It’s critical.  Before talking about why it’s critical, let’s define the term so we’re all on the same page.  The term sales funnel is used to describe the process of converting leads and prospects into clients.  The concept of a funnel is useful because the mental image relates to the process of having:

• a large group at the top (your target market)
• filtering down to a smaller group that become leads (someone who completes a form on your website, or someone new you’ve met)
• filtering down to an even smaller group that become prospects (people who are actively considering using your services to buy or sell)
• filtering down to the final group that become clients

Managing a sales funnel is more important in some industries than it is in others.  For example, if you were selling pretzels from a street cart, in simple terms, you’d only need to worry about two levels of the sales funnel.  First, you’d need to place your cart on a street with a lot of foot traffic – that would handle the exposure to your target market.  Then, people would either become clients or not.  Pretty simple.

Managing a sales funnel is much more important in an industry where the sales cycle takes a lot longer than 5 minutes!  In real estate, the sales cycle can last for months because not everyone in your target market is planning to buy or sell a home.  In fact, it may be months before the timing is right to move someone from a lead to a prospect, or from a prospect to a client.  Therefore, how you manage that transition is critical.

Every real estate marketing plan should include a process for staying in touch with your target market, leads and prospects.  You want to be the first person that comes to mind when anyone in those groups thinks about real estate.  And, don’t forget to stay in touch with your clients.  It is always easier and less expensive to obtain repeat business, either directly from a client or a client referral, than it is to acquire a new client.

If you don’t have a good strategy for managing your sales funnel, now’s the time to establish one!