In the real estate industry, agents must have a clear and organized process for managing their real estate business in order to thrive. Whether it's the buying or selling process, having a systematic workflow allows agents to know what steps to take in dealing with leads, clients, and referrals.

We call this process a pipeline.

So, why is it important for realtors, and how do we make a successful pipeline? Before we take an in-depth discussion, let's freshen up our knowledge of what a pipeline is.

What is a Real Estate Pipeline?

Essentially, a real estate pipeline is a systematic process that allows you to manage and track your interactions with warm leads, hot leads, existing clients, and referrals throughout the buying or selling process. It helps ensure you nurture them appropriately at each stage until they close a deal with you.

Why Do Realtors Need a Good Pipeline?

Realtors need a pipeline to ensure a consistent flow of leads, clients, and transactions. The real estate market can be unpredictable, and every transaction can take time to process and close.

By maintaining a good pipeline, you can keep track of your progress with potential clients and follow up on them regularly. This helps you build and nurture relationships with leads and clients over time, increasing the likelihood of them choosing you when they are ready to buy or sell.

Additionally, a well-built pipeline can help you focus on the most promising leads, by prioritizing activities that will turn your leads into clients. It allows you to use your time and resources more efficiently and effectively.

How Do I Create a Successful Pipeline?

You can use many tools and techniques to convert leads into clients and close successful transactions. The components we'll be discussing are essential and should serve as some of the basic foundations in any realtor's pipeline, even if each pipeline may differ. What's important is, as a real estate professional, you know how to create your own pipeline to help you succeed.

The components of a strong real estate pipeline are the following:

• Target Audience

Identifying your target audience is crucial as it enables you to design a strategy to attract and capture them as your leads. Look into your target audience's demographics, interests, pain points, income, lifestyle, profession, and many others—this essential information helps you determine what type of audience you want to work with.

• Marketing Plan

Once you’ve determined your target audience, it’s time to create your real estate marketing plan. Strategies include creating your Brand Identity as a buyer or a seller’s agent, developing your Unique Selling Proposition, identifying your Marketing Channels (e.g. posting on social media platforms), and setting up Communication Strategies on how you want to approach your target audience. 

• Lead Generation

The next step is to generate and collect leads from your target audience who are in their real estate journey. Strategies such as using websites and landing pages, email marketing, posting on social media, surveys, and forms are some great tools that realtors can use. As you’re generating leads, it’s a good practice to qualify them to better know them and tailor your approach. This also saves you time and energy as you can focus more on promising leads.

• Lead Nurturing

Building relationships and nurturing trust with your leads and existing clients is an important aspect in your real estate pipeline. Setting up showings, preparing sales listings, doing follow-ups on existing clients and referrals, and conducting drip campaigns via email and text messages about market updates are some of the important activities that can be done during this stage. 

• Transaction Management

As a realtor, it is your responsibility to help your clients through the due diligence process. The main purpose of the due diligence process is to identify potential issues or risks associated with the property by conducting a thorough inspection before purchasing or investing in it. From reviewing public records, appraisal, property inspection and all the way to legal reviews of contracts and other legal documents; your clients will be very grateful for your guidance during this process.

Other things that happen under transaction management include: getting leads under contract, closing deals, and commission distribution.

• Tracking & Metrics

Another essential component is tracking and analyzing the results of your pipeline to see if your strategies are working and identify which ones need improvement. It’s important to track numbers of leads generated and their sources (e.g. your website, landing page, social media, etc.), and also your conversion rate (percentage of leads that convert into clients). The analyzed data can also help you identify patterns and trends in the real estate industry.

Additionally, identifying your average sales price helps you understand the types of properties and clients you are attracting. It allows you a better understanding of your potential commissions.

Another tool you can use is the Customer Relationship Management (CRM), where you can visualize and streamline your pipeline, making everything easier for you. 

There are more metrics to track and analyze, such as ROI, Client Satisfaction, Time to Close, and many more. By keeping track of metrics and constantly evaluating your results, you can make data-driven decisions to improve your business and achieve your goals as a real estate professional.

More importantly, knowing and understanding what goes into your pipeline will give you an advantage in choosing the right tools that best fits your needs. In our next blog, we will discuss how to leverage technology to streamline your pipeline.