All Forum Posts by: Brandon Foken

2012 was the year I decided to quit my day job within 2 years (end of 2014). I spent all of October, November & December reading books, blogs, BP, listening to podcasts and going to networking events. I put together a comprehensive business and marketing plan that will help guide my efforts.

2013 will be the year of action. As I am typing this I'm currently printing 954 envelopes to go with my letters that I printed off yesterday - marketing to absentee owners and probates. I'll be dropping these in increments of 250 over the next week to attempt to spread out the calls. I have some planned blog posts on this subject as well as starting a BP thread on my journey.

I listened to #1 a couple of days ago and really liked the format and the back-and-forth between hosts and guest (Marty). The thing I liked most about the podcast was it's "landing page". So many times you're listening in the car and forget/miss important quotes, references, book recommendations, etc. It's nice to have all that there and easily accessible. I'll be listening to #2 as I print envelopes for my first direct mailer so great timing!

J Scott - great negotiation technique. I'll be stealing this one!

Chris DeHaan - I had received an email a few weeks back that detailed the pricing change. I gotta say, $349 for the membership is a bit more than I was expecting to pay. I've also seen the Jump Start program mentioned a few times and I'm planning on signing up the one upcoming in March.

Thanks for the kind words about the website. It's still a work in progress but I'm pretty happy with how it's been coming along. I'm working right now to try and improve my SEO and rankings which is both fun and frustrating at the same time. I wish I could talk about some of the deals I've been involved with, but there are none, yet. I'm primarily sourcing my deals through direct mail and my website. I just finished figuring out how to align my text to ruled yellow paper late last night. I'll be sending out about 950 pieces of mail through this week and next. So hopefully I'll be able to talk about my experience more in-depth soon.

Chris DeHaan, always good to see another Bay Area Member on BP. You mentioned you were part of an REIA - which one is that? Is it Geraldine's SJREI? If so, let me know how you like the meetings. I've been debating joining but driving down from the city and the $30 entry fee have kept me away. Any details you could share about your REIA would be helpful.

Also a quick hello to Jason Kosowan for being another Bay Area investor. Are you investing at all in the East Bay or is most of your experience in the greater Sac area?

Alvin Grier Try checking out ZoHo CRM. That's what I'm using for tracking leads. It's free for a small business with less than 3 users. You can also purchase a $3/mo. Microsoft Office plug-in to handle mail merge and those sorts of functions.

How are your lists organized right now? Excel? Word? Pen and paper? If Excel then you can easily import into any CRM. Oh, ZoHo is also in the cloud so it's accessible anywhere - one of the reasons I chose it over Sage (that and the price).

David Tower What an awesome thread you started here! My first two jobs out of college involved cold-calling 50 - 75 people a day, so take it from someone who has been there - it only gets easier as time goes on. At first you'll be super nervous with sweaty palms and a palpitating heart. After about 25 calls or so you'll be comfortable. After about 50 you'll be checking ESPN while fielding these calls. Practice makes perfect, I guess.

Glad to read that your script went out the window when talking with these people. One thing I've learned is that it's immediately apparent to the person on the other end of the phone if you're using a script - everything sounds so forced and the conversations suffers because of it. And I can't tell you how many times I've heard co-workers keep going with their pitch and completely ignore what the prospect said because they are too busy sticking to their script. Listening is key is any sales environment! However, with that said, I think a checklist to make sure you've asked all your questions/got all the information needed is important, especially when beginning. There is nothing worse than calling a prospect back because you forgot to ask a basic question.

I'm waiting on my printer to be delivered tomorrow and then I'll be sending out my first batch of yellow letters and probate mailings. You've given me some inspiration to post about my results as well. Keep on updating us and let everyone know how things are progressing. Best of luck!

Samantha M. Here is a good thread I started last week that talks about this and other topics in-depth: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/87/topics/80870

Samantha M.: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003U6N2PQ/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00

I just ordered this last Thursday. I should be getting them in the mail by EOW. I'll let you know how they work out.

Michael Quarles Thanks for all the results on what works best from your efforts. And I agree completely - better to do something than trying to reach for perfection.