All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Rexford

Michael,

I have raised several hundred thousand dollars through newspaper advertising. If I had to do it over again I would not do it that way. At first I was scared to talk to people that I knew and they knew me. If you are very clear on your program of what you are looking for then I would start with your existing network. Make a list of 10 people and go have lunch or a cup of coffee with. Show them your program and ask for there help if they know of someone that would be interested.

I am telling you that it will save you a lot of grief if you do it this way. Even today my private lenders are with me. I am getting ready to start another fund raiser program and guess who I am going to start having lunch with. Top list is my existing base of lenders.

Here is a way we have been working on and it is FREE. I heard about it from a webinar so I cannot take credit for it. This last week I went and visited several realtors and mortgage brokers. To see if they had any leads. Now with the realtors they wanted to give me the 300 MLS sheets.

But I got 3 leads after I made my pitch. Of course I told the realtor that I would do the short sale and they could get the listing. :)

James,

I use 3 or 4 different pictures on the front. I have one that is a partial of ben franklin. I have one that has a picture of a house.....It is what is the content that is what really works. This letter is a varaition of what I got from Richard Roop. It is part of his yellow letter. I just use the greeting card to send it out as it is about the same cost, with less headache.

Dan,

I have not really tested the graphic. But I have used the text on several types of cards and it seems any that have focus on the MONEY is one that works best. I have a card that has a semi picture of Ben Franklin and I have others similar. I just like this one because people can relate to a piggy bank.

I am with Jason on this. I stink at picking colors. I do all my kitchens in white with white walls and biege carpet. I know I can do better but I am scared of scaring the buyer away.

Over the past two years I have seen this Yellow Letter thing going around. Here is what I have been using. I get about 4-5% response rate and sometimes higher. The list is what is most important.

I use a 150 camera and upload to either to youtube or viddler. Here is one that I did for my rental at www.jonsellahome.com/102

I use to use the fancy cameras and pay for it all. Now it is so simple. Point press record. Come back to computer and upload and then plug code to website and bingo.

Harrison,

Today I would have been more than happy to pay someone to stuff fold and stamp and seal. I did 193 packages today.

Envelopes where 9x12 and I had 3 pieces to include a two page letter and a 11x17 site plan that went out to all the brokers in my area.

I was thinking man it would be nice if some kid came along to do this :)

Lafi,

I used the letter click2mail but the only problem I had with it as it looked like a BILL. That is my only downside. But the neat thing about marketing, is that it always changes.

I am switching my stuff to total use of greeting cards over time. I tend to get a better response. But I think it is more of the list that I mail to.

Click2mail has a great mail merge feature for post cards. I can send a white post card for .31 per copy. It does take a learning curve.

The service I use is also a service I sell. So I am a bit....shall say predjudice here. But the service is called Send Out Cards. I am an indpendent Rep for the company. I am not trying to push it here but it is a good service. I have had all kinds of services using direct mail. Some good and some bad. There is also a company called Sales Team Live that I was using for awhile. But I did not like the fees that they were charging. Even though it is in line for industry standard.

The link that is in my signature will take you to the service. You can try it out for free as long as you have speakers on your computer.