’s popularity has grown and other people are linking to it voluntary. And if people are doing this, then that means your video is amazing – and this is what you are looking for.
In your video, you will want to show people how to do something, or you will want to share tips on a particular topic. There’s nothing wrong with sitting in front of a camera and speaking. It’s normal, and Youtube users have grown to accept it, and you should too. You will also want to include relevant keywords or ‘tags’ so that users can find your videos also. Here’s another great way to market your business or website on Youtube:
2) Include your URL on all your videos
It’s one thing to upload videos to Youtube for fun, but it’s another thing to upload videos to Youtube for business purposes and not to leave your website information somewhere.
When marketing on Youtube, you will want to include your contact information on all of your videos. This is how you will get traffic to your website, aside from your website information showing in your profile.
Believe it or not, users will actually type your URL into their browser to learn more, and when they do so, you want to be there to sell them on your products and services.
Don’t ever leave this crucial piece of information out. Without it, you’re efforts are doomed from the start. Here’s the last way to get traffic to your website via Youtube.
3) Inspire viewers to subscribe to your Youtube channel
With this technique, you can get repeat traffic to your new and latest Youtube videos, which will in turn be repeat traffic to your website site. This technique is similar to inspire visitors to subscribe to your email newsletter so that you can follow-up on them with great tips and advice.
When users subscribe to your Youtube channel, they get updates whenever you create a new video. So with a large fan base, your Youtube videos will become immensely popular – due to the number of visitors that constantly viewing your videos. And when your videos become popular – their Youtube search engine rankings increase, and this means more traffic for you.
A great way to spire people to subscribe to your Youtube channel is to simply briefly mention it at the beginning and end of your video. If users find your information worthwhile, they will subscribe to you. Simple as that.
Take these 3 tips for getting more traffic to your website using Youtube and watch your traffic count skyrocket. These techniques work if you use them, so start using them right now.
By: By: Adrian Hargray
FOR MORE INFO: Learn youtube traffic secrets you can use to earn money from Youtube simply and easily. To learn more, visit the following website for more details: www.instant-downloadz.com/viralyoutubetraffic.html
Article Source : 3 Quick & Easy Ways To Get More Traffic To Your Site From Youtube : ArticleDashboard
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Stress Management; Get Back To Nature To Find Your Inner Peace
Getting back into the garden is a great way of spending a few minutes connecting back to nature – it’s just as good as a meditation and if you are not a fan of sitting still doing nothing, this is ideal way for you to recharge your batteries.
Don’t worry, it doesn’t involve hugging a tree (but if you want to, feel free – I’ve heard they like being hugged!).
Just find somewhere peaceful that you can sit for a few minutes. If not your own garden, then a local spot in a park will be fine, but it needs to be away from all action.
Notice how the sun feels on your skin, the colours of the leaves and flowers, the smells and sounds of nature. Listen to the birds and switch off your mind from ALL modern life. Make sure you can’t be disturbed by your family or the telephone and don’t be tempted to take your laptop outside.
Once you have spent a few minutes reconnecting with real life (because nature is real life, not our high tech world), spend as long as you like reading a book or working if you have to. But if you are going to work outside, keep listening to the sounds around you as a way of staying connected. When you’ve finished, take a minute to appreciate the sights around you especially the trees/flowers or the sky if it’s a nice day.
If you do this occasionally, I absolutely guarantee that it will recharge you. Your energy level will feel higher than it did before you started. Just the fresh air and being cut off from technology (and all of the toxins that go with it) is enough to replenish you for the day.
I don’t do this everyday as, like most people I just don’t have time, but if we have a nice clear day, I try to do this once or twice a week just for 5-15 minutes. It really makes a difference.
Try it and see if you feel energised after spending just a few minutes appreciating nature.
An alternative option for bad weather; spend time with your pets.
If you haven?t got a pet, find one! Because just sitting and stroking a friendly dog/cat/rabbit will help to literally reduce your stress levels ? this has been proven by the experts and it is why the charity ?Pets as Therapy? began.
Spending time with a dog or cat calms you down AND helps your immune system to work better, so therefore speeds up recovery after an illness or operation.
By: By: Healing That Feeling
————————————
Mel Trudgett is a self development coach and the owner of Healing That Feeling.
Her unique programme has helped people from all over the world to easily overcome their stress, phobias, anger, depression, trauma, limiting beliefs and helped them to make big changes in their lives.
Visit www.healingthatfeeling.com to receive a free 7 day mini course which will show you to easily and holistically resolve YOUR problem issues.
