I hate Cold Calling
Real Estate Investor · Vero Beach, FL · Member since 2008 · 268 posts · 89 votes
Cold Calling
As much as I HATE cold calling I was wondering if anyone has paid someone to call and fill out a Property Info Sheet?
If so what was the rate you paid?
How did you pay?
Here are my thoughts:
Give my caller a special link to cold call sellers and FRBO’s
Pay $3.00 per entry to website
Pay via Paypal
Am I too cheap?
Am I too expensive?
Which is specifically outlined in the regulations... Naturally please have your attorney confirm...
As far s telemarketing... When I started I was so poor that was the thing I did to get leads... SO poor I wouldn't answer the telephone myself because I knew it was a bill collector on the other end..
I eventually hired 16 women to all 8 hours a day... they had a 3 strike rule.. If they went 3 days without an appointment they got the right to work somewhere else...
Here is a little thing I wrote about cold calling.
Okay, now let’s talk cold calling… Yuck! Don’t be so hasty here. It’s an acquired taste that you begin to enjoy more and more, especially once you begin to see the money you can make from it.
Cold calling is an outstanding resource, especially for those with a limited advertising budget. It allows you to do three things:
• First, it puts you in front of prospects on a daily basis. Without prospects, you have no one to sell your services to.
• Secondly, it will tell you if prospects have sold, listed, or, in the case of foreclosure, stopped the process so you can remove them from your mailing campaign.
• Thirdly, it will give you more confidence than you can imagine. This type of confidence is important, as you will be negotiating to buy properties at $50,000 less than value.
Cold calling is the most important task you can do to create wealth as you begin your career. Therefore, it’s important to treat it as your most important promotional activity when scheduling your day. There are two optimum windows of opportunity for cold calling: from 9:00 am to 11:00 am and 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm Monday through Friday.
Two hours a day is sufficient for cold calling when you’re doing everything yourself in your business. So, you could set a religious schedule that looks something like this:
Monday - 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Tuesday - 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Wednesday - 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Thursday - 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Friday - 9:00 am – 11:00 am
The reason you mix your days up is to reach those people who may not be home in the morning but will be home in the evening, and visa versa.
On a side note, I understand that you may have a full time job and that cold calling during these times may interfere with your work schedule. If this is the case, the two days a week that you are not working at your full time job should be the two days you will call between 9:00 am and 11:00 am and use the early evening of three other days in place of the afternoon schedule. The most important thing is to put in the time necessary to meet your prospective goals.
As you cold call, call prospects in the following prospect-type order:
1. Hot Leads
2. Expired
3. NOD
4. FSBO
5. For Rent
6. COI
Probate, Farm, and Absentee Owners are not prospects for cold calling.
Use the following schedule for calling these prospects:
• Hot leads – until they sell, list or die.
• Expired – daily until they list, sell or decide not to sell
• NOD â€" daily until they list, sell or stop foreclosure
• FSBO â€" daily until they list, sell or decide not to sell
• For Rent – day 1 and day 5, then monthly
• COI – One time each month
Scripts are paramount. The following is my “generic†script and can be used successfully for all prospect groups although a script written specifically for the prospect you’re calling may give you better results.
Hi, my name is __________with I Buy Houses… We are looking for 3 and 4 bedroom homes in your neighborhood…And I was wondering…who do you know that is looking to move out of your area? (No one) Fantastic!
Thank you for taking the time to think about it.. By the way
1. Have you thought about selling? (Never) Terrific!
2. If you were to sell…where would you go next? (Back to LA) That’s Exciting!
3. And when would that be? (3 months) Fantastic!
If they do not want to sell say thank you and hang up
or
If they want to sell
4. Are you planning on selling this house? (Yes) That’s exciting!
5. Do you have your next home picked out already? (You do) Ouch!
6. What do you think it will take to get the houses sold? (The right offer) Really!
7. I buy houses… just like yours… all of the time, and I have found that if the seller is willing… we can come up with a solution that works best for both of us, is that okay with you? (Yes) outstanding
8. Sometimes the only way we can buy the houses we look at is to take over the debt and pay you your equity, That means the loan will stay the house until its sold, assumed or paid off.
