Is your open house looking more like an empty house? When selling a home, the open house process can seem stressful and tedious, but it is still a fantastic way to garner interest and increase demand for the home. If you’re having trouble getting people to your open house, don’t be so quick to chalk it up to bad luck. Reevaluate your approach and check out these simple tips to help improve open house attendance.

Schedule conveniently.

Always do your best to make your open house work around the schedule of potential buyers. If you’d like to host one on a weekday, consider scheduling it a bit later in the evening. This gives people the chance to get home from work and take a look at the property. Weekend mornings and afternoons are also a time when you can expect a high volume of potential buyers. Think about if you were looking to buy a home–when would be the ideal time for you to take a look at a house?

Take advantage of the internet.

Use apps and websites such as Zillow, Realtor.com®, and Trulia to help get more exposure with people who are actively searching for homes online. It’s no secret that people are looking for more convenience in home buying these days, and social media does just that. Instead of waiting for people to actively seek out your home, bring the information to them by promoting your open house on other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This will get the attention of anyone scrolling through, and greatly increases the likelihood that someone passes along the info to their friends and family.

Add incentive to show up.

People will go to an open house for a number of reasons. Whether it be to get home decorating tips, help support a neighbor, or even for a reason to get out of the house; open house attendees are not limited to just home buyers. Consider taking things up a notch by adding some incentive to show up. By partnering with local businesses and holding a raffle at your open house, you’ll increase attendance while showing that you’re active and invested in the local community.

Build anticipation.

One reason why people may not be showing up is that they don’t know about the open house in the first place. Take the time to build anticipation through online and print ads far in advance, so that people are able to schedule around your open house. This will help ensure that both people in your community and those outside the area are aware of the open house. To increase the impact, schedule the open house for the same day that the house hits the market. This will create a sense of urgency and give the house a greater chance of receiving an offer quickly.

Bundle open houses.

Scheduling multiple open houses in the same neighborhood on the same day is great for a couple of reasons. First, it makes the trip to an area much more worthwhile. Even if a potential buyer doesn’t love one home, they may be in love with one of the others. It also allows potential buyers to get a better feel for the neighborhood as a whole. They can learn what kind of homes are typical in the area, meet neighbors, and decide for themselves if it feels like the right match.

As stressful and unpredictable as the open house process can be, by working harder (and smarter) than your competition, you’ll soon see results that will have others wondering how you did it.