I try and read a book a week. It doesn’t always happen, but I have a long list of books I want to get through. Most of the books I read fall into three categories: Real estate investing, self-help and marketing. The book that I’m reading this week is “Awaken the Giant Within” by Tony Robbins.

In the book, Tony talks about how you condition your mind for certain behaviors by reinforcing these behaviors and changing your belief about past behaviors (confusing, I know). He actually uses some fancy term, like Neuro Programming Association, or something along those lines. So, you’re probably wondering what this has to do with talking on the phone with sellers, right? Well, most new investors are scared to call a seller or talk to a seller on the phone. There is no rational basis for this, but they’ve conditioned their mind and now associate a negative feeling to talking with sellers.

I know that when I first started out in this business I hated talking to sellers just like everyone else. When I had a lead come in I would procrastinate for hours, before returning their call. Finally one day, I decided that I wanted more than anything to become a successful real estate investor and that no fear was going to hold me back. So, I scheduled a time each day that I would make calls to sellers (I highly recommend time blocking).

Anyways, since action cures fear, the more calls I made the more comfortable I became. Then as I started closing deals (which meant making money) I associated a good feeling with the phone calls….because phone calls began to equal money. Well, I’ve done something special for people who are afraid to talk to a seller on the phone, or don’t know what questions to ask them. I’ve recorded a two-part video where I go from A-Z showing you how I talk with a seller on the phone.

PART 1

Part 2

Next week, I’ll have another educational video for you that’s so secret I’m not going to tell you what it is (which means I have no idea what I’m going to show you, so I’m open to suggestions).

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Tags: Anthony Robbins, fear, productivity, real estate marketing, sales, self improvement

Today I’m in St. Louis and I’ll be here for the rest of the week. I can’t remember the last time that I spent a full month at home. This is the reason that I love this business and got involved in real estate in the first place. The following quote by Christopher Morley says it all “There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way.”

For those of you who are kicking butt right now, or even just starting out, if you work at this business for just 3-5 years you’ll be able to achieve that freedom. And, as I promised last week I’m going to give you the simple marketing plan that I use, to help you quickly get to the point of spending your time however you wish.

Here are the rules to my marketing plan. You must do EXACTLY what I say. You must implement the entire plan. No whining. Alright, now the goal of every real estate investor should be to use OPE (other people’s everything). This includes other people’s money and other people’s time. So, you need to hire a virtual assistant to run your marketing so that you don’t have to do a thing. A virtual assistant should cost you less than $200 a month. If $200 sounds like a lot, it won’t be once you start making between $5,000-$10,000 a month (For the rest of this post, I’m going to assume you believe in yourself and have already hired a virtual assistant).

1. Email your virtual assistant the criteria of the houses that you buy (3 bedroom, 2 bath, in whatever city). Daily, she will get on craigslist.com, go to the “for rent” section and email every rental property that meets those criteria. She will email them a well crafted letter stating that you specialize in working with landlords and are interested in doing a lease option with their home.
2. She will place an ad on craigslist.com looking for a person to put up bandit signs (if you don’t already have someone through your networking at your local REIA). Once you have found someone, your assistant will order 600 bandit signs and have them delivered to the person you hired (size 18 x 24, single sided, yellow sign with black lettering). That person will put stakes on them and put them up for you. Your assistant will email this person the location to put up the signs and will tell them to put up 50 signs every other Friday night, until they run out of signs.
3. Your assistant will call Melissa Data and order 2,000 absentee owner names for your given city. She will use the following criteria when ordering the names. Houses built after 1950. Houses at least 1,000 square feet and no more than 2,500 square feet. Houses that are at least 10 years old. Three bedroom properties only and absolutely no condos. After the excel spreadsheets are emailed to her, your assistant will load the lists onto click2mail.com. Then she will send out the mailings using your letters and postcards that she will also upload to click2mail.com. She will send out a mailing to the absentee owners every 2.5 months for a total of eight times (You must have well written letters and postcards that offer a FREE Special Report or some reason to respond).

I here a lot of investors complain that this business is tough and that putting things on auto-pilot is a myth. I just showed you how. The only time I talk to a seller is after my assistant has screened them and I know they’re motivated. She takes care of my marketing and everything else and this is how I’m able to spend so much of my time the way that I want. Fortune favors those who take action, so get moving and get marketing!