Article Source : Stress Management; Get Back To Nature To Find Your Inner Peace : ArticleDashboard
Become A Better Blogger With These 5 Tips
One of the most important aspects of blogging is to develop your own writing style. There are millions of blogs and websites out there and if your blog and the way you write the content is in the same style as everyone else then you will find it hard to get noticed.
No matter how pretty your blog looks if the content you publish is not written in a style that is interesting, readable and informative people will not care. They will come once and never return. With a blog you want to develop a close relationship with your readers, to interact with them so that they do keep coming back for more.
The thing is that for most people find developing their own writing style is not the easiest thing to do especially, in the beginning. The key thing is to have a go and keep practising and your own personal style will eventually emerge.
To help you develop your own writing style try out these tips:
Tip 1
Avoid rambling on when you write a post. Keep it short and to the point.
Tip 2
Write in the first person and keep your blog posts down to a minimum of 100 words per post.
Tip 3
Before you write think about who you are writing to. For example, pretend you are writing to a friend and think about how you would start the conversation with them. As time goes on you will understand your readers more deeply and you will use this knowledge to develop the subject and the content of each post. The key is understanding their needs and wants and fulfilling those needs with the information you write to them about.
Tip 4
Keep your blog posts as informal as possible. Write as if you were having a conversation but make sure you omit any swear words!. A good technique is too read out aloud what you have written to see how well it flows. If it feels stunted and does not flow naturally to you then make the necessary changes until it does.
Tip 5
As the saying goes If you can’t beat them then, join them. A good way of improving your style is to learn from other successful and popular bloggers. The point I want to make clear is that you should never copy what they do but identify with what you think is working for them and adapt it and make it unique to you. The things you can look at are the length and frequency of their posting and the subjects they write about.
Peter Nibley has been writing articles for over 2 years on subjects he cares greatly about. Check out his new website which provides information about credit restoration and credit restoration services.
Article Source : Become A Better Blogger With These 5 Tips : ArticleBase
Peter Nibley -
About the Author:
As a full time writer, Peter Nibley researches and writes articles on subjects he is passionate about. You can visit his new website at http://www.creditrestorationadvice.com/ which provides information relating to credit restoration companies.
Make Money Online – Becoming A Better Video Marketer
Anyone who is able to make money online with video marketing is doing well for themselves. However, if you are not satisfied with the traffic that your videos are producing, it may be because your strategy is insufficient. What you are doing incorrectly might not be readily apparent, so you will need to do some exploring. For many of you who have been taking measures to make money online for a while, you are well aware of how important it is to test, and retest your strategies.
One thing that I can tell you right off of the bat, is that when it comes to using videos to market your products or services, you need to keep it simple. Your audience has a short attention span. They do not want to see you go on and on about how the ingredients in your products are picked at an altitude of 5000 feet. Rather, they want to know what you can do for them. How can what you are offering make their lives better. That is what you need to convey.
With that being said, you need to strap your marketing hat on tightly. Assuming that you have already identified your target customer, you have to show this customer that the answer to whatever they are trying to fix is contained within your offer. You have to show them that unless they take advantage of your offer, nothing will change for them.
Your video must make the viewer feel as if they will come out ahead by using your product or service, not you by making the sale. The full focus must be on the viewer, and the viewer alone. With that being said, your claims must be legitimate.
One thing that I am going to plead with you to avoid, is making a common assumption. This is an assumption which is frequently made by internet marketers. They assume that the potential buyer shares the same excitement in their product that they do. As such, they attempt to turn viewers into immediate buyers. Unfortunately, not very many people are willing to pull out their credit card and make a purchase after simply watching a video. Therefore, you need to use the video to get your foot in the door. Give the viewer enough information to become interested enough to want more information. Offer more information to the viewer by offering a free report which must be emailed. Once you have the visitors email address, you can market to them in the future. Do you see how that works? Now you have the ability to market to the viewer over a period of time.
When you convey your message via video, at the conclusion of the video, your viewers should be able to envision how great things will be if they take advantage of your offer. If you first target your niche market, then compose a video which clearly indicates that your product or service directly addresses the concerns of those in your niche market, they will have a difficult time turning their back on you. You will have made them an offer that they cannot refuse. Those who have mastered how to make money online, have mastered this technique.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to know your niche market like the back of your hand if you want to make money online long-term. Knowing your niche market enables you to get into their minds, know what they are thinking, and communicate with them in a compelling manner. Once you are able to do this, you will have all of the traffic that you will ever desire as a result of video marketing.
