So let's say you are a new agent and you have no problem door knocking/fsbo/expired callings.

In your first few months which do you think would be a better use of your time on a Saturday

1) Doing an open house for another agent where I am guessing most of the people coming through will be potential buyers, you just need to find a way to sign them

OR

2) Spend the same 4-5 hours out knocking on doors

Which would be more productive and why

Guess the question becomes how many deals do you get from standing at an open house for 4 hours vs if you knocked on doors for 4 hours where you may have chance for future listings.

That so totally depends on SO many factors.

An agent in my office had 27 visitors to her open house last weekend, and three of them are definitely interested in buying (one of them are interested in that house). I can't remember if she got any potential seller leads though...

With Open House success, so much of it depends on the timing, the location, and the signage. She was there on a busy day in the development, she had her signs up hours ahead of time, and it was a nice house.

I had an Open House in the same development on a Saturday as well, but had only one visitor - I will admit that my signs didn't go out early enough.

In this area, door knocking is next to impossible - most of the homes are in developments where you will find yourself escorted out by security very soon if you knock on the wrong person's door...they'll complain about you because they have strict rules about no soliciting.

On top of that, many of these homes are summer/vacation/weekend homes and either a) the owners are at their primary home, or b) if they ARE up, chances are they're out hiking or on the lake boating.

The success of an Open House depends largely on how well it was marketed and how long the signs were up for it....and if it's a nice house in a popular location. Are postcards being mailed out to the neighbors? How about door knocking at the neighbor's houses a couple of days in advance to give them an invitation to the Open House (neighbors can be the best source of leads!)

Some areas I suppose door knocking will make much more sense and will probably yield more prospects...

Like everything else, it's all local....

Dean, have you thought about combining the two?

Set up your open house for Sunday. Print up 100 little flyers, nothing too fancy, about the house you'll be holding open. Then go out on Friday & Saturday and knock on doors in the immediate neighborhood of your open until you've met 100 neighbors who were at least willing to take the flyer you handed them inviting them to your open house.

Inviting neighbors to an open house is a very non-threatening thing to do at a door. Most neighbors have seen the sign but have never seen inside the house. So you've peaked their curiosity. Because generally homeowners think they know the value of their own home but they like to be reassured. So you don't have to do any hard selling to get them to be interested.

This technique serves several purposes. It helps you build confidence with door knocking in a very easy manner. It tells the folks in the neighborhood that 'Dean' is a very active agent who works hard for his clients, and finally, when they do get to your open house you REALLY have the opportunity to chat them up... because now they are YOUR guest, rather than you being somebody standing on THEIR front porch during their favorite TV program.

Thanks Perky, the area I live in the houses are all right on top of each other with no restrictions. I guess what I will do when the time comes is try both and just see which works better for me

Texas, brilliant!!!! thanks

Dean, if the idea of knocking on 100 doors seems intimidating. Try knocking on just 10 before your next open. You might be surprised by the time you run out of flyers you'll wish you had printed more!

One last thought... do not be tempted to MAIL your open house announcements.

That will defeat the entire purpose of what you're trying to do. Plus it's a waste of money.

Texas, knocking on 100 doors is nothing. The career I am leaving is political campaigning, i have probably knocked on 10,000 doors over the last decade.

Sounds like you're cut out for this job!

is this another Froy thread;-)

Seeing I have sold 0 houses i would say not yet, but that is one of the reasons i was so intrigued by his story because i have no problem going to peoples houses knocking on their doors and talking to them. And part of the reason that appeals to me is i recently moved to Arizona and I really dont know more than 20 people here so my SOI around here is starting out kind of small.

Both Perky and Texas Agent bring up great points..and might I add are becoming quite informative on the Forum these days..I am learning a lot from you both..

I will be doing open houses next weekend for the first time and plan on using both strategies...

question perky.....how soon do you think you need to put out the signs before hand....is the day before too soon?...or just hours before your open...?

Tony, if you can put the sign up even 48 hours beforehand, with a rider saying "Open Sat, 12-3" or whatever, that would be best. Some township ordinances may not allow it though and the sign could be stolen (we have a lot of thieves and anti-realtor townships around here, it's almost Vermont... ) If I can, I put the signs up at least the day before.

On the day of the open house we use balloons on the signs to attract more attention.

Texas,

That was a great idea as a way to door knock and not have the homeowners feel you are "pitching" them. I will be using this myself once I am licensed.

You have to figure out what worked best for you. I do all of it. Last year Open Houses worked pretty well for me, I had lake 12 - 18 people coming to them (most of them nosy neighbors and fans of the open houses), but I got some leads and transactions from there.. This year is worst. However I am focused more on listings, so cange from open house to expired/fsbo/farming and working on my site to catch leads online. What I know, whatever you do, just do it consistently.

If you really want to do it right, an open house is designed to market yourself to the neighborhood and attract business.

If you look at NAR statistics, open houses do not contribute to much of the sale volume.

When you do an open house, do it in the price range you like to work buyers in... Like previously mentioned, walk around and introduce yourself to the neighbors and give them props and business cards...

Get to know those who drop by and see what they are looking for, tell them you have other houses and would be more than happy to show them to them (you have all the MLS houses to show).

Send thank you cars to the people that came by and tell them you enjoyed talking to them, and how you are looking forward to working with them...

You should always be selling...

Fadi- You said "Send thank you cars to the people ."

A card would do, but a car would really get my attention!!!! HAHAHA!!!!

I agree with Fadi though. You are likely not going to sell the house you have open, but the leads you pick up are worth the time.

This is, of course, our objective... other than selling the open house to somebody who walks in without an agent (yes, that does happen on rare occasions!)