Tags: marketing, real estate, real estate marketing

I’m walking my dog the other night and I turn the corner onto a new street. Right in front of me is someone standing, who scared the heck out of me. I almost grabbed the knife in my pocket and went “Rambo” on this person………then I realized it was a scarecrow. So thankfully I didn’t have to kill anyone, and the scarecrow lives to see another day. By the way, I always carry a knife on me (I’m an Eagle Scout-Be Prepared). I’ve been in several “shady” vacant houses and if I ever encounter anyone, I’m going to be ready for them. Now that I sound like someone who belongs on the cover of Soldier of Fortune, it’s time to learn something.

First off, over the weekend I was at one of my REIA meetings and a group of us were doing some masterminding about the current market. And if you don’t already know it, here’s what you need to do to be successful in this market: Purchase properties subject-to and plan to hold onto them for the next 3-5 years. If you don’t know the subject-to strategy, learn it ASAP or else you’re going to lose out on hundreds of thousands of dollars that could be yours in a few years. I’m always amazed at the investors in my network who email me subject-to leads all of the time, because they don’t know how to do the strategy themselves (of course I make a lot of money from this, but they leave so much money on the table).

In fact, I met a new person at the meeting who’s going to start sending me his subject-to leads (This should also be a valuable lesson to you. Everyone knows that I specialize in subject-to’s and “I’m the subject-to guy”. How do they know? Well, because I network often and I let everyone know that my niche is subject-to’s…….being shy, timid and reserved isn’t going to make you wealthy).

Last week, I promised to tell you how to properly market using postcards. Here’s my easy, step-by-step guide.

1. You need to decide on your target market. Some of my favorites are absentee owners, free and clear and expired listings.
2. Go to melissadata.com and order your list. The list will be emailed to you in an excel spreadsheet.
3. Go to Click2mail.com to create your postcard. You will want to choose the two-sided large postcard. Large postcards get better response rates and a two-sided card allows you to “sell” your services more (there’s an easy to use template on the site to create your card).
4. Choose the yellow card (You have two choices between white and yellow….yellow pulls better).
5. Create your marketing message. First, have a strong headline. Here are two of the headlines I’m using: “Adjustable Rate Mortgage? Zero Equity? We’re Here To Help!” and “Have You Been Told That It’s Impossible For You To Sell Your House Right Now?” Next put in the benefits of working with you (you don’t charge any fees or commissions, you’re not a Realtor, you can close on the date of their choice, etc).
6. Give the homeowner a reason to respond. Offer a free report. Every single marketing piece you create should offer something for “free” to get people to call you. I always offer a special report; here are the titles of two of my most popular reports: “The 5 Little Known Ways to Eliminate Tenant Hassles Forever!” and “How to Sell Your House in 11 Days, Regardless of Your Current Financial Situation”.
7. After you’ve created the postcard, you need to upload your excel spreadsheet to click2mail, pay for your postage and you’re all done.

It doesn’t get much easier than that……you have no excuse not to be doing your marketing! Alright, stay positive, make money, visualize your awesome future and I’ll see ya next week.

Photo Credit: Stinkie Pinkie

Tags: marketing, real estate investing, real estate marketing

This post has been a long time in the making, and is something that I think many people can commiserate about.

Adding People to Your Email Marketing Campaigns is Not Only Annoying, but Can Also be Illegal

There is nothing that makes me want to cooperate with a company or investor more than when they add me to their email SPAM list without my permission . . . smell the sarcasm?

While email marketing in the real estate business can certainly be effective if done correctly (and legally), you’re shooting yourself in the foot by adding people to mailing lists without permission, and you’re also putting yourself at risk. Most people who send Unsolicited Commercial Email in the real estate world, do so in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act, because they are too lazy or stupid to take a minute to find out what the laws are.

I know several people in real estate who have made it their mission to see that folks who engage in violations of CAN-SPAM are fined, because they are just sick of the SPAM and harvested emails. With that said, I’m sure that they are not alone in being tired of the crap in their inboxes, so I’m going to share with you information from the FTC’s website that is important for both consumer and marketer alike.

