Property enquiries: the same eight questions, forty times a day
Property messaging is high volume and low intent: the same eight questions from forty people, of whom two will view. The job is answering all forty instantly and finding the two without interrogating anybody.
The eight questions
Price, exact location, size, whether the price is negotiable, deposit, service charge, parking, and whether it is still available. Every one has a fixed answer, and answering them in the first reply does more for conversion than any follow-up sequence.
Put all eight in the first reply, before they are asked. It feels like too much information; what it actually does is disqualify the people for whom the answer is wrong, immediately and without a conversation - which is the entire economics of this trade.
Photographs, compressed
Twelve images at four megabytes is fifty megabytes of somebody's bundle. They will not download them, and you will read the silence as disinterest. Send three or four, compressed, and offer the rest - see sending media.
A short walkthrough video, small enough to actually load, outperforms any number of stills - and it removes the viewings that would have been a wasted trip for both sides.
Telling a serious enquiry apart
| Signal | What it means |
|---|---|
| Asks about the deposit or the lease term | Has decided they can afford it |
| Asks when they can view | Serious |
| Asks if the price is negotiable, first | Price is the obstacle; answer honestly and move on |
| Sends only 'is it available' | Broadcasting to every listing; answer once, do not chase |
The viewing is the only conversion
Everything before it is qualification. Offer two specific times rather than asking when suits - a choice between Thursday 4pm and Saturday morning gets an answer, and "when are you free?" gets nothing.
Afterwards, once
One follow-up after a viewing, asking directly what they thought and making a no easy. A property agent who chases three times becomes the agent people block, and this is a trade where your number is your business - see chasing without nagging.
Questions people actually ask
How do agents handle high volumes of property enquiries?
By answering the eight standard questions automatically and spending human time only on people who ask a ninth. Most enquiries never get past price and location.
Should property photos be sent over WhatsApp?
Yes, and compressed. A viewer on a data bundle will not download twelve four-megabyte images, and the enquiry dies silently.
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