Use Open House Data To Generate More IDX Leads

It’s been a little over 3 years now since I relocated to Laguna Niguel from Los Angeles.

When I was searching for a place prior to my move, I made a list of homes I liked and I drove out to visit them on weekends.

Every weekend, I’d plan my route, schedule appointments, and go look at them.

Your potential buyers are doing the same thing.

Maybe they have registered to search for homes on your website.

Maybe they have favorite a couple of properties and printed out the flyers.

Their next step? Call to request a showing and/or plan their weekend to go preview those properties.

So why not help them out a little …

How?

By using Open House data to make it easier for them to plan their weekend!

By offering a weekly list of the latest upcoming Open Houses you give potential buyers a great way to search and plan ahead. Here’s how we’re going to use Open House data to generate more IDX leads!

Step 1: Create your Open House page

I like this example from Scott Schang, author of Find My Way Home:

He’s filtering an Open House list by County and promises that all Open House data is “Always Up To Date!”

Now, Scott is a Mortgage Broker first and foremost so you’ll notice a great call to action to get pre-approved just above the Open House listing data provided at the bottom of the page.

This page was created by simple creating a new full width page in WordPress and using a “custom link” from Diverse Solutions to provide a weekly list of the current week’s Open Houses in all of Orange County.

Step 2: Blog about or email your Open Houses

Once you have your Open House page created using IDX data to display the week’s current list of upcoming Open Houses, you’re ready to start promoting them. You can do this in one of two ways:

1. Write a weekly blog post about some of this week’s upcoming Open Houses. 

Pick a few listings that are priced to sell, where you think the property is unique, or a home that just came on the market and write a list post that includes some of those listings. For example:

Only in this case, instead of just writing about one listing, include a list of 3 or 4 listings. Then, link to your Open House page to “View All Upcoming Open Houses This Weekend.”

2. Send out a weekly email that includes a list of this weekend’s upcoming Open Houses.

If you have a weekly newsletter that goes out be sure to link to some of this weekend’s upcoming Open Houses. Again, what properties are new on the market? What properties are priced to sell? What properties have undergone a recent price change?

In the same way you’ve curated and written a list post about your Open Houses, write and send an email out to your data-base to let them know about this weekend’s Open Houses.

Step 3: Follow up ASAP!

Then, the last step is to follow up with all new inquiries ASAP!

70% of leads never close due to poor response time or lack of follow up. If you want to improve your closing ratio, you need to follow up with all new IDX inquiries as soon as possible.

If you’re busy, a simple email to acknowledge their request and that you’ll return their call shortly will suffice.

Here’s an example of a lead that came into Scott’s website not long after he started promoted his Open House page:

Start Marketing Your Listings!

So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to start marketing your listings!

Go create your Open House page, start writing about your listings and upcoming Open Houses. After a few weeks, let me know how it goes!