All Forum Posts by: Jason Flynn

@Scott Costello are you doing ALL driving for dollars? That's a ton of houses.

@Scott Costello

You mentioned you're getting about 12% response from yellow letters. What kind of volume are you mailing at? You mentioned about 200 a week, but are you doing total-ish?

Quick thought...

I just installed a new printer today, and was shocked at how much ink costs for a nicer printer then the one I had before (that i'm pretty sure I got in 2005). At first I was thinking I might want to print my own marketing in order to save $$, but the cost of places that do yellow letters is so low I don't think I can beat it by much by doing it myself, and they'll even mail them for you.

Just something to think about.

Keep up the marketing, and good luck!

I don't have actual advice, just a "shared experience". We've used a CPA for the last 3 years. Every year I still throw my numbers in to Turbo Tax to see what the difference is, and every year he saves us more money than Turbo. This year, it went opposite, and the numbers looked better on Turbo by $1500...

I stopped comparing them, because it was driving me nuts always having different numbers. I'm going with the "he's a well respected CPA in the area, I need to just trust him" mindset.

That being said, you can have another H&R Block person look at last years return, and they can get you money if in fact the last guy made an error. A friend of mine did that a couple years ago.

And, i'm not saying I wouldn't necessarily distrust H&R Block or not, but maybe look into getting a dedicated CPA? I ask mine questions all year long, and only pay him at tax time... It's nice to have someone I can bounce tax questions off of all year long.

Sounds good, see you there.

@Skyler Harkins

I understand the reservation about not answering the phone. But inevitably people will call when you're not available to answer either way. I've read about, and heard about on various podcasts, investors that specifically will NEVER answer the phone when its calls from their Yellow Letters. Using virtual numbers, you could set up one number for one campaign, and another for the next campaign. (not with Google Voice, you only get one number).

About Google Voice. I'm using it because I live and am going to market in a different area code than what my cellphone has. I don't want to give up the phone number I have had for several years, and I also don't want to be sending out my personal number all over the place. So using Google Voice, I can have the calls forwarded to my personal cell number. If I call back using the app, it uses my Google number, not my personal number.

**I haven't done a campaign yet, so take this as you will...**

I kind of think you might be over estimating how many calls you might get, even through a yellow letter campaign. I've heard numbers in the low single digits, like 1-3% calling back, and then not all of those will turn into deals. I might be totally wrong about this, just that is what I have heard, and it might be different where you are. At the local REIA meeting the last guest speaker spoke specifically about marketing, and mentioned those numbers.

That aside though, have you considered setting up a Google Voice (or similar) number? You can set it so your phone doesnt actually ring, but you still see who calls and when, and if they leave a message you will get an email transcription of the message automatically. It's my understanding that a lot of the numbers you see on postcards and bandit signs go to virtual numbers, not usually the persons personal phone.

Good luck on the campaign, whatever you end up doing!

I wouldn't worry about being banned from the hotel, i'd worry more about looking like a real estate agent with slimey intentions instead of a guru with slimey intentions. If another agent (or maybe an investor?) showed up at an Open House you were holding and stood on the street outside and told them "This guy is full of crap, I can get you a WAAY better deal, here's my card", what would you think of them?

Some people actually get good stuff from the gurus, even though they can get a lot of the same info for free. Some people want the hand holding and direct "do this, now do this" approach.

Don't stake your reputation on it... if thats the path they choose, thats the path they choose.

I was also going to suggest a pizza place. They usually have room, especially midweek. I've looked at holding meet ups for a different group at Old Towne Pizza in Folsom. Our this group might get too big for that though.

The VFW is also a great idea.