How to Turn Open Houses Into Closed Business

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RISMEDIA, October 16, 2009—Maggie Simpson of Washington, D.C., no longer asks open house visitors to sign in, yet she regularly signs up “hundreds of prospects.” 

Simpson explains her strategy: “I tell open house visitors they don’t need to give me any information unless they’re interested in receiving relevant updates on the market. I then show them a sample of the Market Snapshot report I can send them, which inevitably leads to a discussion.” 

Top Producer’s Market Snapshot attracts prospects by answering buyers’ and sellers’ most pressing concern: “Has the market stabilized?” The system captures contact information and automatically follows up with customized market updates packed with MLS data, interactive maps and graphs. 

“Buyers are eager to sign up to see what the ‘real’ prices are in any given neighborhood,” Simpson explains. “Then they contact me with questions and we begin to develop a relationship. When they’re ready to sell, they contact me because they associate me with hard data—not a hard sell.” 

5 Steps to Hundreds of Open House Leads
Simpson explains her powerful lead generation strategy in her own words: 

1. “I tell open house visitors that they needn’t give me any information unless they’re interested in receiving updates on the market. This is a change from what they usually experience at open houses and it inevitably leads to a discussion.” 

2. “I show them a sample of the Market Snapshot updates I provide on my laptop or even just a color printout. I point out information that they cannot otherwise get all in one place—school and community information, market reports covering different periods of time, and selling versus asking prices.” 

3. “I explain that they can choose how often to get the Market Snapshot updates. In this age of information overload, they can even choose never to see my smiling face again! That almost always does it: knowing that they are in control.” 

4. “They contact me with questions and we begin to develop a relationship.” 

5. “Since prospects have volunteered their e-mail addresses, I can send them my e-mail newsletter with no fear of violating U.S. federal spam regulations. Of course, anyone can unsubscribe from both the Market Snapshot and my newsletter at any time—but they don’t!” 

As Simpson attests, Top Producer’s Market Snapshot system makes it easy and automatic to generate more leads from existing sources and convert more of those leads into sales. Best of all, the system also helps agents focus on their “hottest” leads by highlighting exactly how many people are responding to marketing, how often leads are looking at their Market Snapshot reports and by revealing their specific real estate interests. 

To learn more about Market Snapshot and to receive free tips on how leading agents are generating more leads and sales with Top Producer®, visit www.TopProducer.com or www.topproducer.com/facebook. 

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com. 

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