Million Dollar Team Principle #97: Don’t Let an Unskilled ISA Ruin Your Best Leads
If your ISA (Inside Sales Agent) is less skilled and less knowledgeable than your agents, you’re setting your business up for failure.
Why? Because hot clients—those who request a showing, ask a question, or click “Contact Agent”—want to speak with an expert in their field.
Let’s take a lesson from Zillow.
- Phase 1: Zillow originally passed leads directly to agents. A consumer would request information or a showing, and that request would be sent to an agent.
What did Zillow discover? Most of those leads were never contacted. From a business model perspective, this was fine for Zillow because they could resell the lead again, but for the consumer it was a nightmare. Four out of five times, they had to ask again. Frustrating. - Phase 2: To fix this, Zillow added ISAs to make contact and promise someone would call back. Better—but still far from ideal. Too many clients never got a call back.
- Phase 3: Finally, they solved the problem by hiring highly skilled ISAs who did live transfers. A client would call, the ISA would connect immediately, and the agent would pick up.
This worked best.
And yet—50% of agents still don’t answer their phones.
Here’s the problem most real estate teams run into:
They hire unskilled ISAs—no experience, no local knowledge, no ability to answer real questions.
The thought process is: “If they make enough dials, the volume will make up for their lack of expertise.”
But it doesn’t. Instead, you burn through expensive leads and pay someone to ruin your database.
Here’s what works:
1. Direct Alerts & Accountability
When a showing request or inquiry comes in, alerts should go straight to the team leader.
The client must be contacted by an expert immediately.
If the assigned agent doesn’t make contact, reassign until someone does.
2. Hire & Train an Expert ISA
The best option. Hire someone with the intention of making them the most knowledgeable agent on the team (besides you, the leader).
Train them to know the scripts, the market, the objections, the inventory, and the process.
That way, when they’re on the phone, they aren’t just a gatekeeper—they’re a trusted guide who captures the client with confidence.
Every lead is a potential five-figure commission.
Don’t hand those leads to someone unprepared to handle them.
Build your system around expertise, speed, and accountability.
