Prospecting for close-able real estate wholesale deals can be predictable, fun, and measurable, if... you understand how to remove the "emotional roller coaster" and focus on a simple prospecting philosophy that's guided by a very simple equation:
"The 52-48 = 4 Formula." Here's how it works. In every deck of cards there are always 52 cards, and... within every deck of 52 cards there are always 4 Aces. That also means that 48 cards in the deck are NOT Aces.
For creative seller finance investors, burning through our list of leads (buyers or sellers) to find the "Aces" in each deck of cards... as fast as we can, is our only objective.
The problem arises when new (and sometimes not-so-new) wholesale real estate investor tries to magically transform the other 48 cards that only contain Jacks, Queens, Spades... into Aces. It's a problem, because... well.. they're not Aces. At least not yet. "Maybe" thru following up over time, they'll become Aces, but savvy pros don't ever try to force "non" Aces to become Aces. It's a complete waste of time. instead, they use automated follow up systems that "drip" on their prospects - over time - until they either become Aces or they unsubscribe. In either case, the savvy investor pro never wasted their own time to figure out what the prospect would ultimately become. And neither should you... Savvy investors follow this creed: "Professionals sort. Amateurs convince." Years ago, I heard that saying for the first time, and for the first time, and it changed the way I prospected forever. I hope it does for you too. You see, I too had been trying to turn Jacks and Spades into Aces, instead of "flipping through the cards" as fast as I could, so I could find my 4 Aces. These Aces were the prospects that I wanted. These are the folks that ultimately say "YES!" to my offers and allow me to lead them through my sales and marketing funnel, instead of me spending my time trying to convince them to do something they didn't want to do. Another savvy investor creed to follow: "A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still." ... so why try convince those that don't want to be convinced, when you can just save time and sort, right? Right. Here's why you might be tempted to convince your prospects like an Amateur, instead of sorting through them like a Pro:
At PushButtonInvestor.com, we use sales and marketing funnels to solve this problem of quickly finding our 4 Aces by:
The above processes allow us to avoid the temptation of:
So how do you know when you have come across a Jack or a Queen vs. a true Ace?
Simple... You ask them to do "jump thru a series of hoops" for you, that will either prove them to be an Ace, or... prove them to be a Jack or Queen. Serious Aces do what you ask them to do. They follow you as their leader. Jacks and Queens don't. They aren't really looking for help, and thus... they're not looking for a leader that can lead them to the solution they're saying they need. Personally, I ask my prospects to:
They're either going to take one of the above steps, or they're not. It's that simple. For those who do not yet have automated systems to follow up with their prospects, I recommend the following follow up sequence.
If a prospect has not called me back, gone to visit one of our sites, or has more reasons why they have not been able to do something I've asked them to do than reasons to do these simple tasks, they are Jacks and Queens. I no longer have to guess whether someone is a fit for what we do or not. They have made it abundantly clear for me, and thus... I do not have to waste any more of my time. Making 4 follow up calls may seem like a lot of manual work, and frankly, after a while, it can be. So we recommend that after you start to understand what you're selling and how to effectively sell it, you upgrade to more automation tools (sales funnels, email auto response sequences, etc.), so your work load decreases, while your income increases. We use auto-responders to do all of our follow ups for us with companies like Aweber.com. Auto-responder email messages contain my professionally written ad copy sale messages and are sent out a pre-determined time with a pre-determined message so as to "speak" to various types of prospects. Our affiliates here at PushButtonInvestor.com do not have to write their own, because they're included in the software we offer, among a ton of other things that comprise a complete real estate investing business infrastructure. Check out our auto-responder messages here by watching the first video, and then entering your name and e-mail address to start receiving these automated messages. I hope you've enjoyed learning how to identify prospects that will buy from you, and I hope you'll take the next step and grab my free, 7-part video series that shows you how to automate 90% of your real estate investing without using your own