How to Actually Make Connections at your Open Houses
Many agents make a stink face at the idea of ever doing another open house unless it’s to make their seller happy. You put in all that work on the weekends setting up signs, maybe adding balloons to them, sitting in a house for a few hours. The people walking through don’t want to talk to you about buying or selling a house. Heck, they don’t even want to fill out your sign-in sheet. This can be seriously frustrating.
The problem is that when people walk in the door they don’t know you from Adam. You haven’t made any connection yet and then you’re trying to ask them about buying or selling a house. They think you’re a salesperson (well, you are a salesperson) and they try to run away from you as fast as possible or give you false contact information.
So how did all of those mega agents that swear they built their business from doing open houses actually do it? There are three main factors and none of them are the number of balloons attached to the open house signs. They are intention, connection, and consistency.
Intention
If you’re going to choose to do open houses as your lead gen you need a strategy. You can’t just take any old house that a listing agent in your office wants to pawn off on you to hold open. This will not get you consistent quality leads. Taking those ‘opportunities’ is an exercise in futility.
Choose an area that you want to focus on. This can be an area that you already farm, your neighborhood, or any neighborhood that you would like to focus on and be considered a local expert in. Once you have an area picked out, draw a square with a little bit of a buffer around it in your MLS and set up a search for yourself so you know everything that’s newly listed, under contract, and sold. You’ll also use this search to call agents in the area that have either a newly listed home or a home that just had a price reduction to see if you can hold their listing open.
Focus on properties that show well, are priced right, and are less than 3 turns off of the main road. Bonus points if the house is vacant. If you can’t hold any of those open then look at other properties in the neighborhood to hold open that weekend. It doesn’t matter what brokerage that agent works for or who they are. When you’re reaching out to these listing agents let them know that you’d love to hold their listing open and you’ll give them a full report about the amount of traffic and feedback from guests that they can give to their sellers and then actually give them a detailed report right after the open house. I recommend holding the house open on both Saturday and Sunday to double up on your other marketing efforts and allow more people to come to see the property.
Once an agent has agreed to let you hold their listing open start advertising for your open house. You can call around the neighborhood inviting people to the open house and asking them if they have any questions about the market or property values that you can answer for them. Doorknock 50-100 doors around the open house with flyers just to invite them to their neighbor’s ‘event’. If you can spare $50, create a Facebook ad targeting the neighborhood and nearby surrounding neighborhoods.
On the weekend of the open house get there early to set up properly. If the weather might be bad or if you’re holding the house open earlier in the morning you can put out signs the night before, just make sure to check any local ordinances about sign placement and timing. If the area doesn’t have strict rules about signs you can often times leave the signs up from Friday evening or Saturday morning until after your open house on Sunday. Just make sure to place a placard that says something along the lines of “We’re closed but will open at X time, please come back and see us then!”
In your open house kit make sure to keep items that you may need such as
A welcome flyer to stick on the door
Room refreshing spray
A candle
Portable stereo for light background music
Measuring tape
A card table to set your computer and flyers on
A table cloth so the table looks presentable
Gum/snacks
Water bottles if you plan to have them available for guests
You’re business flyers with information on your services
Flyers or packets with valuable information to share with guests such as the process of buying or selling a home
Sign in sheet on a clipboard
Pens
Business cards
A snow shovel and salt if you live in a cold climate
Some house specific items to bring with you are
Client flyer with information on the property
A list of other properties currently available in the neighborhood, some smaller or less expensive, some larger, some similar to the property you’re holding open
So, your signs are set up, the home is open, well lit and smells fresh. Your table with information to share is all set up and looking snazzy. Now what?
Connection
Welcome each guest enthusiastically and with a joke to lighten the mood. Something silly such as “Welcome to my party” works just fine. As you’re greeting them at the door hand them the sign-in sheet on a clipboard with a pen and ask them to sign in for the safety of the seller. As their signing in, ask them what brought them in and tell them quickly about the house “We’ve got x beds x bathrooms, you have to check out the (insert something interesting or unique about the house). Thank them for signing in and tell them to take a look around and to make sure they let you know what they think when they’re done.
Let them look around without stalking them. When they come back from the tour ask if the house fits their needs. Most likely they’ll say that they’re looking for something different. That’s when you hand them the list of homes nearby and tell them about one in the area that fits their criteria and ask if they want to see it when you close your open house. If they agree to the showing while you’re there at the other property ask to grab a coffee and talk about a game plan.
If they are ‘nosy neighbors’ offer to send them a monthly list of homes for sale and sold so they can keep an eye on their home values. If you’re a Keller Williams agent or and agent of a brokerage with an app this is where you can give them your app. Don’t ask, just tell them that you can give them an app to keep tabs on what their neighbors are selling for and then ask if they’d prefer to get the link through text or email and send it to them right there.
The most effective way to follow up with open house leads is with an 8x8 plan. For those of you that are not familiar with that term is it means 8 touches over 8 weeks. This can be a mixture of calls, emails, and texts. When you’re making your game plan for your open houses put together two 8x8 follow plans for guests. One for potential sellers and one for potential buyers. If they are interested in both selling and then buying set them up on the buyer 8x8 plan because the excitement of looking at a new house is more motivating than the overwhelming task of selling a home.
Focus on trying to get them to move to the next step in your lead funnel such as meeting for coffee to go over a game plan for them or going to tour homes in person.
Here are some open house follow up ideas:
Sending homes for sale that are similar to the house they toured or what they’re looking for if they told you
Giving them your app
Sharing Keller Mortgage with them (Can you tell I’m big a fan of KW by this point)
Call and/or text letting them know about the next upcoming open house you’re holding in the neighborhood
Knocking on their door after the open house letting them know that there was a lot of buyers interested in that open house and asking if they or someone they know might be interested in selling
Consistency
Are buyers and sellers going to beat down your door begging you to help them buy or sell after that first weekend? No. After the first month of doing this every weekend or every other weekend? Also, no. Most people that go through an open house are just in the curious stages of buying or they already have an agent and they’re just touring. Sure, you’ll pick up the occasional buyer or seller that has some immediate need to move right away, but that’s not the norm.
The magic comes from your consistency. When homeowners in that neighborhood see your signs and flyers every weekend and they see you knocking on doors working hard for sellers you’ll be the person that they come to talk to when they need to sell. When buyers that have been touring homes in the area see you at every home they’ll know that you’re the local expert and the one that they need to talk to when they are ready to buy in that area.
It takes time to build name recognition and trust with people. Sure, you’ll pick up business along the way to becoming the neighborhood expert, but over time you’ll also build a consistently producing business with people that know, like, and trust you and are happy to refer you to their friends and family. So get out there, make a plan, and really WORK the plan. Now go forth and crush your goals!