DM Marketing Questions

[Nettles Mason]

I am starting my direct marketing campaign. I am mailing a yellow letter, post card, post card to start. I used the filters suggested on BP to narrow my list to 1000 ish addresses. 300 a week done in house

1 - Absentee Out of State/ Absentee In StateSFR 3-5 Bedrooms 5 years ownership no Corp or Trust or duplicate mailing address

I have also been sending emails to adds on craigslist asking landlords if they would rent to own and driving for dollars. Do you cast a big net and don’t worry about cross message touching. I mean shouldn’t absentee owner cover “distressed house” and for sfr for rent?

Ex. Email, - we are looking for a place for rent but eventually buy. Will you lease option?

Yellow letter to same address by listsource. My name is … I want to buy your house.

Am I over thinking how to track correspondence?

Do you use CRM software to track all your letters/email to cold contacts or just ones that call?

[Dev Horn]

You can use a CRM like Zoho just to keep track of leads, the people that contact you. But many just use spreadsheets to keep lists for follow-up, etc. I don't worry too much about that - my concern is touching the right prospects at least 5-7 times.

Your list criteria is OK, but you didn't mention % Equity. I know that it's an expensive extra filter (+10 cents per record) on Listsource.com, but it's critical UNLESS you are also a RE agent that can list properties (or you can sell those leads). I suppose you could do some lease option type stuff, but that's still hard to do if they owe too much on the house.

I'm not a big fan of yellow letters sent to absentee owners who may have no equity. I prefer a WELL-DESIGNED, HIGH-IMPACT large postcard sent only to people with 50% or more equity.

Know this now - if you position yourself as an individual that loves the person's house and really wants to buy it.... they see $$$ signs and imagine above-retail asking prices coming from buyers like that. Once you meet them, it's a challenge to shift from, well I'm not a guy that loves your house, I'm really an investor and I need to get it at ARV x 70% less Repairs! I really prefer to target the RIGHT PEOPLE with the RIGHT MESSAGE up-front. You don't just want CALLS, you want QUALIFIED LEADS. Dial in your list and your message and don't be afraid to tell people that you buy houses for investment purposes. The right ones won't care if you offer a solution to their problem (i.e., need for cash, in a hurry, cannot make repairs...).