9. Sometimes even buy the house under a lease option… Is that a problem? ⯠Yes ⯠No
10. So if we can pay you your equity, guarantee and make your payments and be responsible for all repairs you will sell the home to us, right? ⯠Yes ⯠No
11. What time today would be better for me to come out and buy your house ___________ or ______________? (___) Terrific
12. Before I come out… there are just a few more questions… I need to ask about your house, is that okay? (It is) outstanding
13. Is the home ⯠Vacant or ⯠Occupied? Occupant Name?
14. _____ Bedrooms ______ Baths
15. How many Square Feet? ________________
16. Size of the Garage? ____________________
17. How did you happen to own the home?
18. What Kind of repairs does it need?
19. ⯠Carpet ⯠Paint ⯠Roof ⯠Cabinets ⯠Electrical ⯠Plumbing ⯠Plaster ⯠Sheet Rock ⯠Cooler ⯠Heater ⯠Air Conditioner â¯Window ⯠landscaping ⯠Clean-up
20. What do you think the repair cost will be?___________
21. What are you asking for the house? ________________
22. Is that ⯠Fixed–Up or ⯠‘As Is’
23. How did you come up with that Price?
24. How soon would you like to be sold? __Days ____Date
25. Is there a Mortgage on the house? ⯠Yes ⯠No
26. What is/are the balance? 1st ________ 2nd ________3rd________
27. Are you in Foreclosure? ⯠Yes ⯠No ⯠Notice of Default or ⯠Trustee Sale...Sale Date _______ Arrearage Amount __________
28. One last thing…. When I come out… it is important…that all of the decision makers be there…. so I can come to an agreement to buy your house… Will all of the decision makers be there for the appointment? (If all of them are not there don’t go)
29. Well, ______ I look forward in meeting you at ________
Figure 49: Generic Cold Call Script.
A couple notes; you should always repeat what the prospect says to you and follow that up with a negative or positive reinforcement word.
Read the following sentence to you and you’ll see what I mean.
You ask: How soon would you like to be sold?
Prospect replies: I would like to be sold in two weeks.
You say: You would like to be sold in two weeks, Ouch!
Or
You would like to be sold in two weeks, fantastic!
Each statement sets a tone for how you want the prospect to feel. Imagine that they had told you that they wanted 100,000.00 dollars for a house worth 200,000.00 would not that be fantastic? But what if they wanted 300,000.00 for that same house, Ouch! Ouch creates doubt and you want to put doubt into the mind of a prospect when they are in fantasy land.
Always have a script in front of you when you do your calling. Rehearse your script aloud before you begin calling each and every time. Do the same for the objection responses. The goal is to become comfortable with what you are saying and to make it your own, meaning that you should sound natural, not like you’re reading from a script. The scripts should serve as a guide for remembering what to say and not leaving out something important; a guideline to follow while you speak with passion from your heart.
This brings up a very important point that can make the difference between success and failure. You have to really believe in what you’re doing. The way someone feels about something is revealed in their voice. If you truly believe that you have something of value, something that your prospects need - whether it’s finding them a financially qualified buyer, helping them out of a foreclosure, and so on – it will come across the telephone. And you will close a lot more sales this way.
It is important that you only let the telephone ring three times before hanging up. Letting it ring more than three times will frustrate the receiver of the call—they may be running to get the telephone just to learn that a telemarketer is calling. And yes, you are now a telemarketer. Letting it ring more than three times will also slow the process for you. If an answering machine picks up do not waste valuable time leaving a message to return your call.
In addition, stand up when making your calls. Standing up will give you much more energy, which will be conveyed through your voice over the telephone. Get a tall desk to work from and use a quality headset.
Track the outcome of your calls next to your prospect’s name/phone number. Record the time and date you called. If no one answers, write, “no answer;†if you speak to someone, briefly note what was said/happened; and so forth.
A secret to cold calling that improves results is to learn to “mirror†(mimic) the person you’re speaking to on the other end of the line. If they speak softly, you should too. If they speak quickly, adjust your speech pattern accordingly. If they have an accent, develop a similar one. You will be more successful if you use this technique. You want people to feel like they know you, and a surprisingly simple way to accomplish this goal, in just a few seconds, is to mirror their speech patterns.
