Direct Marketing WHY and HOW

[Angela Kriv]

I've been listening to BP Podcasts (already on episode 31) and it seems that direct mailing is one of the preferred marketing tools for many if not most REI. I am new to the game, so I am sorry if my question seems naive, but I can't imagine somebody seriously considering selling a home by reading a postcard in the mail. Maybe it is me, but all junk mail goes directly to a shredder / garbage bin. Is it really this good for investors? Can somebody share how this yellow / white card looks and what is actually written on it? Thanks!

[Adrien C.]

If direct mail didn't work, companies wouldn't spend the BILLIONS of dollars mailing it out. It's a numbers game. They expect (and accept) and a large percentage of the mail is going to be tossed as you suggested. It's all about timing and they expect to catch a certain percentage of people at the right time. Think of something like Valpak (the coupons you get in the mail if it's only a local thing). You flip through the 75 coupons and pull out a few for your favorite restaurant. One day you decide you want to replace your windows. Valpak arrives in the mail and by-golly, there are 4 coupons for window companies. Those same 4 coupons were there the last 5 times you looked through the pack but it wasn't a concern so it never registered with you. Real estate is similar. You mail to a particular list- say absentee owners since everyone and their uncle hits that list. You mail to an owner 4 times and no response. That owner is cashing rent checks just fine and life is great. Selling to some scammie looking letter is silly. However between the 4th and 5th contact, the tenant left early and trashed the place. Now the landlord has to spend money to fix a place they are tired of having. They get your letter and 'what  the heck, I'll call and see if it's a legit person.' Boom- you get a deal. 

I won't go into specifics about the content of my letters and postcards because I mail to several lists and cater my message to each list. I also don't believe the content of the letter makes a difference since it's mostly a timing issue. When I was a regional sales trainer, I would tell new agents "you can't say the right thing to the wrong person and the wrong thing to the right person." It's need based selling or need based problem solving. This is why persistency is so important to catch people when they have a need. You can find several examples are the sites that sell letters as well as just googling "yellow letters" or something like that. I get a decent response rate (6-8% for a types specific letter and 2-3% for a canned postcard). I've made good money in the 1st six months and 30% of that is a result of my direct mail to specific lists. 

Good luck!