1. Objective

This SOP defines how a Virtual Assistant (VA) follows up with every attendee of an open house — from the moment the sign-in sheet arrives to either a confirmed client relationship or a hand-off into the long-term nurture plan. Open houses produce a high volume of casual-interest contacts. Most of them won't buy the specific property they toured. Many will buy something in the next 6–18 months. The agents who capture that future business are the ones who follow up systematically; the ones who don't, don't.

The VA's role is to convert each sign-in into a structured follow-up sequence that builds rapport, shares value, and keeps the agent top-of-mind without being aggressive. The agent handles the high-interest conversations personally; the VA handles everything else.

Where this SOP starts: Agent completes an open house and delivers the sign-in sheet (digital or paper) to the VA, plus any notes on high-interest attendees.
Where this SOP ends: Every attendee has been entered into the CRM, sequenced through the 14-day follow-up, and either advanced to active-buyer status or transitioned to long-term nurture.

Success looks like: Within 24 hours of an open house, every attendee has received a personalized follow-up. By Day 14, attendees who've engaged are in active buyer status; the rest are in long-term nurture. The agent has a warm, systematic flow of buyer prospects from every open house.

2. Your Role & Boundaries

2a. What you handle independently

• Entering every open house attendee into the CRM per New Lead Intake & CRM Setup standards
• Tagging with source (Open House) and the property address so attendees can be filtered later
• Enrolling each attendee in the Open House Follow-Up sequence per Sections 4–7
• Sending Day 1, Day 3, and Day 7 messages per approved templates
• Transitioning attendees to long-term nurture (Long-Term Lead Nurture (33-Touch Plan)) or active-buyer status (MLS Saved Search Setup & Management) at Day 14 based on engagement
• Preparing the agent's call list for high-interest attendees within 24 hours of the open house
• Pulling comparable listings and area data when requested to support the agent's follow-up conversation

2b. What requires agent approval before acting

• Any messaging variation outside the approved templates
• Any direct call or video message to an attendee (agent makes all personal calls; VA may send text only per approved template)
• Adding an attendee to a marketing list or drip beyond the standard Open House Follow-Up sequence
• Moving an attendee to active-buyer status before they have engaged (agent may prefer to let the sequence run)
• Removing an attendee from the sequence before Day 14 (e.g., if they request to be removed — handle promptly, but log)

2c. What you never do

• You never negotiate on the agent's behalf under any circumstances.
• You never provide pricing, legal, or strategic opinions to any party.
• You never sign or initial any document on behalf of the agent, client, or any party.
• You never communicate directly with the other party's client.
• You never call an attendee unless the agent has explicitly requested it and the number is consented for voice (see Do Not Call / TCPA Compliance Protocol for TCPA/DNC rules)
• You never text an attendee without confirmed SMS consent (a sign-in sheet that includes a phone number plus a checkbox granting text permission is the standard — confirm with agent's sign-in template)
• You never share an attendee's contact information outside the agent's approved ecosystem
• You never pre-fill pricing or investment advice ("This home is a great deal at $X") — you share facts (listing price, days on market), not opinions

When in doubt: Send the templated message. Personalization is the agent's job; execution and cadence are yours.

3. Schedule & Trigger

Trigger: Open house ends; agent delivers the sign-in sheet and any attendee notes to the VA.

Expected turnaround:

• Same-day: All attendees entered into CRM and tagged with Lead Source = Open House + property address
• Within 24 hours: Agent's high-interest call list prepared; Day 1 follow-up email sent to all attendees
• Day 3: Text message sent to attendees with SMS consent
• Day 7: Second email sent (market update / similar listings)
• Day 14: Attendees transition to long-term nurture or active-buyer status

Sequence context: This SOP runs after Open House Coordination or Open House Execution and feeds into either Online Inquiry Response — if a lead responds or Long-Term Nurture — at Day 14. High-interest leads convert into Buyer Search when the agent moves them to active buyer status.

4. Same-Day Tasks

Within 2 hours of receiving the sign-in sheet, execute the following.

