Learning how to cold call expired listings is one of the highest-leverage skills a real estate agent can develop, and no one proves that better than Dan Lesniak.
Dan Lesniak sat at his desk on January 2nd, 2025 with a simple goal: call expired listings every single day for 12 months. By December 31st, he had taken over $20 million in personal listings. Not from his sphere. Not from Zillow leads. From cold calling expired listings.
Most agents quit after 20 calls. Dan made thousands. Most agents wing their scripts. Dan built a repeatable system. Most agents treat expired leads like a last resort. Dan treated them like his primary lead source.
Cold calling expired listings works when you have the right system. According to REDX data, 43% of expired listings relist within 90 days. That means nearly half are actively looking for a new agent right now. The question isn’t whether expired leads convert. It’s whether you have a proven process to convert them. Here’s Dan Lesniak’s exact framework for cold calling expired listings and turning conversations into listing appointments.
Quick Links:
If you missed our podcast with Dan, watch that here:
But in today’s blog post, we’re going to show you how to cold call expired listings using the same 7 step process Dan Lesniak uses.
Why Cold Calling Expired Listings Works Better Than Other Lead Sources
Expired listings convert at 43% compared to your sphere of influence’s 3-5% annual turnover rate, making them one of the highest-converting lead sources available to real estate agents.
Expired homeowners already committed to selling. They staged their home. They hired an agent. They invested money in marketing. Then they watched their dream slip away. Now they’re frustrated with their previous agent and actively searching for someone who can actually sell their property.
The timeline is compressed. According to REDX’s expired listing tracking, ~65% of expired listings relist within 2 years. Compare that to your sphere of influence, which has a 3-5% annual turnover rate. If you contact 100 expired listings consistently, you’ll list around 21.5 homes. If you wait for 100 people in your SOI to decide to sell, you’ll list 3-5 homes per year.
How to Cold Call Expired Listings with Dan’s 7-Step System
Dan Lesniak’s system focuses on speed, consistency, and relationship-building across seven repeatable steps that take expired leads from cold calls to signed listing agreements.
This is a complete system designed to be repeated daily. Dan used this exact framework to go from zero to $20 million in listings in one year. Here’s how it works:
Step 1: Get Accurate Expired Lead Data Fast
Speed matters more than your script because 5-10 other agents are calling the same expired listing within hours of it hitting the market.
Dan emphasizes that timing is everything. When a listing expires, multiple agents are racing to make contact. The agent who calls first has the highest chance of booking the appointment.
REDX provides expired leads phone numbers within hours of the listing expiring on the MLS.
Diane M., a licensed real estate broker, says REDX “saves me time by doing the search of expired and FSBO opportunities. This frees my time to best serve current clients.”
Learn more about REDX Expired Leads
Step 2: Use a Power Dialer to Maximize Call Volume
Top producers make 100+ calls per day, which is only achievable with power dialers.
Dan’s team makes consistent daily calls using a dialer. Manual dialing limits you to 30-40 calls per day because you’re waiting for rings, voicemails, and disconnected numbers. A power dialer automates this process, letting you make 100+ calls in the same timeframe.
Yisroel Weiss uses REDX Teams to ensure accountability across his team. After adopting the system, his income doubled and his team grew five-fold. Each agent makes more than 100 calls per day.
Jay Bentley, who has used REDX for more than 10 years, says: “The [REDX] Dialer is a game changer. I love the FSBO and Expired leads.”
Explore REDX Power Dialer options
Step 3: Lead With Empathy, Not Your Resume
Expired homeowners don’t care about your awards. They want to know you understand their frustration and have a plan to sell their home.
Dan’s approach focuses on acknowledging their situation first. He asks about their experience with the previous agent and listens before pitching his services. This builds trust immediately.
Your opening should sound like this:
“I noticed your property didn’t sell during the listing period. I’m curious, what was your experience working with your previous agent?”
Then listen. Most agents launch into their credentials. Dan positions himself as a problem-solver who understands what went wrong and has a specific plan to fix it.
Step 4: Qualify the Timeline and Motivation
Not every expired is ready to relist immediately. Sort leads into “now,” “90 days,” and “6+ months” buckets to prioritize your follow-up.
Dan categorizes every conversation by urgency. Some homeowners want to relist tomorrow. Others need time to process their disappointment. Ask these key qualifying questions:
- “Are you planning to relist your home?”
- “What’s your timeline for getting back on the market?”
- “What needs to happen before you’re ready to move forward?”
Their answers determine your follow-up cadence. “Now” leads get daily contact. “90 days” leads get weekly check-ins. “6+ months” leads get monthly touches.