By: By: Brian Lett
If you are taking advantage of videos to Make Money Online, you are taking the right path. Take full advantage of your opportunity to Work At Home by getting the most out of video marketing. Check us out at SOSComplete.com
Article Source : Make Money Online – Becoming A Better Video Marketer : ArticleDashboard
Open House Ad That Didn’t Happen
by Lori Isachsen
You know when you have that nagging feeling you forgot to do something? Well, mine hit me at 4:00 in the morning.
“Oh my gosh! I never received the advertising proof for my client’s open house this weekend”.
How could I have missed this? I emailed the ad, like I always do to the newspaper rep and bcc’d my client. Plus I put a confirmation of email delivery. I was sure I got that at least. Maybe they just didn’t send the proof for some reason.
Can’t sleep now, I think I just may have screwed up. I get out of bed, wait for my computer to boot up and went right to my email ‘sent items’ folder. There it was and “OH NO!!” That horrifying feeling started coming over me as I looked at the email message and realized that I sent it to my client AND DIDN’T SEND IT TO THE NEWSPAPER. The confirmation did come but I didn’t open it and read it.
Now, I know, I have missed the deadline for the newspaper publication as it will be out today. To top it off, I didn’t have a proof ad reminder set up in my scheduler. It’s my way of making sure I cover everything off for advertising.
How could I have let this happen? I recall, in my mind, what was I doing when I typed this ad and why I didn’t follow through on my process. Just as I completed the ad and was filling out who was to get the email, I was distracted by a phone. Dealing with the phone call, at the same time, completing the recipient names on the email (both recipient names start with the same letter and appear in my list one right after the other). It all made sense now. I didn’t use the proper order for my recipients.
Once I clicked ‘send email’, I completely forgot to set up my reminder and moved on with the issues that I needed to deal with from the phone call.
Now I have to fess up and somehow make things right with my client. I forward an email to the newspaper rep, making a last ditch effort to see if somehow, someway I can still get the ad in. Then I send my client a text message advising what I had done and my sincere apologies, so it can all be handled first thing in the morning. Yes, all at 4:00am. I’m not one to let things carry on.
There’s nothing more I can do now but go back to bed and deal with the fall out tomorrow. I’m upset and frustrated with myself because not only have I just let down my real estate client but also their seller, which is a direct reflection of the realtors service. One little mistake has impacted many.
When I awoke again to face the music and call my client, to my pleasant surprise, I had a text message from my client “Oh well…stuff happens”. What a trooper! So understanding and great to work for!
The advertising rep asked me to call her right away, which I did. She called the realtor already via phone, (she is a super rep) and offered to put an ad in, just not in the normal Open House section. My client declined. The rep just wanted to know if I actually sent her an email at 4:00am and couldn’t believe that my clients were this important to me.
I’m proud to work with my clients and gain much gratification in not making mistakes, still from time to time, I do. All the organization, reminders, processes that are in place, are not perfect. Nevertheless, things happen and do, it’s how we cope with these challenges and mistakes.
Real estate assistants are human too, we can make errors, we do get overwhelmed and distracted. It’s just nice to know that when things do go wrong our clients are supportive enough to get past it.
I hope this has helped you in some way and please share your comments and experiences.
Author Bio: VA Certified and passionate about helping entrepreneurs succeed. As President and Owner of VA Contact, Lori Isachsen works directly with real estate professionals for over 5 years coupled with 25 years business experience in management, administration, accounting and computers in both the public and non-profit sectors. My clients enjoy the advantage and benefits of gaining their time to focus where they want to. Lori is skilled and highly proficient in organization, attention to detail, maintaining deadlines, establishing systems and strategic planning. Our goal is to listen to you and what you need in your business through communication and client satisfaction.
Copyright © 2010 Would you like to republish this article? You are free to do so as long as you include a link back to the full post, attributing the author, Lori Isachsen
8 Ways To Make Your Ads More Effective
I don’t know everything and if I have learned one thing about doing business on the Internet it is that the more you learn the more you don’t know. However, I have been doing business on the Internet since 1999 and I’ve managed to carve out a successful enterprise for myself with several profit streams. The largest percentage of my marketing and promotional efforts has been conducted through one simple method-Ezine Advertising.
Learn How to Run a Successful Article Marketing Campaign, inside http://www.TopArticleSubmission.com/
I don’t know everything and if I have learned one thing about doing business on the Internet it is that the more you learn the more you don’t know. However, I have been doing business on the Internet since 1999 and I’ve managed to carve out a successful enterprise for myself with several profit streams. The largest percentage of my marketing and promotional efforts has been conducted through one simple method-Ezine Advertising.
