Looking for a systematic direct mail program

[BCC]

I am looking to implement a systematic direct mail program to generate more motivated sellers calling me. In the past I have mailed a single letter to the 300+ preforeclosure listings in my county as soon as they hit the legal paper. I get some calls from this effort but it appears to be discards from other investors. I realize now that I won't get much success with just one letter. I doorknock some of these but with no success so far. There is a friend of mine who is a doorknocking madman but with only frustrating experiences so far.

I am considering marketing programs from:
Ben Innes-Ker
David Whisnant
Scott Rister (pretty expensive)

I've also heard good things about a contact management software called Goldmine but I'm told its a bear to set up and get going. I read about a program called fortunemaker today that sounded interesting.

If you have experience with any of these or any other recommendations I'd appreciate your comments. The online chat the other night was helpful.

Thanks,
Bernard

[Dan Auito]

Bernard since no one has answered this post today, I want to ask you a favor. I already had to supply my e mail in the submission hit so I get all the junk mail for signing up to get the report.

Here is the link to get Bens report, this guy is a certified master of getting those motivated sellers calling you!

Could you investigate what he has to offer and give us some feedback here when you are done. I would be very interested to get your comments back on it overall after your review!

Here's the link:http://www.motivatedsellermagnet.net/reports/Free_Report_1.pdf :SM029:

[BCC]

Dan,
Thanks for the reply.
Ben Innes-Ker's "Motivated Seller Magnet" sounds like its worth a try. At $197, its hard to beat the price. It is in the top 5 sellers of RE products on another website. It is a bit vague on whether it includes the software to manage all the contacts but appears to be very strong in marketing ideas, letters and systems. I guess for the price we shouldn't expect everything you would get with programs that run $700 in some cases. The testimonial below caught my eye because the lady who wrote it is very highly thought of on another RE website that I frequent. I've never met her or spoken to her and she doesn't even post anymore on that site but she left a positive impression on the key members there.
Bernard

Testimonial -
"Thank you so much for your course "Motivated Seller Magnet - Automatic Lead Generating System." It's absolutely the best marketing course I've ever seen for real estate investors! I've spent thousands of dollars on marketing courses and marketing bootcamps; but after finishing them you still wonder "now what do I do?".

Your course tells you exactly what you need to do, when, and why. It's very well organized and gets right to the point on what steps an investor needs to do to get the phone to ring. If the phone doesn't ring we don't do deals - so your course is a MUST HAVE for all investors. You've gracefully incorporated all the advice we have learned from marketing masters like Dan Kennedy into a concise step-by-step course for investors. Excellent Job - Ben!
Jackie Lange
Dallas, TX "

[cloud9]

I was wondering if you bought the course and if you did, what did you think of it? I was actually going to purchase it but they had problems processing international credit cards. So i was going to send a check through snail mail.

I have to say that marketing has been a major problem for me in order to get this REI business off the ground.

[Dan Auito]

Bernard your research has been a stellar example of following up on what I feel is a worthwhile course, the testimonial from a known and respected fellow investor is enough to seal the deal. I myself have not read Ben's materials but have seen enough to know when something is worth getting.

I'll make you this personal promise, if you get the course and it does not live up to the billing then I will refund the price you paid personally. So go ahead and get it, I have you covered! :SM144: Once you have had a chance to evaluate it, I would appreciate your coming back to this post to update us with your hands on appraisal of the materials. Thank you again for your follow-up I think I'll go find Ben and drag him kicking and screaming back to the forum for everyone here.

You know Ben gives such a superior guarantee that I doubt I would ever have to make good on my promise to refund a dime: Just check out his guarantee at the bottom of the page: http://www.motivatedsellermagnet.net/order_page.html

Ben is not easy to reach but here is further testimony: http://www.motivatedsellermagnet.net/reports/Free_Report_1.pdf

[BCC]

Dan,
Thanks for the personal guarantee. I don't think I'll be using it but its still early in my implementation of the system.
Cloud 9 and anyone else interested:
I like the system but like any program its not a "magicbullet" that's instantly going to turn your investing into a huge moneymaker. It did go a long ways to changing my mindset from thinking that motivated sellers would be giving me their houses simply because I might have some technical knowledge about dealing with foreclosures - it helped me realize that I needed to connect with those sellers more emotionally and alleviate their pain (sell them that I could solve their problem). I needed that change.

