Grand Opening: An Idea Who’s Time is Past or Ready for a Change?

Our favorite marketing maven, Seth Godin, had a small post on his blog today slapping the collective wrists of marketers everywhere for their shortsighted tendency to rely on grand openings and other event-based announcements. He correctly states that a lot of time, energy and money tends to get dumped into initiatives that are — by their very definition — short in duration and (most of the time) impact.

While a lot of homebuilders and real estate professionals tend to live and die by the tried-and-true Grand Opening strategy, certainly consumer’s growing impatience and tendency to overplan and multitask is diminishing the effectiveness of this sales tactic.

Seth wisely notes that a better plan is to build relationships over the long term, fostering trust and interest in the needs of consumers, acting like a true consultant — not just in title. As he notes, the best time promote your new product is after it already is a hit — what better advocate for your product than someone who already owns it and is happy with their purchasing decision?

Now, we’re not foretelling the end of grand openings for builders and agents — instead, give at least as much thought, planning and execution to building lists of prospects beforehand, convert as many of them to buy before the event as you are able (can you say “create a sense of demand?”) and then invite those happy buyers in to talk about their pre-sale decisions at your grand opening.

With a little thought to mixing up the typical path a prospect takes from “interested” to “yes!,” you can still plan on grand openings as a tactic in the sales process — but rely on them more as an opportunity for new buyers to influence those who haven’t made a decision.