126: Lead Gen Series Part 2: Open Houses That Actually Work

Part 2 of our lead gen series is here and we’re talking about one of the most powerful ( and most underutilized ) strategies in real estate: open houses.

Not the “sit at the table and scroll your phone” kind… the kind that builds your database, creates real connections, and turns strangers into clients.

In this episode, we’re breaking down how to approach open houses as a long-term business builder, not a one-day event. From pre-marketing to follow-up, we’re sharing how to make every open house worth your time and Why a few intentional hours before, during, and after can feed your pipeline for months

If you’ve ever said “open houses don’t work,” this episode might just change your mind ... and your business.

Like what you heard? Make sure to follow and review the podcast, and shoot us a message with your thoughts at 

contractsandchaos@gmail.com

@YourHomeGirl_CLT 

@Real.Life.Brenna

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Do you want to do a drum roll because we're on week two? Or do we save maybe we should say I've messed up. Maybe we should have saved that for the last one. Well, I'll make you do it again on week four.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Drum roll, please. Okay, we are we are back for week two of our lead generation series. And I hope that you guys really loved last week and are diving in on your database and really paying attention to the opportunities that you have right in front of you. But if you've already done that and you're still looking for business, as much as I have to tell you to be on, I mean, we're honest on this podcast, I hate open houses.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Yeah, they're not my favorite.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

No, but listen, it depends. But listen, so here's the thing: they do work for getting you business. They don't, this people, I think they misconstrue an open house for using that to sell the property that they're showing, right? The first two years in real estate, I did a lot of open houses. Maybe that's why I hate them so much. But I did a lot of open houses. But I only have one story that I sold the house that I did an open house on, right? I have many more stories of how those people that came into my open house or people that didn't even come into my open house became clients. So today we are talking about open houses and why you should be getting three to five leads for buyers, maybe listings, if you're doing your open houses correctly. So buckle up. Here we go.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Here we go. And I think the other thing to remember is like it's not always the people that walk in the door that are the three to five leads you're getting from this open house.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

That is the biggest thing. Because here, and we we just talked about this, right? Because you had an open house recently. How many people came in the door?

SPEAKER_00 2:12

None.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

How many people do you how many people do you think that you reached for your open house?

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Oh, a ton. A ton.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

And why? Why, Alyssa? Because are we just open house like showing up at the door on a Saturday and opening it for two hours and saying, oh crap, nobody came in?

SPEAKER_00 2:29

No. No. We are letting our pipeline know. We are picking a house that makes sense to have an open house at. We are letting our database know. We're blasting it on social media. Um, I've mailed flyers to investors because it's a great investment property. Um, all sorts of stuff. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

Okay. So let's start all sorts of stuff. Let's start at the first step of um picking an open house. And we say picking an open house because I mean, if you have a listing and you're doing an open house, great. But if you are just out here trying to find business, trying to build your pipeline, maybe you're talking to agents in your firm that already have listings that you can take advantage of because many like me don't really like open houses. And there's plenty of people that don't do open houses very well. So when you are picking an open house, I think that there's probably, I think probably three things that you really should look at when you're picking an open house. But you tell me what you think are the most important ones.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

I think you want to look at the price point, the location, and the timing. Yes. Mm-hmm. So price point, we want there's three, you want like an entry level is a great place. A first move up, so you know that next house, and then that mid-range. I don't think luxury houses, open houses is not what sells those. No.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

If you're looking at a million or over, somebody that's buying a million five and up, right, they're not going to the open house. That's not that's not how they're buying that house. So do they look great for content? Um, are they great broker open if you're trying to get like um to network that way? Sure. But if we're trying to build your pipeline, we are looking for the most productivity surrounding that house. So we are looking, like you said, for an entry level. Now, entry level has a wide variety, I feel like. But for me, I'm not hosting an open house. I say less than 300, but like 250, I feel like is a good price.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

Now, and see where I am, I wouldn't host an open house at a 250 because it's probably a full gut job.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Well, and say, and that's where location comes in too, because I'm not sitting in an open house or advertising an open house for a property that is a dumpster fire. Let's just say that, right? Right. We want, if we're talking about entry level, we're talking about moving ready. We're talking about affordability price point, and that'll change depending on where you're at. And again, location. Do people want to buy this house? Right. That's right. We want to put our time, effort, and marketing dollars if if you choose to do dollars, um, into a property that will get the most interaction because it applies to the most people, right? Are we doing an open house like this on a property that has 14 acres and a barn and like kind of a weird rental in the back that's might be connected to a septic but might also drain into the creek?