The system is very good at teaching you about marketing, especially direct mail. I wish it wasn't all in ebook format because I personally like reading pages in a notebook. It does come with audio you can listen to on your computer which are very good. He gives you a ton of sample letters, ads and marketing ideas. They are in an older version of MS Word which I had difficulty opening on my version of MS Word which is probably 3 years old. Fortunately, my daughter has an even older computer that I was able to use to open the documents. Ben and his team are difficult to get in touch with. He strongly suggests you buy a couple of things - an 800 number service that will track your calls and a contact management software system. I got the 800 number service but not the contact management so far.

You need to hire someone to hand address the letters in your direct mail campaign. Currently, my wife and 15 year old daughter are helping me (well, my daughter dropped out pretty quick because its time consuming and tedious). Ideally, I'd like to get to 1000 letters per month but am currently only on pace to hit about 400.
As I said I like the system so far but just really beginning to implement it so I can't yet comment on the results. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks.
Bernard

[cloud9]

Thanks for your reply Bernard! I have one more question...

Does this program only target motivated sellers going through foreclosure?

[BCC]

No, it targets expireds, out of state owners, pp with 2 mortgages, foreclosures - everything pretty much.

[cloud9]

How much does it cost you to mail out 400 letters? Here in Canada it costs 50 cents for a stamp. I am not sure about getting discount postage if doing mass mailings.
To implememt his methods how much does it cost? I have to say that $ has been one of the reasons why my marketing is not consistent.

[BCC]

37 cents/stamp = $148
5 cents/redipeel envelope = $20
7 cents/letter printed and folded = $28
Total = $196 plus a lot of time

[REIrob]

Bernard,
How does it track all the letters you send out? Is there any software involved? Do you implement it with Windows software. I am in need of keeping track of my preforeclosure letters I send out. I guess I am asking does it get and keep me organized?
Thanks
Rob

[BCC]

Rob,
It doesn't track your contacts or keep you organized. It does have a spreadsheet to track the cost effectiveness of the different marketing ideas you are using but its pretty basic. The program suggests you create an excel spreadsheet until you are able to buy some contact management software. The course recommends a specific program used by some realtors. If you'd like the name of that program let me know and I'll look it up - I didn't buy it and don't remember the name of it currently - I do remember that it does cost $400. I understand some others such as Goldmine are around $200 or so.
Bernard

[REIrob]

After my wife showed me, I used Mail Merge on Word this month which is pretty good. I was just wondering what other options were out there.

Bernard, instead of direct mailing 400 one time, try 200 2 times. I've read it's more effective to contact the sellers twice. I'm setting up my system to hit preforeclosures two weeks in a row. With mail merge it's pretty easy.
This month I mailed out 70 letters once just to get my feet wet. Next month I will purchase 300 stamps, and have 150 targets. I'm still working out the kinks in mail merge. After I fix them I think it will be totally effective. Just my one and a half cents.
Rob

[BCC]

Your wife too? Yeah, mine can work magic with MS Office. If it weren't for her I'd never get a mailing out. Rob, you are right about hitting them with more than one mailing. I'm actually doing a 3 letter campaign. The first and second were about 130 letters each, the last is pared down due to the returned letters I get. This is just for the preforeclosures.

[REIrob]

Bernard do you use mail merge, too?

[BCC]

Yes, I do. I use it with a foreclosure report in excel that I buy.

[cloud9]

I've been pretty successful at getting 2 deeds a month so far.


Wow! that is awesome. Are you just doing mailings and postcards? What lists do you get?

Just wondering how else everyone is doing? I have run some editorial style advertising and it has not yielded me to many calls. The only mailings i do is FSBO's and have not had that great of a response. There are some big privacy legislation that prevents realtors and investors going after expired listings. So to date, i have not been successful.

I will test out some flyers that i will hand write and get printed to look like a personal letter. See how they work. I will also hand write some letters to retirement homes to see if they will be willing to reffer clients who are selling off their assets to me. The reason for the hand written letters are because it makes it more personal. I think people are more likely to read it and respond. We will see.

