The Shocking Thing I Learned After Calling Real Estate Agents

Guys, can I tell you a story? If you don’t like it, don’t watch.

My wife and I are shopping for investment properties in different parts of the country. As we’re looking, of course I’m calling REALTORS. How am I finding them? In these markets, I don’t personally know any, so I went to Realtor.com—just like most buyers would.

I searched for agents, looked at their stats, found a few who looked good, and started calling. I wanted to see if they’d answer or call me back.

Well, no one—and I mean no one—answered their phone.

I get that people are busy or in meetings, but I left voicemails and still… nothing. No callbacks. Crazy.

So then I thought, this is what buyers go through. Everyone assumes agents are hungry, but most aren’t.

Then I tried something different. I filled out the Realtor.com lead form as if I were just another lead. Technically, I am a lead—a big one, actually. I could give these agents tons of business because I’m looking to buy multiple investment properties.

Guess what happened next? Suddenly, the same agents who ignored my calls started calling me back.

Why? Because they saw it come through as a “lead” from Realtor.com. They’ve been so conditioned to only respond to paid leads that they ignore the gold mine of people calling them directly. Now they’re paying a referral fee they didn’t need to pay.

Isn’t that crazy?

So my message is simple: answer your phone.

I get it—you get a lot of spam calls, and it’s hard to know which ones are worth picking up. But if you’re in sales, you should answer every call you can.

If you’re in a meeting, fine. But here’s a solution:

If you have a Gmail account, get a Google Voice number. It’s free, or you can pay for premium features. Label that number as “Leads.” Use it for your real estate ads and marketing. When it rings, you’ll know it’s not spam—it’s potential business.

If you have a small team, you can set up a “lead tree” in Google Voice. Everyone’s phone rings at once, and whoever answers first gets the lead.

Why is that important? Because speed to lead matters.

Studies show that a five-minute response time versus a ten-minute response time increases your conversion rate by 400%.

If I’m a buyer filling out multiple lead forms—on Zillow, Realtor.com, Homes.com—the first agent to call me back wins. Miss that five-minute window, and you’re probably never getting that lead.

If you’re a solo agent, team up with another agent in your office as a “lead partner.” If you miss a call, it forwards to them. You can trade leads or split referrals, but at least you’re not wasting opportunities.

Don’t waste your marketing or ad dollars by missing calls.

That’s my soapbox for today.

If you want more strategies like this—ways to generate and convert more leads—join us at eRealEstateCoach2.com.

We’ve got an incredible coaching program called The Path Performance Coaching Platform. And it’s only $1 for your first month. You’ll get tons of proven strategies to take your business to the next level.

Have a great day, and good selling.
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