cash, credit, and even if you have zero experience by clicking here now. Talk soon, Russell de la Peña PushButtonInvestor.com, LLC P.s. Be sure to check out our free, 7-day video series showing you how to build a "no money down" real estate investing business that allows you to automate 90% of your work by clicking here. How do you launch a business (any business) from nothing, stay busy doing the right activity on a daily business, and practically guarantee you will earn consistent profits and monthly, recurring cash flow... within 3 months? This is a question I'm all too familiar with, because I have done it several times, and have brought a few of them from zero to $10,000/ month income - and I started them all by cold-calling and door-knocking. Though I'm no longer a big fan of cold-calling and/ or door-knocking (I never really was), because I know now that if it's possible to build a consistent cash flow income each month without cold-calling or door-knocking. That goes for driving aimlessly around neighborhoods, looking into vacant homes, hoping to connect with a home owner, and then see if he/ she will accept your low-ball offer. Waste of time. So How Is It Done and... How Is It Done - 100% Online? There Are 2 Main Ingredients:
Think about it. Assuming you work 6 days out of the week, and you contact a minimum of 10 new targeted prospects per day, that's 240 new prospects per month. After 90 days, that's 720 new, targeted prospects! If you've got a good/ valuable product that has a great commission/ profit structure, and... assuming you close at least 10% of your deals, you'll have closed on 72 new deals! Throughout your 90 day run, you'll also need a "follow up system," because the "fortune is in the follow up." Most people will not buy your stuff the very first time they hear about it from you, because they do not yet:
People buy from people. So, make sure that you've got sales and marketing automation + human touch or you'll struggle to make sales. Here at PushButtonInvestor.com, we use a Customer Relationship Management tool (CRM) called, Aweber to perform the automated follow up tasks we implement with our prospects, so we can:
This is commonly referred to as a "High-tech and High-touch" approach to sales and marketing in business. If I were to look at a bird's eye view of what this might look like, I would use DigitalMarketer.com's sales and marketing funnel blueprint as my guide as shown here below: Now, the above sales funnel is commonly used for digitally sold products, but the structure can work for any business, since all businesses have some kind of a sales and marketing funnel - or at leas they should. The Core components in the above sales and marketing funnel are:
With these Core components in place, having your "10-in-play" (10 new daily, targeted prospects) will help you to build an ongoing business relationship that becomes easier and easier to do during your 90 day run and beyond. Especially if you're automating at least 90-100% of your work like we do here at PushButtonInvestor.com. And you really should if you truly want to scale your business. Grab some popcorn and watch my free video series that shows you how to |
While I just recently started to add content to my profile, these 4 posts give me an opportunity to provide Goodwill to visitors, so I can offer value first, before I ask for something of value from my prospects (like to buy my stuff, for example).
As I come across articles, or lessons of value that I truly feel will benefit the folks I connect with, I will create more and more posts that help to solve their investing problems, and help them gain more and more profits.
I will never just post for the sake of posting.
That's a waste of my time and theirs.
My goal here is to dial into my visitor's favorite radio station: "WIIFM"
"What's In It For Me."
Does your profile do that?
Or is it just long page that brags about you?
I've also spread out the content too, so that the information is quick and easy to read. That's important, because my visitors, especially complete strangers will usually scan my page first to see if there is anything of real value for them.
I assume this, and thus, I make it real easy for them to scan and make this determination, instead of creating large paragraph blocks of content that they may or may not want to spend the time to read.
Yes, this profile could still be improved upon, and I plan to do just that.
But I hope it gives you a framework that you can use right now to improve yours.
Fun.
I would canvass neighborhoods, pass out flyers, smile, shake a few hands, get yelled at, and then... wait to see if I would get any results for my valiant efforts.
To be honest, I did get results.
In fact, for my first real estate business, right after getting my Realtor's license, I printed out 200 color flyers, walked several blocks, said, "hello," to perfect strangers.
