E-mail Marketing List.
The one thing I always seem to be short of is investors. I think that part of my problem is that I tend to market to these guys one at a time. I think of who on my list is most likely to buy a given project and I approach him with that project. Then I wait for a decision. Then I take the project to somebody else if he says no.
I was thinking I might put together a different approach. An e-mail list of "prospects". Every time a project comes up I could just send the e-mail describing it to everybody at the same time. Then I'm not stuck in the waiting trap.
Suggestions, comments, etc. on how to put such a thing together?
Mark
We are working on something similar, and have decided to use our MS Outlook program and the Distribution List feature. This allows you to set up "groups" of contacts, we have one for buyers, one for sellers, one for investors, etc....
When a property becomes available, you can e-mail to your distribution list or you can BCC (blind carbon copy) your group so that others can't see that you're mass e-mailing.
Definitly BCC...you don't want all your investors to get wind of each other or know how many people you are dealing with.
You might also consider setting up your mail system to include a first name as part of the message and send a single message to each investor. This would make them think you are dealing with them one-to-one instead of mass mailing. I'm not sure exactly how to do this in Outlook but I'm sure a quick Google search and some ingenuity will solve the problem.
I would approach your dilemma as follows: (1) Collect the name and communicated address (fax, email, etc) of individuals who have share there desire to invest in real estate. I would notify all investor of all new deals via fax, email. It would be on a first come first serve bases. After the deal was done (purchase,rehab,sold) I again would notify the investor of how well the transaction work out. Hopefully inspire them to act sooner and at the same time build trust. Keep in mind that property transaction can be verified by the potential investors via the net.