Planning and hosting one open house is hard enough, but imagine holding more than 100 in one day.
West USA Realty did just that on July 10 as it showed 152 homes in its home base of Phoenix, Arizona.
West Realty USA’s executive vice president, Mike Weinstein, says the idea came from one of the brokerage’s top producing real estate agents, Sheli Stoddart, who wanted to celebrate the brokerage’s 30th anniversary in a unique way.
“When I thought of the idea, I wanted to have an event — not just an open house, but something that potential homebuyers and sellers would plan into their day,” said Stoddart. “[I wanted] something fun and exciting!”
Stoddart created a precise presentation that included a number of ideas from her and her colleagues on what the open house event would look like, how to make it a team event, and how to make it an exciting and urgent event on the Phoenix community calendar.
Weinstein was impressed by Stoddart’s presentation and immediately had the brokerage’s marketing team embark on a six-week journey to make Stoddart’s idea come to life.
Each of the open houses were West USA Realty listings, and there was one agent assigned to each home to welcome potential buyers and show them around the property. Weinstein says each of the 152 agents were trained with a curriculum developed especially for the the event. The training included:
- A webinar focusing on eight tips to running an effective open house.
- Two special evenings when agents were trained to call seller prospects.
- Two “Call Nights” where agents were given the opportunity to put their training into action.
- High-producing agents holding classes at branch offices.
Agents at the brokerage’s call night training session.
On the back-end, Weinstein says the West USA Realty marketing team worked overtime to make sure potential buyers knew about the event.
“Our marketing campaign was multifaceted,” noted Weinstein. “The first goal was to create a special event website, which featured each participating property, and where consumers could be pointed to for more information about each open house.”
Weinstein and his team created a marketing strategy that included aggressive Facebook ad campaigns, press releases, and print and digital ads in three local newspapers.
West USA Realty’s Facebook ad campaign.
In addition to social media, print and digital advertising, the brokerage provided each participating agent with a number of marketing materials that included open house signs, social media content to share on their individual business pages, and flyers and other materials to pass out on the day of the event.
Weinstein says they aren’t able to provide a specific number of homes that were actually sold, due to the long escrow process — but according to their surveys, the 152 agents who participated in the event are currently working with 450 potential buyers.
“Not only was this a huge win for our agents and the homeowners, but it was a huge win for the hundreds of buyers and sellers that were teamed up with a group of highly trained real estate professionals,” Weinstein said.
“As a company, we are excited and proud that we were able to bring such a wonderful event to the Phoenix area.”
He says his agents have latched on the idea of a mass open house, and there are plans in the works to do it again.
“One agent summed it up perfectly by saying, ‘Please hold this event monthly,'” Weinstein said.
