Real Estate Inside Sales Agent Training: How to Build a High-Performing ISA Team in 2025

Why ISAs Are a Game-Changer for Real Estate Teams

What Is an Inside Sales Agent (ISA)?

An Inside Sales Agent (ISA) in real estate is the team member responsible for turning leads into conversations and conversations into appointments. They aren’t showing homes or negotiating contracts, but they’re the reason those deals ever get to the table.

As defined by Easler Law, “an ISA is a dedicated professional responsible for generating and qualifying leads and conducting cold calls.” That sounds clinical, but here’s what it really means: while your agents are at showings or closings, your ISA is in the trenches filtering through cold leads, booking buyers consults, and reactivating old prospects sitting in Follow Up Boss or KVCore.

In short? They’re your team's revenue engine.

Why Most Teams Are Adding ISAs in 2025

Let’s keep it real: the real estate market in 2025 is noisy. You’ve got more agents than ever, lead costs are rising, and most buyers are still ghosting after the first call. If you're not controlling your speed-to-lead and consistently booking calls, you’re going to get buried.

Our average cold-calling ISA here at DMR books 10 meetings per week. That’s two listing appointments or buyer consultations per day on autopilot. These aren’t warm friend-of-a-friend referrals. These are pulled from Google PPC, Facebook lead forms, or even old CRM drips that haven’t responded in 6 months.

What used to take 6 agents 40 hours now takes 1 trained ISA working 5–6 hours per day with the right scripts and structure. Teams that add ISAs are increasing GCI, improving conversion rates, and giving their top producers more time to sell, not chase.

Key Responsibilities: Inbound, Outbound, Lead Nurture

A high-performing real estate ISA today is wearing multiple hats, but here’s the simplified breakdown:

Cold Calls

This is the bread and butter. Whether it’s expired listings, FSBOs, or cold leads from Google Ads your ISA is dialing 200-300 leads a day, using your scripts and CRM to qualify, tag, and book.

Direct Messages (DMs)

This works especially well on Instagram and Facebook. You can train your ISA to manage your DMs using frameworks like Value → Qualify → CTA. This is how we’ve helped clients set 5–10 extra appointments a week using no ad spend, just organic messaging.

Inbound Phone Leads

Leads from your website or ads need to be called within 5 minutes. Period. ISAs bridge that gap. They call, qualify, and book an appointment before the lead goes cold. With the right CRM automations, this becomes a 24/7 lead machine.

Nurture + Automations + CRM Management

Your ISA should own the CRM. That means:

Reaching out to cold leads on a 30/60/90-day follow-up cycle
Using tools like Follow Up Boss, Chime, or Sierra Interactive
Triggering automations and email follow-ups when prospects aren’t ready

Other

They may also:

Help manage open house follow-up
Coordinate showing feedback requests
Handle text outreach campaigns

If you’ve got someone making 300+ touchpoints a day across all of those channels… that’s not just an ISA. That’s your pipeline insurance.

Finding & Hiring the Right Real Estate ISA

Hiring an ISA isn’t just about filling a seat, it's about finding the right engine to drive your pipeline. But if you’ve ever posted a job listing and gotten flooded with fluff resumes, you know: it’s tough to separate talkers from doers.

So let’s break down exactly where to look, what to look for, and how to avoid the classic “bad hire” trap that costs teams months of momentum.

Where to Find Trained ISAs (Including “Setter” Programs)

In the real estate world, we call them ISAs. In the online business world, they’re called Setters. Same job, different name.

The key difference?

ISAs usually work within a CRM, are more structured, and trained for real estate language.
Setters are trained to warm up cold leads through conversation often via DMs, comment outreach, or lead lists. They’re fast, hungry, and script-heavy.

And the truth is: many of the best ISAs we’ve trained didn’t come from real estate they came from these online “setter” programs. Why? Because they’re already used to high call volume, KPIs, and rejection.

If you want to find an ISA who’s already trained and knows how to dial, check these out:

PhoneSetter.com – solid program for high-volume setters
DM Setting – for social-based outreach
Skool Setter Community – more freelance-based but full of talent if you know how to vet

Personality Traits & Red Flags to Watch

Forget sales scripts for a minute. What matters more than anything is the person’s psychology. Here’s what we’ve learned the hard way:

What to Look For:

Goal-Driven – They have a reason beyond money. Maybe it’s family, growth, or a career in sales.
Coachability – Can they take feedback without getting defensive?
Comfortable with Structure – Can they hit daily call numbers? Log into the CRM every day? Track results?
Willing to Work Saturdays – Real estate isn’t 9–5. Weekend hustle is non-negotiable.
Competitive but not toxic – A little ego is good it pushes them to win. But if they’re bashing the team or always blaming others? Run.

