Stop Writing "Just Checking In"

There is a sentence I see in follow-up emails that makes me wince every single time.

"Just checking in."

My friend, I am going to be the guy who tells you this. When you write "just checking in," what the lead reads is "I have nothing valuable to say but I need you to know I still exist."

That is not a relationship. That is spam with a smile.

I did this for years. I was not lazy. I was just doing what every agent does. The follow-up templates the brokerage handed out. The scripts from the training class. "Touching base." "Circling back." "Wanted to see if you were still looking."

Nobody responds to those. You know this. You have sent them and watched them disappear into the void.

What changed for me was watching Megan — the agent I told you about, the one who outproduced me with AI — show me her follow-up response rates. She was getting replies from forty percent of her leads. Forty percent. I was getting maybe eight. Maybe.

The difference was not that she was a better writer. It was that her messages actually contained something useful. Every single one.

Here is what I use now. You can copy it.

The Prompt

You are a real estate agent following up with a lead.

Here is the context:
Name: [lead name]
How we met: [open house / Zillow / referral / past client / sphere]
What they want: [first-time buyer / 3BR under $500K / relocation / investment property]
Days since we last spoke: [number]
Anything specific from our last conversation: [e.g. "they loved the Craftsman on Maple but it went under contract"]

Write a follow-up message that:
1. Opens with something real from our last interaction — not "checking in"
2. Adds one piece of value — a new listing, a market insight, a tip about their target neighborhood, a relevant article
3. Asks one easy question — yes or no, or a single short answer
4. Sounds like a real person sent it. Not a CRM. Under 100 words.

No "touching base." No "circling back." No em dashes.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Here is a real example from last week.

Lead named Sarah. Met her at an open house four days ago. She is looking for a two bedroom condo in St. Pete, under four hundred thousand. The unit we walked through had the floor plan she liked but the price was wrong.

The message this prompt gave me:

Hey Sarah — a two bedroom at [address] came on yesterday at $389K. Same floor plan as the one we walked through Saturday. Want me to send the listing?

Three sentences.

It references the open house. It mentions a specific property. It asks a yes or no question. That is the whole formula.

Compare that to "Hi Sarah, just checking in to see if you're still looking for condos in St. Pete!" One of these gets a reply. The other gets your number muted.

Why This Works

Because you are not reminding the lead that you exist. You are reminding them that you are useful.

There is a version of you from a few years ago who would read this and think "that takes too much time, I cannot customize every follow-up." I know. I was that guy. I was wrong.

It takes thirty seconds. You paste the prompt. You fill in the four context fields. You copy the output. You send.

Thirty seconds per lead. Versus the thirty minutes of guilt you feel every Sunday night when you look at your CRM and see the forty-seven leads you have not followed up with. The ones you meant to call. The ones who probably already found another agent.

This little prompt, this new junior assistant of yours, it is working while you are not. And you get to go home and have dinner with your family instead of staring at a list of names you feel bad about.

Try it on your five oldest leads. The ones you have been ignoring. The ones you are most embarrassed about.

See what happens.

Then come back tomorrow. I will have another one for you.