Open House...enough said. My goal is to produce at least 1 client, 1 listing and 1 contract as a direct result of each open house that I host. ( This is a new-found determination.) After setting this goal I came up with an action plan to make my open house that I was hosting this weekend a success. First, I added the information into the MLS. Next, I sent out a blast email to the 200+ agents in my market center. Then I put fliers in a local coffee shop. I put the many signs out days in advance with the date and time of the open house advertised on them. I put an American Flag on top of 1 sign, that waved so nicely in the cool breeze. Balloons were tied to 3 additional signs, which, in my opinion, were not nearly as eye-catching as the American Flag. Last, but not least, I stood at the entrance to the subdivision for 20 minutes prior to the open time, holding a sign, smiling and waving at all of the cars passing by. How in the world did I even think of such a thing? Well, the house that I'm selling belongs to my best friend and has been on the market since September of 2007. For the past 2 or 3 months they've been teasing me about standing on the corner handing out fliers. So, I didn't exactly hand out fliers but I did enough to catch people's attention. My friend and her husband told me that I did not have to do that, and when I insisted they just laughed and said I was a goof ball.
Later that day I had a conversation with my other best friend, who was mortified at the thought of what I did. She said that she thought that was "goofy" and she couldn't believe that I actually did it. I told her that I was dressed nicely, oxford, slacks, heels and my name tag, which did not convince her that this was ok.
I personally don't see anything wrong with this "marketing" idea, but keep in mind that I am the person that likes to honk and wave to the poor soul who's wearing the hotdog costume waving the grand openning sign in front of a new fast-food restaurant. I was not obnoxious, not silly, not aggrivating anyone, just standing there, holding a sign, smiling and waving. I was happy just thinking about the possibility of attracting more people to look at the house.
Is this "goofy"? Is this negative advertising? Or, will this indeed drum up more business? I don't know if it was my smiling and waving, or just a coincidence, but I had more visitors at that open house than I've ever had (besides a broker open house). Hmmm.....Should I continue smiling and waving, or should I leave the waving to the American Flags?
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