As a real estate agent, one of the many tools for success is your real estate pipeline. Especially if you are just starting out as a realtor or beginning to really grow your business, a real estate pipeline will help you:
- Stay on track
- Be organized
- Maintain your deals
This, in turn, will allow you to easily and effectively manage your business through all stages of the transaction process.
In this article, you will learn the ins and outs of a real estate pipeline and how you can easily create one for yourself. Let’s first define what a real estate pipeline is.
What is a Real Estate Pipeline?
To start, any sort of business can and should develop a pipeline, including those in the real estate industry. But, why? And what exactly is it?
In particular, a real estate pipeline is simply the process or sequence of stages that your real estate business goes through while buying or selling a home. Think of it as a type of sales funnel!
Now, a real estate pipeline will follow the property buying or selling process from start to finish. Whether you intend to buy or sell, the pipeline will begin with a new lead and hopefully result in a transaction for you and your client.
Even if you already have a step-by-step sales process, further developing your pipeline will help establish a steadier process when you sell or purchase a home.
So, what goes into a bomb-proof real estate pipeline?
8 Components of a Real Estate Pipeline
The great thing about developing your own real estate pipeline is that it can be custom to you and your needs.
For example, maybe you want to spend more time finding new leads. In this case, you can add more steps to the initial lead search process and really develop how you acquire new clients.
Or, maybe you want to focus on the actual listing itself when you reach that stage of the pipeline. So, you can decide to create a few more steps in your pipeline sharing the listing and reaching out to potential buyers.
Whatever you decide you want to focus on, here are 8 stages you may want to include in your real estate pipeline development.
1. Identify Your Ideal Lead
As a professional realtor, you know you always have to start with a lead and put them first. Therefore, a pretty obvious first stage of the pipeline is to identify your optimal lead and then devise a strategy to target them and acquire them into your funnel.
Begin by outlining what your ideal client looks like, who they are, what their demographic is, and most importantly – their main needs and pain points.
Once you have identified a potential client, then the next step is to reach out to them to start gathering information.
2. Reach Out & Follow Up
Next, you will need to contact the potential lead and start taking note of their needs and how you can help them.
You can begin with answering any questions they may have and providing some insight to how you can work with them. You also should follow up as needed to make sure they are responding, and once they have expressed interest, you can move forward with your process.
3. Get the ‘Go Ahead’
As you gradually move from client to client, you will begin to understand your target audience better and better. Now, you can start to nurture your leads – with the hope that your ideal leads will eventually sign on with you as their realtor and you can continue to foster your relationship with them in the real estate transaction process.
After solidifying interest and agreeing upon work, you and your client will go ahead with the real estate process and establish a partnership.
4. Secure a Written Contract
This is a huge step in the real estate pipeline! The official identifying item of moving forward with your client is a written contract. This contract will legally tie you to your client and establish all of the parameters of your transaction.
5. Establish a Listing
Arguably one of the most important steps in the real estate pipeline is the “Listing.”
After establishing the contract with your client to either buy or sell a property, you will want to list said property to then be able to actually make the sale or purchase.
If you are selling a property, you will want to be sure to post the listing in a way that will easily attract buyers, and if you are buying a property, it is important to reach out to your network and get your clients in touch with properties for sale. You can do this through your social media presence, online via your website, or on other applications.
6. Begin to Accept Offers
After listing, hopefully, you’ll find success in the next step of either accepting an offer to buy or sell.
Keep in mind that during this stage of the real estate pipeline, you and your clients might choose to secure your assets in an escrow. After all, you will always want to protect you and your client’s assets in case a deal falls through!
7. Close the Deal
Finally! If all goes well, you can close the deal for your satisfied clients. This may include paperwork, inspections, maintenance, and the final closing and signing. Here you will complete the final transaction.
8. Follow Up With Your Client
But, just because the deal is closed doesn’t mean you forget about your beloved clients! Instead, continue to nurture them by following up with your client simply for a friendly check-in and congratulations.
This last step is small but can have a lasting impact on client satisfaction. Perhaps they will even recommend you as a stellar realtor or leave you a positive review – all ways to help you draw in more future leads.
Quick Tips to Develop Your Real Estate Pipeline
We’ve now gone through some of the steps of the real estate pipeline. But what else do you need to know to develop your process? There are a few simple tips that can help your success as a real estate agent.
- Use a CRM database to track your process, keep clients and contact information, and stay on an organized timeline.
- Take notes and gather feedback on your pipeline. You may have to reevaluate what is and isn’t working so you can implement what is best for your business.
- Score and rank your tasks in order of importance, and that way you will know what you want or need to focus on.
Last but not least, be sure to update your real estate pipeline as time goes on. In this ever-changing world, change is inevitable. And those who see the most success are able to adapt and change with the times as well!
So, if there is a new innovation or technological advancement that can improve your real estate transactions, be sure to incorporate it into your overall pipeline plan!
Reach out to New Venture Escrow for Pipeline Development
Here at New Venture Escrow, we can help you develop your own pipeline. Through our agents’ escrow expertise, get the tools you need for your real estate transactions. If you are looking to buy or sell a property, connect with one of our agents and we will guide you through our pipelined escrow process with ease.
