Original message
| Doug Pretorius
   |  "The PLAN (long)"
, Thu 17 Aug 12:33 
Dealmaker mentioned my 'gameplan' and so I got to thinking; I came pretty darn close 2 or 3 times with the ad in the paper and the postcards to FS/RBOs and my unpolished phone skills. So I've come up with a plan of action and I'd like to share it with all of you, mostly for critique, but if anyone can gain any usefulness from it all the better. BTW, in case you're wondering, I didn't spend all night dreaming this up, most of the following will be made up as I go along as I am still considering my options.
Step I - The Marketing Plan
1. Place another ad in the local, saying: "Need to sell your home? I'll have an offer in your hands within 48 hours of your call. Call Doug at xxx-xxxx"
2. Continue mailing out postcards to all the FS/RBOs each week.
3. Distribute 10k flyers, that should be enough to blanket 3 or 4 neighborhoods.
4. Hand out several hundred (or thousand?) business cards to every person I met.
5. Call several agents about offering on their expiring listings, and referrals on properties they don't want to list (too little equity, to near to power-of-sale etc.)
6. I'm just waiting for a quote now for 5-10 signs to place around town.
Step II - Taking the Call
Presuming the above generates calls this is what I'm planning on saying: (I'll just cover what I'm going to say and ask, because we know most of the sellers ask the same initial questions, and after that...there's no point in simulating their answers since they're all different.)
"Hi. Well, first off, my name is Doug and I'm a private investor."
(I've found sellers to be more comfortable if I get my name and what I'm doing out of the way right upfront.)
"I want to help you out as best I can, so why don't you tell me about your situation, why exactly do you need to sell?"
After they reply I'll say something about how awful that is, or how I can understand their need for a bigger home or whatever approriate reply is needed.
"Are you looking for someone to come in and take over your payments, or to cash you out? How do you hope I can help you?"
"Do you happen to know how much you owe, off hand?"
Then I'll go on to get some basics about the place and the address so I can do comps. And finish up with...
"Well, from what you've told me I'm pretty confident I can have an offer in your hands shortly. I can fax or email it or drop it off, whatever will work for you."
etc etc.
So I go on to get whatever MLS info and comps I can, whip up an offer and call back to arrange for a time to meet at the property.
Ok, so that's about it for my property acquisition plan. Comments? Suggestions?
Doug
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Replies:
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| wgreau
|  "Re(1):The PLAN (long)"
, Fri 18 Aug 23:59
Doug: One of the things I truly admire about you is the fact you are willing to risk embarrassment in order to learn more.
You post (with honesty) your deals, thoughts, etc. and appear to be open minded. You will be blessed for that, my friend.
Would you please send me your e-mail address as I have something I would like to share with you that you might find beneficial.
Send your address to me at: wgr@copper.net Okay?
I really liked what Al Jordan had to share about using a tape recorder because I used to do that. To this day (I'm in my middle 60's) I have a tape recorder with telephone monitoring device hooked up to my telephone. I don't use it everyday but on occasion I do. He's right! I hope you have one you can use since they don't seem popular anymore. I have the small dictating kind and picked the monitoring device up at Radio Shack. It plugs into the tape recorder, the telephone jack and has a switch for record or playback. When I pick up the phone it starts and when I hang up it stops. I can manually start it when the party answers (I make the call) or when I pick up the phone (if I want). The real benefit is you get to hear the real you on line with a prospect and gives you the opportunity to see where it went sour or what you might have done differently. No one (other than yourself) is judging you. I have done this and thought to myself "what a dumb thing to say" or "boy, it was obvious I didn't know what I was talking about" ...."that long pause on my part didn't sound good" etc, etc.
I use one of Matt's ads in a small newspaper that serves the whole county. I was the only ad but now there is another. I chose that paper because I don't want to be swamped with calls as I am in the note business and it keeps me busier than I want to be. I like this business better and am interested in creating my own notes for leveraging and income. Anyway, I get about one to two calls a week (on average) sometimes more and they ALWAYS ask me "I saw your ad and was wondering how this works?" I respond with "well, I am trying to help people that have a need to sell their home quickly". "Would you mind if I ask you some questions that will help me determine if I can be of some help to you?" They ALWAYS say "no, that's fine". Then I follow my script and quickly determine if they are motivated or not. People that are in trouble and care about their credit become very open and honest quickly. Some people are only looking for an easy way to sell their home without a Realtor and if I can't make about 20% or more of FMV I don't pursue it. I have several deals where I have made an offer and for one reason or another they are in limbo (want to be completely freed of the mortgage and won't subject to), have a defaulted buyer in the property that needs evicted, have the property listed with a Realtor and listing hasn't yet expired, etc. In the past I always used a Realtor to find my deals and write them up so now I had to learn how to do the paperwork myself. Thanks to Matt I was able to get through one and he saved my butt from some serious S--- that might have resulted without his input.
Sorry I have rambled on so .... send me your e-mail address.
William Columbus OH
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| dealmaker
Moderator
| "Revision 1" , Thu 17 Aug 19:44
Regaring your ad, I like these better:
Need to Sell FA$T?
