How do I reconnect with a real estate agent who stopped booking me?

Not with "just checking in." Send news she can use, a win on one of her listings, or a date: "Booking November now. Want your usual Tuesday held?" Nothing about you.

Why did my regular real estate agents stop calling?

Usually not a decision. Someone else was there when the listing came in, and after two of those the other photographer is the habit. Check the MLS first; quiet agents are usually still listing.

How do I keep real estate agents from going quiet?

A 60-day list you read every Monday, one text to anyone on it. And keep regulars at delivery: the 9 a.m. link, the vertical clip, and a "what's next" line in every email.

Answers › Keeping agents & delivery

Ask the agent

My regular real estate agents went quiet. How do I win them back?

Four agents booked me on every listing for a year. Since spring, nothing. No falling out. I sent a ’hey, just checking in’ text. Nothing. How do I get them back without sounding needy?Asked by a photographer on Reddit, r/RealEstatePhotography

Four regulars was most of your calendar, and each week they stay quiet another photographer becomes the habit. It was never a decision. Somebody else was there when the listing came in. ’Checking in’ can’t fix that. A date can.

’Just checking in’ is a bill for attention

It has no answer. To reply honestly she would have to write "been using someone else," so she writes nothing. The silence isn’t rude. It is the only polite option you left her.

It also puts her behind. Now she owes you a reply and feels bad about it. Guilt doesn’t book shoots.

And quiet agents are usually still listing. Check the MLS before you decide she is slow. If she has had three listings since spring, she didn’t slow down. Someone else shot them. That is not a slow agent. It is a habit that moved, and a habit is a fixable problem.

’Just checking in’ asks her to feel guilty. A date asks her to say yes.

Give her a reason to reply that isn’t about you

I was the agent who went quiet, for ten years. It was never a decision. Somebody else was there when the listing came in, and the photographer I had used all year never gave me a reason to go back. Here is what I would have answered.

News she can use: "Vertical clips come with every package now. Your Elm Street listing would’ve had the first one."

A win on her listing: "Saw Oak Street closed. The twilight shots did their job."

A date, not a question: "Booking November now. Want your usual Tuesday held?" It assumes the relationship is on. She can say yes in one word. All three have the same shape: something she can use, a win she can feel, or a date she can say yes to. None of them ask her to explain where she went, because she doesn’t know either.

Build the 60-day list so nobody goes quiet twice

The four left for the same reason, and nobody tracks quiet. You noticed in autumn what started in spring. Four regulars went quiet in the same season for the same reason, and it was nobody’s job to notice. Make it Monday’s job.

Every agent who hasn’t booked in 60 days goes on one list. Read it Monday morning. One text each, from the three above. Not a campaign, not a newsletter. One text, then wait.

Regulars are kept at delivery, not won back after: the 9 a.m. link, the vertical clip, the "what’s next" line. Every delivery is the reason she calls for the next one.

The line

Hey [name]. Saw the Maple listing go up. Vertical clips come with every package now, first one’s on me. Tuesday still your day?

The big lesson

A regular isn’t lost. She’s a habit that broke. Give her a date, not a question.

Do this

Tonight: list every agent who hasn’t booked in 60 days. Tomorrow: one text each: news, a win, or a date.

The delivery checklist

What she actually needs when the files go out. Free. Then take the sixty-second roadmap quiz and I tell you what to fix first.

Get the checklist Get my roadmap

Straight answers

How do I reconnect with a real estate agent who stopped booking me?: Not with "just checking in." Send news she can use, a win on one of her listings, or a date: "Booking November now. Want your usual Tuesday held?" Nothing about you.
Why did my regular real estate agents stop calling?: Usually not a decision. Someone else was there when the listing came in, and after two of those the other photographer is the habit. Check the MLS first; quiet agents are usually still listing.
How do I keep real estate agents from going quiet?: A 60-day list you read every Monday, one text to anyone on it. And keep regulars at delivery: the 9 a.m. link, the vertical clip, and a "what’s next" line in every email.