Direct Mail

[Korbin Smoot]

Hey, 

I'm Korbin Smoot. I'm looking to get into direct mail so I can begin wholesaling and also being an agent in good fix and flip and multi family unit transactions. I was wondering what the response rate was for those who have experience in the Utah, Davis, Salt Lake City county areas. Also, out of the amount of people who respond, how many deals on average are you getting? 

[Jeff Rappaport]

@Korbin Smoot Direct mail response rates vary depending on your list and your message.  I would also agree with @Steve Bracero that it is not enough to hit a list one time.  Studies have shown that your response rate will increase significantly between the 5th and 8th time you have hit a prospect. 

In the areas you mentioned you can expect about a third to one half of one percent response rate.  So for every 300 postcards you will get a call or two.  Out of these responses I would say at least a third to half of them will be prospects that ask you to take them off of your list.  As far as conversion rate (leads to deals) that really depends a lot on you.   If you are looking strictly for properties that you can buy cheap and either wholesale or rehab then your conversion rate will probably be lower. It may take 15-25 leads to generate a deal.   These are the most competitive leads right now and you may be bidding on properties with multiple other investors.  If you are more of a transactional engineer and can structure different type of offers to prospects you will get a much higher conversion rate.  Furthermore, you can target a different demographic that is not getting bombarded with direct mail and other solicitations.   Much of the conversion rate is structuring and negotiating a deal and how good you are at creating rapport with your prospect.  Another key aspect of conversion rate is your follow up!  Do not forget this step or you will be losing out on 70% of your business.  A good follow up campaign will increase your conversion rate and make you a lot more money in this business!