Essential ALM Tips for Zillow Agents

Most teams are completely screwing up ALM without realizing it. The framework is Appointment, Location, Motivation, and if you're not hitting all three consistently, Zillow is probably throttling your lead flow.

You'll hear about this framework constantly, especially if you're working Flex leads.

Understanding the Framework

Three touchpoints that have to happen in order. Skip one and you lose the buyer.

• Appointment gets a specific time on the calendar. Not "let me know when you're ready" or "I'll call you next week." A real appointment with a day and time.

• Location expands past whatever they called about. You're finding out what other properties caught their eye. Shows you know the market, gives you backup options when their first choice falls through.

• Motivation reveals why they're moving. First-time buyers act different than relocating families. Someone buying for investment approaches decisions differently than someone escaping a bad neighborhood.

The order matters because trying to understand their motivation before you have an appointment makes you sound like you're conducting an interview. And if you don't ask about other locations, you're stuck showing one house that might be under contract by Tuesday.

The Critical Challenge for Flex Teams (+ Practical Applications)

Here's why Zillow cares so much about this specific sequence. These three things get tracked on every call.

Do it well, get more leads. Do it poorly, watch your lead allocation drop month by month until you're getting scraps.

Most agents understand what ALM means. The hard part is doing it when you're tired, when the buyer keeps interrupting, when you've had six difficult calls in a row and just want to get through the next one.

Lose Flex and you're talking about serious money.

(Not trying to scare anyone, just stating what happens when your main lead source decides you're not worth the investment.)

Which brings us to execution. Knowing what to do and doing it consistently are two different things.

You have one goal per call: get face-to-face with this person.

Everything else is noise.

Start with connection and relevance: "Hi Janine, this is Elmer with ABC Realty. I'm here in downtown Phoenix, saw you're interested in the house on Maple Street." Personal, local, specific to what they wanted.

Next, ask the following questions:

1. Appointment Strategy: "When would you like to see it?"

Don't ask if they want to see it (they already called about it). Ask when.

Assume they want to go, move the conversation toward scheduling. Book multiple properties during that first call.

When Maple Street gets an offer before your appointment, you've got three other options ready instead of starting over.

2. Location Expertise: "What other properties caught your attention?"

This separates agents who just answer the phone from agents who know their market. Anyone can show the house they called about.

Market experts know what else fits their criteria. Plan to show multiple homes during the appointment.

Even if they love the first one, seeing options helps them make confident decisions. When they say "I don't know what else I want to see," that's your cue to lead.

They're paying you to know the inventory.

3. Motivation Discovery: "What do you like about these homes?"

Simple question that tells you everything. Are they focused on school districts? Commute times? Specific features like a home office space?

The answer shapes how you present properties and structure offers later. A buyer motivated by schools negotiates differently than someone who needs to be close to work.

Understanding the why helps you position properties in ways that matter to their actual life.

Getting Your Team ALM-Ready

Now, knowing all this is one thing. Executing it consistently when you're handling dozens of calls per week is another.

That's where most teams struggle with ALM, and it's exactly why AI training has become so valuable. Teams doing systematic ALM training see measurable improvements in 30 days.

The jump from 4% to 5% conversion doesn't sound like much until you run it across hundreds of monthly leads. Here's the thing though - you need a system that works.

MaverickRE's AI Sales Coach gives your agents over 100 different buyer personalities to practice with, each with 16 unique objections that change every call. No more hoping your agents figure it out on live leads or burning manager time on role-playing sessions.

Agents typically make 20+ practice calls before jumping back into live Zillow interactions. The appointment-setting improvement shows up immediately because they're getting specific feedback on exactly why they scored 6 instead of 9.

Something concrete to fix instead of guessing what went wrong.

👉 Want to see how this works with your team? MaverickRE integrates directly with Follow Up Boss, tracks your ALM performance, and shows you which agents are Flex-ready versus those who need more practice.me