kyoung

Love this post... I know it hasn't been long but do you have any updates??

I might be just having a "blonde day" but what do you mean by, "adding my email for photos"? Wouldn't you then have to reply to each email individually? Are you just considering it because an email takes less time than a phone call or are you thinking of using an auto-responder to send the pictures?

It seems we are starting to chase our collective tail here. Remember THIS POST?

OK Suppose you were able to get your message in the hands of EVERY homeowner in your target area - all at once - and at 20 cents a head. Now what? The MAJORITY - who are not selling their houses - will trash it and WILL NOT remember you from Adam if and when the time comes that they do need to sell. That is why we are saying that this approach is a waste of your money. What is left is a diverse group of people that may or may not need your services. This group of people are in so many different stages of motivation that your message is likely to fly right on by them UNLESS you touch a specific nerve with the text in your mailout. What you need to do is divide this group into bite sized chucks. Tailor-make a message that will strike a nerve and get it in their hands. If I am understanding you correctly, you are looking for one message that will appeal to everyone in that second group of people and make them call you. Admiral goal, but cannot think of a single phrase that would do the trick. What could you possibly say to a bitter divorcee that would be equaly effective on the distraught daughter of the newly departed and still just as effective on the people in countless other scenarios that lead people to selling a house AND are all at different levels of motivation? All I am trying to say is that there is a way to filter out all the people in group A (non-sellers) so that you do not have to spend a dime on them and that the people in group B are in too many different places mentally for a "catch-all" message to be effective. It is truly like flushing cash down the toilet. The money you save can be used to repeat several mini-campaigns several times throughout the year - which is vital to your success as people flow in and out of the many scenarios in group B all the time. If you just shoot out a non-specific, non-nerve striking message to everyone with unimpressive results, where will the money (or motivation) come from to do it again?? Is this making ANY sense??

"People who are predisposed to doing something creative" People that have lost their job People that are going through a divorce People that are drowning in debt People that inherit property they don't want People that own property that have code violations People that own property that is vacant Landlords that are in the process of evicting Job/Military that is getting transferred The list goes on. I know you might be thinking, "How on earth am I supposed to get a mailing list of everyone that has lost their job or is getting a divorce??" You have to think around it... If you were in any of these people's shoes, where would you go, who would you talk to? You don't always have to get a postcard in the hand of the seller. Most of the time it is better to get your name in the hands of that person's best friend, attorney, bar tender, etc. That is why networking is so important. You can't possibly know every reason someone may need to sell quickly. What you can do is make sure that the people they talk to about their troubles know who you are and that you can help. Consider the following list..... Animal Control Officers Apartment Managers Appraisors Area Churches Attorneys Bank Loan Officers Bar Tenders Cable Company Employees Cleaning Companies Contractors - SubContractors Counselors CPA's - Accountants Door-To-Door Salespeople Firemen Hair Stylists Inspectors Insurance Agents Mail Carriers MH Salespeople Mortgage Brokers Newspaper Employees Pizza Delivery People Policemen Real Estate Agents Title Company Employees Utility Company Employees Do you think any of those people might know someone in need of your help??

What you suggest is makes perfect sense and is in fact what you should do with any call you get. My only point is that you should focus on attracting calls from people that are most likely to be motivated rather than taking the shotgun approach and spending so much of your valuable time talking to unmotivated people. You said earlier, "I keep coming back to trying to motivate the unmotivated instead of scratching them off." How will asking them qualifying questions then politley bailing accomplish this? It seems to me like it would only be an exercise in phone skills. A phone call, to me, is not a lead. It just means my phone rang. It becomes a lead if and when I determine there is something more to discuss in person. I am sensing that you are looking at this strictly as a numbers game. The more calls you get, the more houses you will buy. That may be statistically sound but as with any decent numbers game there is always a way to tilt the odds in your favor making it more a game of skill, rather than a game of chance. In our line of work, targeting motivated sellers is what tilts the odds in our favor.

