Focused Real Estate Activities: Control the Inputs and Build a Reliable Pipeline
Top agents stay calm in loud markets because they treat their business like a controlled experiment, not a reaction to headlines. Are You Focusing Your Time on the Right Activities to Grow Your Real Estate Business? showed why inputs matter; this guide turns that idea into a ninety day playbook you can run on repeat.
Why Controllable Real Estate Activities Beat Market Noise
Interest rates, inventory, and buyer sentiment sit outside your control. The number of conversations you start this week does not. Controllable Real Estate Activities are the small levers you can pull every single day that compound into listings, referrals, and repeat clients over time.
Once you treat effort as a tangible asset, your calendar becomes the main performance tool. You stop asking why the market slowed and start asking a sharper question. How many people heard from you this week and felt seen, educated, and guided.
- You can measure controllable activities in real time instead of waiting for a closing statement.
- You can correct slumps by adjusting call volume, follow up, or events without guessing about next quarter.
- You can train support staff and vendors to protect your time so you stay inside high value conversations.
The Ninety Day Input Playbook
A ninety day window is long enough to see momentum but short enough to feel urgent. The goal is not to cram every marketing tactic into one quarter. The goal is to build a small set of non negotiable weekly activities and run them with discipline until they feel automatic.
If you are early in your career, this rhythm pairs perfectly with What New Real Estate Agents Should Focus On in Their First 90 Days. If you are more seasoned, treat this as a reset that upgrades an existing database instead of starting from zero.
The core of the playbook sits on five weekly inputs.
- Local outreach. Two social appointments where you sit down with people who influence referrals in your market.
- Database hygiene. Three contact records updated in your CRM with fresh personal details and tags that actually drive future search.
- Personal notes. Five short notes or messages that celebrate wins, share hyper local tips, or make a small thoughtful introduction.
- Outreach volume. Twenty five outbound touches through calls, texts, or direct messages logged as real conversations, not vague activity.
- Brand presence. Three scheduled posts through Social Media Marketing that remind your audience you are present, local, and reachable.
The real gap between average and top performers rarely comes from lead volume. It comes from the ability to protect one focused block of time each day for outbound activity. Treat that block like a standing client meeting and you will notice that even chaotic weeks still create new conversations instead of just clearing the inbox.
Three Daily Outreach Scripts You Can Reuse
The Two Minute Morning Check In
Dialogue guide
- Hook first beats: “Saw your update about work and wanted to check in on how the change feels so far.”
- Bridge: “I keep a simple list of clients and friends to check in on each week so I do not lose touch.”
- CTA close: “If you ever want a quiet look at your home value or local options, I am always happy to run numbers for you.”
Key prompts
- Recent life event or social post you noticed.
- Short line that signals you track relationships on purpose.
- Offer of help that does not push a sale.
Steps and notes
- Scan your calendar and feed, pick three names, and send this message by mid morning.
- Tag each contact in the CRM with a simple label such as personal check in and log the topic.
- Set the next reminder so this person never drifts beyond a ninety day gap without a touch.
- Track how many of these check ins turn into coffee, referrals, or warm introductions.
Beat mapping note
Keep the tone light in the first line, shift to intent in the second, and land on a clear offer by the final sentence so the message reads calm and helpful.
The Market Stability Check In
Dialogue guide
- Hook: “You have probably seen a lot of loud headlines about real estate lately and most of them miss what is actually happening on your street.”
- Build: “I track a simple set of numbers each week for our area so my clients do not have to guess about timing or pressure.”
- CTA: “If you want a short local report that focuses only on your part of town, reply with your street name and I will send it over.”
Key prompts
- Reference noisy news without amplifying fear.
- Position your tracking as a filter that protects their time.
- Invite a very small action that signals interest.
Steps and notes
- Use your CRM to pull a small list of owners who value data driven decisions.
- Send this by text or email and log any reply as a warm lead with a note about timing.
- Use Email Marketing for Real Estate Agents to send a simple follow up summary to anyone who responds.
- Review response rates at the end of the week and adjust subject lines and openers first.
Tie the offer to a short value report instead of a broad market rant so the reply feels practical and local, not like another newsletter blast.
The Hidden Value And Local Resource Script
Dialogue guide
- Hook: “Quick question. If you could change one thing about your home or street this year, what would it be.”
- Build: “I keep a short list of local pros and small upgrades that add comfort and value without a full remodel.”
- Reveal: “Based on what you just shared, I know two local contacts and one simple project that could help.”
- CTA: “Would you like an introduction or a quick estimate so you can decide if it feels worth it.”
Key prompts
- Start with their wish list instead of your opinion.
- Frame your role as connector and advisor.
- Offer names, numbers, or a simple cost range.
Steps and notes
- Use this during coffee meetings, social appointments, and follow up calls.
- Keep a shared document of trusted vendors so you can deliver value in minutes.
- Log the conversation as future listing context in your CRM along with project notes.
- Circle back after the project to check how it went and reinforce the relationship.
Two Simple Plans For Time And Budget
You do not need a massive ad budget to execute controllable activities. You need a clear split between time you invest personally and support tasks you hand to vendors so the inputs stay steady even when your pipeline gets busy.
Budget around one hundred fifty dollars each month. Goal is to reach twenty five quality touches per week from a list of one hundred to two hundred contacts. Audience is your core sphere and warm referrals. Creative lives inside a simple mix of one weekly value email, one short social post, and five personal notes that mention local insight. Headline example for the weekly email reads as a tight promise such as “Three numbers that matter in our neighborhood this week.” CTA stays soft and invites replies or questions instead of bookings.
