How much free time did you have today? The job of a real estate agent can be incredibly time-consuming: marketing houses, meeting with clients, reaching out to prospective clients, networking with other realtors, and of course, mountains of paperwork. Anything you can do to simplify your daily tasks, or even get them off your plate altogether, can free up valuable time.

Get the right tools for the job

Regular mailings are a staple of almost every real estate agent’s business. Make sure the job goes as quickly and as smoothly as possible by keeping plenty of supplies on hand: professionally printed real estate postcards, self-inking address stamps, or company-branded return address labels. Better yet, locate a reputable company to handle your direct mail postcard campaigns from start to finish. You’ll stay on top of your marketing without sacrificing your time.

Get with the times

There’s a nearly endless supply of apps and software programs that can simplify the tasks real estate agents need to do most often, including synchronized file sharing and cloud storage, online faxes and electronic signatures, video conferencing and online meetings, email automation and CRM, or just about any other task you can think of. You’re almost certainly using some of these right now. Investing a little bit of time up front to determine which tasks eat up the most of your time will let you narrow the field down to the programs which will be the most useful for your business, as well as whether you need a free or a paid version. Beware of app overkill, however! Trying to learn too many new programs and processes at once can torpedo your efficiency right out of the gate.

Get a little help

You may think that you’re not ready to hire an assistant, or that you don’t have enough consistent work to make it worthwhile. But with the proliferation of virtual assistants and freelance or contract assistants, it’s easier than ever to delegate time-consuming administrative tasks. There are even entire firms of virtual assistants who specialize in working for real estate professionals! You may be surprised to find just how freeing it can be to outsource some of your least productive tasks.