Expired Listing Reactivation Calling — 60-Min Training

Direct Answer

The Expired Listing Reactivation Hour is a 60-minute training for listing agents who call expired listings and win the relist appointment. The core ritual: lead with empathy for a frustrated seller, get them talking about why the home didn't sell, present a genuinely different strategy, and close for a face-to-face listing appointment — not a price discussion on the phone.

It is grounded in NAR (National Association of Realtors) ethics and best practice, proven expired-listing prospecting frameworks, and disciplined phone-objection handling. Agents leave able to dial an expired homeowner who has already been burned once and earn the meeting that wins the listing.

Section 1 — Why Expireds Reward Discipline (5 min)

Open with the seller's mindset. An expired homeowner is frustrated, embarrassed, and skeptical — their home was on the market, it didn't sell, and their old agent has gone quiet. Every other agent in town is about to call them. The one who wins leads with empathy and a different plan, not a sales pitch.

Set the frame on the whiteboard:

• The pest: Calls and immediately pitches "I can sell your home," talks price, gets hung up on inside 20 seconds.
• The advisor: Acknowledges the frustration, asks why it didn't sell, listens, then earns a meeting.
• The standard: The phone call's only job is the appointment. The listing is won at the kitchen table, not on the call.

Read the prospecting law aloud: "You are not the agent who failed them — but you only get to prove it in person." NAR's Code of Ethics also requires you respect Do-Not-Call rules and never disparage the prior agent. Empathy and compliance are the price of admission.

Section 2 — The Empathy-First Call (15 min)

The first 30 seconds decide everything. The rep is not selling; the rep is opening a conversation a tired seller actually wants to have. Walk the room through the verbatim template and have every agent run it against a real expired in their list.

Verbatim Expired Reactivation Template (agent fills out and says aloud):

1. Honest, warm open: "Hi [Name], this is [Agent] with [Brokerage]. I noticed your home on [Street] came off the market — I imagine that's been frustrating."
2. Permission and empathy: "I'm not calling to give you a hard time. Do you have 60 seconds for me to ask a couple of honest questions?"
3. The diagnostic question: "Why do you think it didn't sell? What's your read on what happened?"
4. Listen, then reflect: "[Restate what they said] — that makes sense. A lot of homes stall for exactly that reason."
5. Plant the different-strategy seed: "I work expireds differently — [pricing / photography / exposure / a specific tactic]. I'd want to show you, not tell you."
6. Close for the appointment, two times offered: "Would [tomorrow at 5:00] or [Saturday at 11:00] work for me to come by and walk you through exactly what I'd do?"

Coach the listen-before-you-pitch rule: the seller's answer to "why didn't it sell?" is your entire listing presentation handed to you for free. Write it down. You will solve exactly that at the appointment.

Section 3 — What Gets You Hung Up On (10 min)

Expired sellers have a short fuse. One wrong sentence ends the call. Drill the language they refuse to hear.

What to NEVER say to an expired seller (read these aloud, slowly):

• "Your agent did a terrible job." (NAR ethics forbids disparaging another agent, and it makes you look small)
• "I can definitely sell your home." (an empty promise from a stranger; their last agent said that too)
• "Your price was way too high." (correct or not, leading with blame ends the call)
• "Everyone's calling you, so let's hurry." (pressure repels a seller who already feels pushed)
• "What's the lowest you'd take?" (you're negotiating price on a cold call before you've earned a meeting)
• "Just relist with me and we'll figure it out." (no plan, no value, no reason to say yes)

The discipline is pure NAR best practice: respect the seller, respect the prior agent, respect Do-Not-Call rules — and let your *different plan*, shown in person, do the selling.

Section 4 — Handling the First Objection (10 min)

Most expireds object before they agree. The objection is not a no; it's a request for a reason. Run the verbatim script.

Verbatim Objection Script (agent handles "we're going to wait" or "we're done"):

Seller: "We're just going to take it off the market for a while."

Agent: "Totally fair — a lot of sellers feel that way after a listing stalls. Can I ask: if you knew exactly *why* it didn't sell and had a plan to fix it, would you still want to wait?"

[Pause. Let them answer. Do not fill the silence.]

