Top 4 Personal Digital Assistants to Try Today

The typical real estate professional juggles many details. On a day-to-day basis, responsibilities vary and can range anywhere from administrative tasks and responding to leads, to venturing out into the field with clients. A major roadblock to success for most real estate professionals is keeping everything organized AND keeping in touch with clients at the same time.

In the end you find yourself busy, but not very productive.

While it may not be feasible to hire a personal assistant, there are many digital assistants available to help you boost your productivity. Here are four to try today:

1. Siri

If you're an iOS user, you've more than likely used Siri for one thing or another. This voice-controlled virtual assistant can do much more than crack a joke. According to CNN tech, "Siri is the best at understanding natural language. It can pick up on multiple ways of asking the same questions, so you don't need to worry about remembering the exact phrasing for commands."

You can use Siri in a number of ways, like asking for directions, setting reminders, posting to social media, and searching the web. Did you know you can also set location based reminders? Here is an example: say you want Siri to remind you to follow up with a new lead when you arrive at the office. Simply enable the feature with the steps below and tell Siri.

1. Enable location services for reminders under Settings > Privacy > Location Services
2. Add your work or home address to your contact card in Contacts.
3. Then go to Settings > General > Siri > and tap My Info. Tap your contact card to add it to My Info.
4. Tell Siri, "[Contact] is my home"
5. Repeat for work, school or any other frequent location
6. Now Siri can do reminders for when you leave or arrive somewhere

2. Cortana

Cortana is designed by Microsoft and is available on their desktops, mobile devices, and Xbox One consoles. Its reach also expands to Android and iOS mobile devices. Best of all, according to Microsoft, "the more you use Cortana, the more personalized your experience will be."

A great way to use Cortana: Capture to-dos and ideas. "Hey Cortana, write this down: Write new blog post about cleaning hacks to keep your home looking show-ready until sold."

3. Alexa

Alexa is the intelligent personal assistant developed by Amazon. "Unlike mobile-based virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa is centralized within dedicated, in-home Amazon devices -- most notably the Amazon Echo, an always-on, always-listening Internet-connected speaker," according to Ry Crist of CNET.

Use Alexa to make sure you are prepared for the day ahead. Check the traffic, weather, and your calendar appointments so you can make sure nothing gets in your way!

4. Google Now

Google Now is an additional productivity tool offered by Google. According to Digital Trends, "If you let Google Now learn about you and your habits, then it can throw up information that it thinks you might be interested in. News, sports scores, weather, and traffic information is served up in real time based on your previous movements and searches. Information is served up in the form of cards, which you can tap for more detail or swipe away to ignore."

Want to quickly calculate your commissions for a sale? Or be updated when your favorite blogger releases a new post? Google Now can do all this and more!

This article originally appeared in the ListHub newsletter.