Red Flags:

Says they’re “too experienced” to follow a script
Doesn’t ask questions about call volume or KPIs
Blames lack of leads or systems on their poor performance
Doesn’t know what a CRM is

Story Time: We had a setter, let's call him Phil who said all the right things. But three months in, he’d only hit 3,800 dials total when our KPI was 4,300/month. When we let him go, he lashed out and claimed we were exploiting him. Emotionally reactive, unaccountable, and unaware of his own output. Lesson? Fire fast. Don’t negotiate with ego.

Coaching Programs vs In-House Training

Not every team has time to train someone from scratch. If you do, great just make sure you’ve built out a full onboarding, scripting, and ramping framework.

If not? Lean on programs like:

DM Setting
Phonesetter
Or even your own network. We’ve hired agents from other teams who didn’t want to show houses but loved making calls.

If you go the in-house route, pair them with 1:1 call reviews, KPI dashboards, and regular feedback. Even 10 minutes/day of side-by-side call listening goes a long way.

DMs vs Phone-Based Outreach: Which Works Better?

This one’s important.

DMs = better for brand building, long-term nurture, slower but warmer.
Phone = better for speed, volume, faster to train and hit KPIs.

For most teams? Start with phone. Get your ISA confident on calls, then layer in DMs once they understand your voice and value.

Think of DMs like handshakes.Think of phone calls like door-knocks.

You want both in your toolkit—but one gets you booked meetings this week.

Your ISA Onboarding & Training Plan

Hiring a rockstar ISA is only step one. The real work starts on Day 1 and most teams drop the ball here.

A good ISA onboarding system shouldn’t take months. If they’re not hitting the phones by Day 3, you’re dragging your feet. Here’s a week-by-week ramp-up plan that’ll have them producing fast without overwhelming them.

Week-by-Week Ramping Schedule

Day 1: Setup & Script Deep Dive

Show them your tech stack: CRM, dialer, pipeline stages
Walk them through the ISA Bible (see below)
Have them write out the main script by hand (yes, really, it forces memorization)

Day 2: Roleplay Basics

Practice 1 pickup + 1 response
Use call recordings to pause & coach live
Focus on confidence and tone, not perfect delivery

Day 3: 25% KPI

First real call block (goal: 50–75 dials)
Review the calls at the end of the day
Build confidence through wins even small ones like “they stayed on the phone for 60 seconds”

Day 4: 50% KPI

Should be doing 100–150 dials
Start adding real-time objection handling
Have them tag leads in the CRM properly

Day 5: 75% KPI

Push them toward full speed
Shadow a top performer or review one of your best recorded calls
Reinforce: script ≠ prison. It’s a launchpad

Day 6: 100% KPI

Full dial block, full volume
Feedback loop now moves to daily huddles + 1:1s as needed

Day 7: 3 Follow-Ups + 100% KPI

Introduce follow-up SOPs: when, how, and what to say
Track first callbacks, follow-up sets, and CRM tasks

Early Training Topics: Scripts, CRM, Objection Handling

Don’t complicate training. Nail the basics:

Script Delivery: Cadence, tonality, asking questions
CRM Navigation: Logging notes, assigning stages, tagging lead sources
Objection Handling: Common stalls like “I’m just browsing” or “We’re not looking right now”

These aren’t abstract topics they’re battle-tested building blocks.

The ISA Bible: Your Standard Ops Kit

Every team should hand their new ISA a doc or Notion board that includes:

Your Core Script(s)
The Top 10 Objections + Responses
Lead Stage Definitions & Pipeline SOP
How to Find Useful Market Info (Zillow, MLS, Google, etc.)
CRM Management Rules (What to log, where, when)
Daily KPIs and Weekly Review Template
How to Book Appointments (Time slots, reminders, calendar sync)

If you don’t have this yet? Build it before hiring. Otherwise, you’ll be managing from chaos.

Shadowing vs Role-Play vs Live Calls

Here’s the rule: Shadow first. Role-play second. Real calls third.

Day 1-2: Have them listen in on 2–3 top ISAs or agents. Let them hear what “great” sounds like. Pause often and ask:

“What would you have said here?”

Day 2-3: Move into structured roleplay. 5–10 minute sessions. One call. One objection. Then feedback.

Day 3 onward: Push them into real dials as fast as possible. Script-readers don’t close. Callers do.

