Glossary

Real estate marketing and sales glossary

Clear definitions of the terms a developer's sales team works with, from CPL to closing. With formulas and worked examples.

• Absorption rateAbsorption rate is the number of units a project sells in a period, usually a month, counted in units or as a percentage of total inventory.
• AI sales agentAn AI sales agent is software built on a language model that chats with leads on a developer's behalf.
• Attribution modelAn attribution model is the rule that decides how a sale is credited to marketing channels.
• CACCAC (customer acquisition cost) is what one sale costs a developer.
• ClosingClosing (escrituración) is the signing of the public deed of sale before a notary (notario público), after which the buyer owns the unit and the title is recorded in the property registry.
• Conversions APIThe Conversions API (CAPI) is the channel through which a server or CRM sends events directly to Meta.
• Cost per meetingCost per meeting is how much a developer spends on ads for each meeting that actually happens with a buyer: at the sales office, on site or by video call.
• CPLCPL (cost per lead) is how much a developer pays for one contact from advertising.
• CPQLCPQL (cost per qualified lead) is how much a developer pays for one lead who confirmed their budget, timeline, area and payment method in a conversation with the sales team.
• CRMA CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is the system where a developer keeps every lead and the full history of work with it: where the inquiry came from, which sales rep took it, what calls and messages happened, and what stage the deal is in.
• Down paymentA down payment (enganche) is the part of an apartment's price the buyer pays when signing the contract with the developer or when taking out a mortgage.
• Follow-up planA follow-up plan is a schedule of lead touches you set in advance: how many attempts to make, on which days, at what time of day and through which channel.
• Junk leadA junk lead is an inquiry with no real buyer behind it: a bot, a fake or wrong phone number, someone who submitted a form by accident.
• LeadA lead in real estate sales is a person who left their contact details with a developer or agency.
• Lead reactivationLead reactivation means going back to the inquiries sitting in a developer's CRM marked "lost" or "no answer." The company already paid for each of those leads with ad spend.
• Lead-to-sale conversion rateThe lead-to-sale conversion rate is the share of leads that made it to a closed sale.
• MQL vs SQLAn MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) filled out a quiz or ad form and entered a budget, timeline or area there.
• Mystery shopperA mystery shopper is a test of a sales team in which the tester submits an inquiry like any apartment buyer and records everything that happens next: how fast someone replied, through which channels, whether they asked about budget, whether they invited the buyer to a meeting and whether they followed up when the buyer went quiet.
• Pre-construction salesPre-construction sales (preventa) means selling units in a project before it's built, sometimes before construction starts.
• Qualified leadA qualified lead is a lead who, in a conversation with the sales team, confirmed their budget, purchase timeline, preferred area and payment method (cash, mortgage, developer financing).
• Reservation depositA reservation deposit (apartado) is a payment that holds a specific unit in a project while the paperwork and contract are prepared.
• ROMIROMI (return on marketing investment) shows how many times the profit from ad-driven sales exceeds what you spent on those ads.
• Sales funnelA developer's sales funnel is the buyer's path from an ad to a closed sale, split into stages you can verify: lead, first contact, qualification, meeting, sale.
• Speed to leadSpeed to lead is the time between the moment someone submits an inquiry about a home and the first real contact with them: a call or a WhatsApp message.