How to Lose Clients and Alienate Buyers: A (Personal) Real Estate Automation Story

One of the highest-grossing agents in the country once told me, "Real estate is not that complicated, Josh. We just open doors for people." He's right. Yet somehow, we're making it incredibly complicated.

Let me tell you about the agent who gets it right.

Three weeks ago, we attended an open home. Popular property, packed inspection, easily 40+ groups through. We submitted an offer that Saturday afternoon.

An hour later, my phone rang.

“Josh? Thanks for your offer on the property. I wanted to have a quick chat – tell me a bit about yourselves and what you’re looking for.”

For the next ten minutes, he asked genuine questions. About our family. Our timeline. Our plans. He remembered I was wearing a Brisbane Broncos polo at the inspection and made a joke about our recent form (which is a touchy subject if you’re a Broncos fan!). Small talk, sure, but it felt real.

When he explained that the property was under a multiple offer situation – with eight offers in total, but another offer was higher than ours – he asked if we were in a position to increase. We were, so we did. Sunday morning, another call: the other offer was still ahead. When we politely said we wouldn’t go further, he didn’t push. No hard sell. No immediate pivot to “Can I give you an appraisal on your current place?”

Instead: “No worries at all. This one wasn’t meant to be, but we’ll find something for you.”

We didn’t buy that property. But here’s the thing – he’ll get our listing when we sell. That’s the power of treating buyers like future clients, not just obstacles to your commission.

The Question That Should Terrify Every Agent (and a personal story)

Fast forward three weeks. Another popular property, a similar crowd of interested buyers, and similar competition. But this time, a completely different experience.

The agent made it crystal clear at both inspections: “All offers must go through our online platform. We have a very transparent process here.”

We submitted our offer on Saturday evening through the online platform. Sunday morning, the platform automatically sent us an SMS with our offer status. Then the agent called with information we already had from the automated message. Professional, but scripted. Impersonal.

Monday brought another call from his team member, inviting us to yet another inspection that evening. When I mentioned we’d already attended both Saturday opens, he suggested we remove our building and pest inspection condition. “Other offers don’t have this condition and are quite happy with the vendor’s report,” he said. Hmmm… interesting.

Then came the upsell! “Would you like an appraisal of your property?”

“Let’s see how this one goes first,” I replied.

Two more automated texts. A 24-hour “best and final” timer. Multiple touchpoints, zero genuine connection.

But here’s where it gets really interesting.

When “Transparent” Becomes Anything But

After the 24-hour timer expired, the agent called. Another offer was above ours, he said, but it was subject to the sale of their property. Curiously, this is despite the online offer platform they were using saying “3 offers are above yours”.

Interesting… but let’s continue.

The agent mentioned that we were close in price, but our conditions were more favourable. He assured me we “wouldn’t be wasting our time” by going to the contract stage so he could discuss it further with the vendors.

He texted me to confirm our conditions, interestingly leaving out our building and pest inspection clause that was clearly in our offer, so either something to hide or not wanting anyone to challenge the building and pest inspection commissioned by the seller (which did have red flags).

I corrected him, adding that clause back in before the contract was drawn up.

Then came another text…

Early the next morning, our solicitor reviewed the contract. Our broker was ready to go. We got everything back to the agent within 12 hours.

Within one hour after receiving our signed contract, the agent calls again: “There’s still another offer above yours, but now they’re no longer subject to sale.”

Wait. What?

In 12 hours, someone went from being subject to the sale of their property to having unconditional funds? Someone’s stumbled on some cash under the couch, they’ve won the lottery, or we’ve been played.

I suspect the latter.

I said to the agent, “We’ve known each other for a while. Are we wasting our time here?”. To which he replied, “It’s likely the seller will take the other offer, but I’ll let you know this afternoon what they’re decision is.”

By afternoon, no phone call. Instead, an email from the agent and a text message from his assistant, both with identical wording and bang on 5 pm – so either a coincidence or a scheduled email as part of their (impersonal) process.

Same message, from two different people in the office on two different communication channels.

After this thoroughly impersonal experience – the most disconnected property transaction we’ve experienced in 15 years of buying and selling – my wife asked the question that should keep every agent awake at night:

“Why do we even need agents if all they do is automate everything?”

Bloody good question.

Let me be crystal clear about something: we have always bought property with our head, not our heart. Being the second-choice offer doesn’t upset us – that’s just business. What upsets me is that I work with agents every day, and this is by far the best example I’ve personally experienced of why the industry has the negative perception it does. This is exactly why agents lose their next deal through how they treat buyers and the games they play in the pursuit of obtaining a higher price.

