When you mention you’re a real estate agent the first thing that probably comes to someone's mind is picturing you at an open house, cookies in hand, staging set. It’s a given for any real estate agent, but there are ways to turn it into an opportunity beyond just selling the home itself.

Specifically, some people are simply better at leveraging the leads they get at an open house than others! If you’re wondering why you had plenty of visitors at your open house last weekend, but none have engaged with your services since then… don’t just blame it on the fact they probably already have another agent. We don’t think that is always the case and it is a great opportunity to make an impression.

Leads Do Not Equal Conversions

Getting plenty of visitors to an open house doesn’t mean much if you don’t know how to properly get those visitors to solicit your services after they attend the open house. We’re going to teach you a few ways to get these cold leads to turn into warm leads in this blog post. And, once these leads are constantly turning warm, that’s how you know the open house was a success!

The most important thing to keep in mind is just because someone already has a real estate agent, doesn’t mean you aren’t the best person for the job. It’s very common within the real estate world to find your agent through referrals. A potential lead coming through the door might be working with their best friend’s cousin who’s an agent.

This referral agent might not be the best person for the job. The best real estate agents out there are able to market themselves as the best person to service the clients’ needs, no matter what they may be! We’ll get into the ways you can do this below and how open houses can be one of your strongest ways to turn cold leads into warm leads!

What are Cold and Warm Leads?

But let’s take a few steps back before we celebrate turning cold leads into warm leads and look at how exactly we do that as real estate professionals. At a basic level, you have probably heard the terms before. But, really dive in to understand what they mean and what their differences are.

Cold leads can be people who have never interacted with your services as a real estate professional before. An example can be a person coming through an open house that already has another agent. They are in the market for real estate services but are not one of your direct leads.

However, it can also be a person who has interacted with your real estate services in the past but is not inquiring or making any effort to engage with your services currently. For the latter, they might still be getting your monthly emails, for example, but if they haven’t opened them or responded in some time, they become cold leads.

Warm leads, on the other hand, are those people who are actually interacting with your services in some way or another. It could be as simple as reading your monthly emails or visiting your website every now and then, but they are consistently engaging somehow!

So, now that we are extra clear about the difference between these two types of leads, let’s look at some strategies to turn your cold leads into warm leads and make each open house a huge success!

Personalized Branding is Key!

First and foremost, are you effectively making yourself stand out as a real estate professional, or are you blending in with your competition? Especially if you have potential clients walking through the home who already have an agent, you need to make yourself stand out above the rest. They might stick with this agent for the time being but that doesn’t mean they aren’t looking elsewhere for the future.

As a digital marketing agency that specializes in real estate, we can never emphasize enough to our clients how important personalized branding is at an open house. You always want your brokerage’s logo on your listing presentations or on your business card, but have you thought about the importance of individualizing yourself slightly?

Visitors can see the listing and think it is perfect for them, but at the end of the day, you don’t have control over whether or not they are a potential client. Personalized branding keeps you in these potential clients’ minds; they won’t forget you!

The goal of your open house should be to draw in the interested client beyond the open house. Therefore, how you choose to brand yourself as a professional matters. You want to differentiate yourself and be easily remembered so they can access your services in the future.

Keep in mind that these visitors are cold leads and are just interacting with you for the first time ever or the first time in a long time. Having a generic listing brochure available to take at the end of the showing is great. But having your custom logo, custom colors, custom fonts, and custom overall feel to the brochure will make you stand out among your competition and hopefully give the potential clients reason to become a warm lead.

The Inspiration Agency saw this problem coming up constantly, so we decided to do something about it. Our product launch specifically catered to real estate professionals includes templates for customized open house brochures, among many other things that will help you exceed in real estate. In no time, you’ll cover all of your bases and solve this problem.

QR Codes…Are You Utilizing This Handy Tool?

Have your personalized branding set and ready to go for your next open house? Another way to make it even easier for potential clients is including a QR code to make it even easier for potential clients to get connected with you.

By simply attaching a QR code to an open house brochure, you could turn cold leads into warm leads before they even leave the property. You can even set up a QR code to lead to many different things.

Your QR code can lead to the listing seen at the open house, a neighborhood guide with information beyond what was discussed at the open house, and even other available listings.

Even better, this QR code can allow visitors to subscribe to an email list that runs on an automated system that consists of no spam and allows users to unsubscribe at any time. Or, it can take them to your social links so they can easily click and give you a follow!

The possibilities are endless. Yes, it can be that simple sometimes. A quick scan, and bam! You have just turned a cold lead into a warm lead.

As QR codes link to whatever you choose, don’t forget to still brand yourself this way. The landing page of that QR code matters as well, as it will be the next first thing they see regarding your services.

Get Personal

This next point is common practice, but it still deserves to be touched on. Really take the time to get to know the people that come to your open houses so your future interactions remain genuine and personal.

As your guide visitors through the open house, make sure to write down as many notes about each individual as possible. Be an open door! Let the conversation flow.

This may seem like a no-brainer because every real estate professional should want as detailed leads as possible. But, what you do with this information makes all the difference. It could be the make or break between cold leads staying with their current real estate agents forever, or eventually switching over to you because you showed you can fulfill their needs more strongly.

Once you have their email and some personal information about them, feel free to reach out in a more personal manner to maintain genuine and raw interaction. For example, their children will be transferring to a school in the area, and you happen to have a good recommendation. This is a perfect example of using this personal information to make a real connection and convert a cold lead to a warm lead.

Showing that you listened during the open house and that you are taking the time to address something specific about their lives could really help you maintain warm leads and build trust with clients. It’s so simple but an effective strategy!

Staging for Success

Have you ever been the perfect target market for a product but it wasn’t displayed in a manner that resonated with you? Don’t make this common mistake when prepping for open houses.

Understand the neighborhood of the property you’re showing so that you can get a solid idea of who this property is perfect for. From there, stage the home in a way that will resonate with them. You can do full staging, or just stage some accessories, depending on the needs of the clients.

You want clients to be able to envision their own lives in this property, and that is made all the easier by studying demographics and trends among your target market. Showing you understand the people you are trying to sell this home to will show clients that you care about them and that it is not simply a transaction of trying to sell a home to just anyone.

Getting plenty of visitors to your open house is an accomplishment for sure and marketing-wise you have to be doing something right, but why not leverage all the information that’s available to you at an open house even more?

At the end of the day, it’s not up to you as a real estate professional to choose who your clients will be. But instead, it’s up to you to choose what actions and steps you will take to turn those cold leads into warm leads.

Use the open house as a stage to show potential clients that you are the best for the job, no matter if they have an agent already or not. Think of everyone as a potential client as you never know who will be calling in due time with a little bit of effort and marketing.