Getting my business in order

[Roger Pokorny]

I am in the process of getting my business organized. So far I have been investing on transactions as they present themselves on the MLS. As many of you know the MLS deals are few and far between. I am now focusing on building a pipeline of leads. Before I aggressively pursue building my pipeline I need to put the systems in place to handle the phone calls. I have seen a lot of posts about how to generate leads but have not seen a lot about how to handle the leads as they come in. Here is a list of things I am developing. I thought I would post what I am working on and ask the experts who have an active system to comment on what else I need to put in place before the calls start coming.

Here is my list:

1.  Business Identity - create a name, address, phone number, business cards, etc.

2.  Building my team - attorney, accountant, financing options, etc

3.  Incoming call template - list of questions and information to ask the homeowner about the property and their problem so I can determine if this a lead worth pursuing. 

4.  Who/how will calls be answered - I work full time and invest in my spare time. I need to determine how calls will be answered any time of the day. Suggestions?  I know a call center is an option but it is difficult to putting in a lot of overhead costs when money is limited starting out.

5.  Once leads are logged, how will they be evaluated?  I am confident with this step as I am anticipating the leads will come in slow and build momentum as more effort is put onto the pipeline. 

6.  Build website - which comes first the chicken or the egg?  I am struggling with when to put effort into this as this creates overhead costs. I would like to flip a couple properties and get some cash in the bank before putting too much cost into overhead expenses. 

Have I missed anything?  How would you build the back office if you were starting over?