Pipeline examples: appointments and real estate
Two worked pipelines — an appointment-based business and a real estate agency
These are illustrations of the method in Design a pipeline that fits your business, not a closed list. Adapt the stage names and texts to how your customers actually buy. Every setting used here exists in Pipeline settings and Configure stage. Each pipeline also has its Won and Lost stages; a person drags leads there unless an automatic event does it.
1. Appointment-based service
Fits: clinics, salons, spas, workshops, consultancies — the sale is a booked appointment, usually within one or two conversations. Your services must be set up so the bot can book.
- Start from: the Appointments template.
- Who closes the sale: The bot completes the sale.
- How the bot moves contacts: Suggest a move first; Move them automatically once you trust it.
- Goal: Take each customer to a booked appointment for the service they need.
| Stage | What the bot does in this stage | When it leaves this stage | Who handles it |
|---|---|---|---|
| New (entry) | Ask what service they need and whether they prefer a day or a time. One question at a time. | The customer said which service they need. | Only the bot |
| Choosing a time | Offer the available times for that service and help them pick one. | The customer chose a day and a time. | Only the bot |
| Booked | Confirm the appointment, remind them what to bring or prepare, and answer questions. | (empty — a person closes it) | Bot and a person |
- Automatic event: Appointment booked on Booked. A confirmed appointment moves the lead there even if the conversation skipped a stage.
- Closing: after the visit, a team member drags the card to Won, or to Lost if the customer did not show up and will not rebook.
- Why three stages: the customer needs something different in each — to be understood, to pick a slot, to be reminded.
2. Real estate agency
Fits: agencies and agents selling or renting properties — a sale of weeks, with a visit and a negotiation outside the chat.
- Start from: the Real estate template.
- Who closes the sale: The bot completes the sale, so the bot can book viewings. The negotiation itself is protected by making that stage Only a person.
- How the bot moves contacts: Suggest a move.
- Goal: Understand what property each customer is looking for and take them to a booked viewing.
| Stage | What the bot does in this stage | When it leaves this stage | Who handles it |
|---|---|---|---|
| New (entry) | Ask whether they want to buy or rent, in which area and with what budget. | The customer gave an area and a budget. | Only the bot |
| Searching | Show the properties that match what they asked for and answer their questions. | The customer showed concrete interest in one property or asked to see it. | Only the bot |
| Viewing booked | Confirm the viewing with day, time and address. | (empty — the agent moves it after the viewing) | Bot and a person |
| Negotiating | An advisor from the team leads the negotiation; answer general questions only. | (empty) | Only a person |
- Automatic event: Appointment booked on Viewing booked. The template also fills an exit condition on that stage; clear it if you want the agent, not the bot, to decide when the negotiation starts.
- Closing: the agent drags the card to the Won stage (named Closed in the template) or to Lost.
- Who receives new contacts: with several agents, Take turns among these people, so each new lead has an owner from the start.
- A second pipeline? Only if rentals and sales follow different steps or belong to different agents. Then describe each under Who belongs here ("People looking to rent a home" / "People looking to buy a property") so the bot can suggest the right one.
What good pipelines have in common
- The entry stage only finds out what the person needs.
- Each exit condition is something the customer said, which a reader of the chat can confirm.
- Steps that happen outside the chat are handled by Only a person and have no exit condition.
- Won and Lost are decided by people or by an automatic event, never by the bot.