11% response rate on yellow letters (So far)

[Tristan Chicklowski]

Hey everyone! I put out my first 100 (650 total, 100/week) yellow letters last week. I got an 11% response rate so far!!!!

Now here comes the fear. I’m not sure how to start the call (build repoire) or manage the conversation, to test for motivation.

Can anyone offer me any tips tricks or tactics on how to start the conversation, as well as how to build repoire. My big worry is that they will only want to talk about how much I will pay for the house. Before I can hear more about them and their situation.

I have been putting these calls for about a week now, I’m so close to my dream and this has got me frozen. I Have to make these calls today I hope the support and advise I get today gives me that last bit of confidants.

Thank you all so much for any help!

Tristan

[Chris Feltus]

Tristan Chicklowski

Its great that you are taking action, but you should be taking these calls live. You typically are not the only mail piece they have received. And if the seller is truly motivated they may not even leave a voice mail before they move on to call the next mail piece in their box. For someone that is motivated, it’s like a plumbing leak in your house. You just want to get someone out there as quick as you can to solve the problem. Even if it’s late at night and they are going to charge time and a half.

First and foremost get comfortable with your script of choice before the call start coming in. This is a comfortable conversation with someone you have never met. You want to be able to build a rapport with them on the phone that transfers to the house on your appointment. It’s difficult to build rapport if you sound like a scripted robot going one by one down your list. Most importantly, sit back and relax and listen and adapt whatever call list you choose to your own style. Listening is crucial and always look for something that you can share with the person to build rapport with such as a: story, an experience, a hobby. There are many routes to your answer to find seller motivation; you just have to ask the right questions.

“So, what made you call today?” Just be quite and listen. Listen to what it is about their life or situation at that current time that is making them call you right now. Listen and write it down, and don’t interrupt with questions until they are finished telling you their story about why they are calling.

“Tell me a little bit about the house” Don’t want to get into overly detailed questions over the phone. You will come across as a know it all. If during this reply they don’t receive basic information such as: number of bedrooms, bathrooms, garage, central heat and air you should ask them. Even though you can find this information on the tax rolls, they can be inaccurate.

If they haven’t told you yet, or even if they have, ask them the question “why do you want to sell the house”. They will start to reveal some of their inner secrets. You will find most of the people that will sell you their house have more than one motivation. The motivation isn't just their grandmother died, maybe there are 10 heirs, the person on the phone is ultimately responsible for it all and its becoming a headache for them. Up top when you ask what made you call they may tell you about a payment behind, but on this question they may tell you about a divorce (2 motivating factors), that’s why you want to ask questions like this.

“When Do you want to sell” or “When are you looking to move”.Let them tell you more about themselves and their story, get additional insight.

“Where are they in the process? Have they talked to other investors, have they tried to work with realtor?” If they haven’t listed with a realtor ask them why not. This will give you more insight. It will show they know the house needs repairs, and realtor will not be able to sell it because of the repairs.

Even if they told you a little bit about repairs in the above question, I still ask them since we buy homes as is are there any major repair issues before I come out? Here they may talk to you about the roof and already having a bid of 10k. If you’re not that experienced yet it would be wise to have a roofing contractor or two meet you out on the property or may use this information later in negotiations.

“Is anyone part owner”. Want to make sure when you go on appointment to have decision makers present. Easier to get all parties on board in person, where you can explain and answer any questions regarding the full details of your offer and the conditions.

Tell them a little bit about how you work and what you do. Make sure to set expectations, let them know you are discount home buyers, not retail buyers, you offer time and convenience for a discounted sale. Close quick, pay cash, don’t have to mess with realtors or repairs or appraisals. If that sounds good schedule an appointment.

You may notice I didn't put this in a list fashion. It’s good to have a general chronological order of where to take the conversation, but you never want to force it, which is why I avoided that format.

Regarding what they owe on the property, if you are going to ask that, even if they owe a bit on the property, my mentor has had people bring over $15,000 to the closing table because they were that motivated to get rid of the house. Alternatively you can do a quick title search on the property and reverse amortize the loan and see what other liens there may be to have an idea of how much equity is built into the property.

I hope that has been helpful
Some general key words to listen for: Must Sell, Need to Sell, Wanted to sell the house yesterday or anything to that effect.

Best of luck, you will do great.