Never speak in a passive voice, such as: “If you were to choose me to buy your house,†and “I would…†or “I could…â€). This sets a negative tone and allows the prospect to be in control of your destiny. You must speak in a commanding, “This is mine†sort of voice. This has nothing to do with speaking forcefully and everything to do with setting the right tone and influencing the prospect. Use statements like "When I buy your house" or “When you sell me your house," and “Then I’m going to…†and so on. These types of statements are called embedded commands. They’re statements that cause the seller to believe in an outcome – your outcome. Use them to much success. In my opinion you should leave the prospect with the thought that you are going to BUY their house. If you say it eight times they actually start believing it.
Understand what "NO" means. Realize that being hung up on or told “no,†is a good thing. Every “no,†“not interested†and “no thanks†brings you that much closer to a qualified lead and qualified appointment and a definitive “YES!â€
Do not stop calling before your calling schedule time has expired, even to go on an appointment. Pre-set your appointment time around your telemarketing; never deviate from your promotional schedule.
Don’t ever consider giving up on cold calling. This is, by far, the least expensive form of advertising and you should take advantage of it.
BTW if you are going to cold call set up your Caller I.D.
I know what you’re thinking right now. “Michael you’re crazy, caller ID isn’t an advertising method†To that I would have a differing opinion. Caller ID is an advertising method and it is free. Think back to the time someone called you and you didn’t know their telephone number so you searched your telephones’ display pad for the recent callers looking for their telephone and then you hit the call button and called them back, right?
If I had called you then my name and number would be on your key pad. It would read “I Buy Houses and my telephone number. Every time you searched your telephone display pad you would see my telephone number. Folks it is all about touches, and if I can touch you two to eight times then I win. I have then branded my name and placed it into your memory bank for retrieval when you need it.
To get your name to show up on caller ID you have to call the local telephone provider and ask them to list your number under information. It is as simple as that.
Happy house hunting
Michael
Jonathan -- here's what I know:
When I owned a solar company I did the cold calling and was pretty succesful, but I HATED IT.
I tried hiring it out paying very well with bonuses. But no one could do it, not even poorly enough to break even with their base pay.
IMO not only does cold calling suck big time, but it's also not something most anyone can do.
Good luck and keep us posted.
I, too, have considered this.
What I have considered is:
1. Outsourcing it out of country.
(however, i hate calling customer service and getting someone on the line who I cannot understand at all which then just makes me talk louder and louder thinking that they'll repeat what they said and i'll magically understand them. that obviously doesn't work so i start pressing 0 hoping to get the operator. and as a last resort i try using a little spanish on them but they usually don't understand spanish in india!)
2.) Combining cold calls with other useful tasks, such as, skip tracing, data entry, posting ads to craigslist, gathering courthouse leads, sending letters, follow-up marketing, market analysis, gathering cash buyer info.......etc.
I would offer to pay them about 1,000 a month part time or offer to pay them commission from the leads they generate.
I am considering using the college work programs and offering internships. I have looked into it and have found that they are much more receptive to hourly pay.
As long as they bring in, at least, 1 deal per month then they're paying for themselves.
I've decided to try and find someone interested in learning about REI to go along with me through the process from start to finish (not going into too much detail) and paying them an unexpected amount. Hopefully, they'll fall in love with the experience and will be excited to get the next deal. I will gladly pay them a nice commission to pursue their dreams and teach them!
Although, I do fear cannibalization!
Hmmmm.. :)
$1000.00 a month? For how many calls? I've made cold calls for so many years in different business ventures that it just doesn't bother me. I'd honestly consider setting up a side business if people are willing to pay for someone to make cold calls.
Jeff
Just a slight change of subject. Make sure you understand the telemarketing laws and how the no call list works.
The fines are really substantial if someone complains.
I also have a list of 75,000 properties in my area which includes the owner's info who have owned their property for at least 10 yrs. None of the entries have a phone number and I have no idea what their motivation level for selling would be.
Researching every property, gathering info, talking to owners, and entering the data in a data base alone would be 37,500 hours if you only spent 30 minutes per property. That would take about 2 yrs to accomplish at 30 hrs a week.
My goal is to have a database with every property that may have equity listed in my database. That way when ever I talk to a seller about a property I can cross reference it with my database and will already have property info, owner info, contact info, tax appraisal, ARV, offer price, notes, etc......
