5 Moves That Put You in Control of Your Spring Pipeline

The weather’s warming up. Home demand is out there. The question is whether you’re positioned to take advantage of the spring market.

Everyone waits for this time of year. That’s a mistake. There’s a lot of prep work that can be done in the cold weather months. If you haven’t been ready, haven’t been prepping, haven’t been making your calls, you can fix that right now.

If you want your unfair share of sales over the next four to five months and change, here are five things to dial in.

1. Map Your Pipeline Through the July 4th Breakpoint

I always use July 4th as the end of the spring market. In 26 years of doing this, that’s a breakpoint. Go celebrate America, have a hot dog, go to the beach. That’s when a lot of people go on vacation. 

So, the question is: have you mapped your pipeline from now until then?

I’ve talked at length about having a top prospects list. There should be enough people on there that you can multiply your monthly sales goal by 10.

• If you’re trying to sell three homes a month, you need 30 people.
• If you want to sell five homes a month, you need 50.

That’s the math that typically works.

These are folks with real intent. They’ve got motivation. They’re ready to transact in the next six to 12 months.

Keep this visual. I walk around with a top prospect sheet all the time, and that’s what I’m looking at in the car between appointments. 

Yes, it also lives in your CRM. This forces clarity.

If you haven’t mapped it out, do it now.

2. Time Block Around Income-Producing Activities

Have you time-blocked your calendar with lead generation and appointment blocks?

I focus on income-producing activities. Talking to people. Setting appointments. Going on appointments. Writing and negotiating contracts.

That’s the job.

Most agents spend about 20% of their time on that. Then they wonder why production is inconsistent.

Block your personal commitments first. 

Then block lead generation. Every day. Consistency is the name of the game here. If you’re not time blocking it, you’re probably not doing it. I suggest the morning.

After that, structure your appointment windows.

An ideal day could look like this:

• 9 to 11 lead generation
• 11 to 12 appointment prep
• 12 to 2 appointment block
• 2 to 4 appointment block
• 4 to 6 appointment block

Multiple two-hour blocks give clients options. You can show one home. You can show five homes. You can run a listing appointment.

Operate your calendar instead of reacting to it.

3. Set a Clear Daily Standard

Do you have a clear daily standard?

For me, the standard is simple. I need to:

• Make 100 dials.
• Talk to five people inside my sphere.
• Have 15 conversations outside of that.
• Set one appointment.

I know what I need to do. The 100 dials get me to the conversations. The conversations get me to the appointment. That’s it.

If you don’t have a daily standard, you become the agent who says they’re busy, but they’re not productive. They worked hard all day, but they didn’t move the business forward.

A clear standard leads to a clear result.

4. Stay Sharp Where It Matters

Where do you need to work on your proficiency?

We’re already in the spring market. This is not the time to learn something new. This is the time to do more of what works.

Where do you need to stay sharp?

• Listing presentations.
• Appointment setting calls.
• Objection handling.
• Running the appointment.
• Follow-up calls.

If you need to stay sharp on your listing appointment, practice it three times a week.If you need to stay sharp on appointment setting, practice it five days a week.

Stay sharp in the areas where you haven’t achieved mastery. I don’t think anyone ever achieves mastery. I’m always trying to get 1% better.

Put skill-building in your calendar. Rep it out. That’s how you master anything.

5. Close the Support Gaps in Your Business

Where are the gaps where you need support?

You’ve got to ask yourself if you’re in the right environment and the right organization.

• Do you need help with transaction management and contracts?
• Do you need help with listing prep?
• Do you need someone to work with you on your skills?

There are going to be support gaps.

• If you don’t have a marketing person, you are the marketing person.
• If you don’t have an assistant, you are the assistant.
• If you don’t have a transaction coordinator, you’re the transaction coordinator.

We’re all business owners in real estate. Every empty role in your business, you’re filling it.

So, identify the gaps now. Don’t wait until you’re overwhelmed in the middle of peak activity.

Scale the Spring. Don’t Just Survive It.

Don’t wait for the market to pick up and then try to get one more deal than last year.

We’re talking about scaling your business. We’re talking about actual growth. 

Now you know what that takes: 

1. Map the pipeline.
2. Time block the calendar.
3. Set the daily standard.
4. Sharpen the skills.
5. Close the gaps.

Get those five dialed in now, and you’ll have a great spring and sell a whole bunch of real estate.