How to Grow a Real Estate Team That’s Profitable (Not Just Busy)

Let’s talk about the thing nobody wants to say out loud:

Most real estate teams aren’t profitable.
They’re messy. Duct-taped. Bloated. And dependent on the team lead doing everything.

If that hits a little too close to home, breathe we’re fixing that today.

In this blog, I’m pulling key strategies from my conversation with Jack Markham, EVP of Strategic Growth at Inside Real Estate. With over 20 years in real estate leadership, Jack has seen every version of “team building” and he’s here to break down what actually works if you want high performance and high profit.

Let’s go.

🧨 Most Agents Miss This and It’s Why They Stay Stuck

Want to know why 80%+ of agents don’t hit their transaction or GCI goals?

It’s not talent. It’s not the market.

It’s because they don’t generate enough leads—and worse, they don’t know how many leads they even need. They don’t know their “magic number” to fuel their pipeline consistently.

You can’t hit a target you don’t define.

✅ First fix? Track how many leads you actually need to hit your income goal.
✅ Then, create consistent lead sources that match.

And no, one shiny paid ad campaign isn’t a system. You need a real process.

🔁 The Follow-Up Fix: Why Most Pipelines Fail

Here’s the cold truth: more than 50% of leads are never called. That’s not a stat—that’s sabotage.

Top-performing teams don’t just generate leads. They:

• Respond within 5 minutes

• Follow up consistently

• Automate their nurturing process for long-term leads

If your follow-up system can’t support a 24–28 month lead-to-close timeline, you don’t have a system you have a black hole.

📦 The 3 Essentials Every Team Needs to Scale Profitably

Jack broke it down perfectly:

1. Be Found
Have a storefront (your website) that people can actually find. Location still matters—even online. If your SEO, PPC, and social content aren’t bringing people in… you’re invisible.

2. Be Connected
Once they’re in your pipeline, automation is everything. Use search alerts, smart campaigns, and behavior-based triggers to create real conversations—not just drip noise.

Agents who automate 50%+ of their database do 5X more transactions than those who don’t.

3. Be Involved
You need systems that help you stay relevant after the lead is captured and before they’re ready to buy. That means education, relationship-building, and consistency over 24+ months.

This isn’t just a sales funnel it’s a long-term brand strategy.

🛠️ The Right CRM Is Your Growth Engine

If your systems are all duct-taped together with 15 different logins and zero integration, you’re wasting time and losing money.

That’s why tools like KB Core and BoldTrail (from Inside Real Estate) matter. They let you manage the full journey—from lead to close to repeat and referral—inside one platform.

Your CRM should:

• Help you generate leads

• Automate follow-ups

• Track behavior

• Retain clients long-term

If it doesn’t? You’re not scaling—you’re spinning.

🧠 Final Takeaway

Stop thinking your team needs more people. Start building a business that runs smarter, not harder.

Lead gen without automation = burnout.
Systems without strategy = wasted money.
Hiring without process = chaos.

Focus on three things:

• How are people finding you?

• How are you turning that into conversations?

• How are you staying relevant until they’re ready?

👉 Want to dive deeper into the systems, stats, and strategies that power real estate teams in 2025?

You’ll walk away with real clarity and maybe a few uncomfortable truths (but those are the best kind).