Dec '25 • 💬 General Discussion
Just finished building my Real Estate Lead Follow-Up Engine.
Spent today going from concept to production. Everything's automated. Zero manual work after setup.
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THE PROBLEM I SOLVED:
Real estate agents lose 80% of leads because they don't follow up consistently.
Manual follow-ups don't scale. CRMs are expensive and overcomplicated. I needed something simple that just works.
So I built it.
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THE SYSTEM (4 MODULES):
MODULE 1: LEAD INTAKE ✅
- Webhook captures leads from any source
- Auto-calculates Day 1, 3, 7 follow-up dates
- Sends immediate welcome message
- Adds to Google Sheets pipeline
- Takes <5 seconds start to finish
MODULE 2: DAILY FOLLOW-UP SENDER ✅
- Runs automatically every morning at 9 AM
- Scans entire pipeline for leads due TODAY
- Sends personalized Day 1, 3, or 7 follow-up emails
- Updates tracking in real-time (no duplicates)
- Handles unlimited leads in one workflow
MODULE 3: STATUS UPDATER ✅
- Built into Module 2 (runs right after follow-ups)
- Checks which leads finished all 3 follow-ups
- Auto-updates status from "active" → "completed"
- Keeps pipeline clean without manual work
- Zero leads slip through the cracks
MODULE 4: DAILY REPORTING ✅
- Runs at 10 AM (after follow-ups finish)
- Calculates full pipeline metrics
- Sends beautiful HTML report to my inbox
- Shows: new leads, follow-ups sent, completions, bottlenecks
- Takes 30 seconds to review each morning
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WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN ACTION:
TEST RUN TODAY:
- Added 2 test leads to system
- Both needed Day 1 follow-ups
- Workflow found them automatically
- Sent 2 personalized emails in 3 seconds
- Updated Google Sheet tracking
- Generated daily report with all metrics
Everything worked perfectly. First try.
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THE STACK:
- n8n (workflow automation) - FREE self-hosted
- Google Sheets (database) - FREE
- Gmail (email delivery) - FREE
- Zero external APIs
- Zero monthly costs
Total cost: $0/month
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WHY NO AI FOR FOLLOW-UPS?
I tested both approaches. Templates beat AI every time:
✅ No API failures (100% reliability)
✅ Consistent messaging (proven copy)
✅ Instant execution (no latency)
✅ Zero cost per message
✅ Predictable results
AI is powerful. But not for transactional messages that need to work 100% of the time.
Save AI for where it actually matters.
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THE NUMBERS:
4 modules built
3 n8n workflows
25+ nodes configured
5 hours start to finish
0 errors in production
100% automation rate
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WHAT I LEARNED:
1. Test each node before moving to the next
(Saved me hours of debugging)
2. Simple beats complex every time
(Google Sheets > fancy CRM)
3. Templates > AI for transactional emails
(Reliability matters more than "personalization")
4. Build the reporting LAST
(Get the engine working first, visibility second)
5. One workflow can do multiple things
(Module 2 + 3 combined = less complexity)
6. Ship fast, iterate faster
(Production teaches you more than planning)
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WHAT'S NEXT:
System's in production now. Running automatically every day.
Next steps:
- Monitor for a week
- Add SMS follow-ups (Module 5)
- Build lead scoring (Module 6)
- Package as template for community
But honestly? This is already better than most $200/month CRMs.
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THE TAKEAWAY:
You don't need expensive tools to automate your sales process.
You just need:
- n8n (free)
- Google Sheets (free)
- 5 hours
- Willingness to build
Stop waiting for the perfect tool. Build it yourself.
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Building in public keeps me accountable. This one's done.
What are you automating right now?
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2 comments
Just finished building my Real Estate Lead Follow-Up Engine.
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