Title Representative · Irvine, CA · Member since 2017 · 874 posts · 519 votes
What’s everyone’s thoughts on cold calling people on Sundays? I’m a wholesaler focused on Texas, FYI, a mostly Latino market. I mean distress/urgency to sell doesn’t take days off, right?
As @Mark Durham stated, always be respectful and courteous.
You're looking for people you can actually help, not people who have houses you just want to buy at a discount. If they're in need, a Sunday call may be very welcome. If they're not, you're going to annoy them whenever you call.
If you speak to someone like @Account Closed, who's not in any form of distress or looking to sell quickly, and especially who's an active investor, they are going to ask questions like are you the actual buyer and will you pay full market value. This isn't someone you can help. When it's clear the person isn't someone you can help, move on.
In Texas it might, give it a try and track your results but, if you look at listings they fall off a much steeper cliff on Sundays in the bible belt than they do in CA.
If you do end up calling wait until the afternoon, people generally don't appreciate early calls especially on weekends and it could interrupt religious obligations.
So annoying people on weekdays isn't enough? Cant tell you how many cold calls I get from stupid wholesalers who found my name on some list of out of state landlords. I used to ask them simple questions like are you the actual buyer and are you willing to pay true FMV for the property? You may as well have quoted the devil to Jehovah Witnesses! Now I just don't answer unknown numbers. Find a better way to reach your target market.
As @Mark Durham stated, always be respectful and courteous.
You're looking for people you can actually help, not people who have houses you just want to buy at a discount. If they're in need, a Sunday call may be very welcome. If they're not, you're going to annoy them whenever you call.
If you speak to someone like @Account Closed, who's not in any form of distress or looking to sell quickly, and especially who's an active investor, they are going to ask questions like are you the actual buyer and will you pay full market value. This isn't someone you can help. When it's clear the person isn't someone you can help, move on.
So Bryant I would love to hear how your Sunday calls went. I'm just starting out in Wholesaling and doing cold calls. Not the best way I can think of to spend a Sunday, but you gotta hustle right?
@Barry Pekin Great answer. There are all types of sellers out there. Some are going to be open to your help, and some aren't. Gotta focus on the ones who are.
If you are cold calling from some list you purchased, you may very well be violating laws. I personally hate spam calls and texts and get them even though I am on the do not call list and have spam blockers. No idea how they get through still but I hate them and those who break the laws for a buck. Even the political parties send out spam text messages, of course I am not surprised that politicians believe themselves to be above the laws. Personally, I would find a better way to find motivated sellers. Now, if you were driving for dollars and had a specific property in mind where you looked up owner and got the number, that is somewhat different, but you should still ensure they are not on the do not call list.
Indeed I really wish people would stop cold calling. This is seriously what I don't get. You KNOW you are pissing people off. You KNOW you are ruining their afternoon/evening, and you know you are bothering them. I don't know how to express words any more strongly when I say ... I SERIOULSY FU@##ING don't get it. Do you seriously not care? Are you people really that damn selfish?
Look man. It may (or may not) be your fault. You want to be successful and you do what the gurus told you to do. OK fine. But now you and EVERYONE are reading this. NOW you know better.
See, as business owners, we NEED to pick up phone calls. I literally get 10 to 20 cold calls a day. It is REDICULOUSLY annoying.
Please guys, and girls, not only is this a crappy way to do business, also, and I PROMISE you, it doesn't work. There are WAY better ways to generate leads.
@Bryant Brislin I used to cold call on Sundays when I first started. I needed to do whatever it took to get deals to leave my 9-5 job. However, since I have a team that works for me now, they only work on the weekdays and I wouldn't ask them to work on the weekends.
The response rates are way higher than on the weekends because people are home. Whenever I did cold calls on Sundays, I was respectful and started calling around 1 PM to give time for people to get home from church. There is an aspect of marketing that will inevitably annoy people. However, there are people out there that simply don't know where to turn when they have a problem property. I've talked to sellers that literally thought they had to just pay property taxes on a house for years because they didn't think they could sell it due to its condition. In these situations, they won't actively seek help because they simply think no one wants their house. These are the situations where cold calling and direct marketing work amazingly.