How to Build Your Real Estate Sales Funnel

In order to be successful as a real estate agent, you need more transactions every year to earn higher revenues. The challenge, of course, is finding new clients. At the heart of it, the best way to find new clients is to expand your network and make new contacts. To accomplish that goal, you have to work hard to build your real estate sales funnel that starts with leads at the top and ends with clients giving you their business. For modern real estate agents, that requires smart use of online tools and other resources at your fingertips. Here are three ways to build that funnel.

Create awareness about your brand

How many people know you as a real estate agent? Your initial goal should be to increase this number. The Internet is your partner here: Set up a website, get on social media, invest in SEO and possibly ads on each platform. From there, create a capture page - a landing page on your website that will get you contact information of your prospects. The capture page can include different calls to action from your visitors, prompting them to subscribe to your newsletter, schedule a showing, or set up an appointment. You can use this information to follow up with visitors to your site by sending them regular emails, staying in touch so that they think of you when it comes time to buy or sell.

Build trust among prospects

Real estate is not like buying a burger or a coffee. It involves a lot of money, so trust is essential. If a homebuyer or seller doesn’t trust that their real estate agent is looking out for their best interests, they’ll find an agent that is. Establish your authority in real estate with your email and website content. Provide commentary on market trends, talk about the neighborhoods in which you work, or offer advice for buyers and sellers. Develop a specialty or a brand (luxury real estate, first-time homebuyers, etc) and work that angle. If you have a blog, seek opportunities to provide guest content for other real estate outlets.  This information gives you an opportunity to showcase your knowledge.

Work to get a high number of referrals

Word of mouth is still one of the best ways to get business. The most popular and successful real estate agents get much of their business through referrals. It may seem like your role in this phase is a passive one - do a good job, be referred - but it requires a lot of follow-up. The key is to keep developing your network while leveraging your brand so that you’re the first association people make when they hear someone mention needing a realtor. Stay in touch with your clients through once a week email so that they have your name on their mind. Similarly, this is an opportunity to partner with industry colleagues, rather than isolating yourself. Attend networking events and meet other real estate pros in your area, then keep in touch with regular emails or coffee meetings to stay on their radar. Be extremely reliable - this means prompt response to emails and calls, as well as being on time for all appointments - so that your network partners will feel confident when referring a lead to you. Any real estate agent can tell you that buying and selling homes is only a small part of their work. Marketing and lead generation are key to being successful in this industry. But if you dedicate yourself to putting in the time and effort, as well as the use of available resources, your real estate business will bloom.