Automated voicemail, Call Centers, and Self answering?

Question

When a motivated seller calls you, I would like to know which would you preferAutomated VoicemailCall Centers or You yourself answering the phones?

Carrie Anderson · Answer

When I was working for an investor, I answered all seller inquiries. It was my job to ask all the questions, get all the info, plant the seeds, then pull all the data on the property (property profiles, comps, etc), put together deal analysis, etc, then provide the package to investors. @Jacquelyn Sarpong, how comfortable are you with asking the seller the questions yourself? My investors were very comfortable doing it themselves, as they did it before they got busy and hired me.

Shanequa J. · Answer

I use a call center with a local number. I don't answer the phone myself because I work too much and don't have the time. It also gives me time to prepare for the call. I get my pen and paper and mentally get ready. I mentally prepare because I'm still fairly new to talking to sellers and you don't know what mood the caller is in, how they feel about your business, or why they are calling. I don't use an automated voicemail for two reasons. 1- I don't leave messages at businesses so I don't expect a customer to do so either. I hang up and call the next business. I might call back, but if no one answers a second time, I won't call again because that means they are too busy. If I can't reach them now, it's going to be the same way when we enter into a contract. 2- The call center is more professional. I used Google Voice for my automated voicemail and couldn't figure out how to download a professional voicemail message so it was me talking instead.The good thing about the call center and Google Voice is that even if the caller doesn't leave a message, their phone number is logged. I call everyone back.Google Voice is free. I use Voice Nation. It's $30/month for 30 minutes. I haven't been close to using all the minutes yet. When that happens, I'll upgrade to the next plan. They use a custom script I gave them.

Carrie Anderson · Answer

I suppose I was the acquisitions manager LOL. Such a fancy title. I did everything for my investors. Decided what markets to target, designed and conducted the marketing campaigns, received all inbound calls from prospective sellers, developed the relationships with them, asked them all screening questions on their properties, researched the properties, deal analysis, scheduled property inspections, structured the offers, sometimes presented the offers. The only thing I didn't do was go out to the properties and physically inspect before offer. My investors did that. If offers were made in-person, they did that. Once they were on contract, I was still the POC for the seller, as I had the established relationship with them. I also did some bird-dogging for my investors.So, really, it's up to the individual investor as to how they want to conduct their business. It's your business. You can model it after others until you get some closings under your belt and decide how much or how little you want your hands in it. Some investors like to do everything themselves, some want someone else to handle the details. Getting back to your orginial question: "When a motivated seller calls you, I would like to know which would you preferAutomated VoicemailCall Centers or You yourself answering the phones?"Again, how comfortable are you, personally, with speaking with a prospective seller? (Most are not motivated btw). If you want some pointers, feel free to connect with me here, and message me.

Jacquelyn Sarpong · Answer

I thought about that. Are you the assistant or acquisitions manager? I wonder how far am I willing to take the business. I saw one VW just have the leads coming in, being analyzed by an assistant and forwarded to other wholesalers in the areas and they work the deal and get the cash investor and then close. Others actually do everything themselves except be the boots on the ground.

Jacquelyn Sarpong · Answer

Yeah i know. That's why I'll start with maybe just two areas because i definitely need boots on the ground. I know how to do comps or work with agents who can. And just do a 50/50 split with wholesalers. It's a lot of trust in people but with as expensive as the Nyc market is. I want to try a cheaper market without having to actually move there and joint ventures help me to put more money into marketing and analyzing and less time driving all over town.

Shanequa J. · Answer

Yes, it is expensive. It's too expensive if you ask me. Brandon did a tutorial on setting up a Wix website. I don't know the link for it. Marketing the country is a lot of work and expensive. Do you have the systems in place for other states? You gotta have someone there that knows the area, can get you comps, and look at the property.

Jacquelyn Sarpong · Answer

Oh OK. I saw investor carrot. It's really expensive. I'm trying to figure out how Wix can do lead capture. I'll try Voice Nation. Since I'm doing virtual wholesale. I can market the country. I'm just getting all the education to do it.

Shanequa J. · Answer

I don't use Google Voice for wholesaling. I looked into Patlive and it's expensive. I suggest you start with something more affordable until you start getting deals. I live Voice Nation. They do what they are supposed to do. I called one day and the operator did not ask all the the questions. I call everybody back so it's not a huge deal.I used Investor Carrot and got someone on Fiverr to tweak it. It's expensive at $500 a year. Seeing how easy it was to personalize it, I would have went with Wix or Wordpress and hired someone to add the extra designs. However, I've heard others say Investor Carrot is good for capturing leads. So far, it is not. No deals yet. I get calls, but none low enough for me to buy.

Jacquelyn Sarpong · Answer

Thanks so much. I'm just getting started. thinking more along the lines of virtual wholesaling bc I don't have time either. I thought about Patlive. Are you still using Google Voice at all for your buyers? how do you like Voice nation? Also I'm trying to build a website... who designed yours? its niceby the way, how is wholesaling going for?