Follow Up Boss: The CRM That Actually Follows Up (Unlike Most Humans)

Let’s be honest. Most real estate CRMs do not fail because the software is bad. They fail because leads come in hot, agents get busy, and suddenly that “very motivated buyer” is six weeks old and emotionally attached to a different agent.

Enter Follow Up Boss—a CRM built around one radical idea: speed and accountability actually matter.

It is not flashy for the sake of being flashy. It is not trying to be everything. It is trying to make sure leads get contacted, tracked, and moved forward, before Zillow reminds them that five other agents also exist.

What Follow Up Boss Actually Does Well

Follow Up Boss was built for agents and teams who care about one thing above all else:

“Did someone actually contact this lead?”

The good stuff (aka why teams love it)

1. Speed-to-lead is the religion
Leads get routed instantly. Notifications fire. Tasks appear. Accountability is unavoidable. If a lead comes in and no one responds, it is obvious—and uncomfortable.

2. It plays well with others (including Zillow)
Follow Up Boss integrates with almost every major lead source, including Zillow, Realtor.com, Facebook ads, Google ads, IDX sites, and more.
Leads flow in automatically, complete with source attribution.

3. Simple pipelines that people actually use
You get stages that make sense: new lead, contacted, showing, offer, under contract, closed.
No PhD in CRM architecture required.

4. Accountability for teams
If you run a team, Follow Up Boss makes it painfully clear:

• Who contacted the lead

• How fast they responded

• Who did not respond at all

Which is exactly why teams stick with it.

The Zillow Reality (Let’s Talk About That)

Here is the part no one likes to talk about loudly.

When Zillow sends a lead into your system, they can see what happens next.

That includes:

• Response time

• Contact attempts

• Engagement signals

• Whether leads go cold

Follow Up Boss does not give Zillow extra data out of spite—but by integrating cleanly, it ensures activity is logged. Zillow is very interested in whether their leads are being handled properly.

Translation:

• Fast follow-up = good signals

• Ignored leads = not great signals

Using Follow Up Boss correctly helps protect your investment because:

• Leads are contacted faster

• Activity is documented

• Nothing quietly disappears into inbox purgatory

This matters when you are paying real money for leads and want to keep that relationship healthy.

The Cons (Because No CRM Is Perfect)

Let’s be adults about it.

1. It is not an all-in-one platform
Follow Up Boss is not trying to replace your website, your ad platform, your transaction management system, and your marketing automation all at once.

That is a feature for some teams.
That is a downside for others.

2. Automation is solid—but not “enterprise marketing” level
You get good email and text follow-up, but if you want complex multi-branch marketing journeys, you may need additional tools or integrations.

3. You still need discipline
Follow Up Boss will not magically make agents call leads.
It will, however, make it extremely obvious when they do not.

Some people love that.
Some people suddenly “forget their password.”

Who Follow Up Boss Is Best For

Follow Up Boss shines when:

• You run a team or plan to scale

• You buy leads (especially portal leads)

• You care about response time and accountability

• You want clean reporting without CRM gymnastics

It is especially strong as the central nervous system of your lead stack—pulling in data from multiple sources and keeping everything honest.

Where Sea Change Advisors Comes In (Because Setup Matters)

Here is the uncomfortable truth:
Most Follow Up Boss accounts are underperforming because they were never properly implemented.

Sea Change Advisors helps by:

• Designing pipelines that match how your team actually works

• Configuring lead routing rules (so leads stop getting “lost”)

• Setting up response-time SLAs and alerts

• Cleaning and importing data without chaos

• Integrating Zillow, IDX forms, ads, calendars, and email correctly

• Creating dashboards that show speed-to-lead, conversion, and ROI

Follow Up Boss is powerful—but only if it reflects your real workflow.

The Bottom Line

Follow Up Boss is not sexy software.
It is effective software.

It does not promise to replace your brain.
It simply refuses to let leads fall through the cracks quietly.

If you want:

• Faster follow-up

• Better accountability

• Cleaner lead tracking (including Zillow leads)

• Fewer “I thought someone else called them” moments

Follow Up Boss is doing exactly what it was designed to do.

And if you want it implemented the right way—so it actually makes you money instead of becoming another ignored login—Sea Change Advisors can handle that part.

Because the best CRM in the world still needs adults in the room to set it up properly.

At Sea Change Advisors, we help small businesses create a competitive advantage pouring money into a black hole.