Anyone use a real estate virtual assistant to call expired listings or even foreclosure homes???
P NW has a very important point. I have worked as a insurance sales agent and we made hundreds of cold calls a day. It is a $10,000 dollar fine if you call someone on the Do Not Call list. We used a service called Gryphon (IIRC) to protect us. You dialed a 1800 # to get in the system, then dialed the numbers you were trying to reach. The service tells you if the number you we were trying to reach is on the DNC list. I don't know how much it costs, but it did work great if anyone does a lot of cold calling.
Don, I suspect it would not be worthwhile to hire a VA that is not native to your regional area. With cold calling, you have the first 3-5 seconds of a call to create a repoire with the person on the other line. I think if you outsourced your calling, people would assume the caller is a scammer, much like you probably do when you get an email you can tell is sent from overseas.
Well our calls are to people who have some type of ad or sign in the yard. So I am sure I am ok with this type of calling.
If you are not one who wants to tackle the self-actualization, you can get a virtual assistant and pay something like what you stated.
You just have to get over it and go for it. I work from the perspective that every person is going to reject me, so I just expect it, so it's not big deal, and when I get a positive response, then it's a high point.
That is a good way to look at it. I also work from the perspective that every call teaches me something that I am either doing right or something I am doing wrong;
Which is specifically outlined in the regulations... Naturally please have your attorney confirm...
As far s telemarketing... When I started I was so poor that was the thing I did to get leads... SO poor I wouldn't answer the telephone myself because I knew it was a bill collector on the other end..
I eventually hired 16 women to all 8 hours a day... they had a 3 strike rule.. If they went 3 days without an appointment they got the right to work somewhere else...
Here is a little thing I wrote about cold calling.
Okay, now let’s talk cold calling… Yuck! Don’t be so hasty here. It’s an acquired taste that you begin to enjoy more and more, especially once you begin to see the money you can make from it.
Cold calling is an outstanding resource, especially for those with a limited advertising budget. It allows you to do three things:
• First, it puts you in front of prospects on a daily basis. Without prospects, you have no one to sell your services to.
• Secondly, it will tell you if prospects have sold, listed, or, in the case of foreclosure, stopped the process so you can remove them from your mailing campaign.
• Thirdly, it will give you more confidence than you can imagine. This type of confidence is important, as you will be negotiating to buy properties at $50,000 less than value.
Cold calling is the most important task you can do to create wealth as you begin your career. Therefore, it’s important to treat it as your most important promotional activity when scheduling your day. There are two optimum windows of opportunity for cold calling: from 9:00 am to 11:00 am and 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm Monday through Friday.
Two hours a day is sufficient for cold calling when you’re doing everything yourself in your business. So, you could set a religious schedule that looks something like this:
Monday - 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Tuesday - 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Wednesday - 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Thursday - 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Friday - 9:00 am – 11:00 am
The reason you mix your days up is to reach those people who may not be home in the morning but will be home in the evening, and visa versa.
On a side note, I understand that you may have a full time job and that cold calling during these times may interfere with your work schedule. If this is the case, the two days a week that you are not working at your full time job should be the two days you will call between 9:00 am and 11:00 am and use the early evening of three other days in place of the afternoon schedule. The most important thing is to put in the time necessary to meet your prospective goals.
As you cold call, call prospects in the following prospect-type order:
1. Hot Leads
2. Expired
3. NOD
4. FSBO
5. For Rent
6. COI
Probate, Farm, and Absentee Owners are not prospects for cold calling.
Use the following schedule for calling these prospects:
• Hot leads – until they sell, list or die.
• Expired – daily until they list, sell or decide not to sell
• NOD â€" daily until they list, sell or stop foreclosure
• FSBO â€" daily until they list, sell or decide not to sell
• For Rent – day 1 and day 5, then monthly
• COI – One time each month
Scripts are paramount. The following is my “generic†script and can be used successfully for all prospect groups although a script written specifically for the prospect you’re calling may give you better results.
Hi, my name is __________with I Buy Houses… We are looking for 3 and 4 bedroom homes in your neighborhood…And I was wondering…who do you know that is looking to move out of your area? (No one) Fantastic!
