Recently I introduced The Easy-Cool Prospect-to-Client Conversion Method. Here’s how it works in a real-world open house situation:

Prospects walk into the house.

Welcome them at the door with a warm smile, introduce yourself and pause…Most people will reciprocate and tell you their names. Their level of enthusiasm will be your first clue towards determining their communication style.

Mentally note their names and likely communication style. After they’ve gone into the home, write their names, styles and brief description in your notebook. For example, “Big Nose Dan – Driver” and “Smiley Sue – Amiable.”

No matter which communication style you are working with, always balance the four key relationship-sales-attributes: professionalism, confidence, friendliness and authenticity.

It’s not about merely possessing these attributes. It’s about finding the right level for each one and balancing them against each other. For example, a person can be overly friendly and totally unprofessional.

Hand the prospects one of your stunning marketing brochures and give them a brief overview of the property – price, key features, listing date. The brochure is important. It shows off your marketing prowess and acts as a positive reminder about you after they leave.

Note: Only do this if you’re proud of your marketing brochure. If it’s just “average,” then “average” will be the impression you leave.

Send them through the house or continue the conversation, whichever is most appropriate, depending on their communication styles. Drivers and analyticals will want to proceed into the house immediately. Expressives will want to enthusiastically tell you all about their day, while amiables will be much quieter (but also the most open to making a sincere personal connection).

Find the correct balance between their personal space (leave them alone) and your availability (I’m here to answer any questions you have!). If it’s a couple, they might have two different styles. That’s okay. You know how to juggle styles, right?

When they’re done, address them by name and try to strike up a conversation without appearing too salesy. Make the conversation as natural as possible. Actively listen to them, but also slide in a few key questions.

So, Dan and Sue, how did you like the house?

Their answer should lead to other questions, such as:

What are some important “wants and needs” you have for your new home?

What are your preferred areas?

How long have you been looking?

If you struggle to ask these questions and you sound fake and salesy, you’re doing it wrong.

The answers, and more importantly, how they answer, will give you a huge amount of information to help you decide how to make your prospect pick-up pitch.

Never ask if they are working with an agent! That gives them an easy out. If they’re serious about the relationship they have with another agent, they’ll let you know.

Maintain eye contact with them, and do not try to juggle three different groups at once. (You’ll lose all three. Once you have the right skills, you will know which prospects you need to focus on.)

Here’s the the Easy-Cool Prospect Pick-up Pitch:

“Hey, I’m just thinking that I’ve got something that might be very helpful for you.”

(gets their attention).

“It’s free and there’s absolutely no obligation whatsoever.”

(reduces resistance).

“Based on what you’ve told me, I can set you up on a system that will automatically send an email every time there’s a new listing that matches your exact search criteria.”

(sounds great).

“But here’s the really cool part. It will also automatically notify you whenever there is a price reduction or a sale, including the sale price.”

(even better).

“It only takes me a few minutes to set this up, and as I said, there is no obligation whatsoever.”

(further reduces any sense of commitment).

“Is this something that would be helpful for you?”

(of course, it is).

“Okay. All I need is both your email addresses, and I can set that up for you later today!

After the open house, set up the search and add them into your follow-up system (another topic). Remember, you said there was no obligation, and there isn’t. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow up appropriately and systematically.

Of course, making this pitch doesn’t actually turn a prospect into a client. This is only the first step in that process. But maybe that’s my point: When you try too hard, you turn people off. When you do it the easy-cool way (one step at a time), people are drawn to you naturally.

You’re going to get all kinds of different responses to the pitch outlined above, but the main thing is to keep it easy-cool and come around to your prospect pick-up pitch as naturally as possible. The better you get at it, the more successful you will become at converting prospects to clients.

Are you reading this and saying to yourself, “I’ve tried this, and it doesn’t work”?

That’s because you’re doing it wrong. The two biggest mistakes I see Realtors make are:

Trying too hard and coming across as annoying salesy types, or

Not trying at all! If this is you, honestly, you would be better off relaxing and recharging at home rather than wasting your time at an open house where you’re not fully committed to putting in your best effort.

Agents tell me all the time they never have any luck picking up clients at open houses. And yet, other agents (including myself back when I did open houses regularly) have no problems getting all the clients we want, practically at will – the easy-cool way.

It’s got nothing to do with luck. Just know this: All skills can be learned. You don’t need a coach. You need skills. Once you have them, they stay with you forever.