These are the 8 important lessons I’ve learned regarding Ezine Advertising and Marketing Success:
A common mistake many advertisers make is to attempt to do too much, or rather sell too much, in one ad. Sure you have lots of great products but you can’t sell them all in a few lines-at least not individually. Instead focus on the benefit your customer can achieve from all your products and promote that! People are much more likely to click on a link that BENEFITS them than a link that promises to sell them something.
For example, “Help your child reach their maximum potential” instead of “Try our many reading, writing, math, shapes and colors programs”
More importantly, tell the customer “what your product or service is going to do for him.”
It is important that you identify your Unique Selling Proposition before you begin your advertising program. This will determine which Ezines (or markets) you target as well as what you should include in your ad copy. Who will be interested in your product and why? What benefits does your product offer them?
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Don’t go for the sale in your ad! You are at a disadvantage because you can’t list all your products’ wonderful benefits in the space allowed. Also, there is only a small percentage of any Ezine audience that is ready to buy your product at the exact moment they view your ad. Yes, maybe they should be, but most people today live in the moment and if this isn’t the time they want to buy then they aren’t going to buy, end of story.
Article Source : 8 Ways To Make Your Ads More Effective -marcom writer : ArticleBase
Suhana Smith -
About the Author:
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5 Ways To Improve Your Adsense Earnings
The ones who have been there and done it have quite some useful tips to help those who would want to venture into this field. Some of these tips have boosted quite a lot of earnings in the past and is continuously doing so.
Here are some 5 proven ways on how best to improve your Adsense earnings.
1. Concentrating on one format of Adsense ad. The one format that worked well for the majority is the Large Rectangle (336X280). This same format have the tendency to result in higher CTR, or the click-through rates. Why choose this format out of the many you can use? Basically because the ads will look like normal web links, and people, being used to clicking on them, click these types of links.
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They may or may not know they are clicking on your Adsense but as long as there are clicks, then it will all be for your advantage.
2. Create a custom palette for your ads. Choose a color that will go well with the background of your site. If your site has a white background, try to use white as the color of your ad border and background. The idea to patterning the colors is to make the Adsense look like it is part of the web pages. Again, This will result to more clicks from people visiting your site.
3. Remove the Adsense from the bottom pages of your site and put them at the top. Do not try to hide your Adsense. Put them in the place where people can see them quickly. You will be amazed how the difference between Adsense locations can make when you see your earnings.
4. Maintain links to relevant websites. If you think some sites are better off than the others, put your ads there and try to maintaining and managing them. If there is already lots of Adsense put into that certain site, put yours on top of all of them. That way visitor will see your ads first upon browsing into that site.
5. Try to automate the insertion of your
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Adsense code into the webpages using SSI (or server side included). Ask your web administrator if your server supports SSI or not. How do you do it? Just save your Adsense code in a text file, save it as “adsense text”, and upload it to the root directory of the web server. Then using SSI, call the code on other pages. This tip is a time saver especially for those who are using automatic page generators to generate pages on their website.
These are some of the tips that have worked well for some who want to generate hundreds and even thousands on their websites. It is important to know though that ads are displayed because it fits the interest of the people viewing them. So focusing on a specific topic should be your primary purpose because the displays will be especially targeted on a topic that persons will be viewing already.
Note also that there are many other Adsense sharing the same topic as you. It is best to think of making a good ad that will be somewhat different and unique than the ones already done. Every clickthrough that visitors make is a point for you so make every click count by making your Adsense something that people will definitely click on.
Tips given by those who have boosted their earnings are just guidelines they want to share with others. If they have somehow worked wonders to some, maybe it can work wonders for you too. Try them out into your ads and see the result it will bring. If others have done it, there is nothing wrong trying it out for yourself.
Article Source : 5 Ways To Improve Your Adsense Earnings -fiction writing article : ArticleBase
Suhana Smith -
About the Author:
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It’s Time to Give It Up!
Time-sapping administrative tasks are a distraction for any real estate professional. But when you’re accustomed to doing the work yourself or think that no one else can do something as well as you can, it’s often hard to delegate.
“Only I have the extra, special, super skills to do this task”
“By the time I teach someone else how to do it, I may as well have done it myself!”
While these are valid reasoning’s, don’t let these barriers hold you back from greater success. Get rid of the idea that you’re the only person who can do anything right. Other people have skills that you don’t have.
Most realtors fail to realize that you must focus on results in order to reach the next level.
You need to be aware of the fact that as a professional real estate agent you just don’t have one job. When you are doing too much by yourself, or you’re spending hours working on a large number of different projects, this is a sign that you will need to begin delegating tasks to an assistant.
