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Cold Calling Anyone

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I have personally done a ton of cold-calling, and my thought is that is used to work better than it does now--not that it can't work. But I think things like the internet, SEO and social media can work just as well or better if done right.

No reason we can't employ all of the above marketing strategies to maximize our results.

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OK, cold calling, something I happen to do if I don't have anything else to do. The don't know why I'm calling call, works better if you call someone renting or selling something. I used the someone left this number on my desk saying call you, but didn't say why, are you selling something or have some kind of service your offering. Oh, your selling a car, I was looking for a second car maybe that is it, what kind of car is it? Why are you selling it? There is a point where you can inject that your a investor, e.g. Oh, I was looking for something with very good gas mileage or whatever it lacks, to use because I am a real estate investor and I put on a lot of miles doing my job so I was looking for... by the way as long as I have you on the phone, do you know of anyone that maybe mentioned...

 

Rental, it's not for sale, that is what I wanted to find out, I am a investor and I do lease options and wanted to know if you were a potential seller and of course your not. May I ask have you thought of adding to your holdings at todays prices by buying another home on a lease option and renting it out. No I'm not interested. Well thanks for talking to me, I do run into people wanting to rent but not buy and if that is soon I will be sure to give them your number, if that is alright with you.

 

It is a rare person that gets upset at this approach. As I think about it I can only remember one.

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I would say cold calling can work, although it works best when you are calling someone who has already been somewhat pre-qualified.

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Cold calling is a good time! Not the first time, not the second or third either. But by about the fourth using the same script, you start to get good at the script and you start to master it. Then instead of stumbling through it, you become the script and you can express your true nature through it.

 

If it's a rental I use a simple script:

1. Hello, I was calling about the ad I saw in _________________ is the property still for rent?

2. Oh, that's good to hear. Would you be interested in a long term lease, like say 3 years?

3. So, considering I make all my payments on time and there are no problems and everything is smooth, would you consider selling me the property at the end of that period?

--- you just pieced together whether a person is interested in a lease-option

Proceed with gathering facts.

 

 

If it's a FSBO:

1. Call, introduce yourself, mention you are calling about the ad you saw. Is it still for sale?

2. "That's good to hear. I'm sorry, it sounds like I caught you in the middle of something...."

3. "Oh good, well I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about the property."

4. Before they get too far, interrupt with: "Well, it sounds like a nice (decent) house, out of curiosity, why are you selling it?"

------this pretty much determines where the conversation goes from there

 

when it comes to price, it varies, but I stick to something like,

What do you think the property is worth? _____________________

How did you arrive at that price? ________________________

What are you trying to get out of the property? __________________________

Are you flexible on that price? Y or N

 

Disclaimer, I just spent the last 2 months trying to get properties at 70% ARV working off a wholesale model. Doesn't work it my area. *sigh* But I've gotten quite good at getting to the business with sellers, and bottoming out prices.

 

What I did learn from my Public Opinion Research days (telephone questionaires) is that it's important to get to the point, not to sound too professional, and speak very simply. (timidly) "Hello? Yes? Oh, hi. I'm calling because I have a government survey about the roads. Yes. A government survey about the roads. Are you interested in giving feedback on the roads? for the government so they can improve them?" <--- that worked 10x better than our script of something like: (confidently) "Hello, this is Nick calling from Public Opinion Research. We are calling today in order to" --click!--

 

Oh and because I usually get too caught up in the conversation, I need a information sheet to keep track of information. With a good approach, I never have problems getting things like loan details: interest rate, monthly payment, balance. They just need to take you seriously first, then once you are a 'professional' they are ready to give out all sorts of details. My response when they say, "blah blah why would I give you those facts/those are personal" I remind them that I am asking because I am serious about purchasing the house.

 

I learned once that people are more afraid of being ripped off than of paying a high price. Did you get that? People would prefer to pay a high price and feel like it was honest, then pay a low price to someone they thought was ripping them off. So make sure they know who you are, and what you want, otherwise they start trying to figure out themselves... which brings up images of infomercials and salesmen.

 

Although I finally did get the opposite from someone the other day: she thought I was being 'goofy' and didn't really want to purchase the house. Probably a bad job on my part of introducing LO. C'est la vie!

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I learned once that people are more afraid of being ripped off than of paying a high price. Did you get that? People would prefer to pay a high price and feel like it was honest, then pay a low price to someone they thought was ripping them off. So make sure they know who you are, and what you want, otherwise they start trying to figure out themselves... which brings up images of infomercials and salesmen.

We often forget that the first thing we are "selling" in this business is ourselves. If the seller or buyer we are trying to do business with doesn't trust us, they're not doing business with us.

Good post, Nick!

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