I walked into an open house this week and witnessed an all-too familiar sight. The cheery agent greeted visitors, doing all she could to make eye contact and capture names for her database.

As people filed through the house, some chaos ensued as she tried to bond with a tanned couple that drove up in a black Mercedes, while reciting "just yell if I can answer questions" to a tattooed guy who clearly had a great time in the "60s. "?

The scene is commonplace and it reflects the "I sure hope I have a good open house" philosophy, where finding that lucky couple who's ready to buy is the door prize. Trouble is, this practice is all based on wishful thinking and a stroke-of-luck mentality.

Even when it works, what have you accomplished in building a business? An open house may produce a lead or even a deal, but it's not the foundation of a lasting enterprise that grows year after year.

Open houses remind me a lot of car shopping. Think back to your last experience at a dealership. As soon as the salesman approached, you and your spouse probably shuddered and looked away. I can hear you now, as you're walking onto the lot:"? "Honey, do not make eye contact." No one wants to be sold anything, including you, so our natural inclination is to run from old-school sales people. . . whose cologne is detectable from outer space.

Or how about Christmas shopping, where the minute you walk in the sales greeting is:"? "Can I help you' Your response becomes a knee-jerk mantra: "No thanks, I'm just looking." In consumerese, that translates to scram, doesn't it?

Using strictly sales methods leaves the results up to chance. An open house is a gamble. It's waiting for people who I don't know and who don't know me, hoping things will work out. Ultimately, open houses, while successful at times, are another possibility for rejection.

These two examples are classic sales resistance from consumers who don't respond to worn-out tactics. Marketing, as opposed to sales, is about attracting clients and building a business. In marketing, we get clients to seek us out. More importantly, it's about getting that to happen with enough frequency that business grows exponentially every year.
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The case I'm making is this: real estate professionals still depend on sales techniques, not marketing methods and principles. Powerful marketing is all about attracting a qualified client to you, rather than selling you to the masses.

These scenarios point out the multitude of things we do in real estate that reflect a survival mentality intended to get us to the next deal. Instead, I urge you to adopt a mentality of building a sustainable business that grows each year.

I'll keep this thread going and will continue to talk about what appeals to consumers in the world today. Keep watching my column, and meanwhile, give those fingers a rest.

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