All Forum Posts by: Jerry Puckett

Originally posted by @Michael Quarles:

Personally I would use your name only and not mention her... 

Also she is only required if 

1) she has an expectation of commissions and agency or 

2) if her Broker is requiring it as a condition of her independent contractor agreement. 

A disclosure in the same font size as the rest of the letter is fine too... Make sue you put here DRE# and Her Brokers Name and DRE#

 Certainly. My opinion is generally better safe than sorry, but Michael is the resident expert in Cali. Just make sure you double check the rules with her Broker. 

Would you rule out listings entirely from your tool belt if you were able to monetize more leads that way? 

I usually put the BRE # directly under the signature and add language that says something like:  Though I am a licensed agent I'm far more interested in buying your property than listing it.

We also can use a sort of hybrid letter that appears to be "from the desk of" Pre printed stationary can have urls, phone numbers, etc in very small typed font that do not appear abnormal at all.

Originally posted by @Christy Barton:

I'd recommend checking out podcasts that Michael Quarles and Jerry Puckett are on - they are marketing gurus.  

Awe, man, why do I have to be a guru? I'm just Jerry from the block. Five years ago or so I was as new and green as anyone else here. BP built my business into what it is today. 

But to answer your question @Martin Sterling, there are different ways to divvy depending on what you're looking for and. what your primary exit strategy will be. But what it really comes down to in the long run is equity. 

Direct mail is very powerful, but far from what I would call laser focused. It is a numbers game, and you need to play the numbers to win. Don't imagine there is a way to game the system and find an avenue no one else has found before. There are no secrets in this business, and anyone who says there is is trying to sell you something.

Originally posted by @Hattie Dizmond:

@J Scott

Thanks for reminding me.  I got so busy trying to get the alphabetizing right, I forgot...

Jerry Puckett

(blushing now)

 After yesterday you ought to be blushing!! :-)

This is an awesome thread. Many thanks to those who have mentioned me, it's an honor.

My dream team would be 

@Jon Klaus

@John Chapman

and @Shane Woods

(DOH!! They're all already on my team!! Thanks to BP!!)

Originally posted by @Dan Shelhamer:

 After inputting that, I got a list of 874 leads. I feel like there can't be that many absentee owners that fall into my criteria.

 Hi Dan,

Why so surprised? 15 mile radius, that's a diameter of 30 miles.....that is a LOT of ground. Do definitely choose a property type, and make sure you do it from the detailed property types>residential, otherwise listsource is unable to distinguish between a detached SFR and a Condo. That's a big mistake I've seen a lot of people make, and don't recognize until they see the unit numbers popping up in their list.

If your return is still too high after that, then reign your radius in mile by mile until you get to where you want. 

Most people compiling equity lists also skip anyone who have been in title less than seven years or so. I used to do that also, but then realized I was missing Inheritors and the growing ranks of newbie Landlords who have already figured out they're in over their heads ( I call them really really bad Landlords, or RRBL's). 

That second group is growing larger every day. What I have found is that there has been tons of cash flying around the market for the last two years. Many, disgusted with there 401k or other investment strategies have decided to throw their money into Real Estate without even knowing what they're doing.

They're going out, making bad deals, and very quickly coming to the realization that they just weren't cut out to be landlords. They just want out and I'm happy to oblige! The RRBL's usually have about an 18 month turn around, so if I filtered for length of residence, I'd lose them. As for how to handle the mailing aspect...that's a loaded question....do you want to be an Investor or a mail house? What's the best use of your time?

Originally posted by @Braden C.:

@Jerry Puckett

 We have one of these machines too and the key is just keeping everything in order. If/when there is a jam you just have to make sure to remove the correct envelope and letter. We've loved it since we got it, saves a ton of time. 

 I'm sure I would love it too! It's not the jams I worry about. Sometimes when the letters are printing, one will slide under another, a duplicate will print, one will go missing....something. A human eye can see when the stack has gotten out of order, and it's easy to correct. 

My fear would be putting in the stack of printed letters and stack of envelopes and just one of either being out of order. The machine cannot match them, so if John Smith's letter goes into Larry's Smith's envelope, each and every letter behind it will also be mismatched, and I wouldn't know until I either didn't get any calls or when I get a call from Larry saying "my name isn't John" 

How do you ensure that everything is in order coming off the printer?

Originally posted by @Annette D.:

Just bought a machine to fold and insert 5k to 20k per month direct mailers. 

 Hi Annette!

Do you personalize all of your pieces with merge info? The last time I looked into folder/inserters I couldn't find one that would match envelope and letter 100%. Sometimes during the printing process we get some pages and/or envelopes out of order. When using an inserter, if even one is off, all the rest behind it will too. How do you over come that?

Originally posted by @Erik Stark:

Jerry,

You raise interesting points and I respect them greatly. I look at it as controlling my marketing and understanding every bit of how my marketing operates rather than hand it to an outside office to manage for me. 

I also receive a swipe file every month with everything being mailed in my market. Looks as if everyone is doing a fine job of blending in who uses those companies. 

Im willing to test a mailing campaign of your choice and let your company try and see if it responds the same.

 Hi Erik,

Very interesting. Yes, I read your blog (rant) post and agree that a swipe file is a great thing to have....that's exactly how I try to stay in front of the curve in the 80+ markets I'm working in. I look at hundreds of pieces from all over the country. 

And yet this entire thread has not been about response or conversion rates, but started out with a simple question on the price of outsourcing. I get it, you don't out source. Good for you.

But after your input, I thought a little discussion on the opportunity cost of an Investor's time would be good for any community member deciding to walk down that same path. If someone is going to walk the path of taking it in house, becoming a jack of all trades, then they need to know all of the costs involved before making an informed decision.

Originally posted by @Erik Stark:

Hello, I strongly recommend having someone come into your office to handle your mailers.

I have a virtual assistant manage all of my lists and then a lady who knows how to merge, print, fullfill, stamp and send 

She spends around 8 hours per week doing around 500 mailers

 Hi Erik,

I don't get it. Previously you said:

So....a penny per post card....that's pretty darn good. In fact I cant find a deal like that anywhere where you don't have to buy a bazillion of them at once, and even then .03 cents is about the best I can find, which does not include the shipping.  

And your lady is merging and printing....so does that penny also cover the ink, the printer, the maintenance, the time spent buying supplies, etc? Does it include your VA's pay for handling the list? That's amazing!

And this same lady is the one I'm assuming you pay .10 cents per piece to hand address the PC, so does that same .10 cents cover the merging, printing, stamping and hand writing? 

Does it cover the pay roll tax also? If she's working in your office then she is an employee, not a contractor (according to the IRS rules anyway). Does it also include yours or your CPA's time in preparing the quarterly pay roll tax reports and payments?

And finally this lady, whom you pay .10 cents per piece....if she spends 8 hrs preparing 500 post cards per week, she makes $6.25.  That's a buck below the National minimum wage, and almost 2 bucks below the minimum for Florida. If you treat her as a contractor, even less because she'll have to pay all of her own taxes.

So....in the final analysis, it seems to me you are really bending over backwards, creating unnecessary infrastructure just to (MAYBE)  save a few pennies. 

Originally posted by @Erik Stark:

Dont outsource it. Find a lady to handle your mailers.

Your response rates will be higher, you will learn so MUCH about mailing and you will save a lot.

 Hmmmmmm.......if you're not doing it yourself, but hiring a "lady" to do it for you, are you not in fact out sourcing? Just sayin'.