Every enquiry gets a reply within five minutes, day or night.
A Sydney property management firm was getting around 35 enquiries a week across four platforms, mostly from renters asking about a listing and some from owners looking for a new manager. Each one was logged and assigned by hand before anyone replied, usually hours later, and by then renters had moved on and owners had called another agency. We built a system that catches every enquiry and builds the CRM record, then sends it to the right person and replies within five minutes.
The problem
The firm was taking in around 35 new enquiries a week from REA, Domain, Facebook and its own website, and every channel delivered them in its own format. Someone had to work through four inboxes, work out which property each renter meant, copy the details into the CRM, assign a manager and reply. That job fell to the property managers themselves.
We timed that intake work with the managers at roughly 7 minutes an enquiry, or about 17 hours a month of manager time costed at $41 an hour. The bigger cost was the delay, because replies went out about four hours after an enquiry arrived. A renter who waits that long has usually enquired somewhere else, which stretches vacancies, and landlords judge their manager by how long a property sits empty. Owners looking for a new manager tend to go with whichever agency calls back first.
What we built
A system that catches every enquiry the moment it arrives, whether it comes from REA, Domain, Facebook or the website, and turns it into one complete lead record. Renter enquiries go to the manager who looks after that listing, while owner enquiries go to the principal for a call. When the system isn't sure what an enquiry is about, it acknowledges the enquiry and passes it to a person instead of guessing.
- 01
It catches every enquiry
REA, Domain, Facebook and the website all feed one place the moment an enquiry arrives, day or night.
- 02
One tidy record
Each platform's format is converted into the same clean record, with the property and contact details filled in, and the enquiry is tagged as coming from a renter or an owner.
- 03
Logged and routed
The record goes into the CRM. Renter enquiries are assigned to the manager for that listing, and owner enquiries go to the principal.
- 04
A reply within five minutes
Before replying to a renter, the system checks the listing is still available, and if it isn't the reply says so. The reply names the property and the manager looking after it, and it responds to what the person wrote. Owners get a reply saying who will call them.
- 05
A person takes it from there
Managers start the day with the CRM already filled in, so their time goes on inspections and calls.
Most go out automatically. Renters go to the listing's manager and owners go to the principal for a call.
How we rolled it out
Built over about 6 weeks and live since March 2026.
- I
Mapped the channels
We looked at how each platform delivers enquiries and timed the intake work with the managers, which is where the 7 minutes comes from.
- II
Tested every channel
We built the conversion step for each platform and sent test enquiries through all four before anything reached the live CRM. It took a few rounds of tweaks before every channel came through cleanly.
- III
Signed off the wording
The managers approved the renter replies and the principal approved the owner replies before go-live.
- IV
Watched the first week
On live enquiries, a manager checked every automatic reply as it went out during the first week.
- V
Handed over
The firm owns the system and its accounts. We step in on any monitoring alarm and do a full check every two months, and we update the rules when a platform changes its format.
Safeguards and costs
What needs a person
Owners always get a call from the principal, and an enquiry the system can't place with confidence goes to a person instead of being guessed.
If something breaks
A dashboard shows every enquiry, and a failure sends an email alert to the firm and to us. The firm can pause it with one switch and enquiries still arrive in the usual inboxes, so nothing is lost. It also stops itself if errors or spend cross a set limit.
What it can reach
It can read the enquiry channels and the CRM, including whether a listing is still available, and it can send email replies. Its keys are kept separate from the prompts and logic.
What it costs
The bill grows only with enquiry volume. The monthly budget we agreed during the build triggers an alert at 80% and stops at a hard cap of 150%, and our monitoring is a separate monthly retainer.
What we had to figure out
REA and Domain use different formats for the same thing
The two big portals hand over enquiry data their own way, right down to the field names, so a conversion step in the middle turns either one into the same tidy record.
Facebook messages often don't name the property
People message "Is this still available?" without saying which listing. Rather than guess, the system replies within the same five minutes asking which property they mean and then builds the full record from the answer.
A reply that feels like a machine would undo the speed
Getting the message to feel personal while still going out within five minutes took more work than the technical plumbing did.
The result
At any hour, weekends included. The typical wait used to be about four hours.
Intake for about 150 enquiries a month took about 17 hours. Managers now spend about 3.5 hours on the ones the system flags. That's about $6,900 a year of their time.
The full cost of the tools, AI included.
The CRM logs every reply since go-live. Before, two landlords had left for faster competitors.
Live since March 2026. Enquiry volumes and the before timings come from the firm's records and our timings with the managers. Time saved after go-live is our estimate from the checks that remain.
Owners who enquire hear from us within minutes, day or night. When I call them back, I already know who they are and which property it is.
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