Well, it's time for me to share an open house technique that I've used over the past year that gets results.  I feel like now is a great time considering a lot of us are putting together business plans for next year.  New ideas and new ways to get business are always good to hear. Now, I'm a loan officer, and I help out my realtor and builder's with open houses as the "preferred" loan officer on that particular day.

But don't laugh when you hear this.  Why?  Because it works. ;)

At the end of last year, I was working on my 2008 business plan.  One of the things that I wanted to improve upon was my conversion of people who come into open houses into real life clients.  To be honest with you, before I came up with this idea, my conversion rate stunk!  Maybe 1 out of 10 people would actually give me pertinent contact information for follow up.  The rest would just give dummy info, and then, when I tried to contact them, I must have sounded like a prank caller because the phone numbers were bogus.

Then it hit me!  I needed to find a way to break the ice so that people could begin to build trust with me almost instantly.  So I came up with the "down payment assistance program".

It's quite simple, really.  I put together a tri-fold poster board (you know the ones your kids use for school) and made some really nice graphics and such, but the important part is a little velcro strip .  The sign reads, "Ask Jeff about our $__ million dollar down payment assistance program."  I place it near the door as clients walk in.

Naturally, they see the sign and whammo, they ask "What's this $__ milllion dollar down payment assistance program?"  I then pull out about 10 lottery tickets out of my sport coat.  Naturally, they all laugh at me like I'm crazy, but the objective has been accomplished...I've broken the ice with this "potential" client.  I then have them fill out my contact information sheet in which I capture names, phone numbers, addresses, and any other relevant info that you might use.  I also have some address label like stickers that I place on the lottery ticket.  They say "Don't forget to tip Jeff at Accessbanc Mortgage".  I make a deal with the clients that if they win "the big one" they have to tip me by buying me a house! (Nobody has ever won in case you are wondering).

Now, you also have to be selective in the type of lottery ticket you buy.  My ticket is the Mega Millions which has a drawing every Tuesday.  This is key because I have an opportunity to call my clients on Monday morning and then again on Wednesday morning. 

On Monday's I follow up with the client and say, "This is Jeff from Accessbanc Mortgage and I just wanted to remind you to check your lottery ticket at 8 pm tomorrow to see if you've won the big one.  And, if you do, don't forget to tip your preferred loan officer?"  Usually the client knows exactly who I am. 

Then again on Wednesday, I call the client and say, "Hey there, this is Jeff again from Accessbanc and I was just checking to see if you've won the big one."  They will be happy to talk to you again for a few minutes and you can keep the conversation going to keep gathering information.

So here's what you've accomplished for a $1 lottery ticket: 

1) You've broken the ice immediately when they walk into your open house.

2) You've created an easy entrance on at least two more phone conversations with your buyer. 

3) You've allowed yourself an entrance for any future follow ups...just send another lottery ticket (I use scratchers for this type of follow up). 

4) And lastly, you've also begun to build trust with this client as your potential customer.

My business boomed in 2008 and I'm convinced that this technique was "the answer". I've had more leads than I know what to do with. Lastly,I wanted to reiterate that I'm a loan officer and so I'm looking for purchase loans with this technique (I would recommend a database management tool like ACT for lead follow up...your day will be planned before you even get there with this type of software). When I do get a purchase loan, I bring it right back to the realtor partner that got me the lead.  It would be really simple for a realtor to implement this technique.  I have my realtor partners doing it, and like I said, we're moving.

That's it! Good luck!  I would love to hear about your best technique as well.