Get More Traffic at Your Open Houses
May 11, 2008 Marketing
A common complaint among agents about open houses is the number of “tire kickers” and the lack of serious visitors. Other agents may sit at an opn house for hours and not see a single soul drop by. If you’ve been having a hard time picking up prospects at open houses, here are some ideas to get more traffic at your open house:
1. Send invitations: A simple postcard inviting others to your open house can usually boost traffic if done right. Target neighborhoods by price range or that have a high number of home aready for sale. If your budget allows, try to send a minimum of 50 invitations.
2. Knock on doors: Visit the neighbors of the open house and invite them to come over and enjoy some refreshments. This is your opportunity to find out if/when they’ll be moving.
3. Pick up the phone: Call at least 15 people and tel them you are having an open house and invite them to visit. You can call past clients, old friends, or previous open house visitors.
4. Remember the signs: A simple sign rider that says “Open Sunday 1-4″ can be useful. Be sure your directionals from main roads are clear to read and follow.
5. Advertise on the internet: Many home buyers now look online to see where the open houses are. If you’re not already listed on sites like OpenHouse.com you may want to talk to your broker on making it available for your company’s listings and clients.
6. Choose the date carefully: Some days are better than others for open houses. The weather can play a deciding factor as well as things such as sports events, graduations, holidays, and activities. Some agents have had success holding open houses on weekday evenings or Saturday morningsa instead of the traditional Sunday afternoon.
Following these 6 tips will help you boost your open house traffic and hopefully meet more quality prospects in the process.
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Tags: directionals, home buyers, how to get more traffic at your open house, invitations, Open, open house traffic, open house visitors, past clients, phone call, quality prospects, real estate agents open house, refreshments, signs, target neighborhoods, tire kickers, weather, weekday evenings
What Does Your Sign Say About You?
May 4, 2008 Working With Sellers
It never ceases to amaze how many decrepit real estate signs I see just driving around each day. Some signs have peeling paint, are leaning like the Eiffel tower, many don’t even have a phone number or name rider on them. Others have so many riders hanging off of them you can’t even read what they say.
Who is responsible for these signs looking this way? It’s hard to tell. I called our sign representative once to tell her about a sign I’ve driven past probably 30 times on property that wasn’t even for sale anymore that looked like it was hit by a truck. You know what she said to me? “Sorry, I can’t do anything about it. I don’t have a work order for it and I can only take down signs when the agent sends in a work order.” It’s ridiculous the agent neglected the sign, and even more ridiculous that it didn’t faze the company that they had an expired and broken sign representing them on a busy stretch of a major highway.
Another pet peeve of mine regarding signs are seeing “open house” directional signs on a Sunday night or Monday morning. If you made the effort to set the signs up in the first place, you should also make the effort to take them down. When the signs are up in the middle of the night, people wonder if they are trustworthy or they become oblivious to them and are less likely to follow them when their really is an open house.
You should be visiting your listings at least once a week. Be sure during that visit you inspect the sign to make sure it still looks appealing from the road. Don’t over clutter it with riders and make sure your name and phone number are easy to spot. Signs tend to bring in just as much interest as newspaper ads or internet calls, so it’s important it represents you well. When the sale closes be sure you remove the sign in a timely manner. There is nothing worse than an agitated new homeowner who’s angry they still have a sign in their yard two weeks after they moved in.
It may not seem like much, but your sign says a lot about you. Make sure they are in good condition, are easy to read, and accurate. It’s these little details that will set you apart from the hundreds of other agents in your market.
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Tags: agent sign riders, agent signs, open house signs, real estate signs, signs
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