Generating Leads

The holidays are a perfect time of year to be planning your goals and strategies to grow your real estate investing business. Here are some thoughts to jumpstart your 2016 progress.

What is your goal in real estate investing? How much money do you have to invest? How much money do you want to generate every month? Do you have a deadline for reaching these objectives? Are you facing retirement? Raising money for college educations? Supporting elderly parents or young children?

Your real estate investment goals will be driven by your own objectives, and everyone has unique needs and motivation. There is no "one size fits all" approach to real estate investment.

Don't pick your real estate investment niche before defining your objectives.

Block dedicated time for your investing, whether you are full time or part time. Success comes from the discipline of doing the most productive activities on a consistent basis. Work with an "accountability partner," someone with similar goals, with whom you can check in on a regular basis, if that works for you. State your goals and objectives out load, clearly and precisely, and use your accountability partner to keep you on track.

Generate leads every day. Whatever it takes to generate leads that help you achieve your objectives. Take rejection in stride, and move on to the next prospect.

It may be helpful to create an "avatar prospect." Let's use an example here of an ideal seller, assuming we want to acquire rental properties for cash flow. Perhaps this avatar is over 55years of age, in his/her peak earning years, downsizing as children move out of the house, tired of tenants, but still wants cash flow.

This avatar has owned the property over 13 years. There is one owner vs a corporation. Perhaps this is a listed property, over-priced and has been on market over 90 days. You the investor are looking for a prospect focused on price. In this case, your strategy is to take over the mortgage, and pay mostly principal. Or perhaps it is to offer seller financing on a free and clear property. Follow the strategy that helps you achieve your objectives.

Your wealth will be directly related to your communication. Find ways to do deals, not to cancel them. Use the powerful language of possibility. Eliminate the word "can't" and replace it with "can". Eliminate "try" and replace it with "will;" change "problem" to "challenge". No "buts." Be positive and confident in your communications.

Rejections are part of any business. Create a filing system to remake any unaccepted real estate offers every 30 days, until the property is sold or off market. Sometimes a "no" becomes a "maybe" or even a "yes" with a little bit of tweaking.

My next blog will focus on marketing strategies to find your avatar prospects.

Happy Holidays! Happy Investing!