Cold calling & real estate glossary.
Plain-English definitions of the cold calling, appointment setting, and real estate wholesaling terms our clients use every day, from ARV and skip tracing to TCPA, MAO, and motivated sellers. Search or jump by letter, and follow the links to go deeper.
Cold calling & outreach
Cold calling
Cold calling is making unsolicited phone calls to people who have not asked to be contacted, to start a sales conversation. In real estate it means dialing property owners to find motivated sellers. Done well, it is a fast, controllable way to create exclusive leads. See our cold calling service.
Appointment setting
Appointment setting is booking a qualified prospect onto a calendar as a confirmed meeting, instead of just passing along a lead. A setter qualifies the prospect, schedules the call or visit, and confirms it to cut no-shows. See appointment setting.
Cold call script
A cold call script is a planned framework for a sales call: an opening, qualifying questions, objection responses, and a close. The best scripts guide the conversation without being read word for word. Build one with our script generator.
Gatekeeper
A gatekeeper is the person who stands between a caller and the decision-maker, often a receptionist, an assistant, or a family member. Getting past one politely and honestly is a core cold calling skill, especially in business-to-business outreach.
Objection handling
Objection handling is responding to a prospect's reasons for hesitation, like price, timing, or needing to think about it, in a way that keeps the conversation going. Good handling acknowledges the concern, reframes it, and moves toward the next step.
Connect rate
Connect rate, also called contact rate, is the share of dials that reach a live person rather than voicemail or a dead line. It is a core cold calling metric: higher connect rates mean more conversations per hour, and it depends heavily on list and data quality.
Outbound vs inbound
Outbound means you reach out first, by calling, emailing, or knocking. Inbound means the prospect contacts you after seeing marketing. Cold calling is outbound: you create the conversation instead of waiting for it. See cold calling vs cold email.
Metrics & tech
Dialer
A dialer is software that places calls for you, automatically or at the click of a button, so a caller spends more time talking and less time dialing. Power and predictive dialers can call several lines at once. A dialer is a tool, not a service. See service vs dialer software.
Speed to lead
Speed to lead is how fast you respond to a new lead. Responding within minutes sharply improves the odds of reaching and converting a prospect, because interest fades quickly. See our speed to lead service.
Lead
A lead is a person who has shown some interest or fits your target and could become a customer. In real estate cold calling, a qualified lead is a property owner who is open to selling and meets your criteria on condition, timeline, price, and motivation.
Conversion rate
Conversion rate is the percentage of one stage that moves to the next, such as leads that become appointments, or appointments that become deals. Tracking conversion at each step shows where a cold calling funnel is strong and where it leaks.
Pipeline
A pipeline is the set of prospects moving through your sales stages, from first contact to closed deal. A healthy pipeline has enough new conversations entering the top to keep deals coming out the bottom.
CRM
A CRM, or customer relationship management system, is software that stores your contacts, calls, notes, and deal stages in one place, so follow-up stays organized and leads do not slip through. Call Savvys includes a free CRM setup.
Warm transfer
A warm transfer, also called a live transfer, is when a caller connects a qualified, interested prospect directly to you on the same call, instead of just leaving a note. It hands you the conversation while interest is at its highest.
Compliance
TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act)
The TCPA is a US federal law that restricts certain telemarketing calls, autodialers, prerecorded messages, and texts. It is a key reason cold calling must be done carefully, with proper consent and respect for opt-outs. This is general information, not legal advice.
DNC (Do Not Call Registry)
The DNC, or National Do Not Call Registry, is a US list of phone numbers that have opted out of telemarketing calls. Callers must scrub their lists against it and honor it. Compliant cold calling starts with DNC scrubbing. See our Do Not Call policy.
Express written consent
Express written consent is a prospect's clear, written permission to be contacted, often required before certain automated calls or texts. It is one of the safeguards behind compliant outreach. Requirements vary, so confirm the rules that apply to your situation.
Robocall
A robocall delivers a prerecorded or artificial voice message, or is placed by an autodialer, rather than a live person dialing. Robocalls face stricter rules than live cold calls, one reason human callers carry less compliance risk. See AI vs human callers.
Calling hours
Calling hours are the legal windows when telemarketing calls are allowed, generally between 8am and 9pm in the recipient's local time under federal rules, with some stricter state limits. Compliant callers dial only inside these windows.
Real estate investing & wholesaling
Wholesaling
Wholesaling is a real estate strategy where you put a property under contract with a seller, then assign that contract to an end buyer for a fee, without ever owning the home. It runs on a steady flow of motivated sellers, which is why wholesalers cold call.
ARV (After Repair Value)
ARV is the estimated market value of a property after it is fully repaired and renovated. It is the starting number for deciding what to offer. Estimate it from recent comparable sales, then run it through our ARV calculator.
Skip tracing
Skip tracing is the process of finding a property owner's current contact details, like phone numbers, from public and private data. It turns a list of addresses into a list you can actually call. Call Savvys includes skip tracing at low cost.
Motivated seller
A motivated seller is a property owner with a real reason to sell soon, such as financial pressure, an inherited house, a problem tenant, or a relocation. Finding motivation fast is the goal of a cold call, because it signals a likely deal.
Assignment of contract
An assignment is when a wholesaler transfers their purchase contract to an end buyer, who then closes on the property, in exchange for an assignment fee. It is the core mechanic of wholesaling.
Double close
A double close is when a wholesaler actually buys the property and then resells it to the end buyer in two back-to-back transactions, instead of assigning the contract. It is used when the spread or the parties make a straight assignment less practical.
MAO (Maximum Allowable Offer)
MAO is the highest price a wholesaler or investor should offer for a property and still leave room for repairs, profit, and a fee. A common formula is ARV times 0.70 minus repairs minus your fee. Calculate it with our MAO calculator.
Comps (comparable sales)
Comps are recently sold properties similar to the subject home in size, condition, and location. They are how you estimate ARV. The closer and more recent the comparable sale, the more reliable the value.
Distressed property
A distressed property is a home in poor condition, or owned by someone under financial or personal pressure such as foreclosure or probate. These properties often come with motivated sellers, which is why investors target them.
Absentee owner
An absentee owner is someone who owns a property but does not live in it, such as an out-of-state landlord or an inherited-home owner. Absentee owners are a common cold calling target because they are often open to selling.
Cash buyer
A cash buyer is an investor who can purchase a property with cash, without waiting on mortgage financing. Wholesalers keep a buyers list of cash buyers so they can assign deals quickly once a property is under contract.
Off-market property
An off-market property is one that is for sale, or could be, without being listed on the MLS or public marketplaces. Cold calling is one of the main ways investors find off-market deals before other buyers do.
Driving for dollars
Driving for dollars is physically driving neighborhoods to spot distressed or vacant properties, then looking up the owners to contact them. It is a lead-generation method that pairs naturally with cold calling the owners you find.
Bird dog
A bird dog is a person who finds potential real estate deals and passes the leads to an investor for a fee, without doing the negotiation or contracting. It is an entry-level way to get into real estate investing.
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