Agent: "Here's what I'd do — I'll come by for 20 minutes, no pressure, and show you the three things I'd change. If you still want to wait after that, I'll be the first to tell you to wait."

Agent: "Would [tomorrow evening] or [Saturday morning] be easier? I'll bring the plan, not a contract."

Do NOT:

• Argue with the seller's reason for waiting — agree first, then offer the meeting.
• Bring price up on the phone; the appointment is the place for comps and strategy.
• Push for the listing agreement on the call — the call wins the meeting, the meeting wins the listing.

Section 5 — The Math and the Objections (15 min)

Show agents why consistent, empathetic dialing on expireds pays.

The math (for an agent dialing 100 expireds a week):

• 100 dials yield roughly 25 live conversations — expireds answer more than cold leads because they want resolution.
• Empathy-first lifts the set rate from about 8% to roughly 20% of conversations — that's 5 appointments versus 2.
• Appointments where you show a real, different plan list at roughly 50% — about 2 to 3 new listings a week.
• At a median price near $420,000 and a 2.5% listing-side fee, each listing is roughly $10,500 — so two extra listings a week is a transformed pipeline.

Common seller objections (rehearse the comebacks):

• *"We're going to wait."* — Fair. If you knew exactly why it didn't sell and had a fix, would you still wait? Let me show you in 20 minutes.
• *"We're going to try For-Sale-By-Owner."* — Some sellers do. Can I show you the three things that stalled it before you take on the marketing and liability yourself?
• *"We're already talking to other agents."* — Smart — interview a few. I'd just ask to be the one who shows you a *different* plan, not the same one that already didn't work.

Have each agent dial five live expireds in a role-play round before they leave.

Section 6 — Commitments and Close (5 min)

Each agent leaves with three written commitments, taped to their monitor:

• I lead with empathy, never a pitch — I acknowledge the frustration in my first two sentences.
• I ask why it didn't sell and I listen — their answer is my listing presentation.
• I close for the appointment, not the price — the meeting wins the listing, and I respect every Do-Not-Call rule.

Close by reading the prospecting standard aloud: "The expired seller doesn't need another agent who promises — they need one who shows up with a different plan." Then pin the empathy-open and objection scripts in the team channel.

FAQ

Q1: Is it legal to call expired listings? A: Generally yes, but you must scrub against the federal and state Do-Not-Call registries and follow NAR and FCC calling rules. When in doubt, check the number and respect any opt-out immediately.

Q2: How soon after expiration should I call? A: Fast — within a day or two while the frustration is fresh and before every other agent in town reaches them. Speed and empathy together win the meeting.

Q3: What if they're angry and hostile? A: Acknowledge it, don't defend: "I hear you, this has clearly been frustrating." Then offer the door politely and add them to a drip. A no today is often a yes in two weeks.

Q4: Should I quote a new price on the call? A: No. Price belongs at the appointment with comps in front of you. On the phone, price talk only gives them a reason to hang up or relist too high again.

Q5: How do I handle "you're just like the last agent"? A: Agree the worry is fair, then differentiate with a specific tactic: "That's exactly why I want 20 minutes to show you what I'd do differently — pricing, photography, and exposure."

Q6: How is this different from a listing presentation? A: This call's only job is to win the appointment. The listing presentation is the meeting itself, where you show the different strategy and ask for the signed listing agreement.

Sources

1. National Association of Realtors (NAR), *Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice*, 2024 edition.
2. National Association of Realtors (NAR), *Telephone Consumer Protection and Do-Not-Call Compliance Guidance*, nar.realtor.
3. Mike Ferry Organization, *The Expired Listing Script and Prospecting System*, mikeferry.com.
4. Tom Ferry, *Expired Listing Scripts and Objection Handlers*, tomferry.com.
5. Borino, *Expired Plus: The Expired Listing Conversion System*, expiredplus.com.
6. Gary Keller, *The Millionaire Real Estate Agent*, McGraw-Hill, 2004.
7. Federal Trade Commission, *National Do Not Call Registry Compliance for Businesses*, ftc.gov.
8. Real Estate Buyer's Agent Council (REBAC) / NAR, *Seller Representative Specialist (SRS) Designation* materials, nar.realtor.