For any agent or team, the first step towards growing your business and increasing your GCI is setting more real estate appointments. But if you’re struggling to sit down with enough prospects each week, the chances are you’re facing one (or both) of these common issues:

1. You’re not actually asking for the real estate appointment.
2. When you do ask, you’re not doing it the right way.

One of the most important things to remember as a sales person is that you have to actually ask for what you want. In this case, you have to directly ask for the real estate appointment in order to set it. This may seem obvious, but I’ve listened to thousands of sales calls, and I can tell you that not all agents actually ask during the conversation. Instead, they say something vague like, “Let me send you some listings, and we’ll go from there…” The problem with statements like this is that they don’t actually mean anything, they don’t end with an appointment, and they don’t lead to a logical next step in the home selling or buying process.

If using statements like that is your default approach, you’re not leading the conversation—you’re following it. And when you follow, you fall behind. In this article, we’re going to look at what you can do instead.

Why Agents Don’t Ask for Appointments

In many cases, not directly asking for real estate appointments is not an issue of confidence, it’s an issue of strategy. Agents often aren’t sure how to move the conversation toward an appointment in a natural, effective way. They may also believe that an appointment only makes sense once a buyer is ready to buy or a seller is ready to sell. But that’s too narrow of a definition. If that’s your standard, you’re missing countless opportunities to get in front of potential clients earlier in their decision making process.

Here’s the truth: you can absolutely set more appointments than you think you can—you just need to expand your definition of what an appointment is and learn how to create a reason for it.

What Makes a Lead Say “Yes” to Real Estate Appointments?

For most prospects, “meeting with an agent” is a step they associate with serious, imminent action. That means if you want to get face-to-face—or at least screen-to-screen—with them before they’re ready to make a transaction, you have to reposition what the meeting is actually about. Don’t just ask for an appointment, create a reason for it—one that solves a problem or fills a gap in their knowledge, strategy, or confidence. In other words, you need to make your appointment feel necessary to them.

How to make the prospect need the appointment

There’s a fairly simple formula that real estate agents can follow to help them set more meetings and appointments. Here is an overview of the step by step process:

1. Do your normal discovery

 Start by asking the usual questions—goals, timing, budget, location, experience, etc. Listen carefully. Your job here is to catch clues that reveal what the prospect might need help with.

2. Listen for a need or desire related to the process

• Are they unsure about how the market works?
• Do they seem confused about financing?
• Are they nervous about timing or maximizing equity?

If a need or desire comes up organically—great. If not…

3. Create the need through your conversation

 You can develop a strong sense of necessity simply by asking the right questions. Here are some examples:

• “Do you have a game plan yet for when to buy vs. when to sell?”
• “Would it be helpful to see what kind of offer your home might receive right now?”
• “Do you know the monthly cost difference between buying this year and waiting six months?”

These are value based questions that reveal gaps in knowledge—and they hint at the fact that you can fill those gaps.

4. Get commitment to that need or desire

 Once they bite on a question—that’s your moment. Confirm it.

• “Got it—you’d like to get more clarity on timing before moving forward, right?”
• “Sounds like understanding your net proceeds is pretty important to you, correct?”

That agreement is what we call a micro-commitment. It gives you the green light to close.

5. Close for the appointment that fulfills their need

Now you connect the dots:

• “Let’s book 20 minutes to walk through the numbers together, so you have total clarity.”
• “Why don’t we meet up this week, and I’ll show you how to prep your home for top dollar—before you’re officially on the market.”

It’s not about convincing someone to meet with an agent. It’s about offering a solution that’s valuable enough that the only next step is to meet.

If you want more real estate appointments, stop treating them like a milestone that happens after the prospect is ready. Start creating reasons for them to meet with you before they’re ready—and make those reasons too good to ignore. Appointments don’t get booked because you want one. They get booked because the prospect sees value in having one.