The VERY first question to ask a prospective seller
After one sentence of who I am and why I'm calling .. "Is this a good time to talk?"
I returned a call today to someone who had responded to a very small mailing I did recently. My business habits kicked in so I asked if it was was a good time to talk. He said that it really wasn't since he was at a funeral. You might think that people wouldn't answer the phone if they don't want to be bothered, but sometimes (like when you are at a funeral) you think "this might be important" and then it's just someone wanting to buy your house. Because I asked this first question I was able to very quickly agree on another time to call back and didn't create any unnecessary ill feelings.