My results? I actually got 3 calls back - one of which became my first Buyer, with whom I sold a home for a few thousand dollars in commissions, and there I was.. of to the races!
That business later grew to a $10,000 per month business that sold 3-5 homes per month in the state of Colorado where I lived and worked for about 10 years.
So... it can work, right?
Cold-calling? Door knocking?
Talking to strangers to make money and build a business?
Well, yes...
If I had to do it all over again today, would I do it again that way? Would I start by cold-calling?
No way...
Here's why.
- It's humiliating.
- There is no leveraged activity.
- Both my prospects AND myself do not enjoy the "cold-call" experience.
- There are professional signs designed to keep strangers out (No Soliciting, Beware of Dog, etc.) That should tell us something.
- It's slow. Slow as a snail in a marathon race (and boring too).
- It takes WAAAAY longer to get your message out.
- It can cheapen your brand. I mean, how successful can you be, if you're passing out flyers to drum up business?
- It can (and most likely will) cheapen the value of your product or service in the mind of your prospect.
- It forces you to chase, beg, and plead your prospects to work with you.
- It's no fun. I was kidding when I said it was "fun" early. ;-).
- Bandit signs are illegal and usually get pulled down and... can get you fined.
- Most people do not appreciate having flyers left on their car or at their home. I know I don't.
- Over all, it's by far less profitable than what we're able to do today - 100% online.
- The Law of Diminishing Returns: At some point your efforts will have their limits and then create a negative affect on you and your returns.
Here are the reasons I would (and I do) use online automation technology to automate 90%+ of my sales and marketing instead:
- It's WAAAY faster.
- It's WAAAY more profitable.
- It's much more easily measured.
- You have more control over your results.
- You become, "The Hunted," vs. "The Hunter."
- Your branding and professionalism are at stake, and people expect you to be using modern methods of advertising for your business.
- You can literally get "customers on demand."
- You can screen your prospects and decide if you want to work with them or not.
- You can automate your follow up through re-targeting and email auto responder messages with companies like Facebook (re-targeting pixels) and Aweber (auto response email marketing).
- Can be easily scaled through the use of proper sales and marketing funnels that a complete newbie (with zero experience) can use and profit from.
Here's a "Behind The Scenes" Look
....At The Text Blast Software I Use
It all starts with the end in mind.
If you're mindset is to, "run the numbers" only, and not build long-term business relationships with your customers, a sales funnel isn't necessary, and nor is the automation of your sales and marketing campaigns.
You can simply get a big list, and have a pitch fest...
...which, it turns out, is double-dumb.
But... if you want to build a long-term, long-lasting, and profitable business, you want the following:
- A duplicatable business system
- Automated sales and marketing technology (like the image above)
Here are a few of the basic tools you'll need to automate your activities:
- Paid Traffic (Facebook, LinkedIN, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.).
- Blog and/ or high-conversion squeeze page "lead magnet" with compelling copy writing (headlines, sub-headlines, etc.) that have a simple, two-step Opt in form.
- An up sell that's a compelling, low-dollar offer created on a high-converting landing page (called a Tripwire - usually $1 to $24 max).
- Thank you page with your core offer(s).
- A profit maximizer up sell offer.
- Follow up systems like Facebook re-targeting pixels and email auto responder messages.
If... however ... you have no idea what I just said, and/ or you do not want to put the time and effort inot learning all of the above, I recommend using a very affordable software I've used for years that uses text and voice blast technology that even someone who is technologically challenge could easily succeed with.
More info on that here.
Today, instead of working 7 days a week, 14-16 hours a day, I rely more on leveraging today's technology more than my own efforts.
Yes, since I personally build my own products and services, and then build their respective sales and marketing funnels, it can take a little longer to get off the ground (unless you use the text blast software we also use), but it's completely worth it.
But once these business systems and automation systems are in place, it's like magic.
