Dealing with unmotivated callers

[Daniel Rubin]

We are on month three of our first marketing campaign. So far we started with post cards then moved to yellow letters and will be sending out zip letters this week. We have mailed approximately 2200 mailers each month and have gotten over a 1% response rate each month but most calls have been from tire kickers who aren't motivated and just want us to give them a price for their property.

How does everyone deal with tire kickers? If you know they aren't motivated do you do some research, call them back and give them a number even though they will most likely say no? Do you continue to mail to them? Do you remove them from your campaign but do regular follow-up via a phone call or text in case they become motivated?

Wanted to get other peoples perspective on how they deal with this type of caller.

[Dev Horn]

Chris' strategy is good. A lot depends on your style and the rapport you've built with the seller. Have you ever heard the saying that, in negotiations, the first person to mention a number LOSES? There's some truth to that. When we are dealing with MOTIVATED SELLERS, we really like to get the seller to give us a couple of numbers before we ever offer one:

What do you think your house would sell for in perfect condition?

If I could pay you in cash, in less than 30 days, what's the least you could take?

This allows them to get their numbers out on to the table - their high number and their low number. You now have a range and will know if you are anywhere close. We'll then follow with, "Man, I wish we could give you that, but we're investors that need to make a reasonable return on the investments we make into properties. The wholesale price that I can offer you today is $xx,xxxx.".

Now, if they are NOT motivated and/or their property is in excellent condition, there's not a strong argument for taking a wholesale price vs. selling it retail. You can't position a 30% discount to ARV against a 6% Realtor commission. So you don't argue that, you just say it's been a pleasure, that your (written) offer is good for a while, ask them to let you know if their situation changes. You'd be surprised. After months of doing this, you will get calls from people asking "Is that offer still good?".