Every expired listing call should answer one question before you dial:
“What value am I bringing to this seller today?”
If the answer is “I’m just following up,” you’ve already lost. That one phrase is doing real damage to your credibility.
And yet, I hear “just following up” during almost every role play session we run.
Tom Toole and I addressed this in a recent BAMx Roleplay Mastermind. The fix is a simple 4-step framework. It begins before you ever make the call and ends with a clear next step instead of another forgotten voicemail.
Here’s how it works.
Step 1: Start With Your Call List
None of this works without the actual list in front of you. Pull your expired and canceled listings from the MLS before you do anything else.
Run the search and export the list. Know who you’re calling before you touch the phone. Everything else in this process builds on having that list ready.
Step 2: Pull Your Weekly Market Snapshot
You don’t need to build anything from scratch here. Every MLS already has this report sitting inside it.
Before you dial into your list this week, know these numbers cold:
- Active listings compared to the same time last year
- Median list price
- Month’s supply of inventory
- Median sold price
Pull this every week. Fifteen to twenty minutes is enough. You’re reading a report that exists and picking the numbers you need for that call.
Step 3: Pull One Fact Worth Sharing
From that MLS snapshot, grab one stat. The one an expired seller in your market would actually want to hear.
Keep it local and keep it simple. Don’t reach for something heady or overly technical. A seller doesn’t need a breakdown of months supply math. They need one number that tells them something true about their situation right now.
That fact is what you carry into every call on your list that day.
Step 4: Use OFQ on the Call
This is where the framework comes in: Opening, Fact, Question (OFQ), and it stems from Phil M. Jones, co-author of Exactly What to Say: For Real Estate Agents.
For the opening, introduce yourself and name something that’s true. In the case of expired listings, it can be that the home came off the market and it surprised you.
Here’s a version I’d use:
“Hey, it’s [Your Name] with [Your Brokerage]. Your home just came off the market, and I was kind of surprised it didn’t sell.”
Then you drop in the fact you pulled from your MLS snapshot. Local, simple, something the seller can picture without needing it explained.
From there, ask a question that connects that fact to their life, and stop talking.
“How would that impact your plans over the next six or twelve months?”
Let them answer. The silence after that question does more work than anything you could say next.
This framing puts the seller in the driver’s seat. They’re thinking through their own situation instead of reacting to you showing up again.
Every call built this way has one job: set the appointment. If that’s not possible, get a defined next step. A specific reason for the next time they’ll hear from you, and why.
Without one of those two outcomes, the call didn’t do its job. Nobody’s time got respected.
So before you dial into your list this week, pick your one fact of the day and build the whole call around it. Know what you’re bringing to that seller before the phone rings.
We practice these and other scripts every week in BAMx. Join me, Lisa Chinatti, and Tom Toole on Tuesdays at 9:00 am Eastern Time. BAMx members also have access to all the replays and scripts.
Sign up for a 7-day free trial at the Premium or VIP level to get access and join us right from the BAMx Calendar.
