How to Follow Up With Mortgage Leads: A Schedule That Works

How to follow up with mortgage leads, in short: call within five minutes (inside calling hours), keep trying for at least a week across calls, texts and emails, and make the first conversation about the borrower’s problem rather than your rates. Speed matters more than anything else you control. A lead who filled out a form a few minutes ago remembers you. The same lead tomorrow morning may not, or may already be talking to another broker. Most lost leads are not bad leads. They are leads nobody reached in time.

Here is a follow-up schedule you can copy, what to say on the first call, and the Canadian rules on calling and texting.

Why speed decides most deals

When someone fills out a mortgage form, they are thinking about their problem right now. Their credit card statement just arrived, or their renewal letter, or they saw a house on the weekend. That focus fades quickly. Within an hour they are back at work, picking up kids, scrolling something else.

If the lead was shared with other brokers, speed is even more important, because the first broker to have a real conversation usually wins. Even with exclusive leads, which are not resold, a fast call converts better simply because the person is still in the moment. Our guide to mortgage lead cost shows how contact rate changes what each lead really costs you.

How to follow up with mortgage leads: a schedule you can copy

This schedule works well for leads from Facebook, Instagram and Google forms. Adjust it to your hours, but keep the shape.

Day 1

Within 5 minutes (inside calling hours): call. If no answer, leave a short voicemail.
Right after the call: send a text with your name, why you are reaching out, and when you will try again.
Within the hour: send an email with the same message and a booking link.
Late afternoon: call again.

Day 2

Morning: call.
Evening, before 8 p.m. on a weekday (6 p.m. on weekends): call. Many people only pick up after work.

Day 3

One call and one text.

Days 5 and 7

One call each day. On day 7, send a friendly text that leaves the door open: “No pressure. If now isn’t the right time, just reply later and I’ll pick it up from there.”

After day 7

Move them into an email nurture sequence. Our guide to email marketing for mortgage brokers covers what to send. Implied consent from their inquiry lasts six months, so ask for express consent if you want to email them longer.

About seven calls plus a few texts and emails across a week sounds like a lot. In practice, many of your funded files will come from the third, fourth or fifth attempt, not the first.

What to say on the first call

The first call is not a pitch and not a rate quote. Its only job is to understand what the person needs and agree on a next step.

A simple structure:

Introduce yourself and the reason for the call. “Hi Priya, it’s Mark, a mortgage agent with [your brokerage name]. You asked about combining some debts into your mortgage a few minutes ago.”
Ask what prompted it. “What’s going on that made you look into it today?”
Listen. Let them describe the situation. Note the numbers they mention.
Ask a few qualifying questions. Do they own the property? Roughly what is owed on it? What is the money for? What is their timing?
Agree on a next step. An application, a document list, or a booked call with the time locked in.

Avoid quoting rates on a first call before you know the file. Promising a rate or an approval is also a compliance problem in every province. The mortgage marketing compliance guide covers the basics.

Texting leads the right way

Texts get read. They also feel personal, which is why they work and why it is easy to overdo them.

Identify yourself in the first text. Name and what you do.
Keep it short. One or two sentences.
No links in the first message. Links make texts look like spam.
Respect a stop. If someone replies STOP or asks you to stop, stop and record it.
Text during reasonable hours. Not before 9 a.m. or late at night.

Commercial texts in Canada fall under CASL, the same anti-spam law as email. A person who just made an inquiry has given you implied consent for a limited period. Use it to have the conversation, not to blast promotions.

Canadian calling rules to know

This is a plain summary, not legal advice.

The National Do Not Call List restricts telemarketing calls to numbers on the list. Calls to people who made an inquiry with you are generally exempt for six months after the inquiry, and to customers for eighteen months after a purchase, under the existing business relationship exemption.
Calling hours: the CRTC limits telemarketing calls to 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends. These hours apply in the borrower’s time zone, and they still apply to calls made under the inquiry or customer exemption.
Internal do not call list: even if every call you make is exempt, you must keep your own do not call list and stop calling anyone who asks.
Keep records. Note when the lead came in, what they asked for, and every contact attempt. Your CRM should do this for you.

Who should do the follow-up?

If you are a solo agent, the honest answer is you, or nobody. Block time in your day when ads are running, and turn on notifications so new leads reach your phone instantly.

If you have a team, a few options work:

An assistant who books: they make the first call, qualify lightly and book a time with you.
Round-robin among agents: each new lead goes to the next agent in line, with a rule that it moves on if not called within a set time.
Automated first touch: an instant text and email go out the moment the lead arrives, so the person hears something while a human calls.

Automation helps with the first message and with reminders. It does not replace the phone call. Our guide to the best CRM for mortgage brokers in Canada covers tools that handle instant texts, assignment and reminders.

Tracking whether your follow-up works

Measure these each week:

Time to first call: minutes from lead arrival to your first dial
Contact rate: share of leads you actually spoke to
Booked rate: share of contacted leads who booked or applied
Funded rate: share of all leads who funded

If contact rate is low, the problem is speed or persistence. If booked rate is low, the problem is usually the first conversation or the offer in the ad.

Questions brokers ask

How quickly should I call a new mortgage lead?

Within five minutes if you can, as long as it is inside calling hours. The longer you wait, the less likely you are to reach them, and the more likely another broker gets there first.

How many times should I call a mortgage lead before giving up?

Try about seven calls across a week, with texts and emails in between, then move them into an email nurture (implied consent from an inquiry lasts six months, so ask for express consent to keep emailing after that). Many leads come back months later.

What if a mortgage lead never answers the phone?

Text and email give them an easy way to reply on their own time. Some people never answer unknown numbers, but will reply to a text that clearly says who you are.

Should I text or call mortgage leads first?

Call first, then text right after if they do not answer. The text tells them who was calling, which makes them more likely to pick up next time.

What should I do with mortgage leads that are not ready yet?

Agree on a time to check back, note it in your CRM, and add them to an email nurture, with express consent if it will run past six months. First-time buyers and people waiting on a renewal often need months before they are ready.

Want leads that arrive with follow-up already handled?

If you would like a system that sends the first text and email instantly and reminds you to call, book a free strategy call. This site is run by Amplify Leads, founded by Anthony Thai, who has 10+ years in digital marketing. We set up ads, lead qualification and follow-up for Canadian mortgage professionals, month to month with no long contracts, and every lead is 100% exclusive and never resold. See how it works, or compare channels in Facebook ads vs Google ads for mortgage brokers.