Here are 5 Key Tips that will help you get over those barriers and take a well-planned and logical approach to delegation:
1) Figure out what needs to be delegated – Choose tasks that you tend to drag out because you don’t enjoy doing. These tasks that are stressing you out are only sabotaging your chances of personal and professional advancement.
2) Be picky when choosing the correct person – It may take time, but by having thorough discussions about your expectations and the other person’s ability, will allow you to make a good decision about who you choose to assist and support you.
3) Provide Clear Instructions – Having clear documentation outlines the details of the work and provides all of the necessary information that is important. But don’t leave it at that. Once everything has been reviewed take time to answer any questions that may arise. An experienced and trained assistant will guide you through this process.
4) Follow the work and provide feedback – When you have found help don’t simply write them off and forget about them. Follow up to ensure its being done correctly and to your specifications. This will allow you to monitor the work and provide feedback for improvements.
5) Keep checking on what needs to be delegated – Business responsibilities change, so your delegation needs will also change. Regularly check what you have coming in and who you are delegating it to in order to determine if you need to outsource more work. This will help you anticipate any changes as they occur.
It is difficult to excel at multiple things simultaneously.
Your time is valuable! With delegating, you can enjoy more time and flexibility to focus on bigger responsibilities such as planning and strategizing, coming up with new ideas, pursing business prospects and ultimately allowing you to focus on the bigger picture.
Let go and your real estate business will grow! Contact us today to find out how a Virtual Real Estate Assistant can be that support for you.
Share your comments with us!
Author Bio: VA Certified and passionate about helping entrepreneurs succeed. As President and Owner of VA Contact, Lori Isachsen works directly with real estate professionals for over 5 years coupled with 25 years business experience in management, administration, accounting and computers in both the public and non-profit sectors. My clients enjoy the advantage and benefits of gaining their time to focus where they want to. Lori is skilled and highly proficient in organization, attention to detail, maintaining deadlines, establishing systems and strategic planning. Our goal is to listen to you and what you need in your business through communication and client satisfaction.
Copyright © 2010 Would you like to republish this article? You are free to do so as long as you include a link back to the full post, attributing the author, Lori Isachsen
Why Categorize Your Contacts
Every contact database, whether you use Outlook, Top Producer, IXACT Contact or others, has a feature called Contact Type or Category.
Working with many Realtors, this seems to be an area, with management of their database, that either gets over used, never used or is just plain used incorrectly. I’ve seen many contact database systems set up with so many categories or types that they become too confusing or categories have the same meaning. Having a process on managing how a contact is set up, right at the very beginning, will save loads of time down the road.
This feature is used to easily view and manage the way you interact with the contacts that you set up within your database. When doing mass emails, letters or postcards on the fly to specific contacts, the category or contact type will make it easier and faster.
Here are a few tips on how to organize your contact categories or types.
1) Make a list of the types of contacts that you associate with, right now, in your real estate business.
(These can be your buyers, sellers, prospects, active listings, other Realtors, Realtor referrals, banks, lawyers, business associates, personal, etc.)
2) Think of the different types of marketing that you do or may want to do in the future. Information you will send to your various categorized contacts.
(Will you send a monthly newsletter or possibly schedule weekly emails of your new listings or sending out yearly Christmas cards)
3) Determine if you need to separate the names on your list into more defined categories based on how often you need to access their information AND if it is necessary to market to them.
(For example, do you need a category for lawyers because you frequently contact them for transactions. Or maybe you may combine a category for banks and mortgage companies. Possibly put insurance companies, home stagers, management companies into your business associates)
You can always refine your contacts as you need or as you grow your real estate business. The one thing to keep in mind is that it does not have to be complex and confusing to use your contact categories or types. Keep it simple!
Contact us if you would like to know more about how you can get help with your contact database management.
Please share your comments!
Author Bio: VA Certified and passionate about helping entrepreneurs succeed. As President and Owner of VA Contact, Lori Isachsen works directly with real estate professionals for over 5 years coupled with 25 years business experience in management, administration, accounting and computers in both the public and non-profit sectors. My clients enjoy the advantage and benefits of gaining their time to focus where they want to. Lori is skilled and highly proficient in organization, attention to detail, maintaining deadlines, establishing systems and strategic planning. Our goal is to listen to you and what you need in your real estate business through communication and client satisfaction.
Copyright © 2010 Would you like to republish this article? You are free to do so as long as you include a link back to the full post, attributing the author, Lori Isachsen
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