In Irish property, speed wins. A buyer who calls about a listing on Friday evening and doesn’t get through doesn’t call back Monday morning — they’ve already booked a viewing with another agency. For estate agents, a missed call isn’t an inconvenience. It’s commission.
This guide covers what a phone system for an Irish estate agency actually needs to do, why generic business phone systems fall short, and how Dromlik’s platform is built specifically around how property teams work.
The Problem With How Most Agencies Handle Calls
The typical setup in an Irish estate agency: each negotiator has a mobile number, maybe a direct desk extension, and calls come into a main office line that rings whoever’s free — or whoever happens to be at their desk.
This breaks down in predictable ways:
- A negotiator out on a viewing can’t answer. The caller hangs up.
- A serious enquiry comes in at 7pm on a Saturday. It hits voicemail. By Monday it’s cold.
- One negotiator is fielding five calls while another is free — but there’s no visibility to rebalance.
- A buyer calls back about a viewing they discussed last week, and whoever answers has no idea of the history.
None of this is unusual. It’s the default state for agencies that haven’t thought carefully about call infrastructure. Research by 411 Locals found that real estate agents miss approximately 40% of inbound calls — and of those callers who don’t get through, 85% never call back and 62% contact a competitor instead. In a market where a single residential sale generates thousands in commission, a handful of missed enquiries per month is a meaningful and largely invisible revenue leak.
Irish estate agents typically charge 1% to 2.5% commission plus VAT on residential sales. On a €400,000 property at 1.5%, that’s €6,000 plus VAT — or €7,380 in total agent fees. A phone system that recovers even one missed enquiry per month more than pays for itself many times over. (Source: Farrelly & Southern, 2025)
What an Estate Agency Phone System Actually Needs to Do
Route Calls Based on Who’s Actually Available
The standard approach — calls ring one person, then another, then voicemail — assumes a linear availability that doesn’t reflect how agency teams work. Negotiators are in and out constantly: viewings, valuations, client meetings, site visits.
Presence-based routing solves this. The system knows each negotiator’s current status — available, on a call, at a viewing, after hours — and routes inbound enquiries to whoever can actually answer right now. As an agency owner or manager, you get a real-time view of the whole team without having to chase anyone.
Give Every Negotiator a Professional Number That Follows Them
A negotiator giving out their personal mobile creates problems: when they leave, they take the relationship with them. When they’re on leave, callers can’t reach anyone. And there’s no call history for the business to review.
With Dromlik, each negotiator has a Dromlik number that works through the app on their existing mobile. Buyers and sellers call a business number, see a business number when calls are returned, and the conversation history stays with the agency — not the individual.
Handle After-Hours Enquiries Properly
Property enquiries don’t follow business hours. Serious buyers browse listings in the evening, on weekends, during lunch breaks. The enquiries that come in outside office hours are often from people who’ve had time to research and are ready to act.
The problem: when those calls hit voicemail, roughly 80% of callers hang up without leaving a message — and most of those callers have contacted a competitor before your team gets in the next morning. (Source: Hiya State of the Call Report)
Dromlik’s AI receptionist — Niamh — answers these calls live, handles common questions about the listing or viewing process, captures the enquirer’s details and interest, and can send a viewing scheduling link or property information via WhatsApp or SMS immediately after the call. The negotiator arrives Monday morning with a structured lead summary, not a cold voicemail to decipher.
Track Every Interaction Against the Right Contact
A buyer who called three times, spoke to two different negotiators, and requested a second viewing — this history needs to be visible to anyone on the team who picks up their next call. Without CRM integration, this context lives in someone’s head or not at all.
Dromlik integrates natively with HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zoho — calls log automatically against the right contact record, and whoever picks up next sees the full history before the call is even answered.
Manage All Channels in One Place
Buyers don’t communicate exclusively by phone. WhatsApp enquiries about viewings, SMS responses to listing alerts, web chat on the agency site — all of these need to be managed alongside calls, not in separate apps that create fragmented conversation history.
Dromlik’s omnichannel inbox on the Orbit plan brings calls, SMS, WhatsApp, and web chat into a single interface. A negotiator can see every interaction with a contact — across every channel — in one place.
Buyers increasingly start enquiries via WhatsApp or SMS before committing to a call. An agency that can only handle phone enquiries is invisible to a growing segment of serious buyers.
Specific Scenarios Where This Makes a Difference
The Saturday Evening Enquiry
A buyer sees a listing on Daft.ie at 8pm Saturday. They call the agency. With a standard setup: voicemail, cold lead by Monday. With Dromlik: Niamh answers, captures their interest, sends a WhatsApp with the viewing link. The negotiator has a warm lead waiting Monday morning with full context — name, number, listing they called about, what they asked.
The Negotiator on a Viewing
A new enquiry comes in while your best negotiator is showing a property. With presence-based routing, the call doesn’t interrupt the viewing — it routes automatically to the next available person. If no one’s free, Niamh handles it. Nothing falls through the cracks because of a well-timed viewing.
The Multi-Negotiator Agency
Five negotiators, ten active listings, inbound calls coming in throughout the day. Without visibility, leads pile up with whoever happened to answer first. With Dromlik’s real-time team view, a manager can see at a glance who’s handling what, redistribute where needed, and ensure no negotiator is carrying disproportionate volume while others are free.
The Departing Negotiator
A negotiator leaves the agency. Their Dromlik number stays with the business. Their call history stays in the CRM. Their contacts continue to reach the agency through the same number, which now routes to whoever takes over their portfolio. Nothing is lost.
Irish Local Numbers for Every Area You Cover
Trust matters in property. A Dublin agency calling from a 01 number, a Cork agency calling from a 021 number — these signal local presence and local knowledge in a way that a random mobile number doesn’t.
Dromlik provides Irish local numbers across 15 area codes from €5/month per number. If your agency covers multiple regions, hold a number for each — all managed from one platform, all routing into the same team.
If you have existing numbers your clients already know, Dromlik ports them across free of charge, typically within 5–10 business days with no gap in service.
What It Costs
| Plan | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Nucleus | €12/user/month | Core calling, routing, voicemail, call recording, mobile app |
| Orbit | €22/user/month | Omnichannel (calls, SMS, WhatsApp), CRM integration, team presence, supervisor tools |
| AI Receptionist | +€100/month | 24/7 after-hours handling, viewing links via SMS/WhatsApp, lead capture |
For a 5-negotiator agency on Orbit with the AI receptionist: €210/month. One additional commission recovered per month covers the cost several times over.
Annual billing saves around 20%. See the full pricing breakdown.
Getting Started
Setup is fast — number porting, routing configuration, and CRM integration are all handled by Dromlik’s team as part of onboarding. Most agencies are live within a week.
Never miss a property enquiry again
See how Dromlik routes enquiries, handles after-hours calls, and keeps every negotiator’s lead history visible — with a free 7-day trial and no setup fees.
