Starting the Snowball ~ Diary of a Direct Mail Campaign
Hey gang,
I've seen a lot of these posts where people aspire to document their progress on a campaign or flip or deal, and then all of a sudden they disappear off the site and leave you wondering what the hell happened. It is my goal to counter that tendency and document a somewhat small direct mail campaign for the next six months with updates as they seem warranted, whatever happens.
After so many months of reading, studying, and flip flopping on where to start, I decided wholesaling would be my jumping off point just to build some capital in order to buy and hold and hopefully rehab properties.
And having listened to so many podcasts, read so many blogs, and having come to understand that almost all of the successful people (with a few exceptions) do their own marketing, this is where I decided to put my accumulated wealth of $3,500 (which took me about 4-5 months to save - I don't make a lot).
So where's it going? Well, I have three lists, basically.
1.) 500 absentee owners 50% or more equity, last recording date six years or more, 1-4 family, in or out of state.
2.) 500 owner occupants, 50% or more equity, SFRs, last recording date six years or more, age 55+. (This is more or less the list @Michael Quarles uses that he was kind enough to share, with the exception of the median home value criteria - simply because I couldn't really figure that out).
3.) A probate list that I am logging manually because there's no way to buy it in Milwaukee (which I think is a good thing). For August I compiled 80 leads (for Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties) that I mailed yesterday. Assuming approximately 80 each month.
The plan is to mail each list once a month for six months. Yellow Letters is sending out the 1,000 postcards in about a week once it's processed, and as I said, the probate letters are in the mail.
Marketing pieces:
Well, I wrote the probate letter, and I don't want to share it yet ;) It could either be a total flop or something with good pull. Because of life experiences I personalized it in a way (somewhat subtly) that, again, may either fly or flop. We'll see. The first batch of these I'm doing myself because I couldn't find a white letter that I thought was good enough in terms of paper stock, letter feel, etc.
The 1,000 mailers are postcards off of yellow letters. Given that they're on there, they must have worked for Quarles himself or other investors, but I don't particularly like the mail piece. I think I might try to tweak some others for next month.
And that's the plan. I also hand write some yellow letters to a list I compile driving for dollars, but there's only about 50-60 there so far.
Reservations:
One thing I'm a bit worried about is the 'shotgun' approach. I'm mailing Milwaukee County, rather than a more specified area. I do know where investors like to buy, but I think you can find a deal anywhere just depending on it's structure. Hopefully the specificity of the probate campaign balances this broader hunt for leads.
Anyways, an article by Chris Feltus (I think) finally convinced me to put it all into mail. The 'marketing snowball' was what he called it, where with just enough consistency and time the deals start coming. I'm hoping he's right. If not, I'll tell you guys that too, and then regroup in several months and try something different.
Oh and so far, off of my hand written yellow letters, about 50, I've gotten one call, curious not motivated, but I'll follow up with her. Wholesalers are also pestering me (no offense) because of bandit signs I put out. And driving for dollars I sort of bird dogged one deal, because the rehab was simply way too extensive for me to estimate, and these guys wrote an offer but I don't think it's going to closing. Sometimes people would rather foreclose than take what a property is worth I guess...
And lastly, the podcast with @Tom Krol is awesome, and got me to take the leap. Thanks BP. You guys are the best.
Follow or comment if you like. Though there really aren't any direct questions, experienced marketing advice is always appreciated.
Best,
JTM