Struggling with sellers that are not highly motivated

[Mike S.]

My direct marketing has primarily attracted sellers with "mild" interest in selling or sellers curious about what I would pay for their property. The intention here is not to create a discussion about the quality of the lists and the type of copy, I realize both these require further optimization to generate motivated leads. Regardless, anyone that sends direct mail must encounter these curious callers that would like an offer on their property. They appear to have no "problem that needs fixing" and are in not in a situation that requires a fast sale. They do not want to meet in person or let me see the property. Nevertheless, they still picked up the phone and called me (they usually mention how they get loads of mail from people like me).

I am curious how other BP members handle these situations? I typically let them know that I will do some research and call them back with a number. When I call them back they generally thank me for the offer and inform me that when/if they are ready to sell they will call me back.

Should I follow up by sending an offer in the mail or a letter in the mail describing the offer?

Should I not give them a price over the phone and mail them an offer instead?

Should I provide an explanation of how I arrived at the offer # like an itemized breakdown of my costs?

or are these people just a complete waste of time?

hopefully some of the BP heavyweights that do a lot of deals directly with sellers will chime in on this one

@Aaron Mazzrillo

@Tim G.

@Jerry Puckett

@K. Marie Poe

@Dev Horn

@Brian Daly

[Aaron Mazzrillo]

I don't waste time with unmotivated sellers. I have seen newby investors go from REIA to REIA dragging the same non-deal around trying to squeeze water from a rock. They ask everyone how to structure a deal out of this dead lead. I like to refer to it as 'strangling the lead.'

The problem here is not the unmotivated seller, it is your volume of deal flow. If you have 5+ calls a day coming in, do you really want to or have time to spend on the unmotivated ones? No. So, you need to put these non-sellers on a follow up, or just leave them on your list and keep mailing them. Time and circumstances changes all seller's minds. When the phone stops ringing with motivated sellers, send more mail!

I think Ron LeGrand was the one who said it, and if so, it is the best saying related to this situation, "Some will, some won't, so what! Whose next?"