But it's also important to remember that those folks who just walked into your open houses may also have visited two or three other open houses that day. And they might have been visiting open houses for several weeks or even several months. And it's a good bet that several other agents, if not several dozen, have already offered or are already emailing them MLS listings. And obviously most MLS listings are available online anyway. So what's really key is trying to figure out WHY these folks don't have an agent yet. There are all sorts of reasons why that might be... some of which you can work around and others maybe not. So it's important to really do a little psychology work while you're chatting with people. Ask them a few pertinent questions without seeming too intrusive. This is more of an art than a science. And I'm no expert, by any means. Half the people who walk into my opens I can't figure out. And if I can't figure out why someone is there, or what their goals are... then it's probably not worth the time to send them MLS listings. It's definitely worth a follow-up call a week or two later. Or even several follow-up calls down the road to see if I can help them sort out their 'issues.'

But as a new agent, or even an experienced agent starting out in a new territory with no large SOI, sometimes taking risks on people is necessary. At the very worst, at least you're doing previewing of neighborhoods and the new listings coming on the market. And that information will be MUCH more valuable during your next open house... because rather than offering to send them MLS information you can say..."Oh I just saw 123 Main St the other day, I think it would be perfect for you! Would you like to schedule an appointment to go view it?"

What I find amazing is 3 weeks ago i wanted to see how agents were doing these open houses and see if i could take any notes. I went to 6 of them on a saturday, of those 6, 3 of them had sign up sheets and i singed in for all three. I told everyone i was just looking and always told them i was not working with an agent if they asked. Of the 3 i signed in with, NONE of them have called me.

REODAYTON, maybe he meant to say cars... maybe he's really Froy and can afford to send them all a car

There's the old saying in this business that we've all heard from every broker, office manager, and coach... "If you do what we tell you to do you'll get business."

The problem is most do not do what they're told to do. So look at that as an advantage to YOU over all these other agents.

One of my last brokers used to ask all the agents in the office to turn in their 'non-followed-up' open house lists about every two months or so. It was amazing how many sheets got turned in. These agents just were not willing to make the calls, period. Normally they say it was a 'waste of time' or they 'didn't want to bother people' or they didn't want to 'beg for business.'

I admit I don't always follow-up the way I should. But I do a much better now than I used to. But you're absolutely right. Most agents are happy to send emails or thank you notes, if that. But they are terrified of picking up that telephone.

I really have to get over my hang up about phone calls. I always think I'm annoying people.

Thank you for the report, that is good news for us! I wondered how such a survey would turn out but I always feel too guilty not telling them I am an agent.

Thanks for posting, it helps me get over my "every agent is calling them today" Monday jitters.

Perky, let me ask you this. Suppose you stopped into a couple travel agencies and talked to the travel agents about a cruise. You tell them you've been thinking about cruises for quite some time but simply don't know which cruise line is best, or how much the trip will cost, or perhaps even where to go. Lets say they were both nice ladies and you had a good rapport with each.

Then suppose a few days later ONE of those travel agents called and said:

"Hi Perky, remember me from the travel agency the other day? It was so nice to meet you and learn about your dream to go on a cruise. I'd like to thank you so much for stopping in, I love to help people realize their dream to go on a cruise! Meanwhile, I just got some new brochures about an upcoming special on a Caribbean cruise... would it be OK if I sent you one?"

How would you feel about that travel agent? Would you feel she was 'annoying?' Or would you think she was providing you a great service? Would you be more or less likely to work with her than the other agent you never heard from again?

Can't go by me - because I know I am odd, and I don't like people doing that - calling me and putting me on the spot like that. When I'm ready to do something, I'm ready and I'll make the first move.

I realize that not a lot of people are like me. I see that (above scenario) as intrusive, but I also know that I am a bit odd.

This is why I LOVE my blog - I throw stuff out there, and people come to me!!! I've gotten six strong leads in the past week from my blog readers. SIX! Just in the past week (maybe ten days).

I took out three guys today who want me to find them something before the month is over. Someone else contacted me about finding a cabin. Someone else wants to meet with me and possibly list his house. Then there was the guy last week who is going to list after Labor Day, if he decides to sell. All blog readers, every one, and all it cost me was some head scratching, some typing, and a bit of editing.

Oh, yeah, I just got another lead this afternoon. Make that 7. This one is to sell a small lot. And I didn't have to send out a single darn post card or make a phone call.

Hmm.

If you're meeting your production and income goals without picking up the phone, that's great!

I'll be honest, I've not met my goal for this month. So I'm in a position of having to do a little extra than waiting for my phone to ring. So yes, unfortunately I do find myself calling people sometimes. And you're right, some folks do find that annoying... but they normally don't say anything mean. They usually say 'Thanks I'll keep you in mind' or something like that. But every once in a while they say... 'I'm glad you were thinking about me! I've been so busy at my new job after the big promotion I just got that I've just not had time to look for a house this week. Would it be OK if we met in your office some evening, say after 7:00pm?'

That's because most business is done on a referral basis. Most people select an agent whom they've already used and liked. Or they select an agent who's represented someone they know and trust. Or they select an agent because that agent has a strong reputation in the neighborhood... lots of signs.

Open houses do not contribute much to an 'established' agent's business. But they can contribute substantially to a 'new' agent's business.

I'm also wondering how accurate those statistics are...are they based on merely the probability of a house being held open and then selling as a result of the open house? Do they factor in potential buyers initially met at Open Houses who don't purchase the house that was open, but who eventually buy something else with the agent who they met at an open house?

Great metaphor, thanks! I think the world is in need of great SERVICE people. If you know your stuff, you know your clients needs, you are terrific and passionate about what you do, people will be happy to hear from you.

Not just another agent asking "did you get the email listings I sent you?".

Sharyn