Marketers - If you violate this law, you’re doing so at your peril.
Consumers - If you get email from anyone who violates this law, contact the FTC OR forward unwanted commercial email to the FTC at spam@uce.gov.

Without further comment or analysis, I present:

The CAN-SPAM Act: Requirements for Commercial Emailers

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) establishes requirements for those who send commercial email, spells out penalties for spammers and companies whose products are advertised in spam if they violate the law, and gives consumers the right to ask emailers to stop spamming them.

The law, which became effective January 1, 2004, covers email whose primary purpose is advertising or promoting a commercial product or service, including content on a Web site. A “transactional or relationship message” – email that facilitates an agreed-upon transaction or updates a customer in an existing business relationship – may not contain false or misleading routing information, but otherwise is exempt from most provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, is authorized to enforce the CAN-SPAM Act. CAN-SPAM also gives the Department of Justice (DOJ) the authority to enforce its criminal sanctions. Other federal and state agencies can enforce the law against organizations under their jurisdiction, and companies that provide Internet access may sue violators, as well.
What the Law Requires

Here’s a rundown of the law’s main provisions:

• It bans false or misleading header information. Your email’s “From,” “To,” and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person who initiated the email.
• It prohibits deceptive subject lines. The subject line cannot mislead the recipient about the contents or subject matter of the message.
• It requires that your email give recipients an opt-out method. You must provide a return email address or another Internet-based response mechanism that allows a recipient to ask you not to send future email messages to that email address, and you must honor the requests. You may create a “menu” of choices to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to end any commercial messages from the sender.

  Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your commercial email. When you receive an opt-out request, the law gives you 10 business days to stop sending email to the requestor’s email address. You cannot help another entity send email to that address, or have another entity send email on your behalf to that address. Finally, it’s illegal for you to sell or transfer the email addresses of people who choose not to receive your email, even in the form of a mailing list, unless you transfer the addresses so another entity can comply with the law.

• It requires that commercial email be identified as an advertisement and include the sender’s valid physical postal address. Your message must contain clear and conspicuous notice that the message is an advertisement or solicitation and that the recipient can opt out of receiving more commercial email from you. It also must include your valid physical postal address.

Penalties

Each violation of the above provisions is subject to fines of up to $11,000. Deceptive commercial email also is subject to laws banning false or misleading advertising.

Additional fines are provided for commercial emailers who not only violate the rules described above, but also:

• “harvest” email addresses from Web sites or Web services that have published a notice prohibiting the transfer of email addresses for the purpose of sending email
• Generate email addresses using a “dictionary attack” – combining names, letters, or numbers into multiple permutations
• Use scripts or other automated ways to register for multiple email or user accounts to send commercial email
• Relay emails through a computer or network without permission – for example, by taking advantage of open relays or open proxies without authorization.

The law allows the DOJ to seek criminal penalties, including imprisonment, for commercial emailers who do – or conspire to:

Use another computer without authorization and send commercial email from or through it

Use a computer to relay or retransmit multiple commercial email messages to deceive or mislead recipients or an Internet access service about the origin of the message

Falsify header information in multiple email messages and initiate the transmission of such messages

Register for multiple email accounts or domain names using information that falsifies the identity of the actual registrant

Falsely represent themselves as owners of multiple Internet Protocol addresses that are used to send commercial email messages.

Tags: can-span canspam, email, email marketing, real estate investing, real estate marketing, spam

I am one of the cheapest people you will ever meet. I drive a 1999 Toyota Corolla with 126,000 miles on it (a car is a depreciating asset, why would I spend a lot of money on one?). A few weeks ago when I was at Disney World I carried around the same bottle of water all week and I brought food into the park to eat for lunch everyday (there was no way I was paying $4.00 for a bottle of water and $7.00 for a hot dog).

When I go on dates, which is very rare since I am a workaholic, a “nice” restaurant to me is Ruby Tuesday’s (yes…now you know one of the many reasons I am single.) I mean, if I take a girl to the Cheesecake Factory or the Melting Pot, we better be engaged!

