Most agents either lean on a real estate cold calling script so hard they sound like a robot, or they ditch scripts entirely and ramble. Unfortunately, neither gets the appointment.
Josh Kaplan, a broker with Fulura Properties in Portland, Oregon, built his business almost entirely on real estate cold calling, two to three hours every morning, seven days a week, when he started. He’s since turned single cold calls into six-figure client relationships. His approach isn’t complicated, but it does require knowing exactly when a script helps and when it gets in the way.
Here’s what he does differently.
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Most agents quit real estate cold calling because they treat rejection as personal instead of routine, not because the leads or the script are bad.
Kaplan put it simply:
“Some days you wake up feeling unemployed, but you’re not.”
To fix this mentality, you need to separate your identity from a stranger’s mood on the other end of the line. Kaplan built his whole first year, 60 transactions, on that mindset before results ever felt automatic. That persistence pays off: agents earn about $1,456 an hour on seller leads compared with $320 an hour on buyer leads, according to Redfin’s agent earnings research, and most real estate cold calling connects agents directly to seller leads like expired listings.
Use a script when you’re new to real estate cold calling. Drop it once hitting your goal on the call becomes second nature.
Kaplan calls this straight-line theory. Every call starts at point A and needs to reach point B, which is booking the in-person appointment. The conversation will wander, but your job is to keep steering it back to that line.
A script gives new agents doing real estate cold calling the structure to find that line in the first place.
“Once you do it enough and find what works for you, those scripts become automatic. I don’t necessarily have a script pulled up anymore.”
Kaplan knows his goal and lets the prospect fill in the gaps, which gets him to the appointment faster than reading lines ever did.
New agents doing real estate cold calling stick to their script too rigidly and miss the prospect’s real pain point because they’re focused on what they need to say next.
Kaplan’s rule: when you’re on the phone with a couple or a partnership:
“they have four ears and you have two. They have two mouths and you have one.”
That math is a reminder to listen more than you talk, especially with multiple decision-makers on the line, or you’ll talk right past the objection that actually matters to them.
Good real estate cold calling starts before you dial. Research the property and build a hypothesis about why it didn’t sell, so you sound informed instead of generic.
Kaplan refreshes his lead list first thing every morning, since the freshest leads convert best. Then, instead of letting the Power Dialer run non-stop without any prep, he slows down and researches each listing so he already has a theory about what went wrong with the marketing or pricing before the owner even picks up.
This is also why Expired Leads is Kaplan’s favorite tool. The MLS data auto-populates tax details, days on market, and listing history, so he walks into every call already understanding the seller’s situation. That homework matters: 43% of expired listings relist within 90 days (REDX MLS tracking), which means the agent who calls first with a real answer, not a script, usually wins the conversation.
One more thing worth building into that prep routine: REDX recommends agents avoid dialing numbers on the Do Not Call list. REDX’s DNC and TCPA guide breaks down exactly what to check before you dial and why it matters.
A good day isn’t judged by appointments set. It’s judged by meaningful conversations had and followed up on without exception.
Kaplan logs on around 7:30 a.m. and works toward 10 real conversations before he calls it a session, then moves straight into follow-up.
“Any update is an update,” he said. Even a call that just says “nothing new to report, still looking” keeps him top of mind for the next time the seller is ready to talk.
Rejection is the most predictable part of real estate cold calling. Expect it, treat each hang-up as one step closer to the conversation that matters, and stay consistent regardless of how the last call went.
Kaplan has had days with 200 to 300 calls where nearly everyone hangs up. His advice for pushing through a bad stretch is to
“Make the next call because that next call could be that person who you end up working with for the rest of your career.”
He credits consistency above every script or tool as the one habit he’ll never give up.
Yes. One authentic cold call on a listing that had been sitting for a year turned into years of repeat business for Kaplan, not a one-time commission.
He called a homeowner whose house had been listed for about a year with another agent. Instead of pitching, he asked what was actually going on, then pointed out the real gaps in the previous marketing plan. That conversation turned into an in-person meeting, a listing, and a sale well over asking. The seller also happened to own a construction company. He’s now building four more houses near that property, and Kaplan is his go-to agent for all of them.
“That one phone call has led and will continue to lead to multiple six figures of income.”
Use this checklist to figure out where you actually stand with real estate cold calling right now, and what to fix next:
Agents who want more structure while they build these habits can start with REDX’s cold calling tips for new agents, and anyone still working through the fear of picking up the phone should read REDX’s guide to conquering call reluctance. A script gets you dialing, but real estate cold calling only turns into listings once the conversation takes over.