“I’m available 11 hours a day, seven days a week,” she said, “and unless they’re out visiting a property and want to put in an offer, I set that boundary early.”
Creating that cutoff time and making sure clients are aware of it early on are crucial steps brokers can take, according to Hawley, to keep expectations in check and carve out some time away from the phone or computer.
That’s easier said than done. “It’s hard because you want to say yes to every single opportunity and you want to be available to your clients,” she said. “In the first two years I used to answer calls, texts, and emails from 5:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. depending on my schedule and then realized that was not stable.
“I needed to set a hard line and unless there is a one-off and someone communicates it to me early, my clients and partners know when my availability is – and they respect it.”
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