Direct Mail voicemail, what should it say?

Question

Hi Bp,

Im working on sending out my first direct mail today! Scary but im going for it. What should my google voice voicemail say? Hopefully Michael Quarles will chime in on this one. Thanks guys

Scott Trench · Answer

I'm sensing an attempt to work around our rules here and the spirit of our community.

Let me make things very clear. Claire works for Michael Quarles. Claire may not, therefore, recommend Michael Quarles (her employer) or any of his affiliated companies, websites, or content. This [to me] is obviously a conflict of interest to the users on BiggerPockets. Claire may certainly provide value and answer questions on our forums, and link in her signature to either company, thereby clearly informing users of where she works, or who she works for.

If Claire, or anybody else wants to recommend a company on a forum post, they cannot be affiliated.

Understanding the letter of our rules is not enough. You must also understand the intent. The intent of our forums is to provide a welcoming, enthusastic, and excellent real estate discussion.

Of course, some of the most informed and articulate contributors are guys like @Michael Quarles as well! We want you to be here, and it seems to me that you and thousands of other real estate professionals and entrepreneurs that serve real estate investors have done tens of thousands or maybe even millions of dollars in business as a result of leads generated through our platform.

The reason that is possible, however, is because our community strictly enforces both the letter and the spirit of our rules. You have to provide value on the forums to such a vast extent that business comes to you organically. You may not, however, push. You may not hire someone to post on the forums and recommend you or your companies.

Please understand the power of the community - there are no short-cuts here on BP, but if you take the time to provide consistent value you can reap huge rewards - as I'm sure you've already experienced!

Michael Quarles · Answer

@Mindy Jensen     Okay I'll remove the link from yellowletters.com to michaelquarles.com.

I'll make sure when I post I only reference yellowletters and yellowletters members only reference michaelquarles.

Btw yellowletters provides direct mail service and michaelquarles is a podcast site.  I do have BuySellFixFlip Academy that provides training.  So they're not similar.

Btw on two of my sites I link to biggerpockets.  Shall I remove them as well?

I certainly don't want to break rules.

Michael Quarles · Answer

@Wade Stahle

Michael Quarles here chiming in...

BTW Thanks @Claire Trammell for trying to help Wade...

Anyway to the question...

I like voicemails, in fact I like a really long one and a lot of investors across the country are actually using it... I have posted it here on BP several times in the past however doing so now seems to be in violation of rules.. Even telling you where you can download it for free is a violation.

The key component in your voicemail is to answer the questions of the caller while offering them a solution. All while using embedded commands and pace. Also pick wisely the advice you accept.

Here are the spoken words and I would love to post the actual voicemail for you to use FREE however the Mods would remove my post if I even try to include it in this reply. Or another member would be offended that helping you this way was actually self promotion...

Script

Hello and thank you for calling _____________, the fastest and easiest way to get your property sold and cash in your pocket.

We are not available at the moment to receive your call. However, it is extremely important to us.

If you received a note in the mail regarding SELLING YOUR HOUSE, and you would like to, please leave us your name, your CELL phone number… along with the property address of the house you’re hoping to sell, and one of us will call you back just as soon as possible.

We are not real estate agents wanting to list your house for sale, we want to BUY it. We buy houses for cash, in any condition and price range.

We buy “as is”, no repairs required. There are never any commissions, fees or closing costs when you sell your house to us and we can close on the day of your choice.

So if you like the idea of selling your house for cash, without having to pay commissions or fees, and selling “as is”, on the day of your choice, then go ahead and leave us your name, your cell phone number, and the property address of the house you’re wanting to sell, and we will call you back just as soon as possible.

Thank you so much for calling, and we look forward to speaking with you soon.

TO THE MODS:

If I understand your issue... You are offended because  a person on staff of a company I own offered to answer a question specifically directed at me. How are those of us who want to help your audience suppose to actually help if you're unwilling to allow us to? Clair did nothing more then offer a free solution to the posters question.

Jerry Puckett · Answer

But..... @Claire Trammell, your signature says you work for Yellowletters.com, yes? So it would stand to reason you're on any site that Michael has anything to do with. Promoting products, back linking and all that other fun stuff.....

Ryan Dossey · Answer

I would HIGHLY advocate for taking your own calls as often as humanly possible. We close deals all the time because "we actually pick up the phone". You want to keep in mind @Wade Stahle that regardless of what list you're using it is typically based off of public data. Which means if you're mailing it chances are someone else is as well. If I'm a motivated seller and I get two letters. But only one of them picks up... Who do you think has a better shot of getting the deal? If I really need to sell fast I'm not gonna wait for a stranger to call me back. I'm going to go with the guy who actually took my call (which he asked for).

Mindy Jensen · Answer

@Michael Quarles,

It is considered self promotion to talk about your company, or what your company does. someone else can recommend your company, but you cannot.

This falls into a grey area, since YL and MQ are technically different companies. However, they provide such similar services and in fact on the YL website there is a link to the MQ site, that I consider it to be self promotion.

I'm not offended, I am merely enforcing the rules.

Please feel free to PM me if you need more explanation or further clarification.

Michael Quarles · Answer

@Brian Adams of the thousands I've donated to BP, many thousands spent paying for tickets and flights for members to attend their annual thingie, free products and discounts, and the tens of thousands I spent on advertising to help push BP to the top that BP doesn't live by a loyalist perspective.

I remember josh calling me in 2007ish about his idea of BP.

i remember this being exactly what caused other sites to sink into the cesspool.

Scott Trench · Answer

Let's understand something here. This isn't my rule, or even just BiggerPockets' rule. This is an FTC rule:

https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/gu...

If you have a relationship with a company, you HAVE to disclose it, every single time, while recommending a product or service. There are many ways to "sink into the cesspool." Permitting violations of the law is one of the rather quicker ways. At BiggerPockets, we prefer not even to get close to that, and prohibit the referral to offsite content by affiliated parties - as that is often used as a sales funnel.

Ryan Dossey · Answer

Trust me I get it! I was a w2 employee for over a year before I could go full-time. I would just caution you that VM designed to "professionally" can be a turn off. But it also depends on the marketing pieces you're sending. If you're branding a company name, with logo, website, email and the whole deal then have a super professional VM. If you're going more as the "Hi, My name is Wade and I'd like to buy your house" then go SUPER personal. Don't even mention them leaving an address or anything. I find sellers tend to feel like they got the bait & switch if you do it any other way.

Wade Stahle · Answer

that's a good point Ryan. I will answer the phone when possible but I have a day job and it's good to have a solid prefossional voice mail set up!

Direct Mail voicemail, what should it say?

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