"The Importance of a Marketing Sequence for Private Lenders”

Looking back on all the private money deals I've done, I can't tell you how many times I thought that I would have a "one-call close."  You know, where the potential investor calls you just after they have first learned about you, they're hot to invest money and a check goes in the mail right to your door.

 

I'm continually working for that "one-call close"...but it has thus far eluded me. I'm not happy about it, but, it's something I'm striving for.

 

A few days ago I was talking with a client and this subject came up. This person was wondering why he wasn't getting a flood of interested private investors ready to throw money at him from his website. Going into the conversation more, I realized that the gentleman I was talking to had a lot of the private money game figured out. For instance, he was:

 

    * Getting his message in front of people

    * Getting his message in front of the "right" people

    * Offering a competitive product

    * Giving prospective investors a very good reason to contact him (soon!)

 

Everything looked pretty good, until we started discussing how he was sequencing his marketing.

 

Aha!

 

We stumbled upon a very critical - yet often overlooked - aspect of attracting private investors: the right marketing sequence. In any business, your goal should be to have prospects contact you that are pre-motivated, pre-disposed and pre-conditioned to do business with you. Therefore, with private money, you want to have prospective investors contact you when they are pre-motivated, pre-disposed and pre-conditioned to place funds.

 

No sweat, right?

 

Not so fast!

 

First, it's important to realize that marketing for private money is not going to be a "one-step" process (usually). It begins with lead generation, continues with proper follow-up and ends (or doesn't end, rather) with a continual stream of continuity marketing (whether they place funds with you or not). To better help you, if you're serious about raising private money, here are the questions you should be asking yourself:

 

1. What am I doing to generate private investor leads?

 

--Internet, word of mouth, mail, etc. How I am attracting people to my opportunity?

 

2. What am I doing once a lead comes in/how am I following up with leads?

 

--What kind of information am I giving them? How frequently am I communicating with them?

 

3. How am I handling/sifting/sorting prospective investors in various stages of the decision process?

 

--Qualifying/setting meetings, phone appointments, send PPM or prospectus, etc.

 

4. What kind of follow-up marketing am I doing?

 

--Once they invest, how am  I pursuing additional investment dollars from that individual and  how am I leveraging for referrals?

 

Once you break getting private lenders down into the most simple elements, it becomes easier and easier to get funding.

 

The investor’s decision making process works sort of like an assembly line. Most will see something that interests them. They will fit that interest to their goals and resources. They will then want to learn more about that particular opportunity and then begin the emotional/logical decision making process that leads them down the slide to placing private money with you.

 

Here are some more rules to live by:

 

    * If people don't know about your opportunity, how can you expect them to place funds with you?

 

    * If people don't know how your opportunity benefits them, how can you expect to get the money?

 

    * If people don't know why they should take advantage of your opportunity right now, how can you expect to get money quickly?

 

Ok, that's a lot to digest for one day. More on this soon.

 

Happy Investing!