22 September 2026 · 5 min read · Oscar Markham
Why estate agents lose instructions they had already won
Agents tend to analyse lost instructions at the point of decision — the fee, the valuation figure, the competing agent. In our experience the decision was frequently made before any of that, in the gap between the appraisal and the follow-up.
The week that decides it
A vendor who has had three agents through the door in a fortnight is comparing them on very little. All three said a number, all three sounded confident.
What separates them is what arrives afterwards and how quickly. The agent whose written appraisal lands the same evening, with the comparables attached and the next step spelled out, is remembered. The one who sends it on Thursday is not.
Fee is rarely the real reason
Vendors say fee because it is a comfortable answer that does not require criticising anybody. It is occasionally true.
More often the vendor went with the agent who felt most likely to actually sell the house, and speed of response is the clearest available signal of that before any work has been done.
What to fix first
Time from appraisal to written follow-up. Measure it honestly for a month. If it is more than a day, that is your highest-value fix and it costs nothing.
Then the content of it: comparables, a marketing plan specific to that house, and a clear next step rather than a figure and a fee schedule.
Where marketing comes in
Advertising generates appraisals; it cannot win instructions. If half your appraisals are going elsewhere, spending more on lead generation makes the leak bigger rather than smaller.
Fix the follow-up first. Then the same spend produces roughly twice the instructions, which is a cheaper improvement than doubling the budget.
Written by Oscar Markham, founder of Dublin Growth Digital. We run lead generation for Irish estate agents and trades, reported every Friday in enquiries and booked work.