Should newbie go all in with DM? Have savings, lots of free time

[Mark B.]

Hi BP, I'm new (have been a BP listener since 2015 though) and I'm fully committing to RE now, through wholesaling. Still in school but finishing part time to be able to give more focus to RE. The goal is to hopefully gain real traction in this as a business before graduating so I can stick with it full time.

I have enough savings to do some heavy direct mail campaigns, but of course the fear of my inexperience leading to losing it all without a done deal is holding me off the trigger. 

What would you advise?  

A part of me is saying if I'm too scared to take the full leap on a 9-touch direct mail campaign with a couple big lists, then I don't have what it takes to make the risks necessary to succeed in real estate or business. 

The other part is saying don't be stupid, respect what's at stake here and try to go about it smarter. ie: leverage my free time more by curating the lists down a lot and hyper targeting the homeowners likely to be the most motivated. That I can viably direct mail a small list like absentee owners with code violations over and over and squeeze a couple deals out of it, without spending $10k or more. Supplement with time intensive marketing strategies like bandit signs to affordably increase deal flow, too. Then scale up the direct mail as I get more experience and funds. 

This ^ seems like the sensible approach to me but I lack the data to know if massive volume (thousands of addresses) is mandatory to statistically close deals through direct mail. Can deals be done with 200-500 addresses if they are highly targeted?

What say you BP members?

[Account Closed]

@Mark B. go highly targeted like you're saying, and target leads that you don't believe are being competed for heavily. That may mean going for a different market, and/or alternative asset type. You don't want to compete right now, especially when you're so small. You want to be different.

Get that list of the magic 500 leads. Send a HIGH quality, unique mail piece with a personal, well thought out custom message. Also, call these leads, try ringless voicemail, and send them text messages . all on alternate cadences. Direct mail will be your highest rate of conversion, but the other approaches taken consequently will rapidly build familiarity with you and your brand & get your leads to start calling you sooner rather than later. People have to know and respect you to call you and give you their business. 

Messaging deserves one more mention here. You need a STRONG message that is meaningful to your prospective sellers- delivered consistently, through multiple marketing vehicles, frequently and consistently.