Follow-up on cold leads?

[David Chan]

Hey guys! I live in Canada where, due to privacy laws, it is much harder to find direct mail lists as it is in the U.S. Due to this I'm working with a partner who is running our marketing campaign. We are currently sending out yellow letters in select neighbourhoods. I think due to the blanket nature of the marketing scheme, we're getting a lot of cold leads without urgency or significant motivation asking for market price or over market price. Occasional lead is about 10% under market value, still far from what we want for targets, or occasional lead is motivated, but still asking for market or over market value.

What types of approaches is everyone taking for their cold leads? Are you just moving along and leaving them if they are cold? Doing a verbal low-ball offer and if they do not counter, then leaving? Are you following up with the cold leads after a period of time? What types of thresholds/criteria do you use before going in to look at a place?

Your input is appreciated!

[Stephen Keighery]

If you can't pull lists then you should think about more inbound campaigns. Things like SEO, SEM, facebook marketing etc so that you get people calling you who are distressed and looking to sell. Also if you add creative finance to your tool belt you may be able to convert a lot more of those "cold" leads.