600 Postcards - NO Response
So far on my first mailing, I've sent out 600+ postcards (like John's) to my target nice/newer neighborhoods and got NO real responses yet...2 days later (just one skeptical/curious caller and one investor trying to get rid of some of his 50 rental properties).
Should I just be more patient? How long did it take some of you to get some desperate callers on the phone?
Thanks,
Brian
I had a much better response with personalized letters - 3% or so. I'm yet to get a call from any of my postcards.
Did you check the 1-2 year old mortgages? Some are refinancings and people want to sell. Now I don't know about your area, but that is what I look for in my area, and on a whole lot less postcards I got a tremendous response. 48 postcards and 8 calls, the very next day I had 2 calls and 2 days later another 2, the rest over the next week. 4 materialized.
Also, I handwrite the addresses and put a real stamp on the postcards, the feedback I got was that it inspired trust and a "real"person sending the postcards.
Ladybug
$ -
This wonderful lady knows how to get the job done. It's about trust also.
$-[ Edited by JohnLocke on Date 09/10/2003 ]
bth126,
Repetition is one of the keys in advertising.
Look at it this way it takes 7 times (impressions) for a person seeing a television commercial before they respond if they are going to respond. Check on what a television spot costs.
You do an initial mailing then follow up in 30 days with your second mailing.
You are a new unknown person entering the person who receives the post cards life. It sometimes takes a little longer for them to understand you really can help them. This is done thru repetitive messages.
Let's say your cost of advertising to send 600 cards was $180 to $200 dollars. It would be great to pick up a deal with spending this amount of money, but not likely.
Something about Rome not being built in a day, well creative real estate investing deals aren't either.
You have stepped up to the plate, which most people don't do, so keep swinging this is the only way you can hit a home run.
John $Cash$ Locke
We agree patience is KEY, it is also a virtue. So remain steadfast and maintain the marketing plan, realizing that a response - slowly but surely will appear.
Stay encouraged, motivated, focused, and calm. The appropriate momentum will arrive at the right time!
[addsig]
Quote:
On 2003-09-10 21:29, bth126 wrote:
So far on my first mailing, I've sent out 600+ postcards (like John's) to my target nice/newer neighborhoods and got NO real responses yet
Thanks,
Brian
Brian, the one thing no one has talked about here is the neighboorhood you are targeting. As the lady said, subdivisions that are 1-3 years old are great, and they have a load of people that are upside down for shorts. But the newer NICE neighboorhoods have slightly wealthier people, who tend to keep there checkbook a little better, and tend to respond best to professional services, especially ones that have established a brand with them.
I'd say try some cheaper new neighboorhoods to start, and move up to the wealthier brick after you've banged down a few doors.
Can everyone else with experience in direct mailings chime in on this too? What kind of response are you getting on average?
You need to consider the Return On Investment (ROI). You have to invest to get anything back out of it.
Like a few others have also said. Stick to the lower priced neighborhoods. You will find more opportunities.
Best of luck
Housebyr
Okay responing to you Q about others that use direct mail and our results. I get a response of about 20 out of every 100 or so. I also get responses several months down the road, when I have long forgotten about it. I don't always followup like I should. Many times it takes up to three mailings to get the good "prospects" to respond, the first ones are looking for big cash they think you are more eagar than they are. It is usually the later responses that work out for us. It only takes one good one to recover you cash out on the PC's.
[ Edited by Dreamin on Date 09/11/2003 ]
My response has been about like yours with the post cards. I send out cards to the Lis Pendens off of my counties web site. I have only been targeting them but I am now looking to expand this by getting reports from a title company.
I did send a few letters out but since the cost a bit more then a post card, I didn’t want to blow my budget for marketing.
I tell my wife it only takes one good deal to pay me back for all of the marketing money I spend.
Dreamin:
did we read correctly that you get a 20% response rate to your mailers? that number defies conventional direct marketing benchmarks of 1-2% by a long shot. please share with us your secrets for such an amazing response rate.