You’ll see it quickly: the ones who can handle live fire by Day 3? They’re your future.

ISA Compensation Structure That Attracts Talent

Let’s be honest: great ISAs don’t come cheap. And if you’re trying to cut corners on pay, you’ll get what you pay for slow dials, flaky reps, and pipeline excuses.

But the structure matters more than the size of the paycheck. ISAs thrive when they know the rules, what’s expected, and how they can win.

Commission Models (Flat vs % vs Hybrid)

Here’s a breakdown of the most common compensation structures — and when to use each.

1. Flat Rate (Safe, Simple)

Example: $3,500–$4,000/month
Great for full-time, W-2 style setups where the ISA is more of an appointment setter than a hunter.
Pros: Predictable cost, easier for budgeting.
Cons: Less incentive to stretch or improve without performance-based bonuses.

2. Percent of GCI (High Risk/Reward)

Example: 10% of the Gross Commission on Closed Deal
Best when your ISA is deep in the funnel (e.g., doing buyer consults or warm lead handoffs).
Pros: No cost unless they perform.
Cons: Lagging comp they may go 30–60+ days before payday.

Note: Giving a percentage of GCI to an unlicensed ISA can be dicey depending on your state. If you’re going this route, have them get their real estate license to stay compliant.

3. Hybrid (Best of Both Worlds)

Example: $2,000/month base + 5% of GCI
Our go-to model at DMR Media for high-output ISAs.
Offers enough base to keep them stable, with upside to push for more.
Puts skin in the game if they don’t help produce deals, their check reflects it.

This model tends to attract hungrier reps who want to scale into a full closing role over time.

How to Handle Bonuses and KPIs

Can you offer bonuses? Sure. But in most setups, they’re not the lever that drives performance.

Instead, focus on daily KPIs:

Dials: 200–300
Connects: 10–15%
Appointments Set: 1–2 per day
Show-Up Rate: 70–80%

What we’ve learned is this: ISAs are like puppies. If they’re young, they need structure.

You can’t let them “figure it out.” They will chase their tail and burn your leads. You’ve got to train them to:

Start on time
Hit dial volume
Follow up daily
Log into the CRM like clockwork

Bonuses can be layered in when they:

Beat their KPI for 2+ weeks in a row
Book a record number of appointments in a month
Help close a high-ticket listing or buyer

…but those are rewards, not motivators.

Creating a Culture Where ISAs Thrive

Your ISA doesn’t just need a script. They need a team, a rhythm, and a scoreboard.

A good ISA isn’t just someone who dials fast, it's someone who’s motivated by momentum. And that means you need more than just training… You need a culture.

Why You Should Hire 2, Not 1

Here’s the hard truth: Hiring one ISA is the fastest way to watch someone burn out or coast.

ISAs thrive in groups someone to compete with, learn from, and vent to.The data backs teams that hire 2 at once see 35–50% higher ramp rates than solo reps.

Think about it like the gym. No one maxes out alone. They max out when someone is spotting them and saying, “You’ve got one more.”

Bottom Line: Always hire 2 ISAs at the same time. You'll get more output and fewer excuses.

Group Chat, Dashboards & Feedback Loops

Now that you’ve got your 2-person team, build the system around them.

You need 2 Group Chats:

ISA Team Chat – All team communication, roleplay notes, shoutouts, KPIs, and training drops.
Wins Chat – Every time they book an appointment, it must get posted here with a quick note: “Booked a buyer consult for 2pm tomorrow – warm lead from Facebook ad follow-up.”

This builds momentum. It tells everyone: we’re winning today.

End-of-Day Reporting (EOD Script)

At DMR, we don’t guess how our ISAs are doing. We ask them to reflect and report every single day.

Here’s the exact template you can steal:

EOD Report – [Date]

Outreach Made:

Pitches:

Bookings:

Bookings Confirmed:

Top 2 Lessons:

Obstacle / Area Needing Help:

Actions for Tomorrow:

You can drop this in Slack, Discord, or ClickUp. Doesn’t matter where just make sure it gets done every evening.

Weekly 1:1s + Team Meetings

Most managers do weekly 1:1s wrong. They either skip them or just say, “How are you doing?”

Here’s a better cadence:

2 Weekly 1:1s per ISA:

Personal/Performance Sync – Check in on long-term goals, motivation, mental energy.
Roleplay + Review – Go over call snippets, DM convos, or CRM notes. Coach live.

This builds a culture of improvement, not just accountability.

3 Team Meetings Each Week

Set your calendar and make these non-negotiable.