[FL Beachgirl]

I'm still kind of new to this forum so you all may think my word isn't quite worth it's salt yet :P
Anyway, The Motivated Seller Magnit in my opinion so far is worth getting. I bought it about a week and a half ago and dove right in. Of course just having bought it I haven't gotten any response yet however I do notice my thinking is quite different when I am looking to advertise. Watching other people's commercials or seeing anything in print at the store I find myself analyzing what's there instead of actually <looking> at the ad.
I'm already the kind of person who likes to connect with people I talk to so it is easy for me to follow the manner of advertising the program teaches.

Now, someone else mentioned door knocking a couple of posts above. I have been doing that with very little success. I'm shy at first meeting usually so I'm having trouble with my opening. Does anyone have a decent break the water type script of some sort they'd be willing to share? I'm looking for somehting I can use that's friendly so I can get the conversation going as well as keep them interested long enough to let my own personal style take over. Like I said, I like to connect with people, but I also have this stumbling block the gets me tongue tied upon them first opening the door...bad salesmanship LOL

BTW, Hi all ;) You've kept me pretty busy trying to read all the good posts ;)

Jennifer

[Dan Auito]

Hey Jen, tell me if this helps you in some way? Dan

http://www.magicbullets.com/forum/showthread.php?t=518

[FL Beachgirl]

Of course just about anything I read will help in one way or another ;)
However I was more looking for an ice breaker type of conversation for when I go doorknocking on properties that are in foreclosure...the owner usually isn't even aware I'm coming to speak with them. The ones I have managed to find at home have all said "no" for one reason or another, and only 2 people were rude about it, but one in particular I feel like if I'd have had a better opener I may have gotten further.

Well, back to pouring over materials ;) Thanks a ton!
Jennifer

[Dan Auito]

Hang on a minute while I go get Big John.:praise:

[optionfl]

What to say when you knock on the sellers' door

Here are two scripts of what to say when you're knocking on their doors cold:

Script One: This one works well if the sellers are still in pre-foreclosure OR if you're not quite ready to use the gutsier script below.

Knock, knock…[Step back off the porch, turn sideways, assume a passive, harmless posture to put them at ease.]

Owner: "Yes?"

Investor: "Hi, (looking as harmless and Bambi-like as you can manage) my name is Jennifer and I'm an investor who is looking to buy another house in this neighborhood. I was wondering if you knew of anyone in the area who might be at all open to selling their house if they got a fair offer on it?"

Owner: "Well, actually I might want to sell my house."

Investor: "Oh, okay, but I've probably caught you right in the middle of something, huh?" Owner: "No, I was just making dinner. Now’s as good a time as any." And away you go with them showing you the house and following the Instant Offer System.

Script Two:

Knock, knock… Owner: "Yes, can I help you?"

Investor: "Hi, my name is Jennifer[looking passive and harmless like a small puppy dog], and I'm an investor who helps out folks who have a house that’s in trouble. Is your house in trouble?"

Owner: "No, I don't know what you're talking about." Investor: "Oh…[looking down at his clipboard and scratching his head] I'm a little confused here. It says here that the city thinks this house is behind in it’s payments. Heck, they even have it listed in the legal notice newspaper. But they probably got all that wrong, huh?"

Owner: "Can I see that paper?"

Investor: "Sure…" [showing the owner the clipboard that has a list of the owner’s house with the date that the Notice of Default was filed or even a copy of the legal notice publication with the seller’s property highlighted]

Owner: [a bit softer now] "Well I guess I must be a bit behind. I thought the bank would work with me longer before they did this."

Investor: "Yeah, I know…banks sure can play real tough with little fish like us.

"You know though, a lot of times banks make mistakes when they send you all that paperwork that can make them have to start all over again from the beginning. I was visiting with another homeowner like yourself the other day when we spotted how the bank misspelled her name on the official notice. I helped her get another 60 days' delay in the process to give her more time to find her best solution.

"If you'd like, I'd be happy to take a quick look over the paperwork they sent you to see if I can spot any mistakes they made. Would you like me to sit down for a second and see if I can spot anything in the paperwork?"

Owner: "Would you?"

[FL Beachgirl]

Awesome ;)
Thanks a ton for that.
I'm sure that will work much better for me than my usual stammering and stumbling over my words LOL
(btw the smileys for this forum are hilarioous!)

Jen