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Right. No, right? No, no, and you like you want like buyers at these price points, they're emotionally ready. Some of them are unrepresented because they are the people that drove by and they're like, Oh, we've looked, we've we've seen this house, we've dreamed about this house. Or the people on their way home from church who are like, hey, yeah, we could move into this neighborhood. We should think about this. Um where it's like luxury, it's just it's different. It's different. And or again, investors aren't coming to open houses to look at teardowns or gut jobs. That's not how that works.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

Like I had one recently that is it is an investor property, and we ended up we just withdrew it because I was like, listen, we've we've eaten up all of the time and we're getting investor offers and they're not what you want, right? So I'm not, I can't get you anything else right now. But one of the things they said, well, you should host an open house. And I was like, I'm I'm sorry. And oh there's no heat. There's no, like, you know what I mean? There's so many things. Investors don't come to open houses, they sit in front of their spreadsheet and hope that the number at the bottom turns green. If it's green, that's good. They'll they're interested.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Right. No, that's literally how it works. It is.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

It is. They are not pounding the streets looking for open house lines. Okay, moving on to location. I think that this is a huge thing, especially because when you're thinking about advertising and searching for those entry-level or move up buyers, you're looking for locations that are not like 50 miles to the nearest Publix or Harris Teeter or something like that. You're looking for something that's pretty accessible to your gas stations, your grocery stores, your local parks, your maybe if you have like a public transportation system, things like that. Because you want to be somewhat centralized. And when you're advertising, when you do have those signs out, you want people to actually drive by.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Right. Yep. You don't want to have to put out 40 directionals to get them off the main highway five miles away. Like, no. Um do you want easy parking? Like, I hate to say it, but open houses at like condos. So hard. So hard, especially with access. Like, you're gonna need an extra agent just to open the door downstairs for people.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

I had one open house during COVID, and we had it was over 80 people came through that open house in two hours, and it was insanity. But I just remember because their road, like from one direction, it was coming down a hill, and then at the bottom of the hill, it went around a corner. And I was like, this is dreadful because there's just people parked along the side of the road. Somebody's just gonna get hit, but oh well. Um, um, that's a huge thing. And I think timing is okay. So timing for me is is two parts. Two things. Yeah, okay, great. Two parts. Um, when you actually open house, hold the open house, and how long this property's been on the market.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Those are my two things. Yes. So timing, let's talk about when we hold the open house. Saturday, Sundays, 12 to 2, um, is usually a pretty sweet spot.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

I sometimes on Sundays I even push from one to three because church around here gets out a little after 12. Um, and then you want to try to hit them while they're already out. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Um, that and like I'm not opposed to holiday weekends, but it depends. If you're near a main drag where there's gonna be a lot of people, or you have a really hot property, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 8:56

Or you're doing a fun theme or something that you can like market for that.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Right. Or if you're like in one of the like highest, like so 157 people move to Charlotte every day, right? So if I'm in one of those neighborhoods that I know everyone wants to be in and it's Thanksgiving weekend, hell yeah, I'm doing an open house Black Friday or that Saturday because the family members who are thinking about moving here are in town, you know? Like, so I think that's that's a case-by-case basis. Um I would say I also think there's two things. If you have a lot of open houses in that neighborhood, some people think that's bad. I think it's actually a good thing. I think if you coordinate with those other agents, say, hey, let's market this together. Like we could do there's four listings in here. Why not all do an open house the same weekend? Get as many people in because then you don't have buyers having to come out four different weekends.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

Yeah, get a sticker at each location, and everybody that gets the all four stickers gets entered into a gift card.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Right? I love that idea. Love and get one of your vendors to donate the gift card. Absolutely. Um some people say avoid it when there's competition that weekend. I disagree with that though, because I think if you market yours well, or maybe if you didn't and they did and they have a ton of signs up, they're gonna drive by yours on action.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

