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GROWTH DECISION STUDY / 02 — B2B REAL ESTATE MARKETPLACE

The high-intent conversations no one saw disappear.

I cross-referenced two databases and found hundreds of customers with real purchase intent who never reached a broker's inbox.

Editorial dashboard of the GHOSTS case with unattended-opportunity metrics and the rescue inbox

Interface shown in Spanish — built for a Mexican marketplace.

30-SECOND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  1. 01 · THE PROBLEM

    Hundreds of interested customers were never handled by a human broker.

  2. 02 · THE FINDING

    The loss started in one specific week, and no one at the company noticed.

  3. 03 · THE PROPOSAL

    A prioritized rescue queue where a person decides every contact.

01 / CONTEXT

The challenge wasn't building a tool. It was noticing what was being lost.

Total traffic grew month over month, but advisors' calendars in key markets were emptying with no visible explanation.

  1. Illustration of an analyst reviewing growth indicators and signals.

    STEP 01

    Early signal

    Overall traffic up (+28%), but brokers kept complaining about empty weeks.

  2. Illustration of a person surrounded by questions about sales opportunities.

    STEP 02

    A simple question

    How many people who write in with real purchase intent never reach an advisor?

  3. Diagram of the overlap between chat conversations and CRM records.

    STEP 03

    Cross-referencing data

    Cross-reference the automated chat sessions with CRM records before touching the interface.

  4. Illustration of a person pointing to an upward trend and a recovery opportunity.

    STEP 04

    Clear direction

    Pause spending on new acquisition until the leak in lead delivery is fixed.

    Prioritize recovery

02 / SIGNAL

The drop wasn't gradual. It had a date.

Charting conversion week by week over 16 consecutive weeks turned the anomaly from an opinion into a measurable event.

Weekly rate of conversations delivered to a broker

16 consecutive weeks analyzed

Over a 16-week window, about 51% of chats were delivered successfully before the break identified in week 7. After the break, delivery fell to about 13%, a 38-point difference.

Real anonymized data, grouped by week.

  • Normal flow
  • Unnoticed leak (−38 points)

03 / RESEARCH

Before building, I worked through four questions.

Instead of assuming causes, I designed four direct analytical checks to rule out the team's assumptions.

  1. 01 · WHEN

    Was there a specific breaking point?

    Or was it a gradual fade in market interest?

    One specific week (Week 7). A discrete event.

    Confirmed

  2. 02 · WHY

    Was the chatbot update to blame?

    Engineering assumed a week-12 change had broken the flow.

    The break happened 5 weeks before that update.

    Ruled out

  3. 03 · WHO

    Were they browsers with no budget, or real buyers?

    Detailed audit of 120 archived, unassigned sessions.

    Customers with square footage, a budget, and a corporate email.

    Validated

  4. 04 · HOW MUCH

    How much money did the leak represent?

    Financial model based on historical real estate commission tickets.

    An estimate above MXN 300,000.

    Quantified

04 / INSIGHT

The lead didn't drop off. No one picked it up.

The user eagerly completed every requirement, the system promised contact within 24 hours, and the message was archived unassigned.

A real, silent loss. So how much was it worth? ↓

Illustrative detail of a GHOSTS conversation with Andrea Salas, purchase-intent signals, and a sales opportunity left without follow-up.

05 / SIZING

A loss no one measures has no owner.

To get leadership to act right away, I turned the lost records into a model of conversion and recoverable value.

  1. 01 · TOTAL UNIVERSE

    643

    Conversations with contact details and explicit intent, left unassigned.

    100% of the cohort

  2. 02 · POTENTIAL APPOINTMENTS

    ~190

    Estimated visits if contacted within 2 hours of triage.

    30% projected conversion

  3. 03 · PROJECTED CLOSES

    ~19

    Lease agreements signed at the historical ratio.

    10% close rate per appointment

  4. 04 · VALUE AT RISK

    ~$347k

    MXN in estimated direct commissions at the average ticket.

    Commission ticket: $18,000 MXN

* Assumptions based on prior historical rates and average commissions reported by market. An analytical estimate for decision-making.

06 / DECISION

Don't rescue everything. Rescue what's worth the most first.

Calling all 643 contacts at once would have swamped the sales team. I ranked them by value.

THE 643 CONTACTS, RANKED BY VALUE

218High impact
241Medium impact
184Low priority
  1. START HERE

    PRIORITY 1

    Rescue today

    ≥ 70 pts

    High impact

    A senior advisor calls within 2 hours.

