How to answer Rightmove and portal leads before they go cold

To answer Rightmove and other portal leads quickly, do three things for every enquiry, at whatever hour it arrives: log it in one place, send a first reply that says something useful, and ask the few questions a negotiator needs answered before ringing back. None of the three needs a negotiator; the call that follows does. An enquirer who has heard from you, and has told you their position, is still warm at nine the next morning; one who has heard nothing has probably enquired elsewhere.

What does a portal lead tell you?

A buyer presses the button on a listing, or asks for a valuation, and the portal sends you a lead. It arrives by email, or straight into your software where a feed is set up. Rightmove's specification for its feed lets an agent's software collect email leads as often as every 15 minutes, and shows that a lead can carry more than a name and a message: the enquirer's move date, their reason for moving, whether they have a property to sell and whether they want financial advice. Those are fields worth reading before anyone rings.

Where does a lead wait today?

1. Capture. Whoever opens the branch inbox sees the lead. If it is answered from one person's mailbox and never logged, nobody can later say how many leads a portal sent or what became of them.

2. First reply. A negotiator rings or emails when they are free. During the day that may be an hour; after closing it is the next morning.

3. Qualifying. On the call, the negotiator asks about the buyer's position. Different negotiators ask different things, and the answers stay in their heads.

4. Booking. The viewing or the market appraisal goes in the diary and is confirmed with the vendor.

5. Recording the outcome. It is often skipped, so nobody can say which portal's leads became viewings.

How to answer leads faster, starting tomorrow

• Count first. Take last week's leads from each portal and write beside each the time it arrived and the time of the first reply. Separate those that arrived in opening hours from those that did not, and the table shows where the problem is.

• Write one first reply and approve it. It confirms the enquiry is with you, answers what the listing already answers, such as tenure or whether there is a chain, says who will call and when, and asks when the person is free to talk. Do not let it quote a value or an opinion.

• Ask every buyer the same questions. Do you have a property to sell, and is it on the market or under offer? Are you buying with cash or a mortgage, and do you have an agreement in principle? When do you hope to move? The Property Ombudsman's code expects a member agent to find out the source and availability of a buyer's funds when an offer is made, so asking early saves asking under pressure.

• Read what the portal already told you. If the lead says the enquirer has a property to sell, that is a valuation opportunity, and it should reach your valuer the same day.

• Hand over in one line: who, which property, their position and when they can talk.

• Log every lead with its source and its outcome. Next year's decision about a portal's fee is made from that log.

Which rules apply when you reply?

Replying to an enquiry is not permission to market to the enquirer. The ICO's rule for unsolicited marketing email to an individual is their consent, or every requirement of the soft opt-in, which includes a chance to opt out in each message. And if your branch also lets property in England, a lettings enquiry has its own rule: since 1 May 2026 an agent may not do anything intended to put an applicant off because they have children or receive benefits, which includes withholding information or a viewing. Asking every enquirer the same questions keeps the record consistent in both departments.

Can AI reply to portal leads out of hours?

Yes, in writing. This is a job for an AI worker, with a person who answers for its work. It can take capture, the first reply and the questions, at any hour and in wording you have approved, and ask again at your interval if nobody answers. It can offer diary slots where you allow that, and hand the negotiator the one-line summary before they pick up the phone. The role is specified on the lead response and qualification page, and the booking side on diary and scheduling. More of what an agency can hand over is on our page for estate agents.

What waits for a person, and why

• The call. It is where a negotiator finds out who is serious.

• Any question of price or value. What a property is worth, or whether an offer might be accepted, is never answered in a first reply.

• Who is offered a viewing, and anything the vendor has not agreed, such as access arrangements.

• Offers. An offer by email goes straight to a negotiator.

What to have ready before leads are answered for you

• The inbox or feed every portal's leads arrive in.

• The first reply, approved.

• The questions every enquirer is asked.

• What your listings may be quoted on.

• Who receives leads for each branch, and who covers when they are out.

• The diary rules, if slots are to be offered.

The case for handing it over is in how to scale an estate agency without hiring more staff.

Every portal enquiry to your agency would be answered and qualified by an AI worker in your wording, at any hour, and your negotiators would start the day with calls worth making. How many of the leads you have paid for are waiting until morning? Talk to our AI agent.