Sales reporting to the developer: what to track

Good sales reporting fits on one page and answers three questions: how many people have seen the development, how many are moving towards a reservation, and at what pace the units are selling. The rest serves to understand these figures. As a developer, you should receive these elements at a fixed frequency, with a clear reading and the recommendations that follow from it.

Top-of-funnel activity: viewings

The first level of the report measures interest. It should show the number of incoming enquiries over the period, their source channel (portals, the development's website, referral, the agency's contact base), and the number of viewings actually carried out.

This level tells you whether the development is being seen and whether it makes people want to visit. A reasonable volume of enquiries but few actual viewings often signals a gap between the listing and real expectations, or friction in booking appointments. A low volume of enquiries points more towards visibility or price positioning.

Also ask for the breakdown of viewings by unit type. In a development, some units concentrate demand while others stay in the shadows. You will not steer in the same way a development where all the interest is in the large apartments and the studios are stagnating. Tracked over time, this breakdown also shows how demand shifts as the best units find buyers.

Mid-funnel: offers and reservations

This is the heart of steering. You should track, for the period and cumulatively: the number of offers received, the number of reservations signed, the number of files going through financing, and the number of withdrawals with their reason.

The ratio between viewings and offers tells you about the quality of the upstream selection. Many viewings for few offers often means that the visitors are not the right target, or that something is blocking at the moment of decision (price, specification, completion timetable).

The reason for withdrawals deserves a line of its own. Financing that falls through, a buyer comparing with another development, a doubt about the timeline: each reason calls for a different action. Without this detail, you are correcting blindly. Also track the average time between first viewing and signing, as a lengthening of this time often precedes a slowdown in sales.

Sales pace and projection

A developer manages stock over time. The report must therefore translate activity into pace: how many units sold per period, how many remain, and how fast take-up is progressing compared with the initial marketing plan.

This pace, compared with expected cash flow and the construction timetable, tells you whether you are ahead, on time or behind. A gap is not a problem in itself, as long as it is spotted early and explained. The sales agent's role is to alert you as soon as the trend diverges from the plan, with a hypothesis about the cause.

Require a simple projection: at the current pace, by when will the development be sold out. This projection, updated with each report, is worth more than a table of raw figures. It turns data into a decision.

Market feedback: the qualitative part

The figures say what is happening, feedback from the ground says why. Your sales agent sees the buyers, hears their objections and compares with the other developments they present. This experience must be passed on.

Expect to read the recurring objections (the price per m² for a given unit type, the aspect, the projected charges, the immediate surroundings), how the development is perceived against direct competition in the area, and feedback from viewings that did not lead anywhere. It is this material that allows you to adjust a sales pitch, a specification or a price list before delays set in.

This qualitative part requires discipline. It assumes that each viewing is debriefed straight away and recorded, rather than reconstructed from memory at the end of the month. A sales agent who reports precise verbatim comments from buyers gives you a head start on the corrections to make.

Frequency and format

During a launch, a weekly update keeps a firm grip on activity. At cruising speed, a written monthly report, supplemented by regular discussion, is enough. Towards the end of marketing, monitoring becomes close again, unit by unit.

The useful rule: the same template for every report, so you can compare one period with the next without reinterpreting the presentation. A developer should be able to lay two reports side by side and see the trend at a glance. If the format changes every time, the monitoring loses its value.

One last point on format: each report should end with a recommendation, not just an observation. The table shows the state of the development, the recommendation says what to do about it. It is this last line that distinguishes a simple statement from a real steering tool.

To go further on preparing a launch, see our article on marketing a development in Geneva. And for the final stretch, our method for selling the remaining stock of a development.

A development in Geneva? Book a call with Stéphane Blatti.