EP 17: The Simple Open House Strategy That Converts 70 Deals A Year (PART 1)

In Episode 17 of The Buyer’s Box Podcast, Ally Burnett sits down with Cole Watkins, owner of The Bridge Group, to break down a strategy many agents underestimate: how open houses can become one of the most consistent sources of clients and listings.

This episode explores why open houses are not just about showcasing a property — they are about creating conversations with motivated buyers and homeowners who have already taken the time to visit the home.

If you’ve ever hosted an open house that produced zero leads…

If you’ve wondered why some agents consistently generate buyers and listings from open houses…

If you’ve questioned whether open houses are even worth doing anymore…

This episode breaks down the preparation systems that make open houses work.

Cole explains how high-performing agents create results by focusing on:

• Circle prospecting surrounding homeowners before the event
 • Personally inviting neighbors to the open house
 • Strategic directional sign placement to capture traffic
 • Tracking conversations and follow-ups in a CRM
 • Creating visibility and credibility through consistent open houses

You’ll learn why open house visitors are often higher-quality leads than many online inquiries — because they’ve already researched the home, driven to the property, and invested time walking through it.

You’ll also hear how curious neighbors attending open houses often become future listing opportunities when the right conversation happens at the right time.

👥 WHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR

• Agents struggling to generate leads from open houses
 • Realtors who want more traffic and real conversations
 • New agents looking for a repeatable lead generation system
 • Agents relying too heavily on online leads
 • Realtors who want to turn open houses into real clients

🎯 WHY THIS EPISODE MATTERS

Many agents assume open houses don’t work.

In reality, they often fail because agents treat them like a one-time event instead of a system.

When open houses are prepared correctly, they create conversations, relationships, and future deals.

This episode explains how.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hey everybody, this is Allie Burnett with the Buyer's Box podcast. Today we have a very special guest, Cole Watkins.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Hey, I guess this is where I I introduce myself.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

I'm still working on the intro, people. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

No worries. Hey, Cole Watkins with uh the Bridge Group. We have a team. I guess depending on the day, Allie, you know this. Uh it's it's between 55 and 60 agents uh here in Houston, Texas. And uh we just are coming off of our best year in real estate uh production. You know, our company is about seven years old, the bridge group, and we've done there's a lot of new things for us uh at the bridge group. We just started uh and partnered with responsive mortgage uh as well. So all good things and uh excited to share. I think we're talking about open houses.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Yep. We're gonna talk about open houses. Um, you know, we're in a second home market. Um are you in a primary home market or a second home market?

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Yeah, uh well, I mean, it's uh it depends on where you're at. But Houston, you know, you got seven, eight million people in it, and then you get Houston is very wide. And so we have like uh Galveston is a very primary second home market, but everywhere else is pretty much uh primary home.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Okay, awesome. And so we have followers um all across the United States, and you know, obviously open houses are I think something that when you think about a real estate agent, it's like the most traditional like thing that a real estate agent does. Um, and so I really want to kind of dive in um because I think you mentioned you and your wife closed uh 70 houses a year just off open houses, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

That's huge. That's huge. Um, so tell me a little bit, like, what are you doing before the open house? How are you prepping? Like, how are you doing it?

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Well, I think maybe uh going into it because uh as soon as we said open house, I think a lot of people you you just lost a lot of listeners. Uh they're like, oh man, hard work. Uh for me, the concept, there's really no it uh in my opinion, even even an online lead isn't as committed as an open house lead because that person, an online lead, they can be, you know, in their boxers sitting there in bed doing this and and reaching out to you. It takes very little commitment, but the commitment level for someone to come into an open house is the same commitment level as someone walking into a dealership, right? Uh, a car dealership. And so we don't have uh like modern offices today, real estate offices, aren't necessarily like a dealership where people are coming in all the time. They're clicking right now, uh, you know, as of what the last 10, 15 years. Uh, but an open house really is at least the idea, is that that is our car dealership and we need to market, uh, we need to put the signs out, we need to draw traffic in, even if they weren't looking for that house. And so that's I think what you want to get into today on this one. But if we think about it as these are hot and ready leads, like these people are taking time out of their day, uh, out of their really their weekend. They're working 40, 60 hours a week, and they're taking time out of their weekend to come to your open house. That's a hot lead, man. I don't care what you say. That that is at least bare minimum a warm lead. That's why I love them.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Yeah, I mean, that makes total sense. And I think sometimes open houses get a bad rap because you think about the nosy neighbor, you know, or that sort of thing. But from what I'm hearing, you know, it's really about preparation, putting in the hard work. So what are you doing? Like, okay, I have the home on one, two, three Sesame Street. I want to do an open house this weekend. How are you prepping? What do what do I need?

