No Plan, No Work, No Marketing = No Benefit

The no plan, no work, no marketing open house is a pretty big waste of time. I realize that we all are busy and sometimes you promise an open house but don’t set aside ample time to prepare. However, if you don't invest some planning, marketing, and lead capture strategies, you're wasting your time and your sellers’ time. And they aren't dummies. They're going to notice that you put little to no effort into their event. This opportunity to provide value then becomes a black mark on your otherwise spotless reputation with your clients because no one showed up and you didn't prepare adequate signage or collateral. So, if you’re going to host an open house, you may as well do it right

Get organized, invest in marketing, and set yourself up to host a great open house event. Check out our Open House Checklist to get started!

Marketing Demonstrate your expertise and dedication as an agent by curating impactful marketing for the open house. You don’t need to get bogged down in this process. Keep it simple and consider designing one of our Open House Postcards and utilizing our farm list mapping tool to quickly mail an invite to 100 or so homes in the area. As an alternative, customize Open House Door Hangers and spend an afternoon targeting neighboring homes. This is an awesome prospecting technique and it's low pressure. You’re not selling anything, rather just inviting them to the open house. 

Signage I'm not going to lie, parking on the shoulder of the road and running a sign down to the corner was never a glamorous part of the job, but signage is critical. You've either got to suck it up and get it done or consider hiring someone to help you. Another smart technique is to use signs that say, "Open House This Saturday.” This allows you to put them out in advance when you're not in your dress clothes. 

First Impressions When your open house guests pull up to the home and walk into a stranger’s home, it can feel a little weird. Ease that feeling instantly by making the home as inviting as possible. If they have a screen door, leave the main front door open so guests can peek inside to the event.

Use clever signage like these Welcome Signs by the door to give them a warm welcome. These little touches will impress your clients and your guests. 

Rapport A close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other's feelings or ideas and communicate well. Step one, don't be weird, lol! All kidding aside, this is such an important aspect of not just open houses, but being a successful agent in general. If you're having trouble building rapport, it's probably because you need a little coaching and more practice. In the meantime, relax, be yourself, and just talk to people as though it’s a regular conversation and not a business-related event. Also, it doesn’t hurt to have solid questions prepared that are NOT yes/no questions to get the conversation flowing, such as: - What neighborhoods or areas are you most interested in? How long have you been looking for homes? What part of town are you living in now? Do you have any pets that would love this house as much as you would?

It also doesn’t hurt to crack a joke or two as long as you're comfortable.

• “I’m so glad you came by so I wouldn’t eat this entire plate of cookies myself.”
• “The fridge is included, but not the food inside. They’ll probably take that with them.”
• “This house is pretty big. If you get lost, just call out ‘Marco’ and I’ll say ‘Polo’ until you find your way back.”
• “These blue booties for your shoes not only look great but if you get enough speed, you can slide all the way across the hardwood floors like Tom Cruise in Risky Business.”
• “Would you mind taking over the open house? I was hoping I could get a couple of errands done real quick.”

Lead Capture Techniques That Work

Check out the video below for my top lead capture technique that works for me every time. The reason this works is that you are giving them something of value!

Check out the entire catalog of Open House resources on Breakthrough Broker.

After a successful career as a top-producing real estate agent and building a mid-sized real estate company in Colorado, broker and owner Nathan Froelich and his business partner sold their company. Then, they followed their passion for helping those in the real estate industry by founding Breakthrough Broker to help real estate agents, title companies, and mortgage companies build successful businesses.