Which one of these is a better use of time?

Question

I know there are several building blocks to a wholesale marketing campaign. I made a plan of attack - this is the stuff I am unsure should go on it

Sign shaking - this is allowed and time expensive. Where do you do this

a ) high traffic zone in a there are less distressed home owners

b) A mid - high traffic zone in an undesirable area - less properties qualify for loan

c) Less populated area where no other bandit signs / little marketing exists

d) none of the above

e) try them all and take score?

I have people I could pay to bring in leads. How much would you pay per lead ?
Assume they have no idea what they are doing - are only providing leads unskilled labor

I debate using :

Bandit signs – I basically think they’d work but our counties are sign Nazis. No billboards for example. I am wondering if there’s a way to test the water here without having to pay a really huge fine. Thinking about putting up one and seeing if anyone complains. I would do on weekends in less upscale locations – take down on Sunday. ? is it that simple or do I have to know when enforcers are working? Is there a way to tell if the first offense is a warning?

Car sticker <-- complete waste? Can I put a large QR on that or would it be moot?

Is there anything illegal about doing one business and advertising another? Let’s say for example I own a hotdog stand can I advertise for another business and hand out business cards?

The best way is to experiment but I am looking for the most efficient way

Justin Silverio · Answer

Sam - One method that people use is to put the bandit signs up on Friday night and take them down Monday morning before town officials get to work. You might be less likely to get fined this way. Bandit signs are not allowed in my area either but I put them up anyway to see what type of response I would get. After >2 months some are still up and I haven't received 1 call from the town (watch, I'll get a call today now that I wrote this).

Andrew Massaro · Answer

You've got a lot of questions here, Sam. But I'll do my best to help you out. 1. I hadn't heard the term sign shaking before, so I googled it. And based on what I read and saw, I don't think it would generate a ton of leads. And, you're going to have to hire someone, too, unless you do it yourself. But that would last all of one day... To me, sign shaking works best if it's right outside your retail store, or place of business. 2. For bird dogs, I just usually pay them a commission based on sales. But, they don't tend to stick around all that long... that's my experience, anyway. So, you should offer something in return for leads. Could be money. Could be teaching them the biz. Most bird dogs want to flip houses. So teaching them the biz in exchange for leads is usually a good deal for both parties. 3. I like bandit signs. But, not everyone does. If you're in an area where there are no bandit signs (and no billboards... what?), then you can do a few things to test it. One, you can ask other wholesalers, or maybe even realtors, about putting them out (risk vs reward). Or, you can put them out and test it out yourself. Make sure you use an untraceable number, though, with google voice, or patlive.com, etc, etc. 4. Car magnets are usually a good idea, I think. Not sure about car stickers. But, you can have a couple of magnets printed up for next to nothing. And though it probably won't generate tons of leads, it's cheap and once you put them on your car, it's done. And your car is a mobile billboard from now on. 5. And there is nothing illegal about marketing one business with another. However, you run the risk of confusing your customers. What are you? A hot dog stand... or an investor? My advice is to not do it. If you're selling hot dogs, sell hot dogs. And when you're flipping houses, flip houses. Bottom line, when you are marketing anything, there is going to be some trial and error... testing. And that is how you find out what works best. Good luck.

Sam Sagor · Answer

Thanks for the replies as I said this was the 'not sure list' will be trying quite a few things. Good points about not to mix identity. Hadn't thought about that. Sign shaking is popular here because it's Hawaii, you can't have signs cluttering up the view it'd drive away all those tourist dollars. Yes no billboards.

Brian P. · Answer

Andrew gave you some good answers. My version is: 1. sign shaker not a money maker, spend what you would pay them on something else. 2. bird dogs, yes use them but people in key spots that can give you potential leads, I don't like to train a bird dog only to have them become a wholesaler using my material and methods if they are any good. 3.Bandit signs I like but if your in a strict area, it is easy enough to make them legal and out of the reach of the sign police. 4. Other businesses, I don't like to delute my credibility by merging my business interests if they are not truly related.