Would Anyone Object To The Following Direct Mail Message?
Back in February 2004, I purchased Scott Rister's "Find All The Motivated Sellers You Can Handle" course. For a variety of reasons, I am just now ready to send out my first batch of letters (400 letters for the first round).
Scott's systems centers around direct mail. In his letters, he finishes his message by telling the potential seller up-front, that he is an investor and expects to make a profit. Basically, he let's his target know that if they are looking for full retail or if they can not offer a certain degree of flexibility, then he probably is not their answer.
I downloaded my leads targeting absentee owners and as I prepare my letters, I noticed that his absentee owner letter template excludes the above message.
Would anyone discourage me from including the aforementioned message in my letters. I feel that it is a good filter or pre-qualifier, allowing me to field phone calls only from people who understand my position from the start and are still willing to discuss their property.
I think Scott has a great course, but I question the quality of his material in terms of accuracy because it is laden with grammatical errors which make it difficult at times to understand what he is trying to communicate. On a different course, his audio CDs where incomplete and upon receiving a second set of CDs, those too were not complete.
I'm wondering if the absentee owners letter in his software is suffering from the same lack of quality control and should in fact contain the his message on flexibility and terms.
anybody? I've tried contacting Scott Rister himself, but he has not returned my emails. I'm tired of analyzing and fiddling around. I want to get started with my investing career, but I want to make as few mistakes as possible starting out.
Your input would be greatly appreciated.
Personally I would not include it in a letter to an absentee owner. If the house is vacant and run down, they may not be aware of the level of disrepair it is in, and your statement will turn them off before you even get started. Your goal is to get them to call. Talk with them first. If you need to educate them about their property by sending them pictures, and an estimated list of repairs needed to make the house saleable, they will be much more amicable to discuss a discount with you at that time.
I completely agree with Jeff. Absentee owners know the deal. You answered their prayers.
Save the added statement for a different type of seller, the "I would like to pay off my loan and net $5K if I can" when the reality may be their house isn't desirable at full price, it's on the market 60 days+, they've been living and showing the house (very hard!) and then...they get your letter. Sweet--"someone is interested," they think, "and not just anyone but an investor. This deal will get closed this time, and although we didn't make out too good, it's done. I think we'll like the new town."
Best wishes,
Alan
I've got an ad that runs in the newspaper.
It use john locke's line "if it's not on fire call me"A lady call me today and wanted to sell her house. She said it appraised at 72,500 Dollars and she wanted 72,500Dollars for it. I told her I would call her back and make an appointment since I was in heavy traffic at the time.Before I called her back I looked up the property on Court House Retrieval. Sure Enough It Appraised For 72,500 Dollars. When she bought it in 1998.Do you think she would have called if I had that message in MY ad? I think not!
Just a side not on your concern that Riser's course is laden with grammatical errors. That could be a good thing: It might mean that he is really good at REI and really poor at writing courses. Who wants a professional course-writer anyways? John Locke's course has some grammatical errors and other small errors that you might notice after reading the course 3-4 times--but the information is invaluable, regardless of these. Not sure about Riser, but Locke's is a two-man operation so it's understandable--the meat of the stuff is what counts to me.
Kyle
Hey, did I read that right: you are sending out 400 letters, not postcards? Is Riser's software able to do this for you? Are you stuffing 400 envelopes??
Kyle
Yup, you read correctly. See the software that comes with Rister's course allows you to import data (which I get from a data provider. I pay a monthly fee and usage charges, but I'm hoping tha the investment gets me quality leads in return).
Anyway, his software is set up so you can pick different categories like absentee, foreclosure, divorce, etc. In this case, my leads targeted absentee owners based on tax records going to a different address than the subject property. Once you import the leads, and assign it a category, you simply press PRINT and out come your formatted letters, layed out to be stuffed in double-window envelopes. Stamp, seal and mail.
Unfortunately, I run a MAC computer and his software is designed for Windows only. I tried using an emulation program to run the software, but the printing function didn't work. So I've essentially figured out how to do the same thing using Microsoft Word and Excel.
In any case, I know some people swear by handwritting the envelopes, but his format allows the address to be printed on the letter and then folded to show up throught the double-windowed envelopes, which saves time.
The labor is in stuffing the envelopes, but I am determined to succeed in real estate at whatever the cost. I'm getting enganged this summer and I vowed to provide a stable financial base for myself and my future family. So off I go to stuff envelopes (400 of them this week, the other 457 next month). I will then use the post office to mail out follow-up postcards every three weeks at about 21 cents a postcard.
We have people hand write the envelopes to ensure they at least get opened. As for the orig. question. Leave the last statement out and get the people on the phone talking. Then you can feel them out and proceed accordingly.
The statement stays out then. As for the envelopes, eventually when I start producing deals on a monthly basis I will probably pay someone as well to hand write them. Right now, however, I work full time in the crazy world of advertising and also run a part-time web design studio on my spare time. So, bypassing the handwritten envelopes helps a little bit.
The way I see it, if I get 1 deal from these 400 mailings, I will be happy.
You might try going to http://www.walterware.com. This guy will make a font of your handwriting for you, or you can get one of the samples that he has already done. It's not free, but in my opinion, worth it. Handwritten envelopes, and even letters give a more personal feeling, and both will increase your response rates.
Jeff
camilomachado
Question how are you sending out letters for .21 per letter if you don't mind me asking. Is this a deal that that the Postal Service gives you for bulk mail?
Unless I am mistaken that is the postcard rate which he is sending out. There is a complete different rate for postcards than letters.
Just my .21
[addsig]
Hey,
The topic of letters or postcards has come up time and time again and generally the impression is that a HANDWRITTEN envelope gets opened more than a printed one. Has anyone ever tracked this?
I am well aware that many of the RE courses recommend this method and most even state you will get better response rates. Has anyone ever checked?
The theory is that people will actually throw away mail, prior to opening it. And, excluding the credit card applications lettes, I can not imagine doing this. Does anyone really do this?
As an aside, I print the address on the envelope and then match the letter to the envelope. I think the window envelope looks too commerical. I also use an envelope with my logo and the window envelopes were more money.
First off, hope everyone had a great 4th of July and thanks to everyone for commenting on this post. I always like to read other people's point of view on strategies. It was great to come back from July 4th break and find more activity on my post.
The post office has an online service where you can provide them with a database of names and address and body text for a letter campaign. They print and mail the letter for you at a discount rate. I don't remember the rate for letters, but it is a good deal in my opinion if you are low on cash. As for postcards, they provide different types of postcards and formats at set rates. For my needs, I priced out 400 follow-up postcardst on standard postcard stock for about .21 cents per.
As for the letters, Scott Rister's course revolves around strategies designed to maximize use of your time. He admits that you might get better response rates with handwritten letters, but he prefers to trim the time he'd spend handwritting envelopes. In essence, all he is saying is that he is willing to miss out on a deal or two by using his metthods as long as he produces or exceeds his benchmark of 10 to 1 return on investment.
At this point, I'm still in the learning stage of my investing career. I've adopted Rister's system as my vehicle right now and will add John Locke's Subject-To course to my repertoire soon enough. The way I see it, I am not looking to re-invent the wheel or even tweak it just yet. That is why I am sending the letters as I've stated. As I begin to enjoy success, I will continue to ask you fine people for advise and ideas to improve my marketing. But for now, I must be a smart student and learn from the success of others in order to reach my own.
So thank you all so very much for your help and support!