When you're ready to scale your business with online leads, you need to understand something critical: they require a completely different approach than your sphere and referral business. What's worked for you up to this point is great, and you should keep doing it.
But here's the reality: online leads require more strategic questions, more structure, and a willingness to break down walls that sphere clients never put up in the first place. If sphere and referrals are checkers, online leads are chess. If you try to play chess with a checkers rulebook, you're going to be frustrated, disappointed, and convinced that "online leads don't work." They do. You just need the right playbook.
This isn't about abandoning what's worked for you. It's about adding a new skill set to your toolkit. What follows is the framework that thousands of CINC agents have used to turn internet leads into closed transactions. These aren't theories or best guesses. This is what works.
You can dial 100 leads this week. You can have 20 conversations. But if you're not asking the right questions in the right order, you're just having nice chats that go nowhere.
Structured conversations convert. Here's the framework that has helped thousands of agents turn cold leads into booked appointments.
These best practices are based on CINC's proven methodology, refined through training thousands of agents to success over the years.
The 5 W's aren't just information gathering. They're control. When you know these five things, you can qualify the lead, and you know exactly how to position yourself as the solution.
Your first sentence sets the tone for everything that follows.
Avoid these landmines:
Instead, use A/B questions that guide the conversation:
“Hey, this is [YOUR NAME] with the home search site, I noticed you were looking at some homes in [FAVORITE CITY], just curious, are you looking to make a move in the next few months or are you just browsing?”
This opening works because:
Your job isn't to corner them. It's to guide them toward appointment readiness.
Most agents hear an objection and think the conversation is over. Wrong.
Objections are entry points, not exits. They're where the real conversation begins.
Wrong response: "Okay, no problem. Call me if that changes."
Right response: AGENT: “I totally get it! If I were to find you a home that checked all the boxes, but wasn’t on the market yet, would you want me to send them to you?”
LEAD: “Sure”
AGENT: “Perfect, so I don’t send you a bunch of useless emails, I know we get enough of them, what are those boxes?”
You're not backing down. You're exploring. Many leads say this reflexively. Keep the conversation going.
Wrong response: "Okay, well let me know when you're ready."
Right response: “Just looking, great! That's exactly what the site is for. So, tell me, are you thinking 3 bedrooms or 4?”
"Just browsing" is where every lead starts. Dig into what they're browsing for and find out why.
Wrong response: "Sure, I'll send you some listings."
Right response: “I’ll set your search up, so homes you're interested in get emailed out to you. I want to make sure they fit what you're looking for though. So, are you just interested in [CITY], or are you open to other areas as well?”
Address the request, then take back control. You're not just an email bot.
Wrong response: "Yeah, they are pretty high right now."
Right response: “I totally get it. Let’s do this, let’s put the interest rate going up or down to the side.” PAUSE and with curiosity ask; “What has you looking in the first place?”
This flips the objection into a an opportunity to get more information.
Features tell. Benefits sell. But emotion closes.
For buyers, the "why" might be growing family, job relocation, or proximity to aging parents.
For sellers, the "why" is everything.
Ask:
Most consumers don't think a realtor can solve their problem. Your job is to uncover the emotional driver and position yourself as the one who can deliver the outcome they want.
Emotion drives decisions. Logic justifies them. Get to the emotion first.
Dialing discipline + Pipeline tracking + Structured scripting = Predictable income.
You can't control the market. You can't control interest rates. But you can control:
Master the structure. The conversions will follow.
Pull up your new leads right now and make 10 calls using this framework. Track what happens. Refine. Repeat.