Keep a showing-request log for four weeks and see where your inquiries stall
A one-page log you fill in for each inquiry, with the five columns to record and how to read it after four weeks, so you can see which step loses people before you change your marketing.
When a listing is quiet, the usual response is to change something: the price, the photos, the copy. Before you change anything, it helps to know where inquiries are being lost. A plain log of every inquiry for four weeks shows that, using only your own records.
This is a method, not a result. We have not run it on a set of listings, and we say so rather than imply a finding.
What to record
Use one row per inquiry, whether it came by phone, text, portal message or a walk-in at an open house. Five columns are enough:
- the date the inquiry arrived
- where it came from, in your own words (portal, sign call, referral, open house, other)
- how long you took to reply, in hours rounded to the nearest whole hour
- whether a showing was booked: yes or no
- whether the showing happened, and if not, the reason the person gave
Do not add columns for opinions about the buyer. Counts and times are what you can check later, and a log full of impressions is hard to read.
How to run it
- Start the log on the day a listing goes live, and keep one sheet per listing.
- Write each row the same day, even if the inquiry went nowhere. The empty outcomes are the useful ones.
- Record the reply time from your own message history, not from memory.
- Stop after four full weeks, or at the accepted offer if that comes first.
How to read it
Count three things at the end: inquiries received, showings booked, showings held. Then look at the two gaps.
If many inquiries never become booked showings, the step to examine is your reply: how fast it was, and whether it offered two specific times. If many booked showings do not happen, look at the confirmation you sent and whether the person was given the address, parking and access details.
If inquiries are few from the start, the log cannot say why. The price, the first screen of the listing and how widely it was shared are all candidates, so pick one to examine rather than treating the log as a diagnosis.
Small numbers are normal. One listing can produce a handful of rows, so treat a pattern as a prompt to try one change, not as proof. Change one thing at a time, and note the date in the log so the next four weeks are readable.
One caution
The log holds names and contact details of the people who asked. Keep it in your brokerage's approved systems and share counts, not names, when you review it with a seller or your team.
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