Right, let's just piggyback this. The the idea is not to not to not advertise this well, but you know, you it just draws more people. And I think that especially if it's like you said, a popular neighborhood, if they're able to get into multiple houses, why wouldn't they? Exactly. Um exactly. The I was gonna, where was my training? Other timing. Oh, the other timing, yes. So how long I like to do open houses the first if I'm doing open houses, it's like the first two or three weeks it's on the market. Sometimes it's not the first weekend because here's the thing if I'm hitting the market on a Thursday, it does not give me enough time or runway to advertise this open house. And by advertise, I don't necessarily mean Facebook ad or paying for that. Sometimes I do. Um, but I'm talking about Facebook group posts or emails to my database or personally reaching out to local agents and saying, hey, here you go, or giving the time for the reverse prospecting to cycle through. And then I can email those agents and say, hey, this property is a fit for your client. We are actually open hosting an open house on Saturday from 12 to 2. If you want to send them on by, just make sure if you can't come, great. That get tell them to give me your name, I'll reach out and let you know what they think, that kind of thing. Because again, you don't want them to think we're trying to poach clients, but I think that that's usually the sweet spot. I see people on a lot of local Facebook groups are like, if anyone wants to host a listing, uh host an open house, like here's my listing, and you look at it, it's been on the market for 145 days. And I'm like, no.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

No. I I ask, hey, before I agree, and I had a conversation with someone's client once with them on the phone because she wanted to know what I was gonna do for the open house. And I quite blank, like point blankly told her, I'm not doing an open house. She said, Well, isn't that why we're having this conversation? I want an open house this week. And and I said to her as politely as possible, I'm not doing one unless you make a change in this house. Your house is overpriced, you've been on the market 90 days or however long it was. The comps, I've already done the reese. And I like, she needed to hear it from another agent, and that's why she put me on that call. But she was like, Oh, I said, So I'm not doing one unless you do a price reduction, and I need to know by Monday so I can market and I think that that's so you and your agent need to have a conversation.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

I think that's the other time to do it is when something has changed. They've done a they've done a price decrease. There's something new to market because if somebody, if it's been sitting on the market, it's been having showings, nothing's happening. Like you just the idea is for you to build your pipeline. And again, you probably won't sell that specific house, but we need it to be interesting enough that people haven't already seen it or have a now that they have a reason to come see it with that price decrease. Right. Um, exactly. Going back to not having your own listing to do this on, how are you connecting with agents? Now, and I'll before we start this, I will preface there are some firms that will let you host open houses for other firms. Great. Market those listings, like as long as you have the written permission or whatever your firm needs you to have, great, go that route. I think for the most part, Alyssa, we do inside our firm, don't we?

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Yeah, I've done it outside my firm once. Yep. Twice. I used to do them with Mike when we were at different firms. Um, which I then found out was against the rules at my firm, but no one had told me. So uh, right? And that was actually one where he reached out to me. He saw what I was doing on Facebook and was like, you get this, let's go. But I think a great way to do it is like you see someone post a new listing, or you look at the hot sheets on Monday and say, Okay, what's come up? Um, and reach out and ask and say, Hey, I have buyers in this area, would love to open up host an open house for you if it's open or if it's available. Um, or maybe if it's not that weekend. Just, you know, if you guys are thinking, I'd really love to help. Because some agents don't do their own open houses. I try to avoid my own because I'm not doing dual agency. I don't want both sides of the deal. Yeah. So I have other agents do it. Um, I think that's a great way to do it is to just reach out and ask. Because you're helping them. Like then they don't have to do it. Yeah, it's not doing additional right.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

It's marketing their listing. Like that that's a huge win for them. Um, another quick as I just thought about this on the MLS too, or at least our MLS and Canopy, you can search like the I think it's the main MLS tab where you would go to your listings. There's another tab underneath there that says office listings. Just click on that and that'll pull up every single listing that your office currently holds. And then scroll through them. Which one do you want to, which one's close to you? Which one do you want to work at? Which one, which one is the one? And reach out to that agent. I've only had it happen twice. And again, this was years ago because I don't, I really, I really don't like doing open houses, but I've only had two agents that are like, no, you can't do that.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

Right. You can't just always blow my mind.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

I can't market my listing. And I'm like, oh, geez, Louise Karen, okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Like you want to be like, wow, you guys really should brush up on the rules because there's no rules against it, and it's actually helpful for you. But okay, you limit the marketing on your listing, Karen. Go for it.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

And we love Karen's. Listen, listen, we love we love Karen's, not those Karen's, but if you are a Karen and listening to this, just know that we love you because you're not those Karen's. You're not those Karen. Right. Because if you were those Karen's, you wouldn't be listening to us anyways.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

Right, probably. Okay, so how many open houses do we need to make this an effective lead gen?

