3 Reasons Your Real Estate Leads are Ghosting You on Phone Appointments

At Smart Alto, we are pretty adamant about phone appointments and it really doesn’t take a genius to see why. 

To be clear, an appointment is a specific day and time when both you and the lead have agreed to the call. 

When an appointment is set, you should expect a 90% appointment show-up rate. 

Appointments are much better than live transfers, which can leave you scrambling trying to sound composed while running late to a listing appointment.

That’s a level of anxiety I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

Don’t even get me started with the rip-off of an ISA Provider merely identifying your “hottest leads” for you.

Unfortunately, even with phone appointments, no one can consistently get a 100% show-up rate on appointments. It just doesn’t happen, heck no one can consistently get 100% of anything.

Some people will schedule an appointment and then almost instantly forget they ever agreed to it.

Did you know nearly 2% of adults don’t even use a calendar? 

I know how that sounds to business owners and sales pros but that’s 2% of people who will just try to remember the appointment in their head. 

But that doesn’t keep some Realtors from consistently getting 90%+ of their phone appointments to actually stick.

If you want to improve your show-up rate, you’re first going to need to know what you’re up against.

So let’s look at the 3 reasons you’re getting ghosted.‍

Reason #1: They Simply Forgot About The Appointment (And You Didn’t Remind Them)

This might seem like a no-brainer but honestly, it’s probably responsible for a huge percentage of your no shows.

As I said, some people don’t even use a calendar, and a lot of the people who do use a calendar aren’t doing so religiously.

Just because you set an appointment with someone doesn’t necessarily mean they put it in their calendar.

(NOTE: Smart Alto actually schedules appointments for you and the homebuyer and then automatically sends text message reminders to ensure everyone shows up on time.)

Try to remember yourself before your profession required you to live out of your calendar app. Sure you used the app on your phone to check dates and maybe set reminders for doctors’ appointments, or birthdays, or vacations. But I’ll bet you never used it to schedule a coffee with someone.

No, you knew you’d just remember right? That’s exactly how it works for so many of our prospects who work in fixed schedule jobs, they don’t use their calendar the same way we do.

Instead, they log it in the worst app of all, their brains.

Of course, we know that a great archer never blames the target for a missed shot.

In that same way, you can’t blame your leads for a weak show-up rate.

How do you help someone remember something?

Remind them!

Leverage our favorite scheduling app, Calendly, to remove all the leg work. Set up a text message alert to go out 24 hours, 30 minutes, and 5 minutes before your scheduled appointment.

For a more detailed look at text reminders, read 2 Things You Need to get a 90% Appointment Show Up Rate with Real Estate Leads.

Reason #2: They Aren’t Getting The Instant Attention They Demand 

This one has less to do with the leads and more to do with your lead routing system. Too many teams simply round-robin their leads evenly.

I’d be willing to bet you’re on one of those teams or you know someone who is.

(NOTE: I’m assuming that agents who receive leads are hustlers and go-getters. If they’re not then they shouldn’t be getting leads at all.)

The problem is that you’re likely giving an equal share of your leads to your busiest agents who simply don’t have the time to effectively convert them.

At that point, you’re pretty much asking for them to be ghosted.‍

Download our Ultimate Checklist On Which Real Estate Leads To Call First so you can remove all the guesswork of how to approach No Show Appointments. Then finish reading this article to find some simple solutions. 

Instead, you should adopt the practice of delegating your leads based on availability of appointments / time to service clients. 

Why?

Because even the best closer on your team is useless if they don’t have the bandwidth to convert any more leads.

Alternatively, your agents with more availability will not only be on time for all of their phone appointments, but they’ll also have the hunger to make sure that they’re sending text reminders and a screenshot of the appointment to no shows.

I know it’s a big change in your thinking to round-robin leads at the appointment level rather than the CRM. But trust me, it’s a game-changer for your conversion rates.

By optimizing for agent availability, you’re doing what’s best for the homebuyer and the agent. You’re making sure your team can deliver the best service at the most appropriate time for the clients.  

Plus, it’s also really easy to do with calendar services available on the market. 

Reason #3: They Don’t Even Have An Appointment With You

Okay, let’s have a quick heart to heart.

Look, the reason you aren’t having people show up on appointments is that you’re not even setting appointments.

And no I don’t mean that as some ham-fisted pitch for our services, I mean that when you get people on the phone you aren’t scheduling the next appointment then and there.

Wayne Gretsky said “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” that translates perfectly to our business as well.

We can think of it as….

“You get ghosted on 100% of the appointments you don’t set.”

From here an out, make it a point to never end a phone appointment without scheduling the next appointment.

Think about it, you never leave the dentist, doctors’ office, or auto repair shop before they confirm the next appointment.

Let’s say you’re talking to a prospect about the benefits of getting a pre-qualification letter. Before you say a friendly goodbye, make sure you set the next phone or in-person appointment.

They’ll need time to talk to your lender, of course, but don’t hang up before you get a commitment for the next meeting.

That way, you’ll always keep your calendar full with new phone appointments and current clients. 

That’s how you win in this business: talking to more qualified prospects. 

More appointments = more clients.

Another great time to use this (besides all the time) is on listing appointments if you’re not leaving with a signed agreement. Make it a point to schedule a follow-up call while you’re still at the kitchen table.

Download The Ultimate Checklist On Which Real Estate Leads To Call First And Learn How To Capitalize On 'No Show Appointments'

And that’s it - you just learned how to spot, and fix, the top 3 most common reasons you get ghosted on phone appointments. 

I know that getting ghosted on phone appointments is a lame experience. You’ve done everything right: generated the lead, consistently followed up and scheduled a time to talk. 

But then, it all falls apart at the final mile.

Phone appointments are a fundamental step in turning leads into clients. They allow you to build a real rapport with leads and display your knowledge and expertise.

But sometimes people simply forget about the appointment, or your round-robin rules are awkward, or you didn’t make it a point to schedule the next appointment. 

Either way, it’s lost business for you and a bad experience for the buyer. 

My recommendation, if you’re learning about all these reasons for the first time, is to take them one by one. 

First, start with reason #1, and make sure you send text message reminders about the appointments to your leads. Then when you’re done with that, move on to reason #2 and start to round-robin your leads based on availability. And so on down the list.

Before you know it, you’ll be an appointment setting machine. 

(NOTE: Before you get started fine-tuning your sales process, Download Our Ultimate Checklist On Which Real Estate Leads To Call First so you can remove all the guesswork of how to approach No Show Appointments and grow your business.

‍