  2. PRIORITY 2

    Needs review

    40–69 pts

    Medium impact

    A coordinator reviews the record the same day.

  3. PRIORITY 3

    Low priority

    < 40 pts

    Passive nurturing

    They get market report emails. No cold calls.

HOW IT'S SCORED

5 signals, each worth up to its points depending on strength

  1. +30 ptsStated budgetExplicit rent mentioned in the conversation
  2. +20 ptsSpecific spaceSize or features
  3. +15 ptsSpec sheetsDownloads or repeat views
  4. +20 ptsClosing questionsAvailability or contracts
  5. +15 ptsRecencyUnder 14 days old

EXAMPLE · ANDREA SALAS

Total score from the 5 signals

  • Budget 30/30
  • Space 20/20
  • Spec sheets 12/15
  • Closing questions 20/20
  • Recency 10/15

92 / 100

●  High · Rescue today

07 / PRODUCT

From an invisible loss to a work queue.

Instead of automating cold messages that hurt the brand, the system helps draft in context and leaves the decision and the sending to the human advisor.

GHOSTS prototype with the opportunity rescue inbox, Andrea Salas's modal, and an editable contextual message that needs human approval.
Open the prototype at full size
  1. Review

    Sees who they were, what they were looking for, and what the assistant showed them.

  2. Adjust

    Edits the suggested message before using it.

  3. Log

    Copies the message, sends it themselves, and logs the outcome.

Non-negotiable rule: no message goes out without a person approving it.

08 / JUDGMENT

The system knows when not to act.

A good automation product is defined more by what it chooses to refuse than by what it runs blindly.

GHOSTS intervention, review, and protection rules
SITUATIONDETECTED CONDITIONSYSTEM ACTION
High intent, complete dataScore ≥ 70 with a valid phone and explicit budgetPRIORITY

Adds it to the on-duty advisor's direct queue with a 2-hour window.

Incomplete dataNo size or no clear budget in the sessionREVIEW

Asks the advisor to complete the record before reaching out, to protect the relationship.

Contact older than 60 daysMore than 2 months with no activityNURTURE

Suggests a quarterly email report. No cold calls.

No valid phoneFake number, missing digits, or bounced emailQUARANTINE

Blocks the task so the sales team doesn't waste time.

Privacy and governanceThroughout the initial viewMASKED

Hides numbers (+52 55 ••••0000) until the advisor formally accepts the case.

09 / MEASUREMENT

The next step wasn't scaling. It was validating.

Leadership validated the prototype. I set three operating goals to test it with a pilot cohort before any rollout at scale.

  1. GOAL 01 · RESPONSE

    ≥ 25%

    Positive response rate for booking an appointment with the broker.

    Intent validationPILOT
  2. GOAL 02 · SPEED

    < 90 min

    Average time to first contact after the lead is assigned.

    Lower latencyLATENCY
  3. GOAL 03 · CARE

    < 5%

    Maximum rate of opt-outs or complaints about unwanted contact.

    Brand protectionGUARDRAIL

WHAT WE MEASURE AND VALIDATE

Validation with a pilot cohort

  1. Goal 01 · Response ≥ 25%

    Positive response rate for booking an appointment with the broker. A signal of real intent to buy or lease.

  2. Goal 02 · Speed < 90 min

    Average time to first contact after the lead is assigned. Cuts critical latency at the top of the funnel.

  3. Goal 03 · Care < 5%

    Maximum rate of opt-outs or complaints about unwanted contact. Protects the brand with the pilot cohort.

10 / LEARNINGS

What I learned by making the invisible visible.

MY DIRECT ROLE

I investigated the gaps between the chat conversations and the CRM inboxes. I found the exact date of the break, which had gone unnoticed for over a month.

I turned the missed handoffs into a quantified financial impact for senior leadership and prototyped the operational rescue tool, putting the advisors' judgment first.

A loss no one sees isn't small. It's a loss with no owner.

  1. WHAT I TAKE AWAY

    01 · Detect

    Before building new features, audit where current users with real intent are leaking out.

  2. 02 · Quantify

    Turn silent failures into clear numbers and transparent assumptions to align leadership.

  3. 03 · Prioritize

    Not every contact deserves an immediate human call. Rank by value so you don't overwhelm the team.

  4. 04 · Validate

    Simple tools with human control beat blind automation in high-value consultative sales.

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: This case was anonymized to protect the business's identity. Company names, internal systems, people, and real contact details are omitted. Conversations and profiles are illustrative recreations based on real patterns. Financial figures are estimates based on documented assumptions, not audited financial statements.

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