Recently, we’ve been talking a lot about Canva (a free online design tool) here on our blog – and we’ll be covering a ton of great tools in our Workshop Series throughout the year – BUT, I want to take a moment to make sure that you aren’t letting all of these amazing opportunities distract you from what really makes money in your business.

I know, Canva is really cool – and I bet you can see yourself creating that million dollar ad, or some incredibly engaging video. The reality is that we all get excited from time to time about new tools and strategies that can improve our businesses, especially with something as easy as Canva, but according to a McKinsey Global Institute Study, professionals only spend about 40% of their work day actually doing productive tasks. That means people waste an awful lot of time every single day on things they shouldn’t really be doing, and what’s worse for REALTORS® is that wasted time leads to fewer commission dollars in the grand scheme of things.

Stay Focused While You Explore New Solutions

At a basic level, you need to manage the day to day for your current clients, but that doesn’t propel your business forward in any way. To do that, you’ll need to either generate new leads, or create referral and repeat business from those people that are most likely to work with you.

We’ve demonstrated this before – but one of these methods is far superior to the other when it comes to creating a consistent income. By building relationships with your sphere of influence, and following up using the correct referral programming triggers, you can grow a consistent business at a pace that far exceeds trying to work cold leads.

New Solutions Should Fit Your Business Model

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you shouldn’t incorporate new tools like Canva into your business, it has a wide set of applications that range from glossy marketing pieces to some personal follow up cards I just want you to keep in mind when you learn a new skill, you should first try to apply it to the part of your business that will have the largest impact. 

In this case, that might mean using Canva to create some personal follow up pieces instead of that flashy Ad campaign. I know, that’s probably not exactly what you had in mind but I promise you’ll benefit more in the long run when you prioritize your existing relationships (which we already know are 50% more likely to convert into a sale or referral) over cold leads.

Where is Time Spent Most Valuable?

I’d like you to ask yourself how much time you routinely have available to try new tools and systems, and also how much experience and expertise do you have in understanding whether something will work or not?

Just like buyers and sellers will trust you as an expert, and leave the marketing, negotiating and paperwork they aren’t poised to deal with to you, oftentimes it’s best for you to also use an expert or system that’s already been refined and has proven results.

The Balancing Act

Ultimately, you have to find a balance between trying new things and doing what works in your business. If you follow along every week here on Agent Inner Circle, you know that we bring you tips, tricks, tools, strategies and technologies from around the industry, but no matter what we share, it all relates back to our core principle that “relationships generate more commissions than any other known marketing”. 

So When it comes to finding a balance in your business, make sure nurturing, bonding, engaging – and even generating new relationships – is your priority. There’s only one system I’ve come across that does this for agents, and that’s the personal marketing newsletter from Service For Life!®. The good news is, this system takes no time at all to learn, to incorporate into your business – or to see results from – so it can run in the background of your business and allow you more time for exploring new tools and strategies on the front end!

Join our Canva for Real Estate Master Class February 2nd from 2 – 4 pm EST! You’ll learn how to:

1. Setup your Canva account with your own branding
2. Create highly-engaging social media posts
3. Design a print piece that gets responded to
4. Build a video template that you can use over and over again!
5. Bonus – get 3 custom templates you can use that day to start generating business!

Sign up HERE – you’ll need to be a member of the Agent Inner Circle Facebook Group before you can register!