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Do you give freebies to get prospects to open houses?

One of my most successful open houses as far as crowds showing up was when 4 of us in my office put together a special event the day before the Super Bowl. We called it Super Saturday and advertised in Craigs List that everyone who attended would receive tickets for a drawing for prizes. We each gave a map showing the directions to the other 3 houses, and people had a lot of fun, treating it like a scavenger hunt. They were given more drawing tickets at each house, so the more they went to, the better their chances of winning.

We were all so upbeat and having so much fun that there were some good buyer clients that came out of it. Most people do want to do business with people who are happy and friendly, as long as they are also knowledgable and professional. To enter, they had to put their name, address and phone number on the ticket, and indicate what type of home they were looking for. Each party was fair game to only the agent at the FIRST house they visited, so we wouldn't be stepping all over each other's toes, but we all also agreed that the buyers were the final arbiters of who they wanted to represent them. This got people past the hesitancy that some have about giving info for fear you will pounce on them or something.

That is the only time I've offered something to get someone there, but I do have things to give to the people who do show up - magazines, city street maps, brochures, etc., and of course I always have a candy dish or cookies and on warm days I have bottles of water. But those are only after someone has already come.

Now I'm hearing about agents offering bottles of wine, gift certificates to restaurants, and all sorts of things if you will just let them show you their listing. It seems to me that this would just get uninterested people to come to pick up the free booty and not even care about the house.

Has anyone tried these tactics? Have you had any luck with it?

Posted by Susan Neal, Broker on 06/20/2008 06:53 PM

Comments (7)

open houses, marketing, attitude, advertising, promotion, giveaways, craigs list

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7 Comments on Do you give freebies to get prospects to open houses?

You had some great ideas, Susan. I was curious about your reference to Super Saturday as an open house. Do you have the traditional Sunday open houses? If so, how do you compare the two?

06/20/2008 07:01 PM

by Ron Moore The Home Team Pros (RE/MAX Professionals)

Ron: Yes, I hold traditional open houses almost every weekend. Usually on Sunday, but sometimes on Saturday, depending on the seller's needs. Sundays are usually more successful, but that Super Saturday open house was a record breaker. I think there were about 50 parties that came to my open house and I assume the others had about the same. I always drop an ad in Craigs List and put out lots of signs and flags to direct passersby, and only once have I had a day with no visitors - even in the worst part of the down market.

How about you?

06/20/2008 07:13 PM

by Susan Neal, Broker (Century 21 Noel David Realty)

Really great ideas. When something's fun, people remember and want to work with you.

06/20/2008 07:22 PM

by Joe Virnig, "No Ordinary Joe" (RE/MAX Gold Coast REALTORS, Ventura County, California)

I've done gas cards or Target cards in the past. My most success has been when several homes in the neighborhood do open on the same day. All the office coordinate and that has brought a ton of traffic.

06/20/2008 07:31 PM

by Leesa L. Finley, REALTOR® (Circa Properties)

I like the idea of having several homes open, and perhaps make it a treasure hunt? Gotta go to all the houses because the prize is in only one of them?

06/21/2008 07:34 AM

by Cathleen O'Hannigan, Cary NC Realtor (Fonville Morisey)

I guess it depends upon your motive. If you are giving away a bottle of wine to get someone to tour your house that is a looser. But if you are giving away someting to get people out so you can expand your client list... entirely different. IMHO.

06/21/2008 09:27 AM

by Perrin Cornell, ABR (Windermere RE/NCW)

Thanks for your comments and input!

Leesa: I like the idea of a whole office working together. We have listings over quite a large area, though, so it would be hard for people to visit very many of them in one day. Our 4 house day was for homes that were only a few miles apart, so it was easier to manage. We'd have to divide them up into "zones" or something so people would be encouraged to visit all the homes in that zone.

Cathleen: I like your treasure hunt idea! This would be something we could have a lot of fun with. We could make up "pirate" maps to other open houses with some fun island clip art, and have a pirate-y theme. With the success of the Pirates of the Carribean movies, this could be a real hit! Or we could all wear Hawaiian shirts and hand out inexpensive leis to everyone who came. All kinds of fun ideas can come out of that. Anyone else inspired?

Perrin: I'm inclined to agree with you, although it probably depends on the individual circumstances. I would feel uncomfortable though if I were just saying "If you let me show you my listing, I'll give you a bottle of wine."

06/21/2008 03:12 PM

by Susan Neal, Broker (Century 21 Noel David Realty)

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