Real Estate Sales Pipeline Management
How much data do I need to enter? But doesn't my data change over time? How much of my time should be used for activities? Can I track individual sales in SellSharp? How much data do I need to enter? If you use the default pipeline included in your account, you really only have to enter your goals (3 numbers) and then start entering the number of times you do an activity each week. It's that simple. To fully customize the system you may want to adjust other settings: 3 items to define a stage of your pipeline, or 5 items to define an activity. But doesn't my data change over time? Yes, it does. One of SellSharp's big strengths is that it "learns" with you! We recommend you constantly review your goals and settings and adjust them as you learn more about how your stages and activities are performing. Not only does that help your model match your business, it helps keep you current as the market changes. After you log go select "My Account" and then "Backup / Restore". This will export your data to a .xml file on your local computer. With your data stored, you can change data as much as you wish while you do "what if" analyses or enter data into future weeks, which allows you to plan future expenses and earned value. Your business model is your unique mode of operating. For some newer agents or those without a large sphere of personal contacts the model is a "numbers game", where they maximize the number of people they contact and rely on probabilities to find business. For others it's a "referral model", where personal contacts generate the majority of the leads they get. Yours might be one of these, or a networking model, or something you devise for yourself. In SellSharp, your business model is captured in the goals, stages and activities you define. The little bit of data you enter gives SellSharp all it needs to track and even predict your business performance! Your pipeline is the set of stages people go through as they move from unknown person to satisfied customer. It is captured on the SellSharp Pipeline page, a very simple but powerful way of defining that part of your business model. You may also have heard this called a "funnel" or "sales cycle". Most pipelines have 3 to 6 stages, with an average of 4. As a practical matter, too many stages creates a lot of maintenance and often results in huge numbers of people required in the earlier stages. Too few and your stages won't hold enough meaning to help choose activities or predict income levels. Of course, if you want more or fewer stages go for it. You may have an intricate system that justifies more, and you can always change it later if you wish. How much of my time should be used for activities? That depends mostly on you, but here are some norms. For an active, full time agent direct activities will average 50-67% of the work week and administrative time will average 25-25% of the week. This leaves the rest for sales meetings, informal discussions with your peers and the like. Can I have more than one value for income per sale? SellSharp only needs to know the average you are experiencing. However, if you are seeing a wide variation in actual income per sale, keep a close eye on your Goal Page and keep this entry current. Can I track individual sales in SellSharp? SellSharp manages your overall sales effort. To track individual opportunities, clients, etc., you may want to use a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) such as ACT!™ or TopProducer.™ These are powerful tools for taming the "devil in the details", but you'll use SellSharp to optimize your business! It stands for "return on investment". In SellSharp it's simply the ratio of benefit to cost. For example, if an activity costs $10 to perform and gives you $20 in value, the ROI is 2.0. Higher ROI means you're earning more value; an ROI less than 1 means you're actually losing value. Everything you do as a salesperson is an investment of time and/or money, so by reviewing the ROI report you'll be able to see which activities give you a great return and which ones may be dragging you down! |
