Instant lead texts for real estate teams: Follow Up Boss

An online lead who waits hours for a reply has often talked to another agent by then. If a four-agent team gets 60 portal and website leads a month and about 20 arrive in the evening or at weekends and wait until the next morning, those are the leads most likely to go cold. If faster contact turned just 1 more lead every 6 months into a closing at an average commission of $9,000£6,767€8,053A$12,992C$12,722 to the team, that's $1,500£1,128€1,342A$2,165C$2,120 a month in commission.

Follow Up Boss is a CRM built for real estate agents and teams. Connect your website and lead sources (the vendor says it integrates with more than 250) and each new lead lands in one place. Its texting page says an initial text goes out automatically to new leads, customized by lead source or type, and replies go straight to the assigned agent. Lead routing hands out leads round robin, or by first to claim, which alerts the whole team at once and gives the lead to whoever responds first. Action Plans automate the follow-up after that, and the AI features suggest texts and emails based on what the lead has done, which the agent reads and edits before sending. Write the first text yourself: a short hello in the agent's name, one question about what they're looking for, and how to opt out.

An illustrative example built from typical figures, not a named business.

A four-agent team in Tampa gets about 60 leads a month from portals and its own website, a third of them in the evening or at weekends. The team lead sets up an automatic first text for each lead source, first-to-claim routing after hours, and a two-week Action Plan of calls, texts and emails for every new lead.

About $900£677€805A$1,299C$1,272 a month in profit, against a $232£174€208A$335C$328 cost. That assumes 1 extra closing every 6 months at an average commission of $9,000£6,767€8,053A$12,992C$12,722 to the team after the brokerage split ($1,500£1,128€1,342A$2,165C$2,120 a month), at an assumed 60% margin after lead costs, marketing and agent payouts. Four agents on Grow cost $58£44€52A$84C$82 each a month billed annually ($232£174€208A$335C$328), or $69£52€62A$100C$98 each billed monthly ($276£208€247A$398C$390). If the team already uses Follow Up Boss, the extra cost is nil.

1. 1Add opt-in wording for texts to every form that sends you leads, such as your website contact and home-search forms, so you have consent before automatic texting starts (TCPA).
2. 2Ask Follow Up Boss how it registers your business for texting with the carriers (A2P 10DLC), how long approval takes and whether a carrier fee applies; its pricing and texting pages don't say.
3. 3Connect your website and each lead source, then write the automatic first text for each source in the agent's own voice, with a way to reply STOP.
4. 4Set lead routing: round robin in office hours and first to claim in the evenings and at weekends, so the first available agent takes the lead.
5. 5Build an Action Plan for new leads (calls, texts and emails over the first two weeks) and read each AI-suggested message before it goes out.
6. 6Each week, list the leads that waited more than an hour for an agent's reply and move them to someone who will call.

• Automatic texts to people who didn't agree to them can breach the TCPA. Check the opt-in wording on every lead source, portals included, and honor STOP replies at once.
• Texting depends on carrier business registration (A2P 10DLC). Until it's approved, automatic texts may not go out, so test with your own cell phone first.
• Grow is priced per user, and calling is a $33£25€30A$48C$47 to $39£29€35A$56C$55 per-user add-on. Some AI features use calling data, so they do less on Grow without it; Pro ($416£313€372A$601C$588 a month billed annually for 10 users) includes calling.
• AI-suggested replies can drift into describing who a neighborhood suits. Under the Fair Housing Act, the agent edits every message to describe homes and facts, never people.