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Doug Pretorius (ON)

Direct Mail

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After hearing about the results of John Jackson's direct mail campaign I decide to jump in and give it a go as well. I thought I'd share the results thus far and keep everyone updated on how it goes...

 

* I've sent a total of 509 pieces in the last month.

* The response rate so far is about 3.5%. (2.7% for letters and just over 4% for postcards)

* Not a single motivated seller has surfaced yet.

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Hi Doug,

 

What does your direct mail letter say and who is your target market?

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Update: The response on the postcards is now approaching 8%. As mentioned in the Lease Purchasing forum, it HAS uncovered a very motivated seller.

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How are you marketing to your target market? Are you buying a mailing list? If so, under what catorgory? Sending out over 500 mailings, you must be using some type of list? Please advise and thanks.

 

Alan

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Alan, my target is houses listed by agents. I compiled the list from a Canadian site equivilent to www.realtor.com in the US.

 

Unfortunately most of the sellers didn't screen themselves very well, so I think next time I'm going to drive the traffic to an 800# info line that will explain exactly what I'm looking for, and tell them to leave a message if they're still interested. The 800# will capture all the calls so I'll have everyone's numbers anyway, in case I'm bored and what to call them back :lol:

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Doug,

 

3 thoughts:

 

1) Mail to neighborhoods (a "farm area")you want to own in. Lists of sellers who have their mind made up on what they want to do isn't always the best idea and gets a low response, as you've found out.

 

2) Mail to those neighborhoods (same people) every 4-6 weeks for 6-8 months. You'll start to get responses for sure, then.

 

3) You lose a lot of business by sending people to a voicemail. Try to answer the phone whenever possible.

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Guest marc

I have found that it's best NOT to take the calls from my mailings, advertisements and flyers myself. I find that if I put in there "Call today and receive our FREE SPECIAL REPORT, How to sell your home in 7 days, call our FREE 24 hour recorded message for more information" gets a much better response. It's much less threatening and helps to flush out the motivated sellers on it's own.

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Doug,

 

I agree. 8% from a mailing is GREAT !!

 

But, it seemed from the following quotes that you were complaining about the low response:

 

Not a single motivated seller has surfaced yet.

 

Unfortunately most of the sellers didn't screen themselves very well, so I think next time I'm going to drive the traffic to an 800# info line that will explain exactly what I'm looking for, and tell them to leave a message if they're still interested.

 

 

What have the responses been like? Are the "tire-kickers" looking for a full cash out or are they mildly interested in the SLO/CA route of selling? I guess your posts seemed a little bit on the "down" side and that you were NOT happy with the responses you were getting.

 

-Rich

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I have found that it's best NOT to take the calls from my mailings, advertisements and flyers myself.  I find that if I put in there "Call today and receive our FREE SPECIAL REPORT, How to sell your home in 7 days, call our FREE 24 hour recorded message for more information" gets a much better response.  It's much less threatening and helps to flush out the motivated sellers on it's own.

 

Marc,

 

If you advertise "24 Recorded Message", then you will get a lot of response, naturally, because it is non-threatening.

 

But, if you just advertise a number to call, motivated sellers will expect to hear a human voice. When they don't, they may not leave a number or message. You just lost thousands of dollars. Is it worth it?

 

When you answer your calls "live," you can qualify the caller for motivation, qualify the house and get all the specs you need to run your comps. If they all look right, you can call the guy back and arrange a meeting that afternoon ! WHY WAIT !!??

 

Motivation is motivation. People who need to sell, need to sell NOW and if you can get the job done fast, they'll go with your plan, not the next guy, who might just be answering all his calls.

 

Speed and time is of the essence in this business and in any business. The early brid catches the worm, so to speak.

 

And, if you answer your phone this morning and can lock up a property this afternoon......you can do it again tomorrow and the next day and the next......

 

How much money do YOU want to make? :angry:

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Ok, let me clarify...

 

The overall response (7.7% to be exact) is excellent. But the majority of them are not motivated. Here's how the numbers break down:

 

364 postcards - which led to...

28 unique calls - which led to...

5 mildly interested - which led to...

1 very interested

 

But, if you just advertise a number to call, motivated sellers will expect to hear a human voice. When they don't, they may not leave a number or message. You just lost thousands of dollars. Is it worth it?

That's why I have caller ID so I can call back the few who don't leave messages.

 

I agree that if you're in a market with very heavy competition then it might be necessary to answer every call as it comes in. I don't, so I can afford to have a life :angry:

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BTW, if you're interested, here's the copy for the postcard:

 

Hi, my name is [your name], I'm a private investor and I’m interested in buying your house.

 

If you are moving and faced with the prospect of making payments on 2 houses at once; I can help by taking over the payments on your old house now and paying off the mortgage in the near future.

 

I promise there is no obligation and I am not a realtor. Give me a call at [your number] and let’s chat.

Thank you for your time.

 

I can't find the letter that I sent last month, but like I said it was similar to the LPA.

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In every business situation I've ever been in, I have used my answering machine or voicemail to take the call and set an appointment with the caller.

 

Meaning: The message was something along these lines - "Thanks for calling. Please leave a message at the tone....all calls received before 11am will be returned by 2:00pm. All calls received by 5:00pm will be returned by 7:30pm." Something like that..........

 

If you are going to use a voicemail syatem, it let's the caller know he's not been dropped into that black hole of Voicemail where he might wait 3-4 days to hear back from you.

 

Next step is to keep your word and make the callbacks. Not always easy to do, but you have to try - it's the first chance to build trust and get them to see that you "do what you say you are going to do."

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Doug,

 

Make the postcard more exciting. "Sell the sizzle," as they say. How about this? (one of mine I am using with pretty good response):

------------------------------------------------------------

Sell Your Home & End The Pain!

 

Trying to sell a home now can be a real pain. STOP! Let (your company name) be your pain killer. We are home buyers! We are NOT real estate agents - (BY CHOICE !) You need to sell? We need to buy! House vacant? Need repairs? Must move quick? Making double payments? Late payments? Foreclosure? Divorce? Liens? Family problems? Stop worrying, because…

 

(YOUR COMPANYNAME) buys houses in all price ranges – any condition. We can get mortgage payments off your back in hours, not months. Let’s talk!

 

CALL NOW xxx-xxx-xxxx

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Kinda dynamic. Then, mail the same people the same message every 4-6 weeks for the next 6-8 months, like I said above. Offer a Finder's Fee or reward on your card if there's room. It has worked for other ventures in my past and it's starting to work with my "ramping up" real estate biz, too.

 

-Rich

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