open-house-plan

name	open-house-plan
description	Plan and promote an open house that draws buyers and generates leads. Use when asked to plan an open house, market an open house, or create an open-house checklist. Produces a plan — timing and promotion across channels, prep and staging checklist, a day-of run sheet, lead capture, and follow-up — so the event drives real interest and the agent leaves with leads, not just foot traffic.

Open House Plan Skill

A good open house is a marketing event, not an unlocked door: promoted to the right buyers, staged to show well, and run to capture leads you follow up. This skill plans the whole thing — before, during, and after — so the agent maximises qualified traffic and walks away with a pipeline, not just a sign-in sheet.

Working from a brief

Given "plan an open house for my listing this Saturday", produce the full plan anyway — infer sensible timing, channels, and prep for the property type, marking specifics (insert) (address, date/time, price). Never invent property facts. Always include lead capture and follow-up — that's the point.

Required Inputs

Ask for these only if they aren't already provided (else infer and label):

• The property — type, price, standout features, and the likely buyer.
• Timing — the date/time (or help choosing a high-traffic slot), and any constraints.
• Promotion reach — channels available (MLS, Zillow, social, email list, signage, neighbours) and budget.
• Goal — sell this home, generate buyer leads, or both.

Output Format

Open House Plan: [property]

1. Timing — the recommended day/time (and why), plus any broker/neighbour preview.

2. Promotion plan — a channel-by-channel checklist with timing and the message:

Channel	When	Action
MLS / portals	as listed	mark open house, strong photos
Social	3–5 days before + day-of	post/story/boost to local audience
Email	to buyer list/agents	invite
Signage	day-of	directional signs, route from main road
Neighbours	days before	"tell a friend" invites

3. Prep & staging checklist — clean, declutter, depersonalise, light, scent, fresh flowers, info sheets/flyers, secure valuables.

4. Day-of run sheet — arrival/setup time, greeting script, sign-in (lead capture), how to highlight features, handling questions, and safety.

5. Lead capture — how everyone signs in (digital form/QR), what to capture (name, contact, buying timeline, agent yes/no), and qualifying questions to ask.

6. Follow-up — a same-day/next-day plan: thank-you + feedback to every visitor, prioritise hot leads, and report to the seller (traffic, feedback, interest).

Quality Checks

• Promotion spans multiple channels with timing, not just "list it"
• A staging/prep checklist makes the home show its best
• Lead capture is built in (how people sign in + what's captured + qualifying questions)
• A same-day/next-day follow-up plan is included — the real value of the event
• A day-of run sheet covers greeting, flow, and safety
• A seller report-back (traffic + feedback) is included

Anti-Patterns

• Do not treat it as just unlocking the door — it's a promoted, lead-generating event
• Do not skip lead capture — foot traffic with no contacts is a wasted Saturday
• Do not forget follow-up — leads go cold within a day
• Do not under-promote — most attendance comes from the days-before push
• Do not ignore agent safety and securing valuables during the open house

Based On

Real-estate marketing practice — multi-channel open-house promotion, staging, structured lead capture, and disciplined follow-up.