4a. Enter every attendee into the CRM

• Per New Lead Intake & CRM Setup, create a contact record for each attendee with all required fields
• If the sign-in sheet has minimal info (just name and email), create the record and flag for the agent to fill in phone and any notes from memory

4b. Tag each attendee

• Lead Source: Open House (use the standard tag from Lead Source Tracking & Tagging)
• Property: The open house property address (as a separate tag or a property-reference field)
• Date of open house: Add as a note or a date field
• Client type: Buyer (attendees are typically prospective buyers; a seller or investor attendee gets tagged separately per agent notes)

4c. Enroll in the Open House Follow-Up sequence

• Add every attendee to the CRM campaign Open House Follow-Up — 14 Day Sequence
• The sequence automatically schedules the Day 1, Day 3, Day 7 messages (timing per Section 5–7)
• High-interest attendees (flagged by the agent) are also added to the agent's call list per Section 8

4d. Prepare the agent's high-interest call list

For any attendee the agent flagged as high-interest, prepare a brief call-ready summary within the 24-hour window:

[Attendee Name] — [Phone] — [Email]
From: Open house at [Property Address] on [Date]
Agent notes: [What the agent observed — e.g., "Very interested; asked about closing timelines; mentioned they're pre-approved for $X"]
Property details: [Current list price, DOM, agent remarks]
Recommended next step: [Suggested by VA — e.g., "Agent to call today; we have 3 comparable listings to share."]

Deliver to agent within 6 hours of the open house end. Agent calls high-interest attendees personally within 24 hours.

Speed to lead — portal sources: For any contact who arrived through Zillow, Realtor.com, or another portal, response time is critical. Research shows that the odds of conversion drop dramatically after 5 minutes. If a portal lead is in the CRM without a same-day agent contact attempt, flag it to the agent immediately. The first response should be brief and direct: confirm the property they inquired about and offer a quick call.

5. Day 1 (Day After Open House)

Send a follow-up email to every attendee. The template:

Subject: Great meeting you at [Property Address]

Hi [Attendee First Name],

Thanks for stopping by the open house at [Property Address] yesterday. It was nice to meet you.

[Personalization — one specific line the agent provided from their notes, if any — e.g., "I remember you mentioned you're looking for a place with a home office and good natural light — this one had both, but let me know your thoughts."]

If you have any questions about the home, want to see it again, or want to walk through what's available in the area, just reply to this email or give me a call. No pressure — I'm here whenever you're ready.

Here's a quick link to the listing so you can review everything again:
[Listing URL]

Talk soon,
[Agent Name]
[Phone]
[Email]

VA tasks:
- Pull the listing URL from the MLS or agent's listing marketing materials
- Personalize with the agent-provided note if there is one
- Send from the agent's email (via CRM email sync) so replies go to the agent's inbox

If no agent-provided note, omit the personalization paragraph — a generic but warm message is better than a fake-specific one.

6. Day 3

Send a text message to attendees who provided a phone number and checked the SMS consent box on the sign-in sheet.

Hi [First Name] — [Agent Name] here. Any questions after the open house at [property address]? Happy to chat, no pressure.

VA tasks:
- Confirm SMS consent before sending (check sign-in sheet)
- Send via the agent's approved SMS platform (CRM-integrated SMS or a texting tool)
- Do not send to numbers that did not have explicit SMS consent on the sign-in sheet

Handling replies

Replies to the text go to the agent (route through their phone or CRM). VA does not respond to substantive questions — flag to agent immediately.

7. Day 7

Send a second email — the transition from "open house follow-up" to "broader buyer relationship." The template:

Subject: Quick market update for [Neighborhood / Area]

Hi [First Name],

Checking in — hope you're well. Since we met at the [Property Address] open house, I thought you might like a quick look at what else is happening in the [Neighborhood] market:

[Brief market update — 2–3 bullets on recent activity]
- [e.g., "3 new listings this week in your price range"]
- [e.g., "Median sale price up/down [X%] vs. last month"]
- [e.g., "One property nearby just went under contract in 4 days"]

If you'd like me to set up a saved search so you see new listings as soon as they hit the market, just reply and I'll get that going.

No rush — reach out whenever you're ready.

[Agent Name]
[Phone]
[Email]

VA tasks:
- Pull the market update data from MLS, Zillow area page, or the agent's standard area-report template
- Keep it short — 3 bullets, no more
- Send from the agent's email

8. Attendees Who Showed High Interest

High-interest attendees get more immediate, more personal follow-up.

