Started 2015 by Spending $15k on Marketing

[Bradley Smotherman]

Maybe it was the Mai Tai's in Maui...

But I decided 2015 was the year to really put everything into my real estate deals. I figured it was a good idea to start direct mail so I told my friend Michael Quarles what my goals were and he came up with a fantastic schedule...

6,000 mailers per month, broken into groups of yellow letters, postcards, and professional letters....A little over 15k when prepaid 4 months...So I pulled the trigger.

I haven't done any direct mail so I am excited to see the results. I'll keep you posted as the calls roll in. Wish me luck!

[Mark F.]

@Bradley Smotherman I'd like to add my two cents. I've been in what is essentially phone sales (mortgage financing) for 9 years now, and a critical ingredient for selling your services over the phone is to get the conversation off of price or home value and make it about what motivated the seller to call you. Some people will share more than others, so this won't necessarily work for every caller, but it will definitely make your conversations more effective. Here's a few tips for your conversations with sellers:

1) Be personable and professional. Take a genuine interest in the seller and get to know them on a personal level before you start digging hard core into real estate. Build rapport with them, which helps them trust you and lower their guard. Share about yourself so they can see that you're a real person. Be open about your business as well. Many real estate investors for some reason think they have to be cagey about what they do. Don't be like that! Be up front about what you do.

2) Ask open ended questions (questions that can't be answered with a yes or no) about why they need to sell. You may have to build some rapport and get their guard down first before you can do this, but ask questions like "what would it mean for you to sell in x number of days?", or "why do you need to sell now?", or "why haven't you sold already?". A great question to get the conversation rolling is "tell me about the house. What repairs or upgrades have you done or plan to do?". People love to talk about their home, so this can be a great question to get them talking if the conversation isn't flowing too smoothly (it also helps you uncover important information about the condition of the home). By asking good questions, you can uncover their real motivation for selling.

3) Once you've uncovered the real problem they're trying to solve (maybe the mortgage payment is too much, they lost their job and are having financial difficulties, or the maintenance on the home is too much, etc.), constantly present yourself as the solution to the problem, ie, "sir, I can understand how all the maintenance issues can be overwhelming, so how would it feel to walk away from the home with a big check in hand in a matter of days? Would that ease your mind?". By uncovering the real problem and tying your services to the solution, you've created more value in the transaction then just price. Now the transaction becomes about improving the seller's life, not just the price for the home. 

4) Follow up, follow up, follow up. If the seller doesn't move forward now, be sure to follow up in a few weeks. Moving forward often is simply about timing. A "no" today could really be a "not yet".

By asking open ended questions and digging for the true problem the seller is trying to solve, you set yourself apart from all the other people who are simply trying to buy their house. You also build more value in the transaction than just price - it becomes a lifestyle solution instead of you simply trying to snag a house. Also, by making the transaction about solving a problem in the seller's life, you make price less of an issue. 

There's an old adage in sales that says something like "price is only an issue when you haven't shown the customer enough value". By identifying the real problem, then presenting yourself as the solution, you build more value in the deal that will make price less of an issue. 

Note that this strategy won't work for every seller, but it will definitely make your conversations with sellers more effective.