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Yeah, let's go back to the nosy neighbor. Those are my favorites. Do you know how many listings I've gotten that were nosy neighbors? I do the open houses largely for the nosy neighbor that walks in because I'm gonna sell their house. If they're walking into the house, it look, this isn't this isn't like you know, like it used to be where you know everyone knew each other and they have barbecues in the cul-de-sac and all, like we just don't do that anymore necessarily. So that like the nosy neighbor is coming in because they're nosy about the their price compared to the neighbor's house. Uh, like okay, they're they listed here uh how does their house compare to my house, and they're interested in a value. I set the appointment there, and we'll talk about that. I think in the next uh episode, not this one, but uh, you know, for us, I love the nosy neighbors and I do everything I can to bring in as many neighbors as possible. I'll tell you how. Um, okay, so if we if we are gonna get into I'm doing an open house on Saturday, uh, you know, and uh or Sunday, and I actually still do open houses with our agents, uh especially our new agents, to walk them through the scripting, let them see me convert, and then I hand off the lead to them. Uh, but the thing is, is that if I'm doing an open house on Saturday, uh, like I'm already behind if I haven't started working on this, I'm creating a Canva flyer uh that is saying, uh, you know, open house, you're invited, kind of thing. Uh, your neighbor's house at 123 Banana Street, you're invited. And I am personally walking around to the 50 to 75 houses around that property. Uh, and that's got that's why it's called circle prospecting. We'll walk around to all of those houses, knock on the door, and everyone is so afraid to knock on the door because they feel like, well, I'm gonna I have to sell them something now. Like I'm gonna pitch them and they're gonna be upset with me. Uh, if you do that, then yeah, you're gonna be like they're gonna be very upset with you. Uh, you're you're interrupting their day, you're interrupting their dinner, you're interrupting the game, whatever it is. Uh, but that's the first step, circle prospecting. And you can circle prospect uh door knocking and you can circle prospect dialing. Uh, I know Dustin Runyon, they have 22-minute conversations a day. That's how they have it is circle dialing on all of their listing properties. You can circle prospect for the open house coming soon, under contract, or just sold. So it's a wonderful way to have those conversations. Um and then I I think that's uh, and then we'll get into the signs. Did you want me to go into the circle prospecting dialogue as far as when I knock on the door, that what do I say?

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Yeah, I think so. So um after this episode releases, we're gonna have an ebook. And so the ebook, we're gonna we're gonna drop the scripts as long as you're okay with it. Um okay, so start with the door knocking. So, you know, knock on the door. What what are you saying?

