cold calling effectiveness

[Account Closed]

Hi all, 

I'm interested in how effective cold calling has been for your wholesaling? 

It seems that with a good skip trace service like nexislexis, TLO or even locateplus you could call your target market for much much cheaper than a mailing campaign...well at least with locate plus. 

I can set up locate plus for 70 /mo bucks, generate a list from agentpro247 for 80 /mo and call thousands of property owners. 

Anyone have experience doing the same?

Thanks

[Larry Higgins]

I'm a big believer in in cold calling.  In fact that's my only strategy for getting deals.  I gave up mail about 3 years ago.  I'll never say mail doesn't work, I just don't like it for various reasons.  Mostly because it's so saturated.

You definitely need a good skip trace service, but the key is knowing what to do with the data you get and learning how to effectively process all of those leads.    You also have to determine what your capacity is work those leads.  Only time will tell as you go through the process and get a feel for it.  Some things to consider are:

1.  Have a good list to start with.  Don't be too generic.   To minimize cost and to get a deal as quickly as possible try to build a list with multiple "indicators.  For example, tax delinquencies are great, but I wouldn't just start calling the entire list.  A tax delinquency with an out of state owner is even better and more manageable list.  Even better would be a tax delinquent property, non owner occupied, and in an estate.   You'll get smaller lists, but your ratio of leads to deals will improve dramatically.  More distress indicators not only improve the likelihood of getting a deal, but generally equate to better deals.

2.  Even if you don't want to use an autodialer yet, I would at least start looking at them so your familiar with them.  If your goal is to go through 1000 leads a month, you'll need one.

3.  You don't have to have a script memorized verbatim, but practice what you will say if you get someone on the phone.  I intentionally don't sound real polished when I call people.  I just want to sound like a normal person who's interested in buying the property.  My logic being people are more at ease talking with a person, rather than a business.  

4.   Even with upper tier skip trace services, you'll have a lot bad numbers and questionable numbers and you'll have some people you just can't reach.  Don't hesitate to call relatives.

5.  Don't hesitate to text if you can't get someone on the phone.  Texting will make the difference in whether or not you get a deal sometimes.

6.  Pay attention to the data you get on your skip trace reports.   I won't call people at 80 or older if I can help it.  I just don't ever want to run the risk of being accused of taking advantage of an elderly person.   If I see an elderly person owns the property, I'll automatically skip trace their kids or close family and try to reach them.

Hope this helps.  I'm trying to give you a decent foundation without going too far into the weeds.   Skip tracing and cold calling can be applied in many different ways.