Another mail campaign or bandit signs?

Question

Hey BP, I had just sent out my first mail campaign and the results were pretty good! I sent out 577 post cards to absentee owners with 60-100% equity and got about 10 calls. No deals as of now but I still need to follow up with a couple people. Anyway, my question is what do you guys think would be more effective/ cost efficent, sending out another 600 or so postcards to the same or a similar list, which will cost me about $500 or put up 100 bandit signs which will cost me closer to $300? Any input is appreciated and if any one has a better idea than the ones I stated please feel free to comment them. Have a great saturday everyone and happy investing.

Dev Horn · Answer

I have no idea, but I would bet you can get away with bandit signs out there in Methuen and Lawrence, MA.  So that's not a bad idea.  You get different calls from signs - unqualified, don't know if they have any equity, could be a mobile home, etc.  So you have to weed thru them a bit more, but bandits will give you the lowest cost per call.

Continue to do postcards to absentees with equity.  For God's sake don't hand-write them.  Don't tell people you want to "$Buy$" their house.  Instead, speak to the problems of maintaining a vacant house, or dealing with problem renters. etc.; show how you can solve those problems.  People respond when you make that connection between their problem and your solution.

I often see good call volume from mailing 1, then crappy call volume on mailing 2 to the same group.  Expect that.  It picks back up thru mailings 3, 4, & 5.  Absentees are THE best pool to hit on a regular basis - we mail to them monthly.  If you've created a memorable "brand" for yourself, those prospects will remember you after you've touched them about 7 times (see The Rule of 7 - video).

"As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it." ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Angie Lavell · Answer

Definitely 80% bandit signs and then target your list very well.

I would send out 20% in post cards and I would hand write those ones. I would study high conversion marketing tactics and keep it to 3 paragraphs but make sure the message is strong and looks as if they were special.

I did this recently and I had only a budget of $250.00. I received 23 calls and I got 1 deal under contract, flipped it and 1 week later picked up my $4000.00 check!!

I had to split the profits 75/25 with my trainer/mentor but hey that was still $3000 dollars! It was my first deal, well I don't really consider my REAL first deal because I didn't do it on my own, but soon I will.

I almost got a second deal under contract, but the house's deed was actually not under the current owner's name. It was a strange and rare situation.

Good luck!!!

Shaun Caldwell · Answer

@Zachary  Haded, ditch the bandit signs and stick to the direct mail. Bandit signs attract any and every type of seller and can be a hassle  both distributing and retrieving. Many of the calls come from prospects who want top dollar for their properties are therefore lack true motivation to offer a great deal. With direct mail it's far more targeted. You control who you market to and as a consequence, who responds to you. Your call volume may be less but the leads are typically of better quality.

Kyle Cabral · Answer

@Zachary  Haded

$500.00 for 600 post cards seem a bit steep.  What size are you using? What does your message say? Be picky, be personal and more than anything be different.  Everyone and their mothers are saying the same thing, which is flooding houses.  With every investor who is learning the business doing the same thing, Googling, seeing sites like BP, mimicking what is there, sending out to this list or that list, it's beginning to get tougher and it's more important than ever now to differentiate yourself.  I mean regardless, everything and anything works.  This rule will always reign supreme.  Consistency and doing it over and over and over again, will yield results, it is a numbers game.  The education, message and targeted smarts of these marketing campaigns with determine how many numbers have to tally up before you get a result.

Keep on chugging along.

Everything works.  Pick high traffic areas, get a ladder, and start banging nails.  Quarterly taxes just were filed so you know there is motivation out there waiting to see YOUR message.  What are you going to do to get them?

Best of luck.

Franklin Romine · Answer

@Anthony Johnson

@Zachary  Haded

I've had good luck with mailers that are interesting and stand out.  I have upload several of my mailers and letters in the BP fileplace to share.  Owners are being flooded with mailers, we have to get more creative.  My mailers are sent through expresscopy.com

Frank

Antonio Coleman · Answer

@Zachary  Haded Don't do the bandit signs unless you understand your city ordnance. You can do the direct mail agin, but this time send them over to your website so they can get educated on your services. This is the route I will go to convert more leads.

Rasheed Muslimani · Answer

How do you find your mailing list?  I researched List-source and even Vistaprint?

My question is what source and who should you target? (Pre-foreclosures, absentee owners, probate, etc.)

Anthony Johnson · Answer

Awesome input guys, I'm just starting and was wanting to know a good approach and you guys summed it up for me. Thanks so much, happy investing.

Another mail campaign or bandit signs?

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