An agent can have the best contacts, the great knowledge of their product and community, the most experience, and even be the smartest and most talented agent in their area. But, at the end of the day, none of this matters if the agent doesn’t have any buyers or sellers to work with.  A sales pipeline is like a sausage machine.  Sausage is made by feeding the ingredients into one end of the machine, it is processed, and comes out the other end as sausage. In sales, the process is similar. Sales occur when prospects are placed in the sales pipeline. Typically, the more prospects and contacts that are put into the pipeline, the more sales will occur.

You could argue that all of the knowledge, talent, experience and expertise means nothing if you have no buyers and sellers to share it with. The key to success in any business is to feed the sausage machine by constantly communicating with your prospects, buyers, sellers and sphere of influence. The sausage machine is a good example because if you’re not front-loading your pipeline, there won’t be any sausage that comes out the other end and ultimately, you’ll go hungry.

To summarize the process, keep in mind that:

• Closing comes from pending contracts.
• Pending contracts come from appointments.
• Appointments come from

1. Listings

2. Buyer Prospecting

3. Seller Prospecting

 

• Prospecting occurs when you communicate with

1. Buyers

2. Sellers

3. Past Clients

4. Advocates

5. Sphere of Influence

 

• Communication occurs from most effective to least effective by:

1. Face-to-face Contacts (The best!)

– Social Event Participation

– Power Lunches

– Door-to-Door

– Buyer and Seller Appointments

– Guest Speaking

2. Phone Contact

– Cold Calls

– Warm Farm Canvassing

– Calls to your contacts

3. Direct Mail Contacts

4. E-mail Contacts

5. Social Media Networking

 

To maximize market potential, Agents should ask themselves every day, “Did I feed the sausage machine?”