Part 1 of The Early-Stage Buyer Playbook

Most real estate agencies chase only the 1-3% of buyers who are ready to purchase right now. They're ignoring 97% of interested buyers completely.

The result? Inconsistent income, feast-or-famine cycles, and constant competition for the same tiny pool of ready buyers.

What if you could capture the full 100% instead?

That's exactly what this video covers.

What Is a Sales Pipeline (And Why Does It Matter)?

Think about how property buyers actually behave. Someone in Sweden starts thinking about buying a villa in Spain. They browse online, click on a few listings, maybe fill out an enquiry form. But they're not buying tomorrow. They're 3, 6, maybe 12 months away from making a decision.

Most agencies treat this person as a dead end. "They're not ready to buy? Next."

That's a massive mistake.

A sales pipeline is simply a system for tracking every potential buyer from their first enquiry all the way through to closing. It shows you exactly where each person is in their journey, who needs a follow-up call today, and how much potential revenue is sitting in your pipeline at any moment.

Without a pipeline, you're flying blind. With one, you can see your future income before it arrives.

Here's the critical insight: the agencies building real wealth in real estate aren't chasing ready-made buyers. They're nurturing relationships with early-stage buyers over months, becoming their trusted advisor, and being the obvious choice when the buyer is finally ready to transact.

That's pipeline thinking. And it requires a system.

Why You Need a CRM (Not Spreadsheets, Not Your Inbox)

A CRM (Customer Relationship Management system) is the software that makes pipeline building possible. It's where all your buyer information lives, where you track every conversation, and where you manage your daily follow-up activities.

Here's what happens without a proper CRM:

Leads get lost. That Swedish buyer who enquired three weeks ago? Their email is buried somewhere in your inbox. You meant to follow up, but life got busy. Now they've found another agency.

Follow-ups don't happen. You spoke to someone last Tuesday and said you'd call back in a week. Did you? Without a system reminding you, probably not. Multiply that by 50 leads and you're leaving serious money on the table.

You can't see your pipeline. How many active buyers do you have right now? What's the total potential value? Which ones are close to buying? Without a CRM, you genuinely don't know. You're guessing.

You waste hours on admin. Manually dialling phone numbers, switching between tabs, copying contact details - it adds up to hours every week that should be spent talking to buyers.

You can't scale. Maybe you can juggle 10 leads in your head. What about 50? 100? 200? At some point, the chaos catches up with you.

A proper CRM solves all of this. It's the difference between running a professional sales operation and hoping you remember to call people back.

Why We Recommend Close CRM

Before we go further, let's be completely transparent: we have zero affiliation with Close CRM. We make no profit from recommending them. No referral fees, no partnership deals, nothing.

We recommend Close for one simple reason: it's the most efficient tool for this job, and it comes pre-configured with everything you need.

When you sign up for Close, you'll find:

• Smart Views already set up - these automatically organise your leads into "who to call today," "hot leads," "needs follow-up," and more
• Lead Statuses pre-configured - a simple system for tracking where each buyer is in their journey
• Power Dialling built in - call 50 people in 2 hours instead of 6, with automatic logging of every call
• Local phone numbers available - buyers are far more likely to answer a local number than an international one
• Pipeline view ready to go - see your potential revenue at a glance

You don't need to spend weeks watching tutorials and configuring a complex system. You sign up, connect your leads via Zapier, get local phone numbers, and you're operational in five minutes.

Sign up for Close CRM here →

Our Framework Works in Any CRM

That said, Close isn't the only option. Our methodology works in any CRM system.

HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho, even free options - you can implement exactly what we teach. The principles are universal:

• Track every lead in one place
• Use statuses to know where each buyer is in their journey
• Set up views that show you who to call each day
• Log every interaction
• Use tasks and reminders for follow-ups
• Visualise your pipeline

It won't be as efficient as Close (you'll need to manually configure what Close gives you out of the box), and some features like Power Dialling may not be available. But the methodology applies universally.

We've simply picked out the best tool we've found, because we want nothing but the best for our partners. Close saves you time and lets you focus on what actually matters: talking to buyers and building relationships.

What You'll Learn in This Video

In this 12-minute walkthrough, we cover:

• Why early-stage buyers (3-12 months out) are where the real opportunity is - and why most agencies miss it completely
• The Smart Views system that organises your daily calling automatically - no more wondering "who should I call today?"
• Lead Statuses explained - the simple framework for tracking buyer progress
• Power Dialling demonstration - watch how to call 50 people in 2 hours instead of 6
• Local phone numbers strategy - why this dramatically improves answer rates
• The pipeline view - how to see your future income before it arrives

The Reality Check

We need to be honest with you: this isn't a "press a button and get 12 sales" system.

Building a sales pipeline requires discipline. You need to:

• Make the calls (consistently, every day)
• Book the meetings
• Do the follow-ups
• Update the statuses
• Nurture relationships over 3, 6, 9, 12 months

It's work. Hard work. But it's the work that builds a real business with predictable, consistent revenue.

Here's what agencies using this system achieve:

• 30% meeting conversion rate - nearly one in three calls results in a booked meeting
• Pipelines worth €100K, €500K, €1M+ in potential commissions
• 10x+ ROI because opportunities don't slip through the cracks

M²Nordic invested €2,021 in introductions and closed a €553,000 property sale using exactly what we teach here. That's the power of systematic pipeline building.

The system works. You just need to use it.

Coming in Part 2: The Script That Converts

The CRM system captures your leads and organises your work. But it's worthless without the right words.

What do you actually say when you call an early-stage buyer? Most agents get this completely wrong. They say things like "Hi, we received your enquiry, are you interested in buying property?" - and of course the buyer says no. Because that's a terrible way to frame it.

In Part 2 of The Early-Stage Buyer Playbook, we give you the exact calling script that converts 30% of calls into scheduled meetings. The same script we use, the same script our most successful partners use.

Set up your Close CRM now using what you learned in this video. Then come back for Part 2 where we cover the conversation that actually converts.

Watch Part 2: The Introduction-to-Meeting Script →

Get Started Today

1. Sign up for Close CRM - takes 2 minutes
2. Connect your leads via Zapier - we show you how in the Lead Sync section of your dashboard
3. Get local phone numbers - available directly in Close
4. Watch Part 2 - learn the script that converts

The competitive advantage of first-mover access is waiting. While you're setting up, interested buyers are researching properties in your market. Be the agency that captures them first.

This is Part 1 of The Early-Stage Buyer Playbook, our video series designed to help you maximise every introduction you receive. The CRM setup covered here, combined with the calling script in Part 2, gives you everything you need to build a pipeline that generates consistent, predictable revenue.