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Yeah. So I have a handful of flyers, right, uh, in my hand, and uh I'm knocking on the door, and I'm in my my mind, I'm saying I'm inviting these neighbors to the open house to give me the one thing that all of us want to give everyone, which is our opinion. Uh, right? Uh so like we all want to give our opinion. And so if I invite them to give me their opinion, uh no matter what mood they're in, they're gonna they're gonna be open to doing that. So I knock on the door, uh, they answer, I'm holding my cards, I'm standing not right on the door, I'm standing about six to nine feet back. Uh and then uh and and I'm a larger person, so like I'm standing a little bit further away. For the ladies of the bridge group, uh, I'm always like, look, like you guys are gonna crush it, and they do. But people are hesitant to open the door for me. They're not for uh for for all our ladies. So the ladies definitely have an upper hand on door knocking. Knock on the door, they answer. Uh, hey, it's Cole Watkins uh with the bridge group. I'm not here to sell you anything. I'm actually here to invite you to your neighbor's house uh just down the road. Uh, you probably saw my sign out there. We are having an open house this weekend. Uh and I just want to invite you, if you haven't been invited already, to come check out our listing and you know more about this community than I do. You live in it, you're a neighbor. I would love your feedback and opinion on our listing. Okay, that's all. I'm just inviting them to come and be with me during the open house, see their neighbor's property. And then I'm gonna transition right into and then I'm gonna let them talk or pause or whatever. Oh, okay, yeah, thanks. I might be able to make it over. Okay, uh, great, great. Hey, uh, you know, while I'm here, uh, we've been able to sell, you know, last year, and I just leverage our numbers, right? Like uh, you know, last year our team, we were able to sell a property a day. Uh, and so, you know, like for us, uh, we we have a really good bead on the market. Is there any uh do you have any questions about this crazy real estate market that we're in right now? And I I just leave it. Like I let I let them sit on that. Uh now if they don't have any qu if they do have questions about it, then you keep you answer the question and dig a little deeper to see if they have any interest in selling their property or getting a home valuation. If no, if they're like, no, not not really, not at the moment. Hey, uh, one last thing before I let you go. Um, it one of your neighbors uh down the street, I'm I'm actually running a home valuation, home equity update for them. Uh they were just wanting to know what their house would go for in the market value, not county appraisal value. Uh so I'm running that by, I'm bringing it over to them tomorrow at 230. Uh, were you interested in me running something up like that? I can, if you're home, I can run it through, uh, I can just drop it off of the front door. It would that sound like something of value to you? Either yes or no, and then I move on. But I'm trying to monetize the no. That's that's really what I'm trying to do. And I'm gonna do that on the door knock and I'm gonna do that on the phone call. Doesn't matter. This is the same script.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Okay. And then, so how are you tracking this information? So, you know, you're at 123 Banana Street for the open house, and then you're at like 127, you know, a little bit further down. Are you do you have a notepad? Are you doing it in the CRM? Like, how are you tracking?

SPEAKER_01 9:47

Yeah, you just gotta use your phone. Uh, I just have a notes page in my phone. Maybe there's some other like uh tech that that you can use for it. Uh, but for me, I'm just using a notes uh in my phone. And I'm just if if I have a good conversation and I'm getting their contact information, then I put that in the CRM afterwards. Uh but uh like while I'm going, if I'm trying to carry a clipboard and then my you know the flyers and uh it just doesn't work. And especially here in Houston when it where it is hot and humid, you want to get in and get out. And so uh yeah, I'm just using my phone afterwards. I upload everything into the CRM and then do my follow-up based off of that.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Okay. And then um, out of all the homes that you're going to, how many of them are like inviting you inside and then it becomes a longer conversation? Or is it mostly outside?

SPEAKER_01 10:33

Yeah, no, uh the the majority of the time it's outside. And you know what's funny? Uh the the best conversations, the majority of the ones that I've ever converted uh are they're sitting on their front patio, they're sitting uh in their garage, they're cleaning their garage, they're carrying groceries in, whatever else. And all of those uh have turned into not just one transaction, but multiple transactions. So one we had on Caney Fork and Firethorn here in Katy, Texas, uh 16 transactions came from that one deal. Circle prospecting, had my flyers, walked up, and they were they had a four-car garage and they were all the whole family was in it cleaning it. And uh they were like, What do you got for us? And uh I just said, Hey, look, I just want to let you know about your neighbor's uh house down the street, right? Uh they're like, Oh, I saw the sign go up. Um, and then they said, you know what? It must have been God because we're cleaning our garage so that we can move to Arizona. It's like, all right. Uh yeah, I got the listing uh and 16 pieces of business came off of that one. And that was a you know a$630,000 deal. So everything else was in that price point. Uh, I mean, it works, you know. Uh, but that was pre-open house stuff. That was that was before the open house even happened, right? Uh, you're you're getting business from it.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

Wow. Awesome. Okay, so now flip of the coin. What about calling? What's your script when you're circle prospecting by calling?