That being said, I believe that one of the only reasons to spend my hard earned money is to make more money. This includes my education and power team. I will never understand how any intelligent person, how anyone who is serious about success (only about 5% of people are truly serious) will not invest in their business. I know many folks out there love to “bash” courses and seminars. I guess these people are a lot smarter than me, because I never would have figured out how to do this business unless I worked with other investors, unless I bought courses and unless I attended seminars. I think the biggest problem that people who “bash” courses have, is that they are not implementers. These are the people who have attended a dozen seminars and who have 50 courses on their bookshelf, however, they have never closed a deal. (Just a quick thought…if you own multiple courses and have never done a deal, take a look in the mirror….it’s not the courses, it’s you.) Also, any decent course or seminar should have a 100% money back guarantee…so if the product stinks, which some do, just send it back.

Besides investing in your education, you should be investing in your power team. You need a good real estate attorney and accountant on your team. Sometimes I hear of investors who go to Staples and pay $14.95 for generic forms, rather than have a lawyer review a contract and spend a couple hundred bucks (knuckleheads.)

When investing in your education you need to think of the big picture and you need to think of the return on investment that you will get. For example, a few years ago I bought a course on short sales, which I think cost $1,000. I went on to do dozens of short sales and make a lot of money (I don’t do them anymore, because they are a pain in the butt, however, you get the point). So, whenever I invest in my education and in my business, I always want at least a 10:1 return on my money. And of course, I usually get many times that.

Also, when you are in Staples buying your $14.95 contract, think what it will cost you if you get sued over it, or if you lose a $50,000 deal because you didn’t want to spend $300 to have your lawyer review it. This is just like someone not spending $250 for a home inspection, only to find out later they have $10,000 worth of termite damage.

One more story, which will probably make a lot of folks eyes roll… As many of you know I am a student of direct mail, I am obsessed with increasing my response rates. My favorite niche to target is absentee owners and I am always searching for unique ways to boost my rates…so that I get more leads, more deals and make more money. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I got an idea for a “type” of direct mail which I know pulls very well and I wanted to incorporate this type of direct mail to send to absentee owners, pre-foreclosure lists, free and clear lists, etc. This type of direct mail gets very high response rates but costs a lot more to send out. You can send out a regular letter for about .50, whereas this will cost me about $1.50 a letter.

Anyway, there is a marketing expert who is very familiar with the type of direct mail that I want to use. I have been keeping an eye on this guy through his books, websites and marketing emails. So finally, I decided that the best way to launch my new idea was to somehow hire this guy as a consultant. I called his office, told them I wanted to hire him and eventually I had a phone call with him. To get to the point, I am spending on day of consulting with him at a cost of $5,000. When I told my friends and family about this, they all laughed and thought I was nuts (yes, these are the same people who work in a cubicle every day…when it comes to criticism, the people “below” you financially are almost always the negative ones…very rarely will you get criticized by someone who is financially better off than you).

Yes, $5,000 is A LOT of money. It is about how much I spent on my last car. However, when I think of it with my “business” hat on, I know I will have a very high return on investment. Right now, I specialize in purchasing properties subject-to and selling them on a lease option. My minimum profit is $30,000, but on average around $50,000…so, if this consultant shows me how to use this new type of direct mail and it gets me one more house, then obviously it paid for itself…but of course I will buy many houses with this and get a ridiculous ROI! (also, like I said above, each letter will cost me about $1.50. I could spend a small fortune “testing” this type of mail, or this guy can show me what will work best and save me time and money.)

I know this is a long post, but this is sooooo important to your success as a real estate investor. If you are cheap about investing in your business, then you will have a much more difficult and longer process to making big money in real estate. Another great reason to invest, is that it drastically cuts your learning curve…I can only imagine how long it would have taken me to figure out shore sales on my own!

So please remember that anytime you invest in your business, you:

1. Get a 10:1 return on your investment
2. Make sure you will implement what you have learned (or it will be a total waste of money)
3. If the product or course is terrible, return it
4. Think of the big picture
5. Only spend money if it will make you money

Now get out there and start treating real estate as a business and not a hobby! (Yes, that means that accountant who charges $30.00 an hour, who just became a CPA after finally passing the test after the 30th time and who does not own a single property………. probably won’t cut it).

Tags: guru real estate guru, marketing, real estate, real estate investing, real estate marketing

I hate running (unless someone is chasing me). I haven’t run in probably four years. Elevators and escalators are my best friends…but through a series of events which I don’t feel like explaining, I am now training for a marathon because of a promise that I made to someone. When you give someone your word, you honor that word no matter what. I started training last week and hated every minute of it. Starting out running three miles a day might not sound like a lot, but go out and try it, I dare you! I will keep you posted on my marathon training; however, I am pretty sure that you will see the same information from me every week: That running still sucks!

