ATTRACTING " REAL" MOTIVATED SELLERS !

[Lawrence Brooke]

I'll try to keep this short...Have done 3 mailings ( a combination of yellow letters, hand written and stuffed in pretty envelopes letters, postcard mailings). Total cost approximately $2,500. Response rate roughly 1-3%. "Motivated Sellers"...MAYBE 1-2%. Deals out of all this mailing/time/$$$...ZERO!!!! ( and yes, I did all the right stuff with the mailings as per the "experts'" recommendations). It seems to me that soliciting someone with an offer to buy their house should be more of a "focused" exercise rather a "hit or miss" type of one ( mailings to me seem like just throwing a dart at the dartboard and hoping for a good lead...it's not really addressing the "real" distressed/motivated sellers who really want someone to help them). I also realize it only takes 1 deal to make all the mailing efforts worthwhile, but where do I draw the line and say...HEY, mailings just don't work for me!? I have several different marketing avenues I use ( bandit signs, Craigslist, business cards, flyers, local REIA meeting, etc. etc)....each one generating different lead results. I have as of this post closed only 1 deal...and that was a lead generated by Zbuyer in the past 8 months...not exactly "crushing it"!! I firmly believe my negotiating skills are up to par ( we can always get better) and I like to think I establish a good rapore with the sellers. I'm currently working with a wholesale coach, but the deals are not coming fast enough ( I also believe that our offers are WAY too low for the sellers I actually DO negotiate with!). My question to everyone is...if the "real" name of the game of investing is to generate "quality", "motivated" leads, what are some of your suggestions based on what I've said in my experience to attract "REAL MOTIVATED SELLERS"? Thanks to all for listening. :-)