The Secret To Reaching Motivated
Sellers As A Real Estate Investor
By Sean Flanagan
The author has permitted the reprinting and redistribution of this
article.
The Secret to Reaching Motivated Sellers as a Real Estate Investor with
Advanced Direct Mail Strategies
If you want to truly succeed as a real estate investor, you need to
disregard the majority of the marketing advice being promoted by the I
can teach you to walk on water overnight” guru real estate
investor crowd. If you really want to reach the real estate investing
Promised Land, you're going to have to quit worshipping at the altar of
the guru investors. They're very good at marketing themselves and their
overpriced, ineffective real estate investing courses, but if you want
to really launch your career into the stratosphere you're going to have
to find a better way.
I'm not saying the gurus completely miss the boat; they're just going
about it the wrong way. For instance, some of the guru investors have
correctly identified direct mail as a way to reach motivated sellers.
Unfortunately, in their quest to profit off of their naïve
students, many of them have cut corners and broken a cardinal rule of
marketing Stand out from the crowd.
Imagine for a moment that you're a distressed homeowner. You're stuck
with a mortgage you can't afford or you own a home that needs repairs
you can't make. You walk to your mailbox to retrieve your mail and
mixed in with a stack of bills, late notices, high rate credit card
offers and solicitations from cash advance companies are two small
postcards.
Here’s what the first one says
“Behind on your mortgage payment We can help! Call
1-800-555-5555”
Not very inspiring, is it How likely would you be to give that postcard
more than a passing glance before pitching it in the trash Now look at
the second postcard.
“Is your banker offering to swing by your place with his
pickup truck this weekend to help you move If late payments or other
problems have you between a rock and a hard place, we can help. And we
can do it now. Call 1-800-555-5555 to find out how we can throw you a
life jacket and save you from drowning.”
If both of these postcards are fighting for your attention, which one
is more likely to grab your attention That’s right
– the second one. Now for the million dollar question Do you
know why the second postcard would be more effective
In short, it's more interesting, original, and compelling. Thousands of
real estate investors are wasting their hard-earned money on marketing
strategies that just don't work. The concept of a postcard is
effective, but the message is broken and needs to be replaced with
something fresh, compelling, and attention grabbing.
I'm not suggesting that you should necessarily use the exact message
that is on this postcard. What I'm saying is that you need to develop
your own original message that will cut through the clutter and capture
the attention of your prospect. If the message on your postcard is
identical to the message on every other postcard that shows up in their
mailbox it's going to be ignored. You'll be wasting your time and your
money.
The same holds true when mailing letters to distressed homeowners. The
average real estate investor seems to think that if John Q. Homeowner
can't make his payments and is facing foreclosure, that the instant
your letter shows up in his mailbox, he's going to drop to his knees,
raise his hands in the air, and thank God for sending you his way.
Newsflash That's simply not going to happen. The average homeowner
facing this situation typically handles it the way they do when they
begin seeing signs that their marriage is headed south. They pretend
there’s nothing wrong while they silently worry. Doing
nothing is easier than taking action, and as long as they do nothing
there’s a chance that things could miraculously turn around
at the last second.
Your letter has to hit him (or her) between the eyes and grab their
attention. It can’t be a generic one OF a million letters.
Your piece also can’t be all about you, your experience, or
how great you (think) you are. What it has to do is get their attention
by making an emotional connection and showing them in no uncertain
terms that there’s a benefit to them in calling you. In
short, your letter is essentially a sales letter, but you
can’t make them feel as if they’re being sold.
Can you do this Can you effectively cut through the clutter and in the
span of one or two pages demonstrate your expertise and your
willingness to help them while making it worth their while If you can,
you’re ahead of all the other form-letters that fill their
mailbox.
If you can’t, you need to find a way.
Either learn how to write an effective letter or postcard or hire
someone who can. Your future as a real estate investor is riding on
your ability to make a connection and demonstrate the benefits to them
of working with you to solve their problems.
Get creative in the way you use direct mail in real estate investing.
Otherwise you’ll be just as creatively challenged as the guru
real estate investor you’ve been listening to. The only
difference will that he or she will have all your money – and
you’ll be no closer to closing a real estate deal.
Don’t let that happen. Take control of your life and your
future or you’ll be the best failed real estate investor at
your next REIA meeting.
That would be a tragedy.
Sean Flanagan went from dead broke, to a self made real estate
multimillionaire in under 2 years time. He now shares his secrets with
thousands of students across the country. httpwww.YuckyHouseSecrets.com
also Visit his Blog httpwww.yuckyhouseleads.comblog
If
you would like to take advantage of the market and learn how to invest
in real estate and you are local to the Dallas Fort Worth area, I know
a really great teacher and mentor here in Arlington Texas. Please take
a look at his web site: DennisJHenson.com,
Dennis has a great Mentoring and training program, I know because I am
one of his former students. I learned a lot from his one on one
teaching technique. - Michael Harman 817-457-7572
mchfun.business@gmail.com
http://www.biggerpockets.com/articles/