8a. Identification

The agent identifies high-interest attendees from the open house — they may note this on the sign-in sheet, a separate list, or verbally during handoff. Typical indicators:

• Asked specific questions about the property (closing timeline, HOA, inspection process)
• Mentioned pre-approval status or financial readiness
• Asked about similar listings or neighborhoods
• Asked if the agent represents buyers

8b. Agent calls within 24 hours

• Agent makes the personal call
• VA's role: prepare the call summary per Section 4d
• After the call, VA logs outcome in the CRM and adjusts the attendee's pipeline stage accordingly

8c. VA support tasks for high-interest follow-up

When the agent is actively working a high-interest attendee, the VA supports by:

• Pulling comparable listings in the attendee's price range and preferred area
• Setting up a saved search in the MLS if the attendee wants ongoing listing alerts
• Preparing any requested additional data on the open house property (tax records, HOA details, neighborhood info)
• Scheduling a showing if the attendee wants to see the property again or see comparable properties (coordinate with Showing Coordination & Scheduling for showing coordination)

9. Day 14 and Beyond — Transition

At Day 14, every attendee transitions out of the Open House Follow-Up sequence. Two paths:

9a. Active Buyer Path

If the attendee has engaged (replied, scheduled a showing, asked for a saved search, signed a buyer-broker agreement):

• Update CRM pipeline stage to Active Buyer — Showing Properties
• Move into the Buyer Search / MLS Saved Search and Buyer Tour Coordination workflows
• Agent takes over primary communication

9b. Long-Term Nurture Path

If the attendee has not engaged (no reply, no click, no action):

• Update CRM pipeline stage to Long-Term Nurture
• Enroll in the 33-Touch Plan per Long-Term Lead Nurture (33-Touch Plan)
• Contact continues to receive monthly newsletter, quarterly market updates, and seasonal touches
• Agent will get them in the quarterly call list rotation

9c. Opt-out path

If the attendee at any point replies "stop," "remove me," "unsubscribe," or equivalent:

• Within 24 hours, mark the contact Do Not Contact in the CRM
• Remove from all automated sequences (Open House Follow-Up, 33-Touch, any newsletter list)
• Log the request with date and preserved content of the request
• Do not re-add to any list without explicit new consent

10. Escalation — When to Escalate Immediately

Escalate to the agent when:

• An attendee responds with a transactional request — wants to make an offer, wants to schedule a showing for a different property, asks about representation — agent follows up immediately
• An attendee asks a question the VA can't answer on facts — financing options, legal questions, property-specific questions requiring agent knowledge
• A sign-in sheet arrives with incomplete information and the agent is not immediately reachable to fill in missing details
• A compliance concern — a sign-in sheet includes a phone number but no SMS consent, and an agent instruction to text anyway
• An attendee opts out or complains about the frequency or content of follow-up

Use this escalation template:

Hi [Agent Name] — open house follow-up flag:

Issue: [One sentence — e.g., "Attendee Marcus Chen from Saturday's open house at 456 Oak replied asking if we could write an offer at $X tomorrow."]
Context: [Brief — e.g., "He was on your high-interest list. I've pulled the listing details for you to review."]
Recommended next step: [e.g., "Can you call him this afternoon? I have his number and pre-approval info if he shared any."]

[VA Name]

If agent is unreachable within 4 hours on a transactional inquiry:
1. Send a courtesy hold reply: "Thanks for reaching out — [Agent Name] will follow up with you shortly."
2. Continue to flag the lead in each status update until the agent responds

11. Completion Checklist

Same day (Day 0)
- ☐ All attendees entered into CRM with required fields
- ☐ All attendees tagged with Lead Source = Open House + property address
- ☐ All attendees enrolled in Open House Follow-Up sequence
- ☐ High-interest attendees identified and call list prepared for agent

Day 1
- ☐ Follow-up email sent to every attendee
- ☐ Personalization applied where agent provided notes
- ☐ Any replies routed to agent for response

Day 3
- ☐ Text message sent to every attendee with SMS consent
- ☐ Any replies routed to agent

Day 7
- ☐ Market update email sent to every attendee
- ☐ Any engagement logged in the CRM

Day 14
- ☐ Each attendee's pipeline stage updated based on engagement
- ☐ Engaged attendees moved to active-buyer workflow
- ☐ Non-engaged attendees moved to long-term nurture (Long-Term Lead Nurture (33-Touch Plan))
- ☐ Opt-outs honored and logged

Data
- ☐ All engagement metrics logged for monthly reporting (Monthly Business Metrics Report)

12. Tools & Access