Anyway, now to give you a deal closing technique that will put more money in your pocket this week. A few weeks ago I talked about the “yes or yes” close (if you didn’t learn that closing technique, search my post two weeks ago.) This week I am going to tell you about the “puppy dog” close.

Here is what I want you to imagine: It’s a beautiful Saturday afternoon. You and your son or daughter are at the mall. You pass a pet shop and see the cutest little puppy staring at you through the glass. Your child begs to see the dog, and you say “yes, but only a quick look, then we have to leave.” The salesman comes over and hands your child the puppy. As the time approaches to leave the store, your child throws a fit that they want the puppy. The salesman calmly says to you “why don’t you just take the puppy home for a night and if you really don’t like him, bring him back tomorrow.” Now, we all know the rest of the story…the puppy is never going back to the pet store and you are now the proud owner of a new dog.

Here is how this technique should be used when it comes to our real estate investing businesses.
Imagine you are sitting at a seller’s kitchen table. The sellers are motivated, you have handled all of their objections and questions, and all they need to do is sign the purchase agreement (always an agreement, never a contract.) They pick up the pen, but do not sign. They stare at the agreement for what seems to be an eternity, then they tell you they are not sure they are ready to go forward. You should immediately say, “Mr. Seller, I understand that you are nervous. This is an important decision. Why don’t we go ahead and sign the agreement now, and if you are still unsure tomorrow about going forward, give me a call and I will shred the agreement……because we certainly don’t want you to sell to us if you are not 100% comfortable with the solution.”

Many people will sign the agreement and very few will call you and change their minds the next day. This technique takes “courage” that many folks don’t have. Most people will just let the sellers not sign and will leave the house. Remember, the most important part of this business is closing the deal…as Zig Ziglar says, “Timid salespeople have skinny kids.”

So on your next meeting with a seller (which should be this week) let them take the puppy dog
home (the agreement) and they can always call you the next day if they change their minds.

Tags: real estate, real estate investing, real estate investor, real estate marketing, real estate sales, sales

I’m back from a long vacation in Florida where I celebrated the 4th at Disney World (along with the entire North American and European populations…what a nightmare). Anyway, it’s good to be home so that I can get back into super-productive mode, which means I get back to marketing, negotiating and closing deals. Speaking of marketing (how did you like that segue) what is the number one reason that most investors never get out of the gate and close their first deal? It’s because they don’t do their marketing (yes, this makes me heated because every networking event I attend, I hear investors whine about not closing deals. Then I ask them how many letters they mailed last month, or how many signs they put up…and this is where the person usually goes silent.)

Here is how to ensure you have at least 1,500 letters going out every single month (it’s pretty complicated so take good notes)…every single day do 50 letters. This means stuffing the envelopes, handwriting the addresses in blue ink and using a live stamp. Do 50 letters a day and at the end of the month you will have 1,500 letters to send out. So, to do these 50 letters wake up an hour earlier, do it at night before you go to bed, or do them on your lunch break at your job.

Once you start this daily process of 50 pieces, it will soon become habit. You will actually feel awkward on the days that you don’t do this (which is one of the reasons I don’t take many vacations because it takes me out of my daily routines.)

As soon as you can afford it, you can hire others to do your mailings for you. Until then, however, don’t be lazy and schedule the same time every day that you will do your mailing pieces….and stick to this time. One of the keys to success is being disciplined, so if you schedule 9:00-10:00 at night to do your letters, don’t let anyone interrupt you.

Now, I know that real estate is a get rich quick scheme, that you were promised you would make your first million yesterday and that the real estate investing fairy is going to teach you a system where you don’t have to do anything and you will magically make money….but for the next 30 days, do the 50 letters a day, at the end of the month send out 1,500 letters (to a highly targeted list such as absentee owners) and you will start making real money. (If you want to make more money and quit your job sooner, then do 100 letters a day and send out 3,000 pieces a month). So, for heaven’s sake do your marketing!

Tags: marketing, real estate, real estate investing, real estate marketing