Realtors here is an Easy Filing System for your home office

You have an important listing presentation and you need to find the prospect’s file. It is not on your desk, so you look in your filing cabinet. Now, where did you file it? Under P for Prospect? L for Listing Presentations? W for Website Leads? Or did you use the prospect’s name? And, if so, did you file by last name or first name? Ahhh!

Realtors are you have often experienced, the seemingly simple act of locating a file can be frustrating. You know it is in the filing cabinet somewhere. But you just cannot remember exactly where you put it.

Agents, on the surface, this may sound like a trivial problem. However, a poor filing system can eat up a lot of time … time that could be spent on more important activities, such as following up on leads or building relationships with past clients.

So what is the solution?

Here is the secret to quickly and easily finding files…

File by number, not by letter.

Most people instinctively file alphabetically. The problem with this approach is that there are too many options. Do you file income tax statements under T for Taxes or B for Bookkeeping? And, when you decide, will you remember months later when you need to find that file again?

A much better system is to file numerically.

Here is how it works:

• Assign each file a number, and organize these in your filing cabinet in numerical sequence. (1, 2, 3, etc.)
• On your computer, create a Master List of these file numbers and a description of the contents in each.
• When you make a new file, simply label it the next number available. For example, if you have 52 files, your new file will be labeled #53.

A numerical system makes filing, and finding files later on, a lot easier. For example, when you need to find your file on John Smith, you would simply open up your Master List and, using your word processor’s search function, find that name. John Smith will be instantly highlighted next to the correct file number. It takes just seconds!

Takeaway Point. Realtors do not waste your valuable time looking for files. Use a numerical filing system in your home office.