How one REALTOR CLOSED an average of 4 Open Houses per week.....(2 part Story)

By Vladimir Sirota (949) 304-8079

A young man in his mid 30's, a manager in a Logistics company, found himself in a situation where he was terminated. The Logistics industry, being a close knit industry, word got around about his termination and the reasoning behind it, and as he went around, he found that no one would even consider hiring him.

Several months had passed and he had used up all of the family saving they had in the bank. He found himself not knowing what to do. So one day, he drove to Riverside, California to talk with an old family friend who was a Real Estate Broker. He sat down in the broker's office and told him what had happened and how he had been struggling, to no avail, trying to find employment that could take care of his family.

The broker suggested that he consider becoming a REALTOR and going to work for his office. “But Bruno, I don't know anything about Real Estate or even how to sell...” The broker told him, that that was not a problem. He first had to understand the Real Estate business, take an exam to get his State License and then, he would coach him as to what and how to sell homes.

Now, this young man began to read and study for the exam. The broker also advanced him money so he could attend a Real Estate School and then a Crash Course shortly before taking the State Exam.

This was 2008. The Southern California Real Estate Market had taken a grave hit. Prices of homes, that recently sold, had fallen 50% to 65% and many REALTORS, who did not have a client base and years of experience, began dropping our of the business, looking for other employment. This was the time when this young man entered into the business of selling Real Estate.

His first week as a REALTOR, he asked the Broker, “Where and how should I go about finding buyer?” The Broker said, “Don't worry about that right now. That will all come with time. Right now, what I want you to do is to handle all of our OPEN HOUSES.” He said, “What do you mean?”

The Broker then told him he had worked an arrangement with a lender and as the lender would prepossess homes, he would be offered these homes to sell on the market once again. So, he told the new REALTOR, he could have an endless supply of homes to show at the OPEN HOUSES he would be having.

Like many young REALTORS, he listened to other agents in his office, and collected all of this information on how to do an OPEN HOUSE. (Mostly wrong info.) The Broker also gave him about a dozen Open House signs to use for his OPEN HOUSE.

His first OPEN HOUSE was a Great Flop. He was there for three hours and not a single person came to the OPEN HOUSE. After coming back to the office, he shared his frustration with some of the other agents and they began telling him that it just takes time to figure out what to do and the next time it'll be better.

The next day, he started once again doing as he had done before. He set out the 12 signs, unlocked and left the front door open and sat there for about three hours, with another no-show.

This time, he sat down with the Broker and shared his frustration and asked the broker what he should do. The Broker said that even though he had some Open House signs, they were not the best, because they were old and looked somewhat worn out. He suggested that he go and buy himself some new Open House signs. So, he decided that the next day, that is what he would do and that is how this young REALTOR and I met.

The following day, he came to my shop and explained to me regarding his frustration and the fact that he had several no-shows. After listening to him, I told him that I would be more than happy to help him and make him some new Open House signs, but I told him that I believe there is more to it than just having new Open House signs.

At this time, I had been in the business of making Real Estate signs for a little more than 30 years and had known some clients who were very successful REALTORS at selling OPEN HOUSES. So, I suggested that maybe it would be best if he first, maybe contact some of those REALTORS and ask if he could sit down with them and pick their brains. He thought that was a great idea and so, before going ahead and ordering his new signs, he made a point to find several REALTORS in the area who were successful at not only showing OPEN HOUSES but also Selling OPEN HOUSES.

Nearly a week had gone by before this young man came to see me again, but this time with a large grinning smile on his face. “Well, were you able to sit down and talk to any of those REALTORS?” In a voice of excitement, he said, “Yep, and I learned so much, I had to sit down and create my own system of showing OPEN HOUSES that I will refine as I implement and test our what I was told.”

I didn't ask him, at that time what he was planning or how he would do his OPEN HOUSES, I asked if he had decided on how many Open House signs he was thinking of ordering, 25 or maybe 3?. He said, “Yes, I'll take 60, some with the H Stakes and some on the A-Frames.” Honestly, I was somewhat shocked, because I was not expecting him to order so many.

“Are you sure you want that many?” And he said, “Yep. I want people to know that there is an OPEN HOUSE and be able to find it without any problem.” I said, “You're the boss and I guess you know what you want.” So, he placed his order for 60 signs and now it was my job to make them and deliver them to him. DONE....

A couple weeks went by before he came to visit me and order some more signs. “Alright, what happened? Somebody take some of your signs?” He then told me that with a couple of the OPEN HOUSES, he just didn't have enough signs to drive prospects to his OPEN HOUSE. “With all of the signs I made for you, you didn't have enough?” NO, he explained, he just didn't have enough to help the people easily find the OPEN HOUSE.

“Well, how are you doing with your OPEN HOUSES?” I asked. Using my new system, I had 6 OPEN HOUSES my first week and signed contracts on two of them.” I was literally amazed at what he was telling me. Not only did people come to look at his OPEN HOUSES, but that he was able to get people to actually sign purchase contracts. I then asked him about this last week and he told me that once again he had 6 OPEN HOUSES and that he was able to wright 3 contracts.

“I'm impressed!” I told him. “So, what is your secret?” I asked and he didn't tell me right away. He left me somewhat in the dark for a while, but eventually, he and I sat down over a pot of coffee and he told me exactly what he had learned from these wise REALTORS and then how he structured his own system to make it happen.

Now, this is not the end. He went on to sometimes wright as many as 5 sales contracts, while showing 6 OPEN HOUSES during a week.

I'll continue this next week and spell out how and what this young REALTOR did to have such success.

Vladimir Sirota

The Real Estate Sign Man,

(949) 304-8079