On Wednesday one of the agents we work with on all of their listings had an agent open house. There were over 50 other agents in attendance. With so many open houses for agents to attend, how did this one manage to get such a great turn out?
1) They teamed up with a stager and advertised it! We already stage nearly all of their listings. The furniture was already in place and the home looked fabulous. For the open house we co-hosted it and both advertised that the stager (our company) would be there... it was a MEET THE STAGER event!
2) They teamed up with other agents with properties to sell. This made the time of the agents in attendance more valuable. There were 5 homes, 5 agents with 5 different listing companies all participating!
3) They created a theme and prize drawing. In this particular case it was a progressive luncheon. Each home had a different food course. The drawing was a $250 gas card. You had to attend all 5 homes in order to be entered into the drawing.
4) They advertised it heavily. All of us advertised our parts as well as all of the other homes. We provided a real estate show to advertise our staging and let everyone know we would be there to meet them. The agents created flyers to blast to all of the agents, also advertising that we would be in attendance.
So.... What does all this mean? For us it meant that we got a ton of great leads for work. We've already gotten several calls from agents in attendance. The agent who held the open house was thrilled & loved the fact that the feedback was incredibly positive from the showings. Many agents told our agent that they came to see what we do. One of the agents who came to see the open house made a showing appointment the next day... do I feel a sale coming on?
When doing an open house, think outside the box.... Why do agents want to come to the home? How do you make your open house stand out? Knowing the answers to these questions is the key!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Melissa Marro, a published artist, now turned staging advocate and national speaker speaks her mind about real estate and the home staging industry. In her 'no holds barred' approach, audience members find real answers to the industries pitfalls and learn how to overcome them with tried and true information and guidance. With marketing as her passion, she turned a small home based business into one of the nation's largest home staging and training facilities. She now operates as the CEO of First Impressions Home Staging & Interior ReDesign as well as an instructor for Staging And Resign and regularly speaks at the StagerList Expos and Real Estate Staging Association (RESA)'s trade events.
For more information on having Marro speak at one of your real estate functions, please contact her at 843.822.2622 or email at marro.melissa@gmail.com
If you would like Marro's team to provide information on staging a property in the state of South Carolina, or the Greater Charleston Area, please visit www.WeStageSC.com, email marro.melissa@gmail.com or call 843.822.2622.
Sounds like an excellent plan for success. Nice being able to get so many people to work together.
working together always makes the load lighter and builds great opportunity for all.
Great points - at Showhomes, we team up with the listing Realtor for every home we stage and hold it open for Realtors / Brokers. Its been one of the cornerstones of our marketing for decades and really helps drive buzz about the home. Good luck with yours!
Melissa, I can only say WOW - 50 agents to see your beautiful work - You are going to be so busy - I guess I will have to come to SC to help you.. Thanks so much for your generous help yesterday !!
God bless,
HI Melissa,
Now you are cooking with gas! That is a really "hot" idea! I will try it out and let you know how it turns out.
Thanks for sharing. :) M
I love the idea of teaming with other agents and doing the "progresssive lunch" idea and drawing! Very creative!
Kim Dillon, Creative Eye Home Staging
Yes, the Meet the Stager thing really works! I would never have believed it if I hadn't experienced it repeatedly. And if you offer an actual class, realtors show up from all over the place and get really annoyed at having to wait!! When they came to me and said, "we have to start now, a few people have said they're only here to hear you and they have other homes to see", I thought they were kidding!! (Wait until the book's done and I'll be unrelenting on this tactic!!)
Barbara Corcoran is a fabulous resource of Open House Stunts... I've been meaning to look for a list of her ideas. She mentioned a few in her last interview with GMA - did you see it? She was talking about a latte machine. We have a spa bus here that I asked to do an Open House. THe guy sis real keen, but I have yet to get the realtor to spring for it yet. Guess she's worried that it will be seen as a desperate attempt to get traffic. Northeasterners are so suspicious... in the most negative way! <sigh> How long do I give her until I put the idea out to her competition?
Thanks for all the positive feedback!
Juliet - I put the options out there for all of my agents. I wouldn't wait.
Great ideas, Melissa!
Have you considered including an article in your monthly newsletter to your Realtors on this topic?
You could probably do two different ones, one on this topic, how you can increase the traffic to your open house and a second on how we can help you get the traffic to your Realtors/Brokers tour? I think you should if you haven't already (wink-wink).
As always, thanks for sharing your successes and ideas.
Sandi Gregory, details
I like the raffle for the gas card idea. Too many times I hear that agents don't want to drive all over because of the gas. I personally think it is an excuse. They need to get out there and see what is new.
I have copied this post and will discuss the possiblility with some of my agents, thanks
Phyllis Pafumi
I especially like the progressive luncheon idea with the gas card motivation to get them to all five. I've found that realtors love food and knowing there were courses at each stop...a definite draw.
Hi Melissa:
What a great idea regarding advertising the Broker open house. I don't think that has ever been done in my area. It's definetly worth a try.
Joyce
Joyce's Interiors