Decoded: 5 things brokers can do to increase walk-in traffic 

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To many in the industry, walk-in business is dead — and I'm unsure if natural causes or our failure to adapt as an industry dealt the final blow.

In the years following the pandemic, we "returned" to our downsized offices, but after a few weeks or months of tepid effort, many threw in the towel. Now, it's a chicken and egg conundrum: Most agents don't want to sit in an office alone when the only walk-in they're likely to get is someone selling Girl Scout cookies, and potential clients aren't inspired when they see a cubicle graveyard.

But walk-in business — when we get it — is superior to internet inquiries. It is every licensee's goal to be belly-to-belly with a live human seeking an address change.

We as an industry have adapted to incredible disruption: the internet and the democratization of data, a pandemic, the Great Recession, all the troubles NAR has had in the last 24 months, and lawsuits that brought about tectonic change. Yet we can't crack the code of a practice that was taken for granted for more than 100 years. 

Can we turn this around? Yes. Here are just a few of the approaches a smart brokerage can take to bring office visits back — and none require even a fraction of the effort that the post-settlement changes have demanded.

Advertise office hours

Let folks know right on your website's homepage that you can meet them — no appointment required. After all, your target audience is already looking online.

In our suburban market, we get plenty of city residents coming up for a day to get the local vibe. If they know that someone is going to be in the office the day they come up, they'll go to the one place that actually welcomes them.

Offer free mortgage pre-qualifications

Get good signage, and put the offer on your website.

If you assume people can still saunter into their neighborhood bank and talk to a loan officer without an appointment, think again. Bank branches are in the same boat we are, with online banking killing their foot traffic.

If your brokerage has an affiliate mortgage company or a good relationship with a lender, invite a loan officer to keep desk hours offering a free pre-qualification or pre-approval. If your office is near a major bank and someone leaves a branch after being told their loan officer is only available Tuesdays and Thursdays between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m., you've saved their day with the right signage.

Get your notary license

In my market, you used to be able to walk into any bank and get something notarized — but that's no longer the case.

Notary needs often come with major life changes, such as a divorce or enacting a power of attorney. If someone walked into my office because they needed a permit application notarized for a home improvement project, that could turn into a listing. A smart agent will get their notary license and do more floor time to leverage this. 

Signage still works — if you work it

In the digital era, the public is no longer trained to walk into offices. But we've done nothing to welcome them, either.

Some agencies have listings in their windows, but too many have given up. No agent on duty sign. No listings in the window. No electric "open" sign. No effort.

Don't lament the results you failed to get from the effort you didn't make. Why not have some agents get certified in staging and post that a stager is available weekdays from 1-5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.? This week, for example, I am posting a sign that says "We Can Help You Grieve Your Property Taxes," and I expect more foot traffic from that alone.

Have some fun

Observe the holidays. Make people wonder what you'll do next.

There's a lady in my neighborhood with a 2-foot-tall ceramic duck that she decorates for the different seasons. She dresses it in a black dress and pearls for Valentine's Day, as Betsy Ross in July and as Santa in December. She's doing a better job with her own front door than most of the brokers in town. 

If you make it worth their while, the public will start opening your door again. But agents have to do more than look over their glasses and ask potential clients if they're already working with another agent or if they have been pre-approved.

Everything I've outlined is designed to create a warm initiation between on-call floor time agents and curious members of the public. Foot traffic can do more than attract potential buyers and sellers: It can be a fantastic recruiting tool, because agents prefer to work where the action is. 

After all we've been through as an industry, it is ironic that this fundamental and traditional underpinning has been so hard for us to re-establish. I'll make all of the readers of this column a promise: I'm going to deploy everything I've written in the two offices I manage, and I will document the success of the project at this time next year. 

J. Philip Faranda is a manager and associate broker at Howard Hanna | Rand Realty serving Westchester and Putnam Counties, just north of New York City. He was previously a broker-owner at J. Philip Real Estate, the top independent brokerage in the two counties by transaction sides, which he founded in 2005. He also writes a real estate blog which has been cited by major media outlets. The views expressed in this column are solely those of the author.