To qualify REDX leads, you can use Vortex to organize leads by timeline and set automatic reminders for follow-up.
Step 5: Book the Appointment (Don’t Pitch on the Phone)
The goal of your call is not to list the home. It’s to book a face-to-face appointment where you can present your marketing plan.
Dan’s phone strategy is simple: build rapport and book the meeting. He doesn’t try to convince homeowners to list with him over the phone. He offers two specific time slots to make scheduling easy.
“I’d love to show you the marketing plan I’ve developed for properties in your area. Are you available Tuesday at 2 PM or Wednesday at 10 AM?”
Meka Jones, a REDX user from Lithonia, GA, purchased expired leads as a new agent in October 2016. After calling less than 30 expireds, she got an appointment to meet the homeowner. She listed the property, sold it, and the homeowner also purchased another house.
Step 6: Log Everything in Your CRM Immediately
The fortune is in the follow-up, but only if you track every conversation, timeline, and next action.
Dan logs every detail immediately after hanging up. He records the homeowner’s timeline, any objections they mentioned, and the exact date for his next follow-up call. This prevents duplicate calling and ensures no lead falls through the cracks.
Sam Gladstein uses Vortex’s free lead manager with the integrated dialer. He quickly switches between Expireds, FSBOs, Just-Listed, and Just-Sold leads. The system lets him close about 75 transactions annually because nothing gets lost in the shuffle.
Get started with Vortex’s free lead manager
Step 7: Follow Up Consistently Until They List
Most expired listings don’t relist on day one. Your follow-up system is what separates you from agents who give up after one call.
Dan builds relationships over time. He uses different follow-up cadences based on each homeowner’s timeline. The agents who win expired listings are the ones who stay in touch without being pushy.
Melanie Hunt from Century 21 in Dallas has used REDX for 12 years. “I’m a prospector, that’s where my business comes from,” she says.
“I use REDX every morning to call the Expireds and the For Sale by Owners. They have always been a huge part of my business, 50-59% for years. I’ll do about 125 deals this year.”
Common Mistakes That Kill Your Expired Listing Conversion Rate
Three mistakes destroy your success with expired listings: calling too late, using robotic scripts, and giving up after one conversation.
Mistake #1: Waiting too long to call. Speed is everything. If you’re calling expired listings three days after they hit the market, you’re too late. Five other agents already booked appointments. REDX updates expired leads daily so you can call within hours.
Mistake #2: Sounding like every other agent. Generic pitches get hung up on immediately. Lead with empathy and ask questions about their experience. Don’t recite your resume in the first 30 seconds.
Mistake #3: No follow-up system. Most agents call once, get voicemail or a “not interested,” and never call back. Dan’s system proves that consistent follow-up over weeks and months is what converts expired leads into listings.
Dan Lesniak’s personal results speak for themselves: $20 million in listings in one year from consistent cold calling with the right system and tools.
Read more: Expired Listing Scripts Make You Sound Like a Robot. Try This Instead…
What You Need to Start Cold Calling Expired Listings Today
You need three things: accurate expired lead data, a power dialer to maximize call volume, and a CRM to track your follow-up.
Dan’s success came from having all three tools working together as a complete system:
- REDX Expired Leads: Updated daily with skip-traced phone numbers so you can call within hours of a listing expiring. No more manual MLS searches or outdated contact information.
- REDX Power Dialer: Make 100+ calls per day automatically. The system skips disconnected numbers, busy signals, and voicemails so you only spend time talking to actual people.
- Vortex CRM: Free lead manager that tracks every conversation, timeline, and next action. Integrates directly with your calling workflow so you never lose track of a follow-up.
All three work together seamlessly. You pull fresh expired leads, load them into the dialer, make your calls, and log every detail in Vortex. Start as low as $60 per month for expired leads.
Jeremy Back from Premier Coaching tested multiple expired lead sources side-by-side for a year. His conclusion: “I have tried all the expired lead sources and compared them. REDX Expireds won hands-down. If you want to talk to homeowners then get REDX!”
Ready to Start Listing More Expired Properties?
Dan Lesniak went from zero to $20 million in personal listings in one year using this exact system. The difference wasn’t talent or market conditions. It was having accurate data, the right tools to call efficiently, and a CRM to track every conversation.
REDX gives you all three. Expired leads are updated daily with phone numbers. The Power Dialer lets you make 100+ calls per day. And Vortex organizes your follow-up so no lead falls through the cracks.
Start calling expired listings today with REDX’s complete prospecting system.
