Recession Looming? 3 Power Plays to Fill Your Pipeline Fast
John Donnelly breaks down three concrete pipeline-building plays: running agent classes with systematic follow-up, commenting strategically on social media instead of just posting, and using a LinkedIn profile audit as a door-opener with realtors. Best for LOs who are active but not converting activity into consistent referral business.
The money isn't in the class or the event — it's in the follow-up calls afterward, and without a repeatable system for both, you're just networking for free.
Takeaways you can run this week
- After every agent class, deploy a QR-code landing page that captures attendee info and triggers an automated email/text drip — then personally call every registrant within 48 hours to go deeper on the relationship.
- Run a LinkedIn (or Instagram/Google Business) profile audit on target realtors before reaching out: check for a missing banner, outdated posts, or inactive profiles, then offer a free 30-minute profile update session as your door-opener instead of a generic intro call.
- Apply the 'Monday Morning Question' test to your own social bio: rewrite your headline so it speaks directly to the specific problem your target audience (realtors, builders, buyers) is trying to solve on Monday morning — make it obvious in one line who you help and how.
- On LinkedIn (or your primary platform), post industry tips Tuesday–Thursday when engagement peaks, reserve Fridays for personal/family content, and spend more time commenting on high-follower accounts' posts than creating your own — visibility from commenting drives connections without requiring original content.
- Build a content archive in Airtable (or a simple Google Sheet): log every post with date, topic, image link, and post URL so you can search past content, repurpose top performers, and maintain consistent themes instead of posting reactively.
- Use the ChatGPT voice app during a walk to dictate post ideas, reviews, or newsletter outlines — prompt it with 'act as my social media coach, ask me 10 questions, then format my answers into a post using a hook, bullet points, and seventh-grade reading level.'
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GET FREE ACCESSThe playbook
- 1. Identify and qualify a list of active realtors or builders in your market (verify they're closing deals before investing time).
- 2. Schedule a class — LinkedIn basics, mortgage updates, closing gifts, etc. — and assign a team member to handle outbound calls and messages inviting agents.
- 3. Set up a QR-code landing page tied to the class that captures name, email, and phone and feeds an automated email/text drip sequence.
- 4. Teach the class yourself so you are the expert and the relationship magnet in the room.
- 5. Within 48 hours of the class, personally call every registrant — the phone call is the minimum viable follow-up.
- 6. Log all post-class conversations and set follow-up reminders; repeat the class cycle monthly to compound brand recognition in your target market.
Worth quoting
“The money is in the follow-up. After that, that's where you really need leads.”
“You don't rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
Best for
LOs who are already attending events and posting on social but haven't converted that activity into a repeatable referral system with structured follow-up.