Every circle prospecting script in circulation ends the same way. Do you know anyone who might be thinking of selling? Would you be interested in knowing what your home is worth? Have you thought about making a move?<\/p>\n
Those are the wrong questions, and the reason is structural rather than stylistic. Expireds wanted to sell. FSBOs are selling right now. The neighbor you are about to call has done nothing. They have not listed, not withdrawn, not put a sign in the yard, not filled in a form. They are the only people in your entire prospecting week who have given you no signal at all, and the standard script treats them as though they had, by asking on the first call whether they want to sell their house.<\/p>\n
So the correction is this. On a circle call, you are not looking for a seller. You are looking for a person on that street who would like to know what is happening on that street. That is a much larger group, the ask is one they can say yes to without committing to anything, and the sellers inside it will identify themselves over the following six months if you keep showing up.<\/p>\n
Because the neighbor has done nothing, circle prospecting is the purest form of cold telemarketing you will do, and the rules apply with no softening.<\/p>\n
The number must clear the National Do-Not-Call Registry and your internal list. The call must fall inside 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the homeowner’s local time under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)<\/a>, and inside whatever narrower window your state sets. There is no expired listing or FSBO ad to point to as context. There is no relationship. If the neighbor asks how you got the number, the honest answer is that it came from public records or a data provider matched to the address, and you should be comfortable saying so, because you will be asked.<\/p>\n Where the numbers come from and how reliable they are is its own subject, and it deserves its own article rather than a paragraph, because circle lists have the worst number quality of anything you will call. For now: treat every farm number as unverified, expect wrong parties and reassigned lines, and record them so they come out of the list.<\/p>\n This is the just-sold version. The just-listed version follows, and they differ in one sentence.<\/p>\n Hi, is this the homeowner on Maple Court? My name is [your name], I’m an agent with [your brokerage], and I’ll tell you exactly why I’m calling. The house at number 14, a few doors from you, just closed, and I was the agent on it. I’m not calling to ask if you’re selling. I’m calling because the neighbors usually want to know what it went for and what that means for their own place, and I’d rather tell you directly than have you hear a rumor. Would that be useful to you, or would you rather I didn’t?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Then stop.<\/p>\n The answer sorts the street for you. “Sure, what did it go for?” is a yes, and you tell them the number, one sentence about what drove it, and then you ask the only question that matters:<\/p>\n If I put together a short note on what’s sold around you every couple of months, would you want it? No obligation and I won’t call you about it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n That is the ask. Not the listing. Not the referral. Permission to send them information about their own street, on a schedule, which is the beginning of the only thing circle prospecting can actually build, which is familiarity.<\/p>\n “I’ll tell you exactly why I’m calling.”<\/strong> The neighbor’s first thought is that this is a sales call, and it is. Saying so, immediately, is the only move that separates you from the sales calls they hang up on.<\/p>\n “I was the agent on it.”<\/strong> This is the one credential in the script, and it is true and checkable. You are not a stranger who found their number. You are the person whose sign was on the lawn they drive past. Say it once and do not elaborate.<\/p>\n “I’m not calling to ask if you’re selling.”<\/strong> The line they need to hear before they will listen to anything else. It is also true, and the script should be built so that it stays true.<\/p>\n “The neighbors usually want to know what it went for.”<\/strong> This is the value, and it is real. A recent sale on their street is the single most relevant piece of market information a homeowner can receive, and it is not published in a form they can easily find. You have it. You are offering it.<\/p>\n “Would that be useful to you, or would you rather I didn’t?”<\/strong> The exit, offered before they reach for it. On a no-signal call this matters more than on any other, because the neighbor owes you nothing and the fastest way to make them feel that is to leave them no polite way out.<\/p>\n “Would you want it? No obligation and I won’t call you about it.”<\/strong> The ask is small, it is about them, and the promise attached to it is one you must keep. A neighbor who said yes to a note every couple of months and then gets called every two weeks has learned that your promises are scripts.<\/p>\n Identical, with the event sentence changed and the value changed to match.<\/p>\n The house at number 14 just went on the market, and I’m the agent on it. I’m not calling to ask if you’re selling. I’m calling because the neighbors are usually the first to hear about a listing anyway, and the first to know someone who might want to live nearby. I wanted you to have the details from me rather than from the sign. Would it be useful if I sent them over?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The just-listed call has a slightly better excuse and a slightly weaker piece of information, because a list price is a guess and a sold price is a fact. Use it, but know that the just-sold call in the same neighborhood six weeks later is the stronger one, and plan to make both.<\/p>\n Four events, one script, one ask. Every variant offers the neighbor something about their own street and asks only whether they want more of it.<\/p>\n The first circle call converts almost nobody into a listing, and it should not be judged on whether it did. Its job is to produce a yes to the note, and to leave the neighbor with the impression of an agent who called once, told the truth, offered something useful, and got off the phone.<\/p>\n The second call, six or eight weeks later, is where circle prospecting starts to pay. It opens with the fact that you said you would call, references the note they have now received twice, mentions the newest sale, and asks a question that the first call could not: “Has anything changed for you, or are you settled in for a while?” That question, to someone who has now heard from you three times without being sold anything, gets honest answers. Most of them are “settled,” which you record. A few are “actually, we’ve been talking about it,” and those are the listings.<\/p>\nThe script<\/h2>\n
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Why every line is there<\/h2>\n
The just-listed version<\/h2>\n
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\n \nEvent<\/th>\n What you can honestly offer<\/th>\n The ask<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n Just sold<\/td>\n The closed price and what drove it<\/td>\n Permission to send a periodic note on nearby sales<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Just listed<\/td>\n The listing details before the sign does its work<\/td>\n Permission to send the details and, later, the outcome<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Price reduction<\/td>\n What changed and why<\/td>\n Same note, with the price story included<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Open house<\/td>\n An invitation to see it, which neighbors take up more than buyers<\/td>\n Attendance, then the note<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n The second call is the real one<\/h2>\n