A follow-up plan for Zillow leads that gets them on the phone

A Zillow lead is usually a person looking at one specific home, early in their search, who may have reached out to more than one agent at the same moment. So the plan is simple: reply within minutes, talk about the home they asked about, and keep showing up with something useful for weeks after most agents have stopped.

Everything below is built around those three facts. None of it depends on how any portal’s program works. It is about how the person on the other end behaves.

Why are Zillow leads different from other leads?

Portal leads raise their hand about a property, not about you. A referral already trusts you. An open house visitor has met you. A portal lead has seen a photo, a price and a button.

That changes three things:

• They are often shopping. Someone who taps “contact” on a listing may be doing the same on three other listings that afternoon. The first agent who answers their actual question has a head start.
• They are often early. Plenty of portal inquiries come from people months away from buying. They are not lying when they go quiet. They are just not ready yet.
• They remember the house, not the name. If your first message says “Hi, this is Sam with ABC Realty,” it means nothing to them. If it says “the three-bed on Maple you asked about,” they know exactly who you are.

A good portal follow-up plan respects all three: speed for the shopper, patience for the early browser, and context for everyone.

What should you do in the first hour?

Call and text within the first few minutes, then make two more attempts inside the hour. The goal of the first hour is not to close anything. It is to have one real conversation, or at least to be the agent whose name is attached to that house in their phone.

A practical first-hour sequence:

1. Minute 0 to 5: Call. If they answer, they are probably still looking at the listing. Talk about it.
2. Right after the call: If it went to voicemail, send a short text that names the property and answers their question if you can.
3. Minute 15 to 30: A second call from the same number. It gives someone who screened the first unknown call a second chance to pick up.
4. Within the hour: An email with the listing details, a few photos or a link, and two or three similar homes.

If you cannot personally hit minute five on every lead, that is the real problem to solve. Not the script.

What should the first messages say?

Every early message should prove you read their inquiry. Reference the home, answer the question, offer one next step. Here are examples you can adapt.

First text after a missed call:

Hi Jordan, it’s Sam, I just tried you about 412 Maple Street. It’s still active. Showings are open this week. Want me to hold a time Thursday or Saturday?

If they asked a specific question:

Hi Jordan, Sam here about 412 Maple. You asked about the HOA: it covers the lawn and snow removal. I can send the full HOA docs. Would a quick call today help?

If the home is already under contract:

Hi Jordan, Sam here. 412 Maple just went under contract, sorry. I pulled two similar 3-beds nearby that are still available. Want me to send them?

First email subject lines that get opened:

• “412 Maple: the details you asked for”
• “412 Maple plus two similar homes nearby”

Notice what these do not include: a paragraph about your brokerage, a request to “hop on a call to discuss your needs,” or three questions at once. One home, one answer, one next step.

What does the follow-up cadence look like over weeks?

After the first day, shift from speed to steadiness. The lead who ignored five touches on day one may reply on day 19 when a better house comes up. A cadence that tapers but never stops is what catches them.

A few rules make this work:

• Every touch carries something new. A new listing, a price drop, a sold comp near the home they liked. “Just checking in” is the message people learn to ignore.
• Rotate times of day. If they never pick up at 10 a.m., try early evening. Some people only answer after work.
• Stop instantly when asked. If a lead replies STOP or anything like “please stop texting me,” honor it right away. The wireless industry’s CTIA messaging guidelines say plain-language opt-outs like “stop,” “end,” “unsubscribe,” “cancel” and “quit” should all be acted on, not just the exact keyword.

For the rules around calling and texting leads, especially with AI voices, see our compliance checklist for AI calls and texts.

When should you switch channels?

Switch when a channel has gone quiet, and follow the lead’s lead. A few practical signals:

• They text back but never answer calls. Keep the conversation in text. Offer a call only when there is a reason, like confirming a showing.
• They opened emails but ignore texts. Put the substance in email (listings, comps) and use texts only for time-sensitive items.
• Nothing for two weeks on any channel. Try the one you have used least. A voicemail that references a specific new listing is a different touch than a fourth text.
• They replied once, then vanished. Go back to exactly what they said. If they mentioned a school district, the next message is about that district.

The mistake is treating channels as a checklist to run in order. They are just different doors. Keep knocking on the one that opened.

How do you hand off a portal lead cleanly?

When a lead is ready to talk, whoever picks up next should already know everything. That means a short written brief before the call or showing:

• Which home they first asked about, and when
• What they have said since (budget, timeline, must-haves, whether they have a lender)
• What they have been sent and what they responded to
• The best time and channel to reach them

This matters most on teams where an ISA or an assistant makes first contact and an agent takes over. Nothing loses a portal lead faster than an agent calling and asking, “So what are you looking for?” after the lead already explained it twice.

If you are the solo agent doing everything, the same brief still helps. Write it in your CRM notes as the conversation happens, so the you of three weeks from now does not have to reconstruct it.

Where Forward Flow fits

The hard part of this plan is not knowing it. It is running it on every lead, at minute one, and still sending a useful message in month four.

That is the job we built Forward Flow for. A new lead gets its first touch within the first minute, and each lead gets its own campaign of calls, texts, emails and voicemail, run at the hours that lead actually answers, for as long as it takes. It can match buyers to homes and send listings as they come up. When a lead is ready, the call transfers to you live with a short brief on who they are and what they want. You approve the scripts, cadence and hand-off rules. You can see one lead’s week end to end.

The best way to judge any follow-up is from the lead’s side. Try it as a lead: play a buyer, and get the real texts, voicemail and phone call a Zillow lead would get.