It's literally a matter of pushing a few buttons, and PRESTO!... I've got a real estate ATM.
My affiliates appreciate this too, since they do not have to spend the time I do in the "lab" researching and developing these systems.
They can literally learn the ropes, put the lessons into practice, and then enjoy the fruits of my/ their labor.
It's a win-win.
He was asking me for advice on how to best prospect for insurance customers. Whenever I think of prospecting in general, I reminded of 3 of the businesses that I've created from the ground up by cold calling...
Two of them made it to the $10,000 per month mark from literally nothing.
No massive marketing budget. No prior experience. No online ads. Nada...
Both started by me walking up and down blocks, knocking on doors, and cold calling. If you've ever prospected this way, you know that it's no fun at all. You are treated like garbage, and whomever you are prospecting at the moment only has one problem to solve - the fastest way to get you out of their office.
Here's why.
They do not yet know, like, or trust you.
They don't know if you're there to rob them, or provide them with value. They don't know if you're there to help them, or if you're there to help yourself to a commission at their expense...
And until your prospect knows what your intentions are, they're not buying squat from you. And they shouldn't.
So how do you get someone to know, like, and trust you? How do you get a cold prospect to "warm up" to you?
Here was my advice to my friend, Eddie:
- Research your market and find out what their top 20-30 pain points are. Sounds like a lot of work, but it's not. Just jot down your ideas on a note pad.
- Find out 20-30 ways to solve those pain points for your market, so they no longer have to experience that pain and/or frustration. This will be the basis of clearly understanding your customer wants and needs, and how you can provide real value to them. You'll be able to speak their language and... enter the conversation that they're having inside their head when you speak with them.
- Focus on the top 3 pain points that you can address inside of a 3-part video series that you can record using your iPhone (or whatever phone you have).
- Video 1: Discuss pain/ frustration point #1, and solve it in the same video. At the end of the video, just like in a TV show, promote Video #2.
- Let them know what you will be talking about in Video #2. In other words, let them know what problem you'll be solving for them ..absolutely free. Doing this builds trust and credibility...
- Video 3: Do the same thing you just did in videos 1 and 2, but then share with your prospect how you'd like to meet or talk on the phone to discuss how you can further help them. Say something like, "If you've enjoyed my 3 videos thus far, I've got some more great info that I think will serve you also, and I'd like to share that with you. Call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX to discuss it. Or you can visit my website at www.YourWebsite.com to get my free report (Lead Magnet) on "X, that shows you how to get X without having to X." Be sure to recap what you spoke about in the previous 2 videos, and invite your prospect to get even more value with NO strings attached. That takes the pressure off of them, and makes you become a "trusted advisor" in their minds, instead of a pushy salesperson.
Let me stress that this is a very non-pushy approach that leads with value first, and builds a relationship with your cold prospects, so they warm up, and eventually become a "hot" prospect that buys from you month after month, year after year..
These videos shouldn't be longer than 2-3 minutes, and should provide your prospects with huge value . Make sure that you're giving away your very best stuff upfront.
They do not need to be professionally produced, nor do they need to be of Hollywood quality. They just need to provide real value that your cold prospect can consume and see results with immediately.
Again, an iPhone or Android, or whatever you've got will work.
Once you've finished this video series, you can:
- Send these 3 videos, one per day, all at once, or have them uploaded to your YouTube channel and have your prospects go there to watch them. YouTube channels are free and easy to use.
- Send them using an autoresponder series like Aweber.com that will deliver your videos automatically on a preset day and time.
Using this approach will get your cold prospects to know, like, and trust you before you meet, making your meeting (phone or in person) enjoyable.
Not to mention the chances of you making a sale ...far easier.
Talk soon,
Russell de la Peña
PushButtonInvestor.com, LLC
Author
My name is
Russell de la Peña and my wife Diana and I live in beautiful Southern CA. We own several offline and online companies and love to help others succeed in doing the same.
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