How should real estate agents follow up open-home attendees and property enquiries?

Reply promptly with the information the buyer asked for, then ask about their needs, timing, finance position and preferred contact. Record what you promised to do and update them when a suitable property, inspection or change comes up. Do not rely on generic database emails. Buyers are more likely to keep talking when the information relates to their real search.

A buyer enquiry is easy to treat as interest in one address. It may also signal a larger move, a changing search, a finance question or a property to sell. Agents who only ask for an offer can miss the chance to help. The first response should answer what was asked, then build a useful picture of the person's decision without making them repeat it to every agent in the office.

Answer the property question first

Check every place buyers can contact the agency, including listing portals, website forms, phone calls, texts, open-home registrations and social media. Can the agent see the person's earlier inspections and conversations in one place? A CRM can hold thousands of names and still be of little use if the buyer's search, timing and promised follow-up are missing.

• Portal enquiries receive an automated brochure but no useful human reply.

• Open-home attendees are called by several team members.

• Buyers keep receiving properties outside their brief.

• Inspection feedback is collected but not used to refine follow-up.

• Contacts who also need to sell are not identified or routed.

Organise the follow-up

Answer the question about the property first. Then ask enough to understand what the buyer is looking for, when they want to buy and whether they need to sell another home. Ask before adding them to ongoing alerts and let them choose how often they hear from you. After an open home, contact people according to what they asked for, whether that is a contract, another inspection, similar properties or no further contact.

1. Bring portal, phone, open-home and website leads into a shared process.

2. Respond with the requested property information and a named contact.

3. Capture search need, timing, finance readiness, sale requirement and communication preference.

4. Assign the next action and suppress irrelevant alerts.

5. Review older buyers after each interaction and update their status rather than restarting the script.

What to track

Monitor time to human response, contact rate, second inspections, contract requests, offers, buyer appointments and seller opportunities identified with permission. Review duplicate contacts and irrelevant sends as experience failures. Property and privacy rules differ by location, so agencies should have their legal and licence advisors approve data collection, disclosures and marketing practices.

What to avoid

• Treating registration as permission for unlimited marketing.

• Calling every attendee with the same question regardless of feedback.

• Ignoring the information the buyer supplied on the portal.

• Using AI to invent property facts or give unapproved advice.

• Keeping buyer notes in individual phones where the agency cannot manage follow-up.

Common questions

How soon should agents contact a portal enquiry?

As soon as they can provide accurate information. If an agent cannot reply immediately, confirm that the enquiry arrived and say when somebody will contact them.

Should every attendee get a phone call?

Use what the person said at registration and during the inspection. Some people need a contract or update rather than a sales call.

Can an existing CRM handle this?

Often yes, if it records the source, search criteria, consent, responsible agent and promised follow-up. Check how the agency uses the current system before replacing it.

A realistic example

Cathryn Mora, Founder, Kindred Systems Lead Conversion Advisor with more than 15 years across marketing, sales, customer experience, CRM and business growth. More about Cathryn