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Same thing. Yeah, it's it's the same exact thing. Uh it's just uh except I'm calling and I'm not sitting there with a flyer, right? Uh I uh I'm using the flyer. I try to do the flyer the day before or two days before I call so that I can, it's the it's the check-black, did you get it script, right? Uh it's the uh, hey, uh, you know, it's Cole Watkins, you probably got my flyer on your front door. I just want to give you a call. Uh that way you can put a face with the name. Uh, you've probably already saw my sign on your neighbor's house down the street. And I don't really go into specifics necessarily, but I try to use your neighbor's house quite a bit so that it piques their interest and now it it connects them to the reason I'm calling.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Sure. Okay. That makes total sense. So you're doing you're doing the circle prospecting. What else do I need to do before um the open house, other than the flyer?

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Those two things are extremely important because they're prospecting in and of itself, right? Uh we're trying to get our amount of conversations we need to hit our goal uh in our production this year, right? So we're we're trying to, if we're not, if we're not outbound, if we're not having these conversations, then essentially we're just waiting for conversations to happen to us. And that's just not how this business works. So uh I'm trying to have those conversations there, and then I'm trying to direct more people uh to the open house. Now, by directing them, uh we give every one of our agents about 20, 25 open house signs when they sign on to our team. Um, and they're responsible for those signs, right? They're big, they're like two foot wide signs, branded. Uh, and it's great because you drive all over Houston uh on Saturday and Sunday and see all of these signs everywhere. Uh, but we we encourage our agents to go overboard. Uh the agents, and I'm not saying agents are everyone's lazy. Uh, and so I've noticed that whenever I give our agents uh most agents signs, I'll go and I'll check in on their open house, and there's like six signs that are out. And I'm like, hey, like you got 14 other signs like hiding somewhere. They're like, no, I didn't have time and this and that. Well, well, the people that put out the majority of the signs are the ones that are getting the most traffic. And so, and we're we're not just we're not just depending on putting it up on the MLS and for Zillow to shoot it out to everyone and for everyone that has saved our search uh to come and visit us. Uh the the the best leads are the ones that are seeing us from the signs, or we're taking traffic from new construction, we're taking traffic from other open houses in the area. And that's why we have so many more signs. And if you think about the the signs are going to direct your next commission check to the open house, then you're gonna put out your signs with uh really precise and strategic um accuracy.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Sure. And then um, is there any tips that you give your agents on like the direction of the signs and make it easier so that people are getting to your house? How many different sides of the neighborhood are you coming doing the signs?

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Yeah. No, I mean it's just uh, you know, like uh again, you know, I I would say and I always tell our agents because they they start they start overthinking, you know, about things. And I'm like, look, imagine that there is a car with a$12,000 check in it that has to find its way to your open house. So if there's three entrances to the neighborhood, you make sure that every single entrance is placarded with these signs, right? Uh, and then driving that like if we don't have Google Maps, if for whatever reason it all shuts down uh during your open house, they need to be able to find it from all the major intersections around the neighborhood. Every if there's three, then all three, right? And direct them to your open house. But uh if not, that$12,000 check isn't gonna find you.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Okay, yeah, that makes total sense. Um, to basically kind of dummy-proof it is what I'm hearing, is to make sure all the signs are close enough together, having enough signs, you know, because I know down there there's lots of big master plan communities, right? And so you may drive through three neighborhoods before you get to the one where your open house is. So that makes lots of sense to me. Um, is there anything that you're doing outside of um the signs, the circle prospecting? Are you having any like vendors? Are you doing anything special at like prepping for the event?

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Uh not really. No. Uh I I try not to have the the vendors uh, you know, come and be a part of it. They cloud up everything. I personally don't like it. Um, but like, you know, and we will have you'll you'll have like the inspectors that that seek out the open houses and try to talk to everyone. I just politely ask them to leave. Uh because you know, I've done all the work to prep this, to put it together, to uh so I don't want any other vendor coming in and sabotaging my efforts. Uh now the other thing is is that what I will do is put it out on the MLS uh and make sure that I have plenty of time to let everyone know we are gonna have an open house. Wednesday, Thursday is plenty of time. Uh, but also what I like to do is use it as an opportunity for content, right? Uh now, some people are like, like, I'm gonna put this out there and you know on social media on Facebook, on Instagram, or whatever, and people are gonna come to my open house from this. Uh, unless you're like running ads on on this and it's a unicorn of a property, they're probably not, right? Like it is used for content, not necessarily and and to build that trust account in your followers to see for them to see like, okay, Cole's working. Like, Cole's not just like collecting a 3% commission, he's actually doing the damn thing. And so for me, I use open houses as great content. Like before, hey, look, gonna be doing an open house over here, beautiful property. If you're in the area, swing by uh and uh let's hang out for a little bit, right? Uh that's it. But but I use it for really just uh building trust in the the eyes of my followers.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