Budget eight hundred to twelve hundred dollars each month. Goal is to protect four to six hours of agent time each week and shift baseline content to vendors. Audience includes your sphere, a small geographic farm, and website visitors who engage with Listing Marketing updates. Creative includes a polished monthly market story, two branded social series, and a direct mail touch that highlights recent local wins. Headline example for the mailer focuses on clarity such as “Your street compared with the rest of the zip code.” CTA invites homeowners to request a quiet equity review through a short online form.
Once these plans are in place, you can layer in Retargeting, Contextual and Digital Advertising to stay in front of people who land on your IDX Real Estate Websites. The controllable part is not the click. The controllable part is the calendar of touches you execute after the click.
The weekly checklist below gives you a simple scorecard you can audit each Friday. If you miss a box, you adjust next week. No drama, only inputs.
- Book two social appointments. Set two face to face meetings with people who influence deals in your market. Coffee, lunch, or a walk through a local event all count.
- Run the daily five five five. Comment on five posts from your sphere, add five useful details to contact records, and send five personal messages that do not pitch property.
- Log every conversation. If the contact is not logged in your CRM with a short summary, it does not count as a controllable activity.
- Send one weekly value email. Use Email Marketing for Real Estate Agents to send a tight local update or event roundup that helps owners feel informed instead of sold.
- Plan one community touch. Block time for a local event, volunteer slot, or sponsorship and log it as brand presence instead of random goodwill.
- Review input KPIs each Friday. Compare appointments booked, touches completed, and response rates against your targets and adjust only what you directly control.
- Finalize direct mail. Approve next month of Direct Mail Marketing so cards, letters, or sold maps continue to land even when your calendar is full.
- Protect a daily prospecting block. Guard a sixty to ninety minute window where you do outbound only. No email, no design tweaks, no portal scrolling.
- Delegate content production. Use Social Media Marketing partners to handle baseline posting so you can stay inside conversations, showings, and strategy sessions.
These activities set the floor. The KPI table translates them into a small set of numbers you can track on one page.
| Controllable KPI | Weekly target | Time block | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outbound touches across calls, texts, and direct messages | Twenty five | Two hours | This volume keeps your name in circulation, reveals hot timelines early, and smooths out swings in monthly commission. |
| Social appointments with past clients and key referrers | Two | Ninety minutes | Face to face time accelerates trust, surfaces life changes, and generates introductions that cold lists rarely match. |
| CRM contact updates with new personal or property data | Three | Thirty minutes | Fresh notes and tags make every future call or email feel tailored, which raises response rates and referral loyalty. |
As these numbers stabilize, you can decide when to invest in Coaching and Consulting support. How Coaching Programs Help Real Estate Agents shows how structured guidance can tighten your schedule, sharpen messaging, and keep you accountable to the plan you just designed.
If you want a done for you layer on top of this framework, AmericasBestMarketing.com can handle Social Media Marketing, Direct Mail Marketing, Email Campaigns, and Listing Marketing while you double down on calls, appointments, and negotiation. There are no long term contracts, only clear inputs that protect your time and grow your pipeline.
What Successful Real Estate Agents Are Reading
FAQ
How much time should I dedicate each day to controllable activities?
Plan for sixty to ninety minutes at the same time each morning. Use that block only for outbound calls, texts, notes, and social outreach. Protect it like an appointment with your highest value client and do not let email or admin tasks leak into it.
What is the clearest sign that I am losing control of my inputs?
The strongest red flag is a CRM view where your top one hundred contacts have not heard from you in ninety days. If that column stretches beyond the quarter for people who send referrals, your pipeline is running on luck instead of discipline.
What is the minimum cadence if my budget is tight but I want progress?
Start with five personal check ins each week, three updated contact records, and one simple story style post that highlights a local insight. Track this activity for four weeks before judging results. Consistency beats size at this stage.
How can I track these activities without a complex tech stack?
A basic spreadsheet works. Create columns for name, last touch date, touch type, and a short summary. Color code your top one hundred contacts and make sure no one in that group goes longer than ninety days without a meaningful touch.
How large should my core audience be for this style of outreach?
Begin with a tight list of one hundred to two hundred people who know your name and would recognize your number. Once you can keep that group warm with ease, add a small farm list and use Direct Mail Marketing plus digital retargeting to stay visible.
When should I shift from a do it yourself plan to a leveraged plan?
Shift once you are hitting your outbound targets but feel forced to cut back on appointments to make room for content work. At that point your time is better spent in conversation while vendors handle Social Media Marketing and Email Campaigns.
What type of content performs worst when the focus is controllable activities?
Low performing content talks only about the agent and never about the client or the community. The strongest content answers real questions, highlights local stories, and gives clear next steps that match where the viewer is in the journey.
Complete Multi-Channel Marketing Program
- Custom-branded marketing assets featuring you and your brand
- Branded social media: your services & testimonials (3/week)
- Listing social media: Just Listed • Open House • Pending • Sold
- Email campaigns personalized to you and your area
- Digital retargeting & contextual ad campaigns to your area
- Direct mail campaigns (scope & frequency set by you)
- GEO farm / niche marketing: direct mail & email campaigns
- Database formatting & research (priced per name researched)
- IDX websites (add-on) created and maintained in partnership with iHouseWeb, available at additional cost to help agents strengthen online presence and support lead capture from their website traffic.
- 1:1 Coaching & Accountability sessions (add-on program)
Pricing reflects current platform rates and may change. Third-party ad spend plus printing and postage billed separately. Final terms are outlined in a simple client agreement.