Newsflash – that first agent we spoke about? Still acheived an outstanding price. He just happened to be better at one pretty darn important thing… picking up the phone.

The Commission Calculation Agents Are Missing

Here’s what this “efficient” agent doesn’t realise: he might have achieved a higher sale price (assuming he wasn’t just playing games), but he lost something far more valuable – our future business and our trust in the entire process. Some would argue his sellers may be delighted, and that’s all that matters. Great! One happy seller, but (based on the number of offers) 14 groups who had the most impersonal experience and will tell more people than one happy seller.

Not to mention the 50,000+ people on our newsletter receiving this story via email.

That first agent I mentioned? He “lost” us as a buyer, but when we sell, he gets our listing. When our friends ask for recommendations, they get his name. When our parents downsize, guess who they’ll call?

This second agent? He’ll never see us again as a buyer or a seller. Worse, he’s created two vocal critics of his business practices. Every dinner party conversation about agents will include this story. Every colleague asking for agent recommendations will hear about this experience. It’s because of how he treated us as a buyer, putting technology in the way of a phone call, is why we’ll never choose him as an agent.

The efficient agent optimised for one commission. The human agent invested in twenty.

Which strategy sounds smarter (and easier) to you?

Where Technology Should Enhance, Not Replace

Now, before you think this is some anti-technology rant – it’s not. We run a digital marketing company for heaven’s sake. We live and breathe technology every day. We help agents use tech to work smarter, reach more people, and yes, be more efficient.

But there’s a massive difference between technology that helps you serve people better and technology that helps you serve people less.

The online offer platform the agent used isn’t the problem. Multiple offer situations need managing, and transparency is good. The problem is using that platform as an excuse to phone it in on the human connection. Subscribing to software that replaces you will only lead to that actually happening in the future.

The “Too Busy” Excuse

I know what you might be thinking: “This is all easy to say, Josh, but we can’t be on the phone to every buyer in a hot market.”

Here’s what’s interesting. The “efficient” agent had five listings at the time, with three agents on his team. The human agent? Two agents on his team, and more listings.

It’s not about time. It’s about priorities.

The human agent understood something the efficient one missed: every buyer conversation is a job interview for your next listing. Every interaction is either building your reputation or damaging it.

When you treat someone like a number on a platform, they remember. When their friends ask about agents, guess whose name doesn’t come up?

The Ripple Effect You Can’t Track

Here’s what the online platforms can’t measure: the conversations happening at dinner parties.

“Who did you use to sell your place?” “Oh, we wouldn’t recommend them. Really impersonal process.”

Or conversely: “Our agent was fantastic. Really looked after us, even though we didn’t end up buying through him.”

These conversations happen every day across Australia. They’re worth more than any online review or Google rating (and our “efficient” agent friend, unsurprisingly, doesn’t have a great one!). They’re the difference between building a sustainable business and constantly chasing new leads.

The efficient agent will never know how many potential clients they lost by prioritising process over people. The platform doesn’t track that. The CRM doesn’t measure it. But it’s happening.

The Future Belongs to the Human Agents

While everyone’s rushing to add more technology, something interesting is happening with consumers. Trust in automated systems is actually declining. People are craving authentic human connection more than ever.

Smart agents are noticing. They’re using technology behind the scenes to free up more time for human interaction, not less. They’re leveraging CRM systems to remember personal details, not replace personal conversations.

They understand that in a world of algorithms and automation, genuine human service isn’t just refreshing – it’s revolutionary.

Why Do Agents Do This? (I’m Genuinely Curious)

I get hundreds of emails every month with feedback on the articles we write. I’m so appreciative of the response we get, and I read and respond to every single one of them. With this story, I’ve been trying to understand the thinking behind the agent’s approach, and I’m genuinely curious what you think.

Is it pure laziness? Are agents so overwhelmed they genuinely believe automation is better service?

Is it a power play? Some misguided attempt to seem “exclusive” or “professional”?

Is it fear? Are agents so uncomfortable with confrontation they’d rather hide behind platforms than have honest conversations?

Or is it something else entirely?

I want to hear from you. Whether you’re an agent, buyer, seller, or industry observer – what do you think drives this behaviour? Drop a comment below or send me a message. Because honestly, I’m baffled.

The agent in this story isn’t a rookie. He’s been in the business for years and runs an office. So why choose to deliver service that feels so disconnected from what clients actually want?

Help me understand. Because if we can figure out the “why,” maybe we can fix the problem and the perception of the industry we all work in.