Sure, that makes total sense. And I always joke with our agents, you know, we don't do a whole lot of spare business, we kind of treat it as an opportunity of if someone that we know chooses to work with us, it's a blessing, it's an honor, but we're never like hoping my grandma's gonna buy a house because she's probably not. Um, you know, she's been living there since the 60s. Love you, grandma. But you know, um that makes total sense. I think the only other question I want to ask you is um we have a lot of single agents that follow us, and maybe they don't have their own listings. Um, if you were a single agent, you didn't have a listing to do an open house at and you were going to select a home, what are some things that you've noticed that have brought people out to open houses and when they're selecting that house?

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Well, it depends, right? It so um I'm working with a lot of our agents and then agents that I coach uh to bring their price point up, their average price point up. And so uh now we're being very strategic about the properties that we're um we're we're looking at. So a coaching client of mine, he did uh 48 homes, uh home sales last year. His average price point was 230,000, 240,000. And so we want to bring that up. And so what we've been doing is sitting and doing open houses in the$500,000 to$600,000 range because people that are looking in that range are gonna buy from$450 to$750, right? Yeah, uh, so that that's a great range, and that's a good way to one of our agents already brought his uh his average price point up$139,000 this year already. He's brought it up. And so uh it definitely works if you want to be able to strategically do things like that. But I would say if you don't have your own listings, uh get with a brokerage or a team uh that will allow you to host their listing agents' listings and they need the help, right? Uh so many top uh listing agents need the help because their clients are expecting an open house or want an open house, uh, unless they've sold them against it, but they want the open house, they just are one person. They can't hold nine open houses. So uh partner up with a listing agent, say, hey, do you mind if I I hold this property open? And it's it's just as simple as that, uh, in your brokerage or your team, and then uh start holding them open. That's where I started. I I was on a team and I did an open house every single Saturday and Sunday for two years. Uh, it was my birthday. I didn't care. It was a holiday, didn't care. Like I was in the open house, and that's how we built up a very strong book of business. I had an agent come to my team meeting uh yesterday. Uh he's not even an agent yet. Uh he just retired from U.S. Marshall's. Uh, he was my client nine years ago, met him in the open house, sold him a beautiful house, uh, about to sell that house again, but he's thinking about getting his license. And he was like, Hey, can I can I join you for a team meeting, see what it's all about? Uh, open houses absolutely work, and they've built very deep relationships over the years if you stay top of mind with them.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

That's amazing. And, you know, every person that we've had on this podcast, and we're running out of time, but they've all said the same thing, and I've probably said this 15 times now. I don't know what episode this is, but the main thing here is consistency, right? Like you didn't just do one open house and and hope you sold one, right? You did right, yeah. I don't know what what's the math on that. You did over a hundred open houses. So um, that's amazing. That's awesome. Um, is there anything else you want to add on this part of the episode?

SPEAKER_01 21:22

No, just uh like just to kick piggyback on what you just said, uh, most agents will do something like one or two things, uh, one or two times, and then like no one comes to the open house, and they're like, Well, that didn't work. Well, you put out four signs, you didn't call, you didn't door knock, you didn't do anything uh to drive traffic to it. And so at the end of the day, you know, like, and and even if you did all of that and you had no traffic, like you have to look around you and see, like, yeah, like Cold like built his whole business on open houses. Uh, so it does work. Objectively, it does work, but you might have had a bad day. So do it again tomorrow. Tomorrow. Like do it 30 times. And if no one comes, then it doesn't work, right? But if you do it 30 times, you are going to get a ton of business. Everyone knows that. It's just most people don't want to be consistent enough to see that result.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Fair. It's just like going to the gym. I mean, just like that. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Cole, for coming on our show. I'm excited to talk with you on the next episode about what to do when they come to your real estate dealership.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

Awesome. Me too. Thanks. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Thanks.