Thank you for taking the time to think about it.. By the way
1. Have you thought about selling? (Never) Terrific!
2. If you were to sell…where would you go next? (Back to LA) That’s Exciting!
3. And when would that be? (3 months) Fantastic!
If they do not want to sell say thank you and hang up
or
If they want to sell
4. Are you planning on selling this house? (Yes) That’s exciting!
5. Do you have your next home picked out already? (You do) Ouch!
6. What do you think it will take to get the houses sold? (The right offer) Really!
7. I buy houses… just like yours… all of the time, and I have found that if the seller is willing… we can come up with a solution that works best for both of us, is that okay with you? (Yes) outstanding
8. Sometimes the only way we can buy the houses we look at is to take over the debt and pay you your equity, That means the loan will stay the house until its sold, assumed or paid off.
9. Sometimes even buy the house under a lease option… Is that a problem? ⯠Yes ⯠No
10. So if we can pay you your equity, guarantee and make your payments and be responsible for all repairs you will sell the home to us, right? ⯠Yes ⯠No
11. What time today would be better for me to come out and buy your house ___________ or ______________? (___) Terrific
12. Before I come out… there are just a few more questions… I need to ask about your house, is that okay? (It is) outstanding
13. Is the home ⯠Vacant or ⯠Occupied? Occupant Name?
14. _____ Bedrooms ______ Baths
15. How many Square Feet? ________________
16. Size of the Garage? ____________________
17. How did you happen to own the home?
18. What Kind of repairs does it need?
19. ⯠Carpet ⯠Paint ⯠Roof ⯠Cabinets ⯠Electrical ⯠Plumbing ⯠Plaster ⯠Sheet Rock ⯠Cooler ⯠Heater ⯠Air Conditioner â¯Window ⯠landscaping ⯠Clean-up
20. What do you think the repair cost will be?___________
21. What are you asking for the house? ________________
22. Is that ⯠Fixed–Up or ⯠‘As Is’
23. How did you come up with that Price?
24. How soon would you like to be sold? __Days ____Date
25. Is there a Mortgage on the house? ⯠Yes ⯠No
26. What is/are the balance? 1st ________ 2nd ________3rd________
27. Are you in Foreclosure? ⯠Yes ⯠No ⯠Notice of Default or ⯠Trustee Sale...Sale Date _______ Arrearage Amount __________
28. One last thing…. When I come out… it is important…that all of the decision makers be there…. so I can come to an agreement to buy your house… Will all of the decision makers be there for the appointment? (If all of them are not there don’t go)
29. Well, ______ I look forward in meeting you at ________
Figure 49: Generic Cold Call Script.
A couple notes; you should always repeat what the prospect says to you and follow that up with a negative or positive reinforcement word.
Read the following sentence to you and you’ll see what I mean.
You ask: How soon would you like to be sold?
Prospect replies: I would like to be sold in two weeks.
You say: You would like to be sold in two weeks, Ouch!
Or
You would like to be sold in two weeks, fantastic!
Each statement sets a tone for how you want the prospect to feel. Imagine that they had told you that they wanted 100,000.00 dollars for a house worth 200,000.00 would not that be fantastic? But what if they wanted 300,000.00 for that same house, Ouch! Ouch creates doubt and you want to put doubt into the mind of a prospect when they are in fantasy land.
Always have a script in front of you when you do your calling. Rehearse your script aloud before you begin calling each and every time. Do the same for the objection responses. The goal is to become comfortable with what you are saying and to make it your own, meaning that you should sound natural, not like you’re reading from a script. The scripts should serve as a guide for remembering what to say and not leaving out something important; a guideline to follow while you speak with passion from your heart.
This brings up a very important point that can make the difference between success and failure. You have to really believe in what you’re doing. The way someone feels about something is revealed in their voice. If you truly believe that you have something of value, something that your prospects need - whether it’s finding them a financially qualified buyer, helping them out of a foreclosure, and so on – it will come across the telephone. And you will close a lot more sales this way.
It is important that you only let the telephone ring three times before hanging up. Letting it ring more than three times will frustrate the receiver of the call—they may be running to get the telephone just to learn that a telemarketer is calling. And yes, you are now a telemarketer. Letting it ring more than three times will also slow the process for you. If an answering machine picks up do not waste valuable time leaving a message to return your call.
