Do You Delegate? It’s the Best Way to Buy Back Time
Many real estate agents love the idea of having an assistant, but once they hire someone, they’re not quite sure how to proceed. If you’ve been doing everything on your own up to this point, handing over control of even the smallest tasks to someone else can make you feel like you’re losing control of your business. But that doesn’t have to be the case. The choice to delegate tasks shouldn’t be stressful. It should free more of your time to spend working directly with clients, and planning for the future. If you are thinking about hiring an assistant, or utilizing the services of a shared assistant in your office, here are several tasks you can delegate to them: 
Licensed assistants can:
Show Properties & Run Open Houses — As much as you’d love to be at every showing, at some point it’s just not feasible. Allowing your licensed assistant to show properties and host open houses almost gives you the power of being in two places at one time.
Help with Listings — Updating the MLS and preparing packets and listing presentations are all time-consuming tasks that are perfect learning opportunities for licensed assistants.
Facilitate Home Appraisals and Inspections — Assign your assistant the tasks involved with coordinating inspections and appraisals including scheduling appointments, preparing paperwork, meeting with appraisers and inspectors and following up when needed.
Coordinate Closings — Keep all the moving parts of a closing working smoothly by allowing your assistant to handle them. Working with the broker and trafficking all necessary documents are important skills any assistant will be happy to learn.
Unlicensed assistants can:
Help with Marketing — From coordinating mailings to setting up email blasts, work with your assistant to set up a marketing calendar, then let them manage it and keep it on task.
Maintain Your Database — A messy database is a like a cluttered mind; it makes everything more difficult. Give your assistant the project of cleaning up, and then maintaining a clutter-free database.
Be in Charge of Day-to-Day Tasks — Ordering supplies, filing, and keeping the work space neat and organized can all be left up to your assistant.
Help you Prioritize — Who called? Who are you supposed to call? What time is that showing? Even if you let your phone keep track of your schedule, it’s still nice to have another person help keep you on track with gentle reminders.
With a little time, patience and trial-and-error, you and your assistant will determine the arrangement that works best for both of you. Training your assistant on how you want things done will be more effective than just asking them to complete a task with no direction. Offer feedback, both praise and constructive criticism, to keep your assistant motivated and engaged. Now that you have an idea of the types of tasks you can delegate, go out and make the most of all your extra time!