Read Time: 3min
Implementation Time: 2hrs or less

I can’t remember the last time I talked about one thing as much as I’ve talked about this funnel the past few months!

OPEN HOUSES are leading the race for ‘FUNNEL OF THE YEAR’ 🤣 but honestly, I’ve used this strategy for years on my sales pages – it‘s just everywhere now.

That’s why even if you are not seeing any ‘results’, it is still important to:

Keep working on things behind the scenes, or your ‘quiet work’, because you never know what can come out of it.
The best ideas are usually the ones you don’t think are anything special – if it is something you mastered someone is trying to figure out as well.

To keep things simple, I’m focusing on evergreen – but there is a little note about live launches at the end. Let's jump to the actual funnel…

What is an ‘OPEN HOUSE’ FUNNEL?

The OPEN HOUSE is a funnel or sales strategy that uses a demo, ‘open house’ style video presentation to sell digital programs.

It can replace a traditional webinar presentation OR be added to your launch or funnel to provide more information about the program, maximizing your chances to sell. It can also be LIVE or PRE-RECORDED (evergreen).

Very much like a webinar funnel, to put it together you will need:

A registration page
Thank you page (optional)
Replay or ‘hybrid’ page (I’ll dive into it in a later post)
Call to action (book a call or apply) if needed

When you should try an ‘OPEN HOUSE’ funnel

Like I mentioned before, I’ve used ‘open house’ videos on my sales pages for years, so there are many ways to use it in your marketing. But if you want to try it as a standalone FUNNEL here is when to use it to maximize results:

Digital programs with ICA or Ideal Students that are ‘Type A’, ‘fact-based’ or analytical buyers (less emotional buyers).
If ICA/customers don’t respond well to regular webinars
Webinars have very low watch time
As an additional step for high ticket programs
If your webinar is not converting and you want to try something new

It is actually pretty simple to set up if you have done webinars before so spend some time deciding if that is the right strategy for you (I have a few other fun funnel ideas for you to explore).

‘OPEN HOUSE’ presentation phases

The biggest difference between an open house and a regular webinar it's the PRESENTATION CONTENT.

So here are the four phases you’ll follow for a perfect open house script.

Phase 1: Tackle the Problem

You invited people to an ‘OPEN HOUSE’ so no need to beat around the bush…they know you have a program and they also believe it can help them.

Before you jump into the walkthrough, PRE-FRAME the audience with the problem that they are facing (and your program solves) with a lot of energy and enthusiasm.

You can add a super quick ‘who am I’ between the problem and the next phase but that is optional.

Phase 2: Program Walk-Through

Then you should jump straight into your program walkthrough like in a typical ‘open house’.

For each part of the program (modules, functional features like support, reviews, etc) you should show them inside (open the proverbial door), explain the features and always explain the benefits of each.

Go deep into the mechanism of your program, the systems you created and HOW THEY WILL GET RESULT.

Phase 3: The Offer

After the demo, we shift to the action you want them to take. It can be: sales page/cart link, book-a-call calendar or application for example.

No need to overcomplicate, all ‘cards’ are on the table. Simply state that if they’d like the results/solution then they should [INSERT NEXT STEP].

Add a button or link (if on a webinar hosting platform) or give them specific directions to pause the video and go take the action.

Phase 4: FAQs & ‘Take a Brochure’

For the people who are still on the fence, you can create a quick Q&A at the end. I recommend 3 to 5 questions focusing on the main benefits of your program and answering:

IS IT GOING TO WORK FOR ME?
What’s the expected ROI
TIME & MONEY constraints

Avoid FAQs like payment options, refunds, etc – focus on your process and the program itself. Restate the OFFER one more time after the Q&A.

At the end you might offer them a ‘brochure’ to take home. Very much like in an open house, some people will likely revisit the features, the cost, ‘talk to their spouse’ and then take on your offer.

You might consider (totally optional) to create a 1-page PDF as a free download for people to take home and think it over.

Record the ‘OPEN HOUSE’ presentation

I use Canva presentation recording feature for everything but for the OPEN HOUSE, I recommend instead a mix of front-to-camera (you speak directly to the camera) and screen share your program or sales page.

You can use any recording software (Camtasia, Ecamm, etc) but I found that Zoom works for me since it is easy to switch from camera to screen share + I already have it for sales and coaching calls, meetings, etc.

While you walk them through the program, you’ll need to SHOW what the components are. There are many ways you can help them visualize the program but here are some of my favorites:

Sales Page Overview (here is one of my ‘open-house’ videos)
Slide Deck with Images
Demo the Program and other Features through screen share

Once you record the presentation, it’s time to add to the funnel.

Where should you host your OPEN HOUSE?

Just like a regular webinar, you can host your video presentation on a WEBINAR platform (EasyWebinar, Demio, etc), on a REPLAY page (Kajabi, LeadPages, WordPress, Showit, etc) and

My favorite, easiest way is to 😍 add the video to your SALES PAGE to help them make a decision right there.

Quick note on tech: ‘Hosting’ also means where you upload the video (I host my videos in Loom or Searchie but there are many other options like YouTube, Vimeo, etc).

What results can you expect with an OPEN HOUSE funnel?

To be super honest, I think the open-house funnel should be used ONLY if you know for sure that your ideal client is in fact a rational buyer.

This type of presentation isn’t the best to establish CONNECTION and doesn’t address the emotional part of the buying process well enough.

💣 IMO the 30%+ conversion rates we hear with this strategy are largely because: it is usually a secondary funnel (ultra hot leads), used for high ticket offers ($3K+) and ICA is analytical/tired of regular webinars.

So while I encourage you to try it, I wouldn’t rely 100% on this presentation as a funnel 🙂

Trying an open house soon? Reply and let me know when – looking for success stories to share next!

Your evergreen ‘realtor’,

Roberta

Special Note on LIVE OPEN HOUSES

If you are live launching, open houses can be a TON MORE FUN and increase your launch performance by a bunch. That’s because you can structure it more like a PARTY than a sales presentation 🥳

I'm not a live-launch expert, but I’ve been to a couple really fun open houses and some of the concepts you can use in your live open house:

High energy, party-like feeling from the start
Giveaways, scholarships and other prizes to attend live
Introduce the community aspects first to pre-frame
Live walkthrough answering questions live.
Demo/handout templates and other assets from the program
Some offered a free module to ‘test it out’
Wrap up with a case studies ‘roundtable’ and Q&A

Just like in evergreen, I’d keep as a secondary launch event – meaning you would still have a traditional challenge or webinar as a launch event AND THEN invite to the open house mid cart for example 🙂

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