Why Guru’s Suck and Why Most Newbies Are Failing Because of It.

You may chose to excuse my real life rant or you may choose to take heed and learn something that can begin improving your bottom line as early as your next marketing campaign. As an avid marketer in our field of real estate, I am ALWAYS “on” when it comes to seeking, knowing and hearing what our “competition” is up to. 33.33% of me, lives for marketing.

Today I want to talk about marketing pieces and peoples ability to effectively get opportunity in exchange for the marketing they send out (that IS the purpose of your marketing by the way). So today I received a large 8x11 yellow top secret envelope from one of my mentors in the mail. I look forward to these packages. I know exactly what they are all about.

Its my monthly dose of “who’s who” in the local field of marketing this month. One of our mentors/lenders is a old school big player in real estate. He owns a few properties. So every month he sends me every marketing piece he receives in the mail. What I seen is nothing new. The same mailers (I mean all of them) going to the same people, with the same message. Blending right in. There are a few new guys joining the roster.

If your reading this and have been mailing “program” postcards and pre-filled yellow letters you are guilty. But the good news is, its not your fault.

The fact that you have a sincere desire to succeed in real estate is a great thing. You are just looking for “that edge” to get you in the game, getting your first deal or even get the next deal in escrow. The problem is, so is everyone else. And by everyone else, I mean, those who are beginning new in real estate or have been buying foreclosures and had no idea where to turn to when the foreclosure inventory came too competitive to compete.

Here are some facts. Almost everyone is mailing to the same people the guru is telling you to mail to. Absentee owners, probates, code violations, yada yada. Those facts wont change anytime soon. There is only a handful of motivated sellers when it comes to real estate so that is something none of us can change. There are secret lists, but only to us “junkies” who break their face on their glass desks after hours of playing in the data. The rare guru will give away his deepest marketing secrets. His livelihood depends on it no matter how abundant he may thinketh.

Everyone who does marketing has to send something to get a response.

Here is the biggest fact. It is much easier to buy a program and use the “one size fits all” mailer that comes with the catalog. Has ANYONE ever asked themselves the question of how many other investors in their own market are using the same mailing piece?

I grin every time I receive my packages. I also am in much pain. The evil side of my flesh tells me we are walking this market because we are the only “against the grain” marketers doing it opposite of what everyone else is doing. My caring compassionate side also feels for these people. The fact that they spent $995 on a program or $97 per month to have access to these cutting edge strategies and are actually racking up marketing debt pains my heart.

How do I know they aren't making a dime? Because every time I get one of these mailers, I pick up my phone and call these “buyers”. This leads me to another rant, but more on that in a minute. If your sending postcards to buy property, Im calling you because I want more deals. They usually are not real buyers, but wholesalers. We buy from wholesalers and we want every wholesaler in town bringing deals to us. I NEVER hear from them.

Lean in so I can speak of my other rant. This one tip has been proven (because we ask our sellers and they even have told us in our testimonials) to work, but again, its not what the gurus teach. When you call us to sell a property, you get a live answer (usually me). Not a google voice, or loop prompt, or another pre-qualifying process to run through. Not reiterating what your mailer already said. If I cannot answer, it goes to a polite, professional recording. If we miss it, your call is returned the same day. Not tomorrow. Not on Monday after the weekend is over. I know, most people are saying “your life must suck, always having to be on call for sellers”. I can assure you its much more enjoyable having cash and being there for sellers than it ever has been being broke because by the time you returned their calls, we got the deal signed. Besides, what better are you doing to stop and run out for two hours to make $3,000, $10,000 or $25,000+?

So how do you stray away from these masses and begin getting real deals from your marketing? These tips come from years (and I still dedicate time to these efforts) of endless research, data mining and testing.

Use lists that few others are mailing. Everyone mails to absentees. It is probably the single most mass marketed mailing list for real estate. Nothing wrong with that, but remember, the harder it is to find the data, the less people you will compete with because no one wants to work hard. Mail multiple different campaigns.

Create a mail piece that is YOU-nique. If your not the biggest baddest buyer in town, dont come across as one. I see too many people that use a “ego” mailer trying to portray the image of being some big player when they have not even done their first deal. Design and create a mail piece that is unique to you. Who will these people be sitting down with to sell their home to? Be that person in your mailer. Write a lot of different letters and see which pieces stick. It always helps to read a few good letters or marketing books before you create your own.
Postcards vs envelopes. Decide whether you will consistently use postcards or envelope mailers. We have surveyed our sellers and our personal success and envelopes return a much higher CLOSE rate than post cards. Post card response rates are much higher, but the quality of lead that comes from a envelope mailer is much greater than that of a postcard and more likely to result in a sale.

Answer your phone. Some people will never stray from their “system” and I know many of them do work well. I cant imagine the leads that go unclosed because someone was not available when that timing was exactly perfect for that seller. I prefer a live answer. Our situation is different as there are some properties we mail that I wouldnt want any one else speaking to them as they are very affluent people, so these require our knowledge of the property

Be a follow up bad ass. When someone raises there hand to inquire about selling a house, stay on them until it sells or until you buy it. We have become mavericks with follow ups and typically close 4-10 more deals per year just by staying in touch with sellers from the past.

Appear personal. The more you can make that mailer feel like they are the only person receiving it, the higher your responses will be. I personally write out around 50 personal letters per month. Handwritten, very personal. These letters have a great return when they finally come to fruition. My business parter calls them, “stamps”. These personal, well chosen stamps can make a major difference in your life.

Go deep not wide. This is just our personal philosophy for doing our marketing. Most investors blanket mail their market place with no idea on what works, who responds, why they respond and where they respond from. We would much rather hit the list of our most profitable areas repeatedly than to mass mail areas we really dont care to flip because they dont turn over much profit anyhow. Similar to Paretos 80/20 law, spend your time where the returns are the greatest. I would prefer to mail owner occs in a hot market than to mail to absentees in a cold market.

Stay with it. Statistics show that rates jump from 9% on the 4th mailer all the way up to 80% on the 5th mailer so do not call it quits after the second or third mailing. Switch up your mail pieces, provide value and offer a reason (your USP) as to why they should be calling you. Even if its not to sell you their house, some people just want someone to talk to. Be that person and when the time is right, they will be calling you, their friend.

These are just a few immediate tips to get you on a better path to marketing success. The rest you will learn if you are passionate about your marketing business. I have taken such a personal approach to our marketing I make sure the men get Johnny Cash stamps in a blue envelope and women get Love stamps on a pink envelope. If you want to learn more about marketing, response rates, mailers and how to separate yourself from what the masses do, contact me and we can set up a “marketing detox” call and see where your biggest bottlenecks are happening. Stay committed and you will see results. If you still run into problems, mail me and give me a reason to respond to your request.