SPEAKER_02 15:47

I think you need to do at least two a month, right? Like I think every other week, because listen, we're we under we're not trying to take up every single weekend. We preach this a lot, right? Like you need to have your family time, you need to have this. But if this is a lead gen strategy for you, um, you I really don't think you can do less than two a month. That's a fair minimum. And I've seen people that do two a day for um over the weekend. So that's four open houses a week that they're doing.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

I couldn't do that. Um, with all the follow-up and stuff, that just seems like a lot. But I do agree, at least two a week or two a month minimum, because I think one looks random, two per month is gonna help build a pipeline. Six is a pattern and it's not luck. Like that's consistency. That's you actually putting the work in and things coming forward.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

And again, using this and this, we're doing this as a lead gen like strategy, like um series that we're doing. If you're doing this as a lead gen strategy, you need to do it more than once, twice, or five times because you need to be able to track the results. So if you're doing this, I do think that the bare minimum is two a month. Um, and you really need to commit to at least a quarter. Like you can't just say I'm gonna do open houses this weekend and next weekend and see how it works. You need to make a commitment, and this is say it's a long-term commitment because this is not just showing up on Saturday with your open house sign in your bag and your little tray of cookies. There it goes, it we have more. We have more work for you coming up. Once you secure the listing to hold your open house, this this work starts a week in advance.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Oh, for sure. And like if the if you're gonna say, Well, the weekends are for my family, then don't you don't have any business. Right. Mm-hmm. Sorry, Charlie, you need to be out here doing something. And this is one of the least costly ways to do that. Um, and two to four hours a weekend is not your whole weekend.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

You say, because we're again, if you're focusing on around your area in that niche price point, right? We're not telling you to drive an hour and a half to hold a super luxury open house that's gonna cost you$500 to even like do it right.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

It's a time commitment and a follow-up commitment, but that listen, it I had clients from it. I got clients and not just buyers. I had nosy neighbors that came in and were like, hey, we actually are thinking of selling. And that I ended up listing those houses. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

So okay, so the pre-open strategy, because we I want to make sure we get through this. Um, neighbor invites. I say 10 to 15 houses, you're gonna door knock them with and obviously this is different if it's rural. I'm thinking like a subdivision. I door knock five doors each direction, and I just say, Hey, I have a flyer with me. If they answer, I say, Hey, I'm open hosting an open house this weekend. Really wanted to personally invite you. You know, neighbors like to stop by, but if you also have friends and family, now you know, heads up. Because sometimes it is during the coming soon period that you're marketing this. So they haven't seen a for sale sign yet. Yep, they don't know.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Um the other, the other ninja move for this too is you're oh like we never show up two minutes before the open house starts, right? I'm always there 30 to 45 minutes early. So market a neighbors only time period. Here's the the neighbors your open house is from one to three. Great. Neighbors only from 12:30 to one.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

Yes, I love that.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

And then it makes it feel like there's it's a VIP, right? It's special. You come in before all the crazies get here. So come on.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

I've seen I've seen some people do like a neighbor happy hour the night before. Love that idea too. Um so social media teasers. So we're gonna this schedule is if your open house is on a Saturday. On Wednesday, I want you to tease it. If you've been waiting for something with whatever the special feature is or in this neighborhood, tease it because this might be it. Friday is that reminder hey, tomorrow's the open house 12 to 2.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 19:47

Um day of, you should be. I I like to go live while I'm setting up. I like to post stories while I'm there, make sure people know to come.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

Um because you can interact on those too, right? So if you're live and people can ask questions, like I've hold held even completely virtual open houses and um get people, get people talking, get people interacting. Because again, this is this isn't just the people that walk through the door, because you can have open houses that literally was crickets and still make connections. Because in addition to the social media part, the um Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, like the day of Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, those other days, we are using those to reach out to our database, right? So maybe you have your email scheduled to go out on Thursday, like, hey, here's the deal of the week, right? This is my deal of the week email. It's for your open house and give them three quick facts about the property, the price. If you want more information, reply back, I'll give you the open house details, right? You want to start that conversation. Um, again, the reverse prospecting on Canopy, it's great. I you just copy paste into a spreadsheet, get those emails, BCC, all those agents that, hey, this property is it matches with one of your buyers. I'd love to let you know that we're hosting an open house Saturday from one to three. If you can't make it, I totally understand. Send your clients and let me know, and I'll let you know when they show up, right? That way you're building a relationship with that agent and before their client ever comes to the house. And truly do if that buyer comes and says, Hey, I'm working with Steve So-and-so, and you're like, Great, find Steve So-and-so's number, text them and say, Hey, your clients, Bob and Mary, showed up at my open house on 123 Main Street, and they really love the kitchen. Not sure if the yard's going to be big enough for them or not, but just wanted to let you know so you can go ahead and reach out to them this afternoon.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

