Think about the last time you needed something and reached out to two businesses. You probably went with the one that got back to you first. Not because they were better. Because they were there.
Your buyers and sellers work the same way. So do the agents you’re recruiting.
What the research says
Back in 2007, Dave Elkington of InsideSales.com and Dr. James Oldroyd of MIT studied how fast companies responded to web leads. They found that calling within five minutes instead of 30 made it 100 times more likely you’d reach the person, and 21 times more likely you’d qualify them. (Read the study.)
That study is almost 20 years old. If anything, people’s patience has gotten shorter since.
Speed is a culture, not a tool
Most brokerages treat speed to lead as a technology problem. Buy the right CRM, set up an auto-text, and you’re done.
Technology helps. But I’ve seen offices with great systems and slow agents, and offices with simple systems and agents who call back in minutes. The difference is what the leader expects and what gets talked about in the sales meeting.
Five ways to get faster
- Measure it. You can’t improve a number nobody tracks. Pull your average response time for the last 30 days and share it with the team.
- Send the first reply automatically. A quick, personal text that says a real person will call shortly buys you minutes without losing the lead.
- Cover the after-hours gap. Plenty of inquiries come in at night and on weekends. Decide in advance who answers them, or set up a rotation.
- Alert the right person instantly. Leads should go straight to an agent’s phone, not sit in a shared inbox.
- Call first, qualify second. The first goal is to reach the person. The questions can come once you have them on the phone.
It works for recruiting too
When an agent visits your careers page or replies to a recruiting email, that’s a lead. The same rules apply. The office that calls back first is usually the one that gets the coffee meeting.
The bottom line
Fast doesn’t mean pushy. It means present. Being first shows people you respect their time, and that’s where trust starts.
What’s your office’s response time today? If you don’t know, that’s your first step.
Want help applying this in your brokerage? Book a 30-minute conversation with Mark at calendly.com/mjsession.
Honestly, this made me think about how I use the internet every day. If I don’t get an answer right away, I just move on to the next option without even thinking twice. The same thing happens in real estate. People want instant responses, and if an agent is quick to reach out, that’s already a win in today’s fast-paced world.
The point about how almost half of the leads coming in are after hours really stuck with me. As a student, I’m usually up in the evening and that’s alot of times when I search for things and complete my tasks. If nobody responds until the next morning, I’d probably lose interest or consider another service. Speed to lead definitely feels huge in this digital age especially where we’re all used to instant gratification, it’s basically how you stay relevant.