How do you qualify property leads before you pick up the phone?
Short answer: Qualify prospects with the three questions agents already ask — budget, move-in date, and viewing date — but let the AI ask them inside a normal conversation, not as a form. Prospects who answer all three are the ones the agent calls. Those who stop at the first question, the AI keeps serving until they are ready. The agent picks up the phone for 3 people, not 20.
What does a normal day look like for an agent?
20 people message. 8 ask the price and go quiet. 5 say "just looking around". 4 ask about a unit that is already sold. 3 genuinely want to view this week. The agent does not know which 3 until they have dealt with all 20 — and speed matters:
"Firms that tried to contact potential customers within an hour of receiving a query were nearly seven times as likely to qualify the lead… as those that tried to contact the customer even an hour later."
— Oldroyd, McElheran & Elkington, Harvard Business Review, March 2011
Why can qualification not be a form?
The prospect asked on WhatsApp precisely because they did not want to fill in a form. If the first reply is "Please provide the following: 1. Name 2. Budget 3. …" — they leave. Qualification that works sounds like a diligent agent: answer their question first, then ask one question back.
What are the three qualifying questions that work?
| Question | How the AI asks it | What the agent gets |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | After giving the full price: "If your budget is roughly in this range, there are 2 more units that fit — want me to share them?" | "my budget is 450 and below" — without ever asking "what's your budget?" |
| Move-in date | "Looking to move in when — this month, or still looking around?" | "just looking" = do not call today; the AI keeps serving and remembers them when they return |
| Viewing | "Would you like to see it this Saturday?" | If they name a day, they are serious — name, time, unit go on the list |
What reaches the agent?
Not 20 chats. One list: who, which unit, budget, move-in date, viewing date. The agent opens it in the morning and calls the 3 people who answered all three. The rest, the AI is still serving, and the agent can step in at any time.
When a prospect asks something that was not written — negotiation, the owner's terms, "can you help with the bank loan?" — the AI does not guess. It hands over to the agent with a summary. That is qualification too: a prospect asking about loans is more serious than one asking "is there a gym".
Does this replace the agent?
No. It replaces the first hour the agent spends finding out who is serious. Meta itself, in the Business Agent announcement, lists "qualify incoming leads" as the AI's job — not closing. Closing is still the agent.
How does Merpati handle it?
The agent writes the three qualifying questions into the AI's instructions, and each listing as a separate entry. The AI answers the prospect's questions from the listing, asks the qualifying questions one at a time in conversation, remembers the "just looking" prospects, and adds those who want to view to a list for confirmation. Prospects who ask for a human or ask outside the information — handed over with a summary.
See the qualified list for your own prospects
Sign up at merpati.my/property, enter 5 listings, write the three qualifying questions into the AI's instructions. Tomorrow morning, see who answered all three.
Sources
- Meta Newsroom, Be There for Every Customer With Meta Business Agent, 3 June 2026 — about.fb.com/news/2026/06/meta-business-agent
- Oldroyd, McElheran & Elkington, The Short Life of Online Sales Leads, Harvard Business Review, March 2011 — hbr.org
The example conversations are worked examples, not customer quotations.