Yep. And even like I know, like, if I know there's an agent that typically dominates that neighborhood, I'm letting them know beforehand to be like, hey, we're doing an open house this weekend. I know you do a lot of sales in the area. So if you have someone but you don't have time, feel free to send them to the open house. I'll take good care of them and I'm not gonna poach them. Like, I'll and I'll let you know what they think after. But don't feel like because that helps them. That's one less showing they may have to schedule because you're like, I'll take very good care of them. Or hey, if they want to come 30 minutes before during the neighbor time to make sure that they get their time to see it without a hundred people walking through, they're more than welcome to swing by. Just let me know who and when so I can make sure I'm Not opening the door for strangers. Um now here's the one where I think people start to fumble is at the open house.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

Oh, we're just letting people walk through the door and just be like, oh yeah, let me know if you have any questions. And they walk in, they walk out. We're just looking, we're working with a realtor, blah, blah, blah, blah. Is that what you're talking about? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

Yeah. Um, we're not gonna let them do that. I don't think you necessarily have to have them sign in. I think there's all sorts of creative ways to get their information. Um, I've had people be like, have a conversation with them and then pull up listings and be like, hey, let me email this to you. That's cool. Um, I like to go the route of because and I'm not tweeting manhorn, my open houses typically are pretty busy. Um, but I go the route of I have a sign-in sheet, and everyone that gives me their full information on that sheet gets entered to wait a hundred dollar gift card. It's Amazon, Visa, something like that. I get lots of sign-ins because people like money. Right. Um you can do a QR code or an iPad. Some CRMs have a built-in app for open houses that you can. I did that when I was before I did. Lofty has one too. Does Lofty? I'll have to look into that. Um, that's a great way to do it too. They just sign in on the app and you can set it up. I could set it up so that I knew which open house they came from. It would automatically tag them. So then I didn't have to even have to clean up my CRM later. Um and like make sure you are asking if they're working with an agent. You don't want to step on anyone's toes, like Brenda said, get that agent's info and just be like, hey, I'm just gonna let them know you guys came by today so that if they're interested, I can get them any further information if they need it. If you guys have questions you forgot to ask me today. Um I think that one's more important than their email because if they really are interested and they showed up without an agent, we want to make that connection. Yes. We want to know, okay, here's someone who might have an offer. Or if it if now isn't the time, if maybe we do a price reduction down the road, I want to update that agent because if price was the issue, hey, we've dropped it. Yeah, you know. Um I think you want a good conversation flow, not just hey, welcome to the house. Yeah. Have fun. It's do you live nearby? What brought you out today? Um, do you live local now?

SPEAKER_02 24:39

Are you relocating? Like the kinds of things.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

You just want to get their like their timeline and their motivation. You don't have to do a full buyer consult. Just make a conversation. Yep. Um, don't sit behind a desk. I think I've a lot of people like sit at a table and I'm like, what are you doing? I get up.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

Like, well, get up, and especially if there's nobody there, like get some content filmed. If there is people there, get some content filled, right? And then or felt and then because that goes right into the post follow-up, like once everybody's gone. And here's here's the thing. And I saw this on a post this week, actually, then it's just like like uh that if there's nobody in the open house, it was a flop. Well, it's only a flop if you let it be a flop. Because first of all, if nobody was at the open house, nobody knows except for you and probably the seller with the ring camera that nobody showed up. Right. So with that, um with that content that you took and everything, we'll do a follow-up reel. Like if you missed it, the open house was this weekend. It was great. If you have any questions, like make sure you reach out. If you did have people walk through, you need to make sure that you follow up and thank them. I think the night of, and then the next day. Because you don't want to lose them, right? So that evening, after you're all cleaned up, your balloons are down, your signs are put away, like, hey, it's Brennan. Thank you again for stopping in today at 123 Main Street. I really enjoyed getting to meet you. Um, as a reminder, if you have any additional questions that you that you didn't think about until now, feel free to shoot me a text. I'm happy to get you that information. And then the next day.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

Yes, and then the next day, if it's an unrepresented buyer, I would do the hey, based on what you mentioned, I found these properties, these might be a fit. Is it okay if I send them over? Don't just send them blindly. Send a text or a call and say, I think I found something that might work. Is it okay if I send these to you? Um, if it was a neighbor, hey, hey, thanks for stopping by. If you ever want, you know, a value estimate, a CMA, or know someone, like I'd love to help. Just again, thank them first. Um, if it's a represented buyer, I'd be reaching out to their agent.

