BiggerPockets

Hey, Eric Medemar here. After getting hundreds of questions asking "What do I say to investors", I put this little guide together to help you out. On this first page you will find what looks to be about a 30 second conversation. On the following pages you will see the reasoning behind the dialogue.

1.Hey this is Eric with [REMOVED]

2.I'm an investor here in (your city) and was just doing some research on a home I'm thinking of buying on (name of street from data) noticed you had purchased (piece of real estate you discovered)

3.Do you still own that piece of real estate? Depending on their answer, ask them about whatever real estate niche they fall into.

4.What do you think of the area on (Whatever side of town the home is)?

5.Continue the small talk if everything is going smoothly then once you're finished jump to this: "Well hey, thank you for your time and insight on (the area that your data gave you). I really appreciate it. You've been more than helpful.

6.Say before I go, on occasion we/I run into a piece or two of bargain real estate that we/I can't close on because our money is tied up in other projects. Since you've been so helpful it would be my pleasure repay the favor of your time today by giving you the inside track.. Would you be offended if I gave you a buzz/ring? Then without giving them a second to answer, jump to the next question, "AS IF" they just said yes.

7.Is this the best number to reach you at? Or would you prefer I shoot you an email?

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Why You're Saying What You're Saying
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1.It's helpful to have a website with a domain name that matches the type of investing that you plan to do or at least has something to do with real estate. However, if you do not have a website you might consider making up the name of your "Company" so that you can sound official. Once again I would suggest including real estate, ptoperty or investors in the "Company name" somewhere.
This gives proof that you're a serious investor without having to come out and say "I'm a serious investor". This type of proof slides completely under their IDS (Investor Defense System) because it subconsciously answers the question "Is this person I'm talking to an investor or not".

2.It's a presupposition phrase, meaning that by saying "You're researching homes" the investor will be forced to presuppose that your are an investor. In order to question whether or not you are an investor they would have to question whether or not you were actually looking at homes...Which as you might guess would make them sound more than a little silly.

3.This is a good question to get investors to open up about who they are and what they buy. People love to talk about themselves and this question will get you off to a good start. Listen closely to their answer as you may be able to pull some insight as to what type of investor they are. If they no longer own it, then you'll know that more than likely they flip houses (especially if you're calling fairly close to the sale date). If they say they still own it then you should ask what they intend on doing with the property.

4.Once again this keeps the conversation flowing and the investor talking more about "What they think", which is most likely their favorite thing to talk about.

5.You're not going away yet, but you want them to believe that you are. That's the beauty of this, because the investor thinks you're ending the conversation they will lower their IDS (Investor Defense System) so that you can once again sneak under it.
Additionally by piling on the compliments you're building them up and and giving them a new identity that they will subconsciously feel the need to remain consistent with. This new identity that you've assigned to them will make it extremely difficult for them to be impolite when you actually bring up the real reason for your call.

6.This is the MONEY SECTION and the reason why we dropped their radar with the last section. This chunk of phrasing is absolutely overflowing with phrases meant to stack the deck in your favor.

#1 "Being tied up in other projects" let's the investor presuppose that your a big time player without the need for you having to say. Because-As you know, if YOU SAY IT, they won't believe it, but if THEY THINK IT, they believe it.

#2 "Bargain real estate" We use the word bargain because, as you know, NOBODY CAN SAY NO TO A BARGAIN. Words like cheap, distressed, and foreclosure all have an underlying tone of "Somethings wrong, so the price is low", where as BARGAIN says inexpensive without the hassles.


#3 "Since you've been so helpful I would love to repay you the favor by...." gives the impression that they've earned something and you're wanting to give them something for being so gracious. As you know, most people won't turn down something FREE, especially when it's something that they've earned.

#4 "Giving you the inside track..." leaves the investor with the impression that they are going to get something special from you that most people will not be privy to. Getting "Insider" information is far more cool than just getting information. In addition, because they are getting "Insider" information from you, they must presuppose that you are an "Insider".

#5 "Would you be offended if I gave you a buzz/ring" This is my hands down favorite closing phrase. "Would you be offended if" is an extremely hard question to turn down; because it unknowingly requires a person to become inconsistent with what they really think.

Sure, they probably don't want you to call, but more than likely they can't say it would offend them. After all, you're offering to call them to reciprocate a favor that they granted you earlier.
Basically you're asking them a question that has nothing to do with the answer you are seeking. Leaving the investor "Giving you permission to call", by answering only that it "Wouldn't offend them".

Lastly in this section, don't ever use the word call. Most humans have an automatic response to the word call. The word "Call" carries an underlying tone of interrupt, disrupt or taking your time. Where as buzz or ring leaves the impression of "Just a quick contact, that'll just take a sec".

#6 "Is this the best number to reach you at? Or would you prefer I shoot you an email?". Remember earlier when I said we would be stacking the deck in your favor? Well, this is where it all comes together.

We've already preloaded the entire conversation to lead the investor to believe that we are "Big dog" investors. Mind you, we never once said that we were.

We've also preloaded the conversation to make it difficult to say "No I don't want to work with you", without being pushy in the least.

Now to further stack the deck we're not going to even let them answer whether or not they want a call back from us, we're going to respond as if they said "Yes I want you to call", they will be giving us an "Implied yes" by saying yes or no to "Is this the best number to reach you".

Lastly, in most cases they will say email is the best way to reach them. Which is exactly what you want them to say, because now you have their phone number and their email to contact them when you've got an awesome deal under contract.

It's pretty amazing how much insight goes into one short call script, isn't it? Rest assured with over 140 transactions under my belt, this stuff is tested and true.

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

Great post Eric, I just finished your old K.I.S.S. post. Man... what a good old fashion kick in the pants that was. Keep up the good work. Well... now I've got work to do. Thanks Josh for BP I love it!

Originally posted by motiv8td

Are you saying to call an investor and spend so much time on the phone with him/her LYING to them?

I'm not sure whether it's a lie or not (depends on what specifically you say), but I question whether any of it is even necessary...

If a wholesaler calls me and asks to add me to their buyers list, I'm happy to say yes (why wouldn't I want more leads). That said, I prefer email over a phone call (and will tell them that), and would prefer for them to just come right out with it instead of making small talk and wasting my time.

If anything, someone that wastes a bunch of my time on the phone before they ask if they can add me to their buyer's list is likely going to waste too much of my time later. Why not just start the conversation with, "I have some great deals, can I send them to you?"