J
Thanks for all of your ideas and experience. I think I will now target a really nice "double-wide" neighborhood to get started.
Anyone else using ****Must Reach Senior Investor status before posting URL's*** for their postcards? I did, but I agree with one of the replies that people would much rather see a personalized hand-written address w/ an actual stamp.
Ladybug,
Curious, why do you target 1-2yr mortgages? Does your title company give you that info?
No equity
Yes, I do get approx 20% but keep in mind that only about 1-2% are actually properties I would or could work with immediately, sometimes more like my targeted mailing below. The others sometimes give my cards to friends or relatives, and some stay in the drawer for months. My 20% or so is not immediate all the time (Much of the responders "want " too much for their property and are not in a distressed situation or distressed enough.)
My PC niche theme is "problem solving" and so people will pass my PC around and some will hold on to them. I am looking for properites but also building a reputation and a future market with the cards. (at least that is how I see it). I market to empty, distressed houses, people who have trouble paying their taxes and go into default and I blanket a neighborhood and do not directly target specific people. I have found that people are offended if you single them out in small towns but if you send a few to the neighbors that they are most likely to know it helps them feel more comfortable calling you. Word of Mouth is the strongest marketing tool. One of my PO's went 4 counties from where I mailed it, a freind of a freind kind of deal.
I don't send mass mailings out every month only about twice a year. The rest of the time the cards are follow ups to calls or other contact I made with the "potential" client, or a smaller mailing like below to a selective neighborhood for specific reasoning.
The last batch I sent 135 cards out and got 22 responses and one response had 11 properties not 1 so I think my return was good. I have received 4 since those. I will recieve more as time goes on especially if I follow up with another card or two to the ones that did not respond. I keep a check sheet and track them all.
I flushed out the owners of the "real" targets and found more than I expected. Several of the cards were mulitple owners. These owners are well into thier years own a few different properties in different small towns within my market range.
The 11 properties turned out to be good potential buys but she is not distressed enough to realize that these poorly kept properties are being overvalued by the tax office. And she wants what she is being taxed on and I will not pay what she wants. But shes only inherited them a year ago so I will give her time to think. She is not a property manager and I have building a good relationship with her gently. When she is ready she will sell to me and she will sell them in their poor as is condition because she is not manager material. She will not reinvest her rent dollars and already two of the properties are I believe permantly vacant. She insists she will not have to put money into them, other investors have stopped trying to deal with her and her cantankers attitude. I am a softer kinder approach. I believe she will sell to me in time. I softly inquire to see how she is doing now and then but never mention the property so now we have a "freindship" of sorts, she will sell to me when the time is right.
My mailings are not just for immediate satifaction but long term success.
[ Edited by Dreamin on Date 09/16/2003 ][ Edited by Dreamin on Date 09/16/2003 ]
If you're going to send out 600 cards, it's better to send 3 mailings of 200 to the same people than 1 mailing of 600.
Best,
Brian
I use post cards only for my first mailing to save a little postage because about 5% get returned "no forwarding address". I've never had much of a response from post cards. I just learn if the property is vacant or occupied.
The post card I use is perhaps too general -in order to avoid embarrasing anyone.
After that, I use letters to continue the marketing plan. I send about 200/week. I "filter"/target my mail prospects. I'm looking for specific areas and a threshold equity amount. My response rate is 1%-2%. I seem to mail about 1500-2000 letters before buying one property..
I use to hand address the mailers, but it became too time consuming. My response would be better if the letters were hand addressed, but I'm not complaining.
I want to note that you can get an excellant response it you mail to "war zones", blighted areas, and neighborhoods with heavy duty "fixers". Or, even mailing to prospects with little,low, or no equity. That's just not my bag. My phone use to ring off the hook before I setup my filtering system. I would get 5-6 calls a day from owners who were "upside down" or at best even the arrearages of 3-4 months payment. No thanks.
Obviously, everyone wants the same type of property I'm persuing. The competton is intense. This is my niche and I'm pretty good at it.