SPEAKER_02 26:49

Yes, don't reach out to the buyer. That gets slimy and weird real fast. If they told you that you they were represented by an agent, try to find that agent and connect with them the day of the open house. And then if you get that, then follow up with them the next meeting. Like, hey, were you able to reach out to Sally and Bob about the open house yesterday?

SPEAKER_00 27:07

Um, and then three days later, do a quick check-in. Hey, did anything new catch your eye this week? Do you want to circle back and schedule a private showing? Um, how is it going, narrowing things down? Is there anything I can help with?

SPEAKER_02 27:18

Do you need to be connected to a local lender? Did you get your pre-approval figured out? Like helpful situations.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

Right. And then like a week later, you know, I came across another property or this one just hit the market. Have you seen this yet? Want me to keep an eye out? Um, I think those are great ways to follow up. And then, you know, put them in your CRM. If you have to do a drip campaign, all those things. But that week, you should be touching them a couple times.

SPEAKER_02 27:43

If I have a good conversation with them, I'm also sending them my buyer present, like my pre-consultation, high note presentation, because it has so much information. I know that no other agent is doing something like that. And even if there is an agent that they put on a Facebook post and they're like, I'm looking for an agent, people are like, hey, call me. None of them are giving them the rundown of what due diligence is or what the paperwork looks like right now or what any of that is. So if it's a good conversation, and again with high note, I'm able to reiterate that I get their email, or that's another great thing too. If if I didn't get their email, but I have their phone number, I can text them that link and require an email for them to view it. And I just let them know that their email is the password to get into it.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

And then I get their email too. Nice. Very nice. Yes. But let's touch base real quick. We kind of glossed over it, but we want to wrap this one up. What to do when no one shows up? So obviously you're staying the entire time. Oh just because no one's there in the first five minutes. I had an agent leave once. She was like, Well, no one showed up and it was like a half hour in.

SPEAKER_02 28:46

I had that too.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

I had buyers I said, Well, someone's on the other line calling me, wondering why there's no one at the open house.

SPEAKER_02 28:52

I was out of town and my buyers were like, No worries, there's an open house. Like they have like my information. I set my clients up for success. Like, they're not getting poached by anybody, right? Um, but they went and there was no open house. Like there was nobody there. And they let like somebody had packed up and left early from the open house.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

I canceled one once because I tested positive for COVID and I couldn't get someone to cover last minute. And people called me because it was like, even though I'd taken it out of MLS, it was still showing on Zillow. And I was like, hey, I'm really sorry. I can come let you in, but I can't do an open house. Like I just I'll double mask. And so I handled it that way. But like I had canceled a couple days before because it was during COVID. I was like, I can't get anyone to cover. I'm sick, but yes, I will run over if you're okay with me wearing a mask and walk you through the house real quick. Um but like you said, use the house, make content, do all sorts of things. If you're even if it's like you've already shot all the reels for this and you just need b-roll for other stuff, shoot your b-roll. Um, don't work from the property, don't just sit on the couch and scroll Facebook.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

That's exactly what I was gonna say next, is work from the property, right? Work on that database that we talked about last week, right? You still need to file R through T, right? So open that laptop, get busy, use it as office hours, use it as lead gen time. Once you get those videos or things that you needed to take, great. Then actually do some work in your business. You're already away from the house, you're already away from the kids, right? Just spend the time and do some work. It might not be the work that you thought you were gonna do because you're not touring buyers around a house, but you're still moving the needle in your business. Um, and while you're there, go ahead and send some text to the database. Hey, I'm still out at 1, 2, 3, Main Street. I'm gonna be here till three. If you wanna stop in, say hi, I have chocolate chip cookies and mamosas.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

Right? I think the other thing is like stay ready. Even if you're sitting down writing thank you cards or something, be ready, do whatever you're doing, make sure it's something you can suddenly get up and talk to people and be prepared because uh guaranteed the last 10 minutes is when someone's gonna walk through the door. Always. It's always as you're starting to lock the door that someone's like, excuse me, is it still open?

