Is Your First Phone Call Costing You Instructions?
If your estate agency is losing instructions, missing offers or struggling to convert enquiries into real opportunities, the issue may not be your marketing. It may be the way your team are handling the very first phone call.
In estate agency, that first enquiry is often treated as nothing more than a viewing request. A buyer rings the office, asks to see a property, and the team member simply books them in. It feels efficient, but it can also mean a huge amount of opportunity is being missed. Because the first person who answers the phone is not just arranging access to a property. They are creating the first impression of your agency, setting the tone for the relationship and deciding, often without realising it, whether that enquiry becomes something more valuable.
This is something I break down in my latest Agency Titans video. I explain why agents need to stop acting like order takers and start becoming order makers. An order taker simply responds to what the buyer asks for. An order maker leads the conversation, asks better questions and takes control in a way that feels professional, helpful and commercially sharp.
That control starts with the basics. The call should be answered professionally, with the team member giving their name, asking for the buyer’s name and taking proper contact details. I also recommend asking who recommended them to the agency. If they say they found the property online, the response can be simple: “That’s great. The only reason I ask is that most of our business is recommended.” It is a small line, but it positions the agency as trusted, established and in demand.
From there, the conversation needs to go deeper than the viewing itself. Before rushing to offer appointment times, the team should understand the buyer’s situation. Are they renting locally? Are they upsizing, downsizing or relocating? Do they have a property to sell? What timeframe are they working towards? These questions are not just polite conversation. They reveal motivation, urgency and potential future business.
The same applies to the property search. Instead of asking whether they would like to view anything else, I suggest asking what specifically attracted them to that property. That question encourages the buyer to talk about what really matters to them, whether that is the garden, the school catchment, the parking, the layout or the commute. Once you understand what matters, you can qualify them properly, recommend more effectively and follow up with far more relevance.
Finance is another area where agents often miss the opportunity to have a more useful conversation. Asking “Do you need a mortgage?” usually leads to a yes or no answer. A stronger approach is to ask what they are comfortable spending up to and then explore how they arrived at that figure. This opens the door to a better conversation around affordability, lenders, brokers and how proceedable the buyer really is.
Even the way the viewing is booked makes a difference. Rather than asking when the buyer would like to come, I recommend offering two specific appointment options. This gives the conversation structure and authority, while positioning the agency as organised and in control. Where possible, bringing the buyer into the office before the viewing can also help build rapport, recap what was discussed on the phone and create a stronger relationship before they even step inside the property.
None of this is complicated, but that is exactly why it is so often overlooked. Many agencies spend money generating more leads, but fail to maximise the enquiries already coming through the door. A better first conversation can improve viewing-to-offer ratios, offer-to-exchange ratios and even future instruction opportunities.
To hear me explain the full call structure in more detail, click here!
And if you want to go deeper into the systems, scripts and structures that help estate agencies win more instructions, improve conversion and increase fee levels, join us at the Optimised Agency Workshop.
