Q. If you had to share one idea with your fellow LTB members for how they can gain purchase business this year, what would it be?

A. Target the Realtors you are looking to do business with by bringing care packages/snack bags to their open houses.

Most agents are bored at open houses. Sometimes, they don't even have toilet paper! It is difficult to get them to talk to you but this is a great door opener.

Q. What is the time commitment required?

A. You will need to set aside roughly 5-8 hours of preparation time, and you will likely devote an entire weekend to attending open houses. You will want to hit a minimum of 15 open houses in one day.

Q. What action steps would LTB members take to execute this idea?

Step 1: Grab your local newspaper and/or ask one of your current Realtor partners to pull the list of open houses this week from MLS and print it for you. Target the Realtors you want to do business with and determine when and where their open houses are going to be held. Zero in and map out your course!

Step 2: Go to Costco or Sams Club and buy the following bulk items:

• 1 Case small bottled water
• 1 Costco/Sams Club sized pack of travel tissues
• 1 Carton of hand-wipes/hand sanitizer
• A few cases of munchies: small trail mix bags, pretzels, or consider something gourmet
• 1 carton/ large bag of gourmet cookies (or even bake something!)

Also, feel free to purchase other items that suit your personality. The list above includes a few of the things I have purchased for my own open house snack bags.

Step 3: Go to Walmart or the Dollar Store and buy the following items:

• Small, plain white boxes or plain gift bags. You might even consider putting in a custom order in the future, to get these printed with your contact info/logo or in a specific size you want.
• Gift paper. You know… the stuff you throw in a gift bag to make it look really, really full and not just like a drab bag with something dropped in it!

Step 4: Go to Staples and buy the large address labels for a color printer. Make a logo sticker for the outside of each of the boxes/ bags.

Step 5: Set up an assembly line with your office, family, kids, etc. and fill those bags!

Step 6: Drop in a few cards and grab a piece or two from LTB’s Marketing Library. You might print out the First Quarter Issue of Practical Financial Tips, or if you will be doing this activity in the coming weeks, you could print out the First Quarter Issue of Homes and Money which comes out on February 18. You can even include the most recent "Tax Deadline Extended"Miscellaneous Letter. If you want to write a personal message, feel free to do so. Just make sure it’s either on company letterhead or handwritten on company cardstock.

Step 7: Target the Realtors you want to see and the geography to get the numbers. Plan to hit a minimum of 15 open houses in one day. I would be surprised if you would be able to hit more than a handful as the response will typically be that you get the face time and conversation time.

Step 8: Once you arrive at your open houses, if you find that you cannot talk to the Realtor, that’s okay! Just leave the package.

Step 9: Follow-up during the week and ask how they liked the care package. Find out if they are doing another open house soon so you can drop off another open house care package for them.

Realtors will appreciate this! Additionally, it shows that you are willing to get out there on a weekend for open houses. You can also mention that you’d be willing to sit at some of their open houses with them and do on-the-spot pre-approvals or at least, pull credit for prospective buyers. If they have a potential buyer for that property or someone just getting started, you can pre-qualify them right away.

Q. What results can be expected, or if this is something you are doing in your own business, what results have you achieved?

A. Not all will be receptive. But most will be hungry or thirsty so you'll likely receive a smile, even if you don't see it. As I mentioned before, most agents are bored at open houses. Sometimes, they don't even have toilet paper! It is difficult to get them to talk to you but this is a great way for them to see who you are and how professional you are, too! Trust me, these actions will make an impact.

Jason Klaskin has been very active in the LTB Community and is one of the newest additions to our Contributing Faculty. Visit Jason’s Faculty Focus page to learn more about him–and take a listen to his short interview with Sue Woodard.