With my direct mailing campaign rolling along nicely and bringing in calls on a regular basis it’s time to analyze and adjust. I’m not talking about adjusting the marketing just yet, but rather how Lance and I have been dealing with the sellers. We have found varying degrees of motivated sellers thus far but we’ve yet to lock down a deal.
It is very true that finding deals is just a numbers game. As long as you keep the sellers calling, you’ll eventually find someone motivated enough. There are stats that have been thrown around saying..
it takes 20 seller calls to find 1 deal…
The caveat to that statistic is it pretty much refers to experienced wholesalers. For investors just getting started it may take 40 to 100 seller calls to find the first deal. Why is that? It’s all about experience really.
For sure, out of the 40 or so calls we’ve gotten so far, Lance and I have made some mistakes that turned some people off. We try to fake it till we make it, but our inexperience shows up. The thing is, you can’t let all the failures stop you because with each call we gain more experience and get closer and closer to our first deal.
At our coaching/mastermind group meeting this past week we discussed with Jon and Kasey how we go about talking with the sellers. For the most part, Lance and I have the same demeanor when it comes to dealing with home owners. We try to be very respectful and understanding of their situation. This is good for building rapport, but when we go to make an offer it sounds kind of soft.
After listening to Jon go through how he makes an offer, I realized that he is a lot more firm and matter-a-fact. He also sites reasons such as the failing housing market and other statistics about the area that supports his price. Some other things he mentions are…
- Cost of holding the property for 6 months until the house sells
- Continued maintenance
- Solving their problem
Everyone’s personality is different, so you have to find the right balance and what works for you. In an effort to see what we can improve on, we are going to start recording some of our calls. You can do this very easily with devices like these
They work together with your cell phone (or land line) by just plugging the ear piece into your phones headphone jack and then linking it to the recording device.
If you are having trouble like I am, send me a recording of a seller call and I’ll post it on my blog. I’ll post some helpful tips as well as get some respected investors to give you some tips as well.
- Suspended From YouTube – for no reason - April 11, 2022
- Make Calls and Send Texts in Podio using smrtPhone - April 26, 2019
- Email Marketing with Podio and ConvertKit: Dealing with Unsubscribes - February 27, 2019
Comments 8
Scott –
I think whether you are new at making offers or an experienced investor, one of the most important things to remember is that you must be is confident. And yes, you can fake it until you make it. Present the offer citing the market conditions etc.. But you also need to find out what they want out of the deal in addition to money. There is always something “more” that will help seal the deal. I just did a blog post on this topic yesterday if you care to check it out.
http://LouisvilleGalsRealEsateBlog.com.
Hi Sharon,
I couldn’t agree with you more. Sounding confident when you are uncertain is definitely a skill that takes time to develop.
Also, the link you provided doesn’t work. Not sure why
I don’t know Scott. It worked for me. Here is the long link: http://realestateblog.dsvgroupsite.info/LouisvilleGalsRealEstateBlog/
thanks, that one worked 🙂
It’s good to hear your progress, Scott. I think you found the secret – it’s about doing what works with your personality. I see a lot of folks who start out just doing and copying what everyone else is doing. Though, what they do may not work with their personality – that’s where the frustration sets in. I do admit, it does take a bit of trial and error to see what works/what doesen’t work for you. But, once you find it – it’s makes this business more fun. Looking forward to hearing more about your progress! 🙂
Yea, I’m definitely not the type to be in your face. I’m a laid back, easy going person and I believe I will come across more genuine if I keep to my personality.
Scott – I’m definitely not the “in your face type”. For me, I go at it from a perspective of “how can I help you solve your problem”. However I learned early on, that you still have to speak confidently. I also think that by letting them know that you are a business person and you know your business, it helps bring their expectations into line. I think you can do all of this and still be who you are at your core.
I’m reading all the comments, and they are very helpful. I am going to be putting all the suggestions to work this week. I have a bunch of offers to make this upcoming week.