Monday (Kickoff) Go over KPIs, commission goals, and shoutouts. If your ISAs are good, they’re competitive — use that.
Wednesday (Market Review) Teach them something. Go over inventory shifts, recent closings, and what buyers/sellers care about this week.
Friday (Feedback + Wrap-Up) Recap wins, what didn’t work, and what to tweak for next week. Keep it light but honest.

Must-Have ISA Metrics for Real Estate Teams

What gets measured, gets managed.And with ISAs, if you’re not tracking daily, you’re flying blind.

Whether your ISA is cold calling, texting, or sliding into DMs you need clear KPIs.

These aren’t vanity stats. These are the exact metrics that tell you if they’re producing results… or just pretending to be busy.

The 5 KPIs Every Real Estate ISA Should Track

Here’s the non-negotiables:

Calls Dialed Per Day Target: 200–300 per day If they’re not making dials, they’re not creating opportunities. Simple as that.
Connect Rate Target: 10–15% Out of all the dials, how many turned into actual convos?
Appointments Set Target: 1–2 per day or 5–10 per week Booking buyer consults, listing appointments, or discovery calls.
Show-Up Rate Target: 70–80% If they book but the client flakes, something’s broken in the confirmation or pitch.
Close Rate (Agent Side) Target: 15–30% Once handed off, what % of appointments turn into signed buyers/sellers?

Downloadable KPI Dashboard (Real Example)

Want to track all this cleanly? Cold Calling KPI Dashboard – Google Sheets

We use this exact format internally at DMR with our team. You can copy and adapt it for your own ISA(s). Just plug in daily numbers and it'll calculate everything for you.

If you have 2 ISAs, this becomes even more useful for competition, coaching, and scaling.

How to Use These Metrics in 1:1 Coaching

Numbers are great but they don’t mean anything unless you coach around them.

Here’s how to build your 1:1s around data (instead of feelings):

Step 1: Start with performance

“You made 180 calls yesterday, had a 12% connect rate, and booked 1 appointment.”

Step 2: Ask why

“Where did you feel you got stuck? Any objections tripping you up?”

Step 3: Coach the gap

“Let’s roleplay a better response to that pricing objection.”

Step 4: Set a next action

“Today, I want to see 220 dials and 2 roleplays posted in the Wins chat.”

Step 5: Reinforce the goal

“If you stay on this pace, you’ll be at $4–5K/mo commission inside 60 days.”

That’s it. Use the dashboard, coach the gaps, build confidence.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I outsource my real estate ISA?

Yes, and there are plenty of companies that offer virtual or overseas ISAs. But here’s the real talk: if you're serious about quality and brand voice, keep them in-house.

In our experience at DMR Media, ISAs that are part of the team culture, plugged into team chat, and trained internally outperform outsourced ones every time. That said if you do go virtual, make sure someone on your team is actively coaching and reviewing their calls.

Need help training or managing an ISA? Reach out, we’ve done this before.

What’s a good ISA commission split?

Depends on your model. Here's what we've seen work:

Flat Monthly Rate: $3,000–$4,000/month for full-time reps.
Commission-Only: 10% of GCI from closed deals they set. Works best if they’re licensed.
Hybrid: $2,000/month base + 5% of GCI. Great for motivating performance while covering basic expenses.

How long does it take to train an ISA?

Realistically? 2 to 3 months.

Month 1 is scripts, objection handling, tech setup, and learning your market.Month 2 is repetition and refinement hitting KPIs with oversight.By Month 3, they should be confident, consistent, and producing results.

Final Thoughts: The Road to ISA ROI

Why Systems Beat Hustle

Look hustle might get you a few early wins. But without systems, hustle just becomes burnout.

We’ve seen it too many times. An agent grinds through 100 calls a day, books a few deals, but has zero follow-up system, no CRM process, and no bandwidth to scale. The result? A feast-or-famine pipeline and stress-levels that break most people.

Training an ISA is your off-ramp from that chaos. But only if you back it with the right playbook:

Clear scripts
CRM automations
Objection handling workflows
KPI dashboards
Regular 1:1 coaching

If those aren’t in place, don’t blame your ISA when they underperform.

The Agents Who Train ISAs Win Long-Term

The top real estate teams we work with? They treat ISA onboarding like an investment, not a Hail Mary.

They don’t just hire and hope. They train. Track. Coach. Fire fast if needed. And build internal systems that allow any new ISA to get results within 30 days.

That’s the difference between someone running a $3M GCI team and someone stuck solo at $300K.