Little Equity? Behind in Paymts?
No Problem! xxx-xxxx
I'll buy YOUR house FA$T!
All Areas & Any Condition!!
xxx-xxxx
# 2-5 ARE GREAT.. Drop 6 for now.. wait for a couple of deals before you pay for Sign Space!
quote:
"Hi. Well, first off, my name is Doug and I'm a private investor."
"I want to help you out as best I can, so why don't you tell me about your situation, why exactly do you need to sell?"
How about.. "Yes, I buy houses.. My name is Doug.. tell me about your house" (leave off the Private Investor, is just sounds too ~~~ something..anyhow just leave it out)
Next.. "Tell me about your situation.. you planning to buy, build or rent another house?"
When you ask, "Why do you NEED to sell?" that a question that rubs some in the wrong way.. the quote I offer you will allow you to get the same result through the back door.
quote:
"Are you looking for someone to come in and take over your payments, or to cash you out? How do you hope I can help you?"
WAIT!.. Right here you ASKING THEM to make your offer.. do you understand? Why would ANYOHE take "someone taking over their payments" instead of "CASH".. No one would! Everyone I know would take the cash..
Doug we could pay you for working next year for you in 'weekly' payments or we could pay you CASH upfront.. Which would you prefer?
Your main objective is to determine if there is a MOTIVE for seller to be 'motivated'.. job loss, job transfer, making 2 house payments, death, divorce, behind in payments, etc....
Next.. some sellers have a reason to be motivated however the LEVEL of motivation is critical. Try to determine that with indirect questions like I offered you above.
If they do not have a reason to be motivated, the odds are against a creative offer. These sellers are calling just to test the waters..
Next, if you dealing w/ a seller that has a decent level of motivation.. DO not make the offer over the phone. Offer to look a the house. Build RAPPORT.. be likeable, you must build some rapport. Once I meet w/ a seller he/she can see my how professional & serious I take my business..
If the proper amount of rapport is built they ARE going to trust you when you tell them you WILL take up their payments and offer them a note for their equity or whatever!! This cannot be done over the phone.
______________________________
Your marketing plan is great.
Work on your quesitons...
you need to know
- Payment amount
- Mortgage Balance
- Paymts current?
- Moving, building, renting, buying?
- Their "situation"?
..there's more..but you can get those in my book? 
Doug: you need to focus on buying & selling the homes! DO NOT focus on NOT selling one when you buy it. If you buy right with great terms that you can pass along to your buyer.. that's a great deal.
You have mentioned your fear of not being able to get rid of a home if you buy it.
You must believe that you can sell it.. Do not let that fear stop you.
Dealmaker
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| | Al Jordan
|  "How to go from "reader" to "recorder"?"
, Fri 18 Aug 17:27
Doug,
I’ve read your post and the responses to it a few times. I think that you’ve hit on what separates people who deal and people who read.
Why is it that everyone who can type posts “advice” on CREonline and only a handful of people do even one deal? There are a bunch of easy reasons that I could come up with, but from what I’ve noticed it comes down to how you are PERCEIVED.
Reading/Remembering a script to follow on the phone is fine, but how do you come across? Is the conversation choppy (it’s got to flow)? Record every conversation that you have with someone on the phone for a day/week and ask yourself how you come across. Do it. You’ll learn something about how sellers perceive you.
Your goal should be to build credibility. Try to keep in mind that your presentation is less important than you, the presenter. Also, usually sellers have more issues than just selling their house. With this in mind tell them what you can do for them. What do they get out of the deal?
Matt calls it rapport. Perfect. Build rapport. That says it in two words, but for Megan and I it has made all the difference. It’s a skill and you/we/Matt/everyone will work on it for the rest of our lives.
I’m telling you something you already know. From what I’ve read, this is the department you need to work on. Knowing 101 ways to buy property is wonderful, but building credibility makes money. I think of it this way. Wear the same hat all day long. Wear it when you’re at home, at a house, dealing, or laughing.
Look, this is what I think is the difference between “readers” and people who regularly record deeds at the courthouse. I’m not saying you don’t have these qualities. Just be aware of how you are perceived.
Al 
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| | Doug Pretorius
| "It sounds to me..." , Fri 18 Aug 18:11
...like you're saying, be yourself.
But if what I wrote as a script in my first post (which is how I would naturally come across) is wrong, how can I wear the same hat all day, when I'd have to be two different people?
Here's another example of how I am going to make an L/O offer to a seller tomorrow, who owns his house free and clear and wants cash but is asking 10% more than FMV:
"Ok, so you're having some trouble selling your house. I know it's tough, the market has slowed down alot. Nevertheless, I'm sure I can help you, but I can't give you full price in cash, right now. How does it sound to you, if instead, I put someone in here who will buy the house in a year or two, at which time you get all of your money out. In the meantime, I give you $900 a month and take care of any maintenance out of my own pocket. Would that solve the problem for you?"
The guy is probably not motivated enough to bother, but I figure I might as well make the offer because this is the only seller I've got. My alternate offer he is going to like even less, it's cash at $45,000 less than he is asking (20% of FMV.)
Doug
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