SPEAKER_02 31:05

You're like, Yep, it's either at the very end or there's somebody that's like five minutes early, right? That because I think people are so afraid that it's gonna be busy during like the middle time that they show up super early or almost late.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Yes, yep. And then log the data. Note the time, the weather, anything you notice about maybe the neighborhood or the market to let the, like if it's not your listing, to let that listing agent know, hey, I don't think Sundays is good in this neighborhood because I noticed that yes, church gets out at noon, but everyone at the church across the street then went to the restaurant four doors down and went home from there. No one is coming here. This whole neighborhood emptied out. Or, hey, it's a Panthers home game day, and this neighborhood's in Dilworth. I'm not doing an open house that day. Could be any number of things because all the people on the way to the tailgate are walking by that house. Like, look, take those. I I know an agent, no one was coming to her open house. I couldn't get this listing to move. She went over to the listing one day during school drop off and realized, oh shit, there's a lot of people here. You know when she scheduled her next open house? 9 a.m. During school drop-off. Yeah. And she had a ton of people, and that's when she sold that house. So maybe there's something you have to take into consideration there. Um, but every every open house, whether it's the person who walks through the door or people who see what you're doing, brings you business whether you realize it or not. Yep, and it's exposure.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

That's the exposure for you. Whether you get like the actual like contact information to follow up with, like anything you do on social media or mailers or anything like that, it's exposure for you and your business. Um I think some things that a lot of people get wrong is they don't start with a good listing to begin with. They, you know, one of their friends got a new listing, can't hold it open. It's really shouldn't get an open house, anyways, but you're doing somebody a favor, whatever. Don't do that. Don't do that. Um just sitting down. It's the same thing as like when I would work on the food trucker or at the restaurant. Like when somebody walks in and the waitresses are like sitting at the counter drinking coffee, chilling.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

I hate I I'll walk out.

SPEAKER_02 33:17

It's terrible. It's terrible.

SPEAKER_00 33:18

Because I'm like, you don't, especially if they don't get up right away. I'm like, come on now.

SPEAKER_02 33:24

Yeah, if I have to sit down at the booth and wait for you to like put your phone away and pick up your dishes and like no, I'm I'm over it. So if you're sitting there doing something and you're like, oh hey, take a look around, enjoy, and that you've lost them. They're not interested in working with you anyways. Um, and that follows up with like letting them just wander around silently. Like, I mean, I'm not telling you to follow them like they're gonna steal something, but like kind of follow them around, ask them questions. Oh, don't it uh did you realize that it's marble in and if you're doing a starter home, there won't be marble in the bathroom. But you know what I mean? Pointing out key features, elements that the hair cedar is three miles away, that you can be on Interstate 321 in less than 10 minutes, that those kinds of things that maybe they didn't know because they just saw the sign and that's why they're here. Um, the other thing is just packing up your stuff and go and leaving after the open house, and then that's it. Like I had the open house, it's done, it's over the end. You're not following up, you're not building on those connections that you made there and then call it a loss on the open house because you didn't get the buyer that walked in that house that said, Let me make an offer and buy this house, right?

SPEAKER_00 34:32

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 34:33

Exactly. And treating and treating it as a whole as a one-day event. Again, I told you, like it's a week process to to do an open house properly.

SPEAKER_00 34:41

And it's actually a two-week process. Okay. It's the week before and the week after, right? Yeah, and then it's the week after with the follow-up.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

Yeah, yeah. So I would challenge every listener if you really need business, two open houses a month for the next 90 days at a minimum. And I can guarantee something will come from that if you do them correctly. Right, if you do them correctly. It may not be the people walking through the door, but it's gonna show is if you do it correctly that you're working, that you're putting the effort in, it's gonna give you that exposure. People will see your signs, it'll get people to fall to you know to want to work.

SPEAKER_02 35:19

And whether it's your listing or not, you look busy, right? People see that and they're like, oh wow, look at this open house she's doing. Look at this new opening.

SPEAKER_00 35:25

Right, because most people don't know it's not your listing. No, most people don't know that. But that's my challenge for you. Go out, get the business. We will see you guys next week for episode three of Lead Generation. Bye, guys.