This answer applies 3 methods from the guide, led by one.
Run a one-week prospecting experiment
Use one audience, one helpful reason to contact them and one manageable follow-up commitment.
- 1Choose a permission-respecting channel the audience already uses.
- 2Offer one useful explanation, comparison or check.
- 3Record the real response, qualified need and agreed next action.
- 4Review the result against time spent and change the premise when evidence is weak.
Hold when: Do not use pressure, fabricated scarcity or bought attention as proof of demand. Reach and activity are not the same as business value.
Read it in Broker Brain →Make the next step observable
Give each instruction, dependency and promise an owner, date and completion test.
Read it in Broker Brain →Keep one trustworthy working record
Use the CRM for confirmed identifiers, permission, needs, source dates and next actions.
Read it in Broker Brain →What the Spam Act asks of a follow-up message
The Spam Act 2003 covers commercial electronic messages: email, SMS, MMS and instant messages that offer or promote goods or services, which includes a property or your services as an agent. It is not limited to bulk sends; a single message to a single person can breach it. ACMA enforces it, and can issue formal warnings and infringement notices and take agents to court for civil penalties.
Three rules apply to every such message. This is general information, not legal advice; read ACMA's guidance and ask your principal or a lawyer where you are unsure.
- 01Consent: the person agreed to hear from you (express consent), or consent can reasonably be inferred, which ACMA describes as someone who knowingly gave you their details and would reasonably expect marketing from you, usually because of a provable, ongoing relationship the message relates to. If you rely on consent, it is yours to prove.
- 02Identify yourself: name the person or agency sending the message and how to contact them.
- 03Unsubscribe: give a free, easy way to opt out (for a text, “Reply STOP to opt out” works), keep it working for at least 30 days after you send, and stop within five business days of a request. In practice, stop the same day and record it.
Sort old leads by the consent you can show
The guide's ‘Run a one-week prospecting experiment’ method starts with a permission-respecting channel, and its evidence list begins with the source and permission for each contact. For an Australian database that becomes a three-way sort before anyone writes a word.
- 01Express consent: people who ticked a box or said yes to hearing about new listings, appraisals or market updates, with a record of when and how. These are your strongest contacts.
- 02A current relationship: past clients you still look after, owners you appraised recently, and buyers who enquired or came to an inspection recently about something you can still help with. Consent may be inferred here, if your message relates to what they asked for.
- 03Everyone else: an enquiry from long ago with no contact since, a number from a bought list, or a contact you cannot trace to a source. Do not text or email them a marketing message. If they matter, wait until they get in touch, or ask the agency how they were collected.
- 04Anyone who has opted out, from any channel: leave them off, and make sure the whole team can see it.
Write one useful message for one person
Consent lets you send a message; it does not make the message worth reading. Offer one useful explanation, comparison or check, as the method asks: what has sold near the home they inspected, a new listing that fits what they described, or a price change on the property they asked about. Check the fact against the sale record or the listing first.
An example: “Hi Sarah, it's Tom from Harbour Realty, 0400 000 000. You inspected the three-bed on Banksia Street in March and wanted a bigger yard. One has just come up two streets over, with a fenced back lawn. Want the details? Reply STOP to opt out.” Their name, yours and your agency's, what they asked for, one checked fact, one easy question and the opt-out.
Record the answer, and the permission
The guide's ‘Make the next step observable’ method finishes the job: every lead in the experiment ends the day with an owner, a next action and a date. ‘Keep one trustworthy working record’ adds the part the Spam Act cares about: the source of each contact, the consent and its date, and every opt-out, kept in the CRM rather than in your phone's message history.
- 01A reply: answer the same day, agree the next step in their words, such as a private inspection on Saturday, and record it.
- 02No reply after about a week: one more message with a different useful fact, never a repeat. Then get in touch only when something relevant to them changes.
- 03“Not now” or STOP: thank them if they wrote to you, stop, and record the opt-out so nobody on the team messages them again.
- 04If your agency is covered by the Privacy Act, use their details only for the purpose they were collected for or one they would reasonably expect, and keep the record accurate and up to date.
Calls and other channels
Phone calls are not covered by the Spam Act; they fall under separate telemarketing rules, including the Do Not Call Register, which ACMA also enforces. Check ACMA's guidance before calling an old lead whose number may be on the register.
Whatever the channel, the method's boundary holds: no pressure, no invented urgency and no bought attention passed off as interest. A follow-up that is about the person's own enquiry, sent to someone who agreed to hear from you, is service. A blast to everyone who ever filled in a form is the thing the rules were written to stop.
What gets in the way
Not following up at all because you are afraid of the spam rules.
Sort the list by consent first. People who said yes, and people with a current relationship the message relates to, can hear from you, with your name on it and an opt-out.
Sending one bulk SMS to the whole database and calling it follow-up.
One person, one message, one reason. A blast with no consent check is the riskiest thing you can send, and silence after it tells you nothing.
Opening with “just checking in, are you still looking?” to avoid seeming pushy.
Lead with their enquiry and one new, checked fact about it. That reads as help, and it is the message the person agreed to receive.
Working enquiries that belong to your agency without asking.
Start with the enquiries that came to you directly, and get your principal's OK in writing for the rest, including how they were collected.
Questions agents ask next
Can I text a buyer who enquired on realestate.com.au months ago?
Only if you can show consent: they agreed to hear from you, or there is a current relationship your message relates to, such as an ongoing search you are helping with. The older and colder the enquiry, the harder inferred consent is to rely on. This is general information, not legal advice.
Does the Spam Act apply to a single text message?
Yes. The Act is not limited to bulk messages; one commercial text, email or instant message to one person must have consent, identify you and offer a way to opt out.
What must a follow-up text include in Australia?
Your name and agency, how to contact you, and a free way to opt out, such as “Reply STOP to opt out”. Honour an opt-out within five business days at most, and record it so the team sees it.
Is a phone call to an old lead covered by the Spam Act?
No. Calls fall under separate telemarketing rules, including the Do Not Call Register. Check ACMA's guidance before calling a number that may be registered.
How do I get consent for future follow-up?
Ask at the first contact: at the inspection sign-in, on the enquiry reply or at the appraisal, ask whether they would like to hear about homes like this, and record their answer and the date in your CRM.