Direct mail! Who uses it?

Question

Hi everyone!

My name is Lukas :) I am just trying to get a feel  for how many people really use direct mail as part of their marketing.  (and to what degree)

If you use direct mail, please post  approximately how much you mail per month, and if you hand-address  envelopes, or send other pieces instead. :D

Also, if you are that  guy/gal that networks and knows everyone, how many people in your  state/city do you estimate use direct mail in volume excess of 500  pieces/mo?

Thank you all so much,

I appreciate it!

~Lukas

Alex Owens · Answer

Lukas,

I have always wondered the same questions - how many people out there are actually sending mail..

Personally, I send about 1,000 pieces a month right now but plan to ramp it up to 2,000 by summer. The biggest thing I have noticed is that you HAVE to be consistent. Direct Mail is all about hitting a motivated seller at the exact right time in their life that they want to sell.

Additionally, Direct Mail can be incredibly frustrating because it is a large up-front investment and it is difficult to directly track the return on investment. For example, I sent only one round of mail to a particular list back in July and I have gotten more calls from that list in December than I did July-November. If I close on one of those deals in January, it will have been 6 months after my initial investment in July before I see any return on that investment. This is why consistency is so key.

The way you approach direct mail can vary drastically as well. @Rocky Griffin mentioned he uses Yellowletter.com to send out his mail. Yellowletters.com is a fantastic service that a lot of real estate investors use to send mail because the company with print "hand written" letters, stuff envelopes, and actually mail them out for you. The problem that I have found is that it is too overused these days and a seller could end up getting multiple pieces of mail that look the exact same. Additionally, Yellowletters.com is more expensive than if you did it yourself - not incredibly more expensive but it adds up if you are sending thousands of pieces of mail. I believe Yellowletters.com is around $0.79-$0.95 per letter and I am currently averaging about $0.55 per letter. Again, not a huge difference but for 1,000 pieces of mail I could potentially end up saving $400 if I did it myself. The downside is the time that it takes; it takes me about 10 hours to get 1,000 pieces of mail printed, sealed, and sent. Therefore, it becomes a balance between your time and your cash. I am 22 years old, not married, and have no kids so it is not a big deal for me to sit on my sofa all day on a Sunday watching NFL football and stuffing envelopes.

The last thing I will say is that I think you really have to make your letter stand out from the herd. If you are mailing to the same list that everyone else is mailing to then the seller has probably already received several pieces of mail before receiving yours. Why would they call you instead of one of the other 5 investors? This is where I really love to add a personal touch and cater my letter to the season/location/demographic/etc. of the individual. I would love to share some tips and secrets in this area but I have to keep my competitive advantage some how ;)

Hope this helped!

Rocky Griffin · Answer

I use ListSource and Yellowletters.com.

Mark Pedroza · Answer

Yes, I'm still sending direct mail to PR's who have a fiduciary responsibility to the probate estate they're representing.

A new probate case was filed this past Thursday in Oakland (Alameda county). The personal representative lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

In addition to mailing to her there's also her telephone number that was provided  (area code 225)..

Have you also tried cold calling??

Scott Showers · Answer

Hi Lukas, direct mail can be one of the best ways to finding deals if done correctly. In my opinion, here are the keys to a successful direct mail campaign in order:

1. Your list. This is the most important. You have to have an audience buying what you're selling.

2. Frequency. How many times are you hitting your list. I recommend 6 or 7

3. Marketing piece. What makes you stand out from the competitors?

Volume and consistency are key. I would recommend sending out at least 1,000/ month

Direct mail! Who uses it?

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