How to Follow Up With Real Estate Leads: The System That Actually Runs
Follow up with a real estate lead in three stages. First, reply within two minutes with a real question and a real showing time. Second, six touches in fourteen days across text, email and one call. Third, one useful touch a month until they are ready, often six to eighteen months out. Sifta runs all three from your text thread.
See pricingWhy follow-up fails
Follow-up fails because it depends on the agent remembering, and the agent is in a showing.
The numbers on lead response are well known: nearly half of online inquiries get no human reply, and the median reply takes 39 minutes when the lead is still on Zillow looking at the next house. After the first reply it gets worse. Most agents stop after one or two attempts, and the lead who said 'just looking' in March buys in October from whoever was still in touch.
Stage one: the first two minutes
Reply within two minutes, by text, with one question and one showing time.
Zillow's own guidance to Premier Agents is two minutes. The reply that works is short and specific: their name, the address, one question that moves it forward, and a real time you are free. Not 'when works for you'. 'I can show it Saturday at 1 or Sunday at 11. Which is better?'
Stage two: six touches in fourteen days
In the first two weeks, reach the lead six times across text, email and one call, each touch carrying something new.
Something new means a comp, a similar listing, an answer to the question they asked, a school or commute fact. Never 'just checking in'.
| Day | Channel | What to send |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Text | Reply in two minutes: name, address, one question, one showing time |
| 0 | Three similar listings with prices, one line each | |
| 1 | Call | One call. Leave a voicemail. Then text: 'Just left you a voicemail about 114 Maple.' |
| 3 | Text | A comp: 'The one on Ridge Ave just went for $612k. Want me to pull what 114 Maple should go for?' |
| 7 | A useful answer: schools, commute, HOA, taxes for the area they asked about | |
| 14 | Text | The direct question: 'Are you still looking, or should I check back in a couple of months?' |
Stage three: the long game
After two weeks, one useful touch a month until they are ready, and most buyers take six to eighteen months.
A monthly touch is a new listing that fits, a price change on one they liked, a market note for their zip code, or a straight question. The agent who is still in touch in month nine gets the deal. Almost nobody is, because nobody remembers.
How Sifta runs the system
Sifta does the remembering and the writing, so the system runs whether or not you are in a showing.
When the lead lands, Sifta drafts the two-minute reply in your voice with real times from your calendar, and you send it. It sends the similar listings. It reminds you of the day-one call. It pulls the comp for day three and writes the text. It answers the schools question. On day fourteen it asks. Then it keeps the thread alive monthly with something real, and texts you the moment the buyer says 'we're ready'. Everything it learns goes into your morning brief and, if you use it, Follow Up Boss.
Sifta is not a CRM, does not make phone calls, does not run ad campaigns and does not do compliance paperwork. It does the follow-up, the chasing, the booking and the research, from the text thread you already have open. Sifta Pro is $199 a month.
Three ways to start
You can text Sifta, get a free Leak Report on your own inbox, or read the pricing page.
Text Sifta and ask it for comps on any address. Or connect your Gmail or Outlook for the free Leak Report: it reads the last 90 days and shows you the leads, offers and lender emails that got no reply. Or see pricing. Sifta Pro is $199 a month. If Sifta doesn't catch something worth more than the price in week one, you don't pay.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Three ways in
The follow-up runs while you show houses.
Sifta Pro is $199 a month. Works with Gmail and Outlook. Setup takes two minutes. First week guaranteed.
See pricing