In March of 2009, a group of about 30 agents here at CBSHome Real Estate decided to open an office 'where the people are'. We are all still affiliated with our respective offices within the company and we staff the mall office on a rotating basis of 8 teams. We chose 8 because that would be the fairest possible way to assign days of coverage. Each team is 'on duty' once every 8 days. Teams consist of either 3 or 4 agents.
The office is open whenever Oak View Mall is. At first, we had to rely solely on 'walk-in' traffic but now that the public in Omaha is aware of the office and it's convenient location, we are now starting to get phone calls as well from prospective buyers and sellers.
We are open with hours that are convenient to the public. Most of the real estate offices in Omaha are closed at 5 or 6 OClock at night. The CBSHome Oak View Mall office is open from 10am until 9pm every day except Sunday (11-6). The phone number is (402) 330-0807. Instead of an answering service after hours, callers get to talk to a live agent until the office closes.
We chose a very professional decor with two large monitors facing the food court at the mall, a 'buyer information center', a 'seller information center', an agent desk, and a semi-private desk for a loan officer to visit with and preapprove clients. We have a complete fully functional location networked into our other offices as well, complete with all the office equipment our other locations have.
We also have a 'Homeowner Information Center' in which we have several of our vendors displaying flyers and brochures for an annual fee. This helps to offset the set up fees we incurred as well as ongoing equipment purchases and upgrades.
For our sellers, we have their properties displayed on two 52 inch monitors to the public. Oak View Mall is Nebraska's highest traffic mall with over 14 Million visits per year. Our sellers' properties are constantly on display whenever the mall is open at the most visible spot on the food court level. The only listings that get on display are those listed with our Oak View Mall team of agents. That gives the 30 of us a marketing edge that the other 2000 +/- agents in Omaha don't have.
Now starting our second year of the project, one of the best features that I've found was an unlikely one. Spending 3 to 4 hours at the mall office every eight days is certainly easy to schedule. It is a very pleasant environment to work in without the distractions of a normal real estate office. Although it is certainly a 'passive' form of prospecting; it allows time to make prospecting calls, follow up calls, write thank you notes, and plenty of internet busy work. It's also a very high profile place to meet clients as everyone in town knows where the Oak View Mall is.
Bill Swanson is an agent with CBSHome Real Estate, an affiliate of Berkshire Hathaway with over 20 years experience representing buyers and sellers in the Omaha area.
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