Integrations Lead sources
Zillow sends three kinds of leads, and only one of them rings your phone. Connections arrive as a live call: Zillow phones agents until one answers. Direct contacts, who picked you, and nurture leads, who aren’t ready yet, land in your Premier Agent inbox and wait for someone to act. Zillow’s own advice for a direct contact: text them within two minutes.
For a connection, Zillow does the chasing. It calls the Premier Agents in that ZIP code based on their share of voice “until we find one who can help them live by telephone,” then texts whoever accepts the lead the buyer’s name, contact details and the homes they asked about. Zillow says it gets an agent live for these leads 97% of the time, and that you only have to answer “about half the time” to get your fair share.
A direct contact chose you, so in Zillow’s words they’re “yours from the start.” That’s the lead you most want to reach first, and it’s the one Zillow leaves entirely to you. Two minutes goes fast when you’re in the middle of a showing. That’s where Zillow leads go cold.
Each lead carries what the buyer typed into Zillow’s form: name, phone, email, an optional message that names the listing by default, when they want to buy (from 0–3 months to 12+ months), and whether they can talk now or want to set a time. That’s enough for a first call to open on the home they asked about.
With Premier Agent you buy a share of voice in the ZIP codes you choose, and the price depends on the ZIP code. Zillow puts the average cost per connection at $223 in major metros and $139 everywhere else. Contracts are optional, and Zillow offers 6-month ones with discounts.
Zillow Preferred, which Zillow calls “the next evolution of the Flex program,” is invite-only and costs nothing up front. You pay a success fee when a deal closes: 15% to 40% of your commission, depending on the market, and 40% on seller connections. Zillow vets each lead before it connects you. Preferred agents need a Follow Up Boss account with calling, and they must pick up at least 25% of connection calls over 90 days.
Pay up front or pay at closing, the Zillow lead nobody calls is the expensive one.
Follow Up Boss is the way in. Zillow syncs with it, and Preferred agents need it anyway. Callingly connects to Follow Up Boss natively, so a Zillow lead that lands there can start a call from Callingly’s AI Agent.
Two Zillow quirks to plan around. Follow Up Boss says Zillow’s Respond First feature, when it’s on, delays each lead 3 to 4 minutes on its way into Follow Up Boss, so Callingly’s clock starts after that. And Zillow rental leads reach Follow Up Boss through email parsing, with no phone number, so there’s nothing to call.
Connections land in Follow Up Boss too, tagged Zillow Connected when Zillow spoke to the lead first. If they share a source with your inbox leads, your Zillow rule covers them, and the AI will call a buyer who just hung up with your agent. So after you connect, check the source on a recent connection before you keep that rule. If one slips through, add the Callingly - Stop Calls tag. It cancels the calls Callingly has scheduled.
During your team’s call hours, the AI Agent calls each new lead within seconds of it reaching Callingly, and it can text in the same sequence. It asks your qualifying questions and warm-transfers the live lead to an agent who’s free. It doesn’t try to close the deal; your agent does. When nobody is free, it offers the lead a callback at a time they pick, which suits a buyer who told Zillow they’d rather set a time. Calls and texts to US and Canadian leads go out only between 8 AM and 9 PM in the lead’s time zone.
Your agent’s call with the lead syncs back to Follow Up Boss with a link to the recording, so the lead’s history stays where your team works it. For what to say after that first call, see how to follow up with Zillow leads. Callingly works the same way for realtor.com leads and the rest of a real estate team’s lead flow.
Yes. Premier Agent bills up front, Preferred bills at closing. On Preferred, the success fee is a percentage of the full commission you expect for your side of the deal, and Zillow can change it on 15 days’ notice.
Yes, through Zapier. Zapier’s Zillow Tech Connect app has a New Contact trigger, and Callingly’s Call Lead action adds the lead to Callingly and starts the call.
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