Does Cold Calling Really Work?

[Mike Schorah]

I went Driving For Dollars and was able to get a list of 994 addresses for distressed properties. I was able to look up the names for 95% of these properties. I finished adding the names yesterday.

Today, I started to look up the phone numbers for these addresses/names. I started with Whitepages.com. I was only able to get 1 free name. The rest of the inquires required a paid subscription. I then went to Facebook to no avail. It seems to be nearly impossible to match names to properties with Facebook let alone getting phone numbers. Then, I went to thatsthem.com. Eureka-it worked... briefly. I was able to get 10 free phone numbers before creating an account. Then, I noticed that you only get 30 free phone numbers per month before a subscription is required. Just to test the data, I looked up myself as well as a relative's phone numbers to discover that the information that it was giving me is 10 years old (Not to mention the fact that it gives you multiple phone numbers for one listing). I can only assume that Whitepages.com works the same way. 

Has anyone used Whitepages.com to cold call? Does it work?

I'm open to other low cost strategies that offer low competition. You need a license to door knock in my area so that's most likely out of the question.

[Braden Smith]

Cold calling works at scale, meaning you will need to call hundreds and hundreds of numbers to get a deal. In order to do this, you need a large list and you will need to have it skip traced. Much like many other things, you get what you pay for with skip traced data. If you go with the cheapest option the data will be garbage.

Just FYI, there are some new rules a regulations you need to abide by when it comes to cold calling if you want to keep yourself out of trouble. The government is cracking down more and more on cold calling, SMS marketing, RVMs, etc.

See here for the most up to date info:  https://www.reiblackbook.com/g...

Take notice of the following section that reads as follows:

What You Need to Know About the National Do Not Call Registry

In order to understand how this impacts your real estate investing business, let’s take a closer look at the National Do No Call Registry.

Within the DNC, there are 3 types of organizations or functions; seller, telemarketer/service provider or exempt organizations.

A seller may also be a telemarketer if it is calling on its own behalf or if it retails one or more telemarketers to place calls for it.

You, as an investor, will want to register as a “seller”.

Every seller should subscribe to specific area codes, pay appropriate fees and agree to certification requirements in order to receive a Subscription Account Number (SAN).

The DNC Registry requirements are as follows:

• Annual subscription by area code
• You must maintain an in-house DNC list and sync it with the nation registry at least once every 31 days. (The national DNC is updated daily at 8AM)
• Data for up to five area codes is free. Beginning October 1st, 2020, the annual fee is $66 per area code of data (after 5) for up to a maximum annual fee of $18,044
• Companies that have provided the required identification and certification and paid the appropriate fees will be allowed to check a small number of telephone numbers (10 or less) at a time via interactive internet pages. This will permit small volume callers to comply with DNC requirements of TSR (Telemarketing Sales Rules) without having to download potentially large lists of all registered telephone numbers within a particular area.

What happens to companies that don’t pay for access to the registry?

Any company that is a seller and/or telemarketer could be liable for placing any telemarketing calls (even to numbers NOT on the registry) unless the seller has accessed the registry and paid any required fees. Violators may be subject to fines of up to $43,792 per violation. (Each call may be considered a separate violation.)