Not necessarily. Imagine Ford/Lincoln/Mercury executives asking, "How do we get the cost of attracting Town Car buyers down closer to what we pay to attract the Escort buyers?" It isn't going to happen. Town Car buyers have options... that is why it costs more to get their attention and keep their focus on what you have to offer. Escort buyers on the other hand typically don't have as many options and are easier to attract in mass numbers. Hence the lower cost per lead. Again, Town Car buyers have options... If you want to sell them an Escort, you wait until the stock market crashes leaving them just over broke and THEN you sell them on the idea of an Escort. There is a reason you get a larger response from buyers. You have something that the majority of buyers NEED. That is not the case with the majority of sellers. Hence the lower response rate and higher cost per lead. The moment you have something that a majority of sellers NEED (read motivation), your phone will be ringing off the hook. If all you want is a lower cost per lead then only promote to people that are likely to need you. Now keep in mind that the number of sellers that need you is a lot smaller than the number of buyers that need you so your cost per lead will be low in both cases but the number of seller leads will naturally be lower. If you are simply wanting your phone to ring 250 times for $50 then you have to ask yourself, "Is a lead still a lead if it is worthless?" Food for thought. BTW, if you answered, "YES" to that last question then send me the $50 bucks and I will call you 250 times myself.

I understand and can appreciate your willingness to sift and sort. What I would like for you to consider is the trail you leave behind in doing so. For each unmotivated seller you offend (and yes they do get offended) with your creative offer you leave behind a person that will only have negative things to say about you should the opportunity ever arise. You have to understand that creative strategies sound like illegal strategies to unmotivated sellers. You and I know that is not the case but Sammy Seller is not in a creative mindset. To him, your plans sound like trickery. Remember Sammy not only expects to get full price for his house, he also feels entitled to it. Until he is motivated he has no reason to think otherwise. You come along and suggest anything different and you will end up leaving Sammy wondering if he is being Punk'd. It is going to happen occasionally no matter what you do, but on the scale you are talking, I'm just not sure I want that many people out there with something bad (perceived or otherwise) to say about the way I do business. Even though I know it isn't true and that they are just clueless - it is simply not a risk I am willing to take. Not with that many people at one time. Word of mouth advertising can make or break you. You are wise to want a cheaper solution and I applaude to persistence in looking for it. Just be careful to think through the after affects as well. Just my 2 pennies - no more, no less.

I know we have all heard it and I know most of us believe it but for some weird reason it keeps getting undervalued as good advice. As real estate investors you should be looking for motivated sellers - NOT houses. I might be wasting my breathe (er, finger strength?) here because it wasn't until I met with my first motivated seller that it all made sense. All those people that said, "You will know one when you see one" were so right. For the record, I did it too. I wasted plenty of time talking with sellers that were a complete waste of time. Now I am on the other side of the fence and can understand why those investors would just look at me with a funny little grin and throw up their hands at all my. "Well, what about... " type questions. For the record, I will say it again... Look for motivated sellers - NOT houses The difference is monumental.

If I had to pick, I would say that FULL PRICE does the trick nicely but I have to agree with Jason... You gotta have a pretty good salesmanesque quality to pull off a marketing campaign that is aimed at people wanting full price for their home. Afterall, the only way you could do it and make money would be to buy on some stallar terms. That takes salemanship of the highest order. Truly motivated sellers on the other hand will practically give you their house just to be rid of it. The hardest task for you at that point is to restrain your greed and treat them fairly. That takes salesmanship too, but pinned to a decent conscience is much easier than our first scenario.

Speedo's and black thongs?!? And here I thought all you guys were naked. <sigh> Where's the forum attorney? I'd like to sue for false advertising please.

For me the fear went away rather quickly... it was just a matter of realizing that I knew more about what I was talking about than I thought I did. After that, it just turned into a complete hatred for cold calling. I hate being told "no" once - let alone time after time after time. It's not that the word "no" sends me to the medicine cabinet for Prozac, it's just that I am a firm believer that my time is better spent getting people to call me rather than beating my head on my desk at the thought of making the next call. Ah, cold calling. Some people love it. Personally, I hate it. Besides, in my kingdom, where I reign supreme, scepter and all, "yes men" make me feel all warm and tingly. -Kay

WE BUY HOUSES Less cheese... PROPERTY WANTED - OLD OR NEW HOMES ACCEPTED Just a thought. -Kay

Probably the best advice I ever got was to stop making cold calls. Getting people to call you makes SO much more sense. Most people start out selling their house thinking (or at least hoping) that they will be inundated with calls and that their house will sell quickly. I prefer talking to them after that delusion has worn off. When they stop getting phone calls is when they start making phone calls. My job as to try to be the first (and only) call they make. -Kay

I love using bright yellow business cards... One day I threw away someone else's bright yellow card (non RE related). The wastebasket in my office does not fill very quickly so for nearly a week I would see this bright thing out of the corner of my eye and each time that happened I would instantly think of the company and what they did. I ordered my first batch shortly thereafter. -Kay