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Executive Assistant · Jul 2026

A Commercial Real Estate Broker Stopped Losing Tenant Leads to Slow Follow-Up

A commercial broker representing landlords and business tenants was losing warm leasing inquiries because he couldn't respond fast enough between site tours. A dedicated executive assistant now handles his calendar and first-touch follow-up.

Challenge
Between property tours, landlord calls, and lease negotiations, he often didn't see a new tenant inquiry until hours after it came in, by which point the prospective tenant's broker had already lined up a competing space to tour. His calendar was also double-booked more than once a month, since he was scheduling tours from his phone between meetings.
Solution
His HestiaHire executive assistant now manages his calendar in full, sends a same-hour acknowledgment to every new tenant inquiry with available tour times, and preps a one-page brief before each tour with space specs, landlord terms, and prior conversation notes.
Result
Lead response time dropped from an average of 4 hours to under 25 minutes, and tour-to-LOI conversion rose over two quarters

In commercial leasing, the broker who responds first to a tenant rep often gets the tour scheduled first, and a scheduled tour is most of the way to a deal. He knew it, which made the response-time problem more than an inconvenience.

The real cost of a 4-hour lag

We looked at three months of his lead data before matching him with anyone. Inquiries he responded to within 30 minutes converted to a scheduled tour at a meaningfully higher rate than ones he reached after several hours, and a noticeable share of the slow-response inquiries had already toured a competing space by the time he called back.

Splitting the calendar from the relationship

The assistant took over calendar management and first-touch response entirely, using a simple qualifying script to sort serious tenant reps from early-stage inquiries. Serious leads get a same-hour call attempt and tour options; everyone else gets a lighter-touch follow-up sequence that doesn’t demand the broker’s immediate time.

Results

Average lead response time dropped from roughly 4 hours to under 25 minutes. The broker’s own tracking shows a clear uptick in tour-to-LOI conversion over the following two quarters, which he attributes directly to inquiries no longer going cold before he can reach them.

FAQ
How does the assistant know which tenant inquiries are worth prioritizing?

We built qualifying questions into the intake process (square footage need, target move-in date, budget range) so the assistant can flag serious tenant reps for a same-hour call versus routing early-stage inquiries into a lighter follow-up sequence.

Does the assistant have access to the CRM and calendar directly?

Yes, with delegated access to both, so scheduling and lead logging happen in the systems he already used rather than a separate tool he'd have to check.

What happens during an actual property tour, when the broker can't check messages?

The assistant holds new inquiries and non-urgent messages during active tours and does a batch update afterward, so the broker isn't interrupted mid-tour but nothing sits untouched for long either.

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