In addition, stand up when making your calls. Standing up will give you much more energy, which will be conveyed through your voice over the telephone. Get a tall desk to work from and use a quality headset.
Track the outcome of your calls next to your prospect’s name/phone number. Record the time and date you called. If no one answers, write, “no answer;†if you speak to someone, briefly note what was said/happened; and so forth.
A secret to cold calling that improves results is to learn to “mirror†(mimic) the person you’re speaking to on the other end of the line. If they speak softly, you should too. If they speak quickly, adjust your speech pattern accordingly. If they have an accent, develop a similar one. You will be more successful if you use this technique. You want people to feel like they know you, and a surprisingly simple way to accomplish this goal, in just a few seconds, is to mirror their speech patterns.
Never speak in a passive voice, such as: “If you were to choose me to buy your house,†and “I would…†or “I could…â€). This sets a negative tone and allows the prospect to be in control of your destiny. You must speak in a commanding, “This is mine†sort of voice. This has nothing to do with speaking forcefully and everything to do with setting the right tone and influencing the prospect. Use statements like "When I buy your house" or “When you sell me your house," and “Then I’m going to…†and so on. These types of statements are called embedded commands. They’re statements that cause the seller to believe in an outcome – your outcome. Use them to much success. In my opinion you should leave the prospect with the thought that you are going to BUY their house. If you say it eight times they actually start believing it.
Understand what "NO" means. Realize that being hung up on or told “no,†is a good thing. Every “no,†“not interested†and “no thanks†brings you that much closer to a qualified lead and qualified appointment and a definitive “YES!â€
Do not stop calling before your calling schedule time has expired, even to go on an appointment. Pre-set your appointment time around your telemarketing; never deviate from your promotional schedule.
Don’t ever consider giving up on cold calling. This is, by far, the least expensive form of advertising and you should take advantage of it.
BTW if you are going to cold call set up your Caller I.D.
I know what you’re thinking right now. “Michael you’re crazy, caller ID isn’t an advertising method†To that I would have a differing opinion. Caller ID is an advertising method and it is free. Think back to the time someone called you and you didn’t know their telephone number so you searched your telephones’ display pad for the recent callers looking for their telephone and then you hit the call button and called them back, right?
If I had called you then my name and number would be on your key pad. It would read “I Buy Houses and my telephone number. Every time you searched your telephone display pad you would see my telephone number. Folks it is all about touches, and if I can touch you two to eight times then I win. I have then branded my name and placed it into your memory bank for retrieval when you need it.
To get your name to show up on caller ID you have to call the local telephone provider and ask them to list your number under information. It is as simple as that.
Happy house hunting
Michael
All the deals I closed last year came from cold calling. I use a 4 line dialer which helps out a lot.
Personally, from my stand point "COLD CALLIMG" is a must. I take an hour everyday and rip through a list hoping to get a voice on the phone. The likely hood is you wont unless you call them around 5-6 when they are assumed to get out of work. Not only does it help your confidence in a major way it also helps you convey what you are actually trying to sell. If you are in the game of real estate it is all about communication. If you cannot communicate, you honestly cannot do a god dam thing. At the end of the day what is the worst thing that could happen, they say NO? My intention in to buy their property? What’s yours?
I use investorfuse for my automation and its a great tool to help me stay on top of followups, appointments, team members, virtual assistants and keep track of all the in's and out's of my wholesale business. Also have you considered skip tracing phone numbers for potential clients on your direct mail list? It may give you a upper hand to get in contact with some professionals in your market ASAP. Skip tracing phone numbers in my target area and hiring a cold caller to call my direct mail list helped kickstart my direct mail campaigns.
I use investorfuse for my automation and its a great tool to help me stay on top of followups, appointments, team members, virtual assistants and keep track of all the in's and out's of my wholesale business. Also have you considered skip tracing phone numbers for potential clients on your direct mail list? It may give you a upper hand to get in contact with some professionals in your market ASAP. Skip tracing phone numbers in my target area and hiring a cold caller to call my direct mail list helped kickstart my direct mail campaigns.
Do you actually wholesale or are you just promoting your cold calling company?