Hey kids! What time is it??

Yup, it’s time for another titillating episode of, “What clever deal-getting thingy did JP learn from Joe McCall this time?”

In previous episodes, we learned Joe’s “landlord sneak attack” trick for getting deals, and his 8 steps for wholesaling lease option deals. Check ’em out.

Today’s installment so darn simple, so seemingly obvious… that it’s cleverness and sheer power could be easily missed if you breeze through it too quickly. But look a little closer, and you may just have a light bulb blink on over that pretty little head of yours. Might even make you kinda mad you didn’t think of it.

Quick context: I’ve mentioned before that Joe and I are buds and get together for one reason or another a few times yearly. But this little nugget of awesome actually came out in a private, formal interview we did together recently in which I was grilling him for deal-getting ideas. The whole conversation was really eye-opening, but this little nugget was freaking brilliant if you ask me.

Joe first got this idea from a guy he knows who’s been doing this in a major metro city down south, and it’s literally his only way of getting deals. With this singular tactic, consistently executed, he’s getting 30-40 qualified leads per week, and consistently wholesaling 12-16 properties per month. With this one tactic.

Got your attention yet?

So… Ready to learn one simple way you can easily flip 3-4 deals a week? Course you are…

So Captain Obvious, Let’s Undress This…

Question:

So, if this this tip is practically common sense, how the heck did we miss it?

Answer:  

The obvious is that which is never seen until someone expresses it simply (well said by Khalil Gibran). So let’s explain it simply…

Step 1: Monitor real estate sites for new properties listed in your “farm” market.

Nothing too tricky here. Just keep a steady eye on the popular, mainstream sites like Zillow, Trulia, Backpage, Craigslist, and Realtor.com. Whatever pops up new for sale in your farm area(s) is your target.

And you’re looking specifically for non-owner listings here. So Realtor or property manager listings, or even landlord or wholesaler deals. Basically everyone except the individual homeowners selling their house for sale by owner. You’ll see why in a sec.

Step 2: Call them up, introduce yourself, ask about their properties…and any other properties.

So the deal is, you’re not specifically targeting listings that smell like they might be a good deal for you – you’re targeting every, single, solitary listing that pops up in your farm area. Why? Because ultimately this tactic not about that specific property. It’s about…

1. Starting the conversation,
2. Making a personal connection,
3. Finding out if there are any other deals they might know about that could be a potential investor deal,
4. And most importantly, getting their email address (more on this one in a minute)

So basically you’ll just rattle through a quick script, something like:

Hi, how are you? My name is Amanda Hugankiss and I noticed your property listing on Zillow. Can you tell me a little more about it?  

(Listen patiently, let them talk a while, then…)

OK, well I’m an investor, so I’m not sure this one’s quite right for me. But here’s the deal, I am actually always looking for deals to buy that meet my specific criteria. Would it be OK if I shared with you real quick a little more about what kinds of properties I’m looking for? And then if you know of anything or run across anything that would be a good fit, I’d be happy to let you represent me and give you the full commission. Even if I get it at a big discount, I’ll still make sure you’re taken care of nicely. Would that be OK?

Nine times out of nine, they’ll tell you they’d looooooove to hear what you’re looking for and possibly refer you deals. After all, this is what they do.

And remember, you’re not asking them to jump through hoops or even spend time looking for deals for you… you’re just inviting them to hear what you’re looking for, and then keep you in mind if/when they ever run across something that would work. Total no-brainer.

So then you just tell them what kind of deals you’re looking for, like distressed properties, probates, short sales, or whatever your game is.

Quick side tip: If they have properties listed for rent, ask them if they think the landlord might be interested in selling.

Step 3: Get their email address. 

I know it may seem simplistic, but stay with me.

After you’re done spilling your criteria, regardless of whether or not they have anything even remotely interesting on their radar, make sure you ask them,

Would it be OK if I followed up with you every once in a while, in case you have anything I might want to buy? What’s your email address?

Boom. More than anything else, this is the main point of the entire phone call. You’re about to see why.

Step 4: Promptly enter their email into your automated email robot service. I’m talking about an email broadcast / autoresponder service, like Aweber, MailChimp, Get Response, etc. There are many different providers our there at varying price ranges, but one of Joe’s favorites for this is MailChimp because an entry level email broadcast account is free.

Basically your goal here is to start building a list of local real estate agents, property managers and investors, with whom you can stay in constant contact moving forward.

Side note: Don’t forget to track which real estate agents you have already contacted. You don’t want to waste time or be an annoyance duplicating the same process again. Maybe keep a running spreadsheet of names and emails, and do a quick “control+F” search before you call or add someone new.

Step 5: Send out emails every single week. 

Simply write a personal, short and sweet message that goes something kind of like this:

“Hi Stacy, Amanda here – we talked last week. I was just wondering if you had any deals that may interest me? If so, let me know please. I’m happy to look at anything that meets my criteria. Thanks.”

Then each week without fail, rinse and repeat – send another email. Nothing too complicated, just a one sentence email, maybe two or three sentences tops. And make sure you mix it up every week. These emails shouldn’t sounds canned or fomal, they should sound real and personal.

A few other examples:

“Hey, Stacy. Just checking, do you have any deals? I’m still looking… :- )”

“Hey, just checking in again. If you have any burnouts or probate scenarios hit your radar, I love those. Please let me know.”

“Hey, just wondering, got anything new I might be interested in? I’m looking for one this week. As a reminder, here’s my criteria…”

“Hey, just checking in again. If you have any burnouts or probate scenarios hit your radar, I love those. Please let me know.”

“Hey, I still need to buy 1 or 2 more this month. Please let me know if you have any junkers or distressed situations pop up in these three areas…”

You get the idea, right?

Handy Tip: Your autoresponder service will have a way you can insert a little ‘short code’ into the email where the person’s name should be. This will help you write and send only one email, but ensure it’s personalized with the first name of each person on your list.

Step 6: Wait for it……LEADS!

It stands to reason that as you do this daily, your list of real estate folks will grow quickly. And these folks have their hands (and awareness) in real estate opportunities that you’d never have otherwise had on your radar, right?

So basically, what you’re accomplishing here is top-of-mind awareness. You’re politely conditioning them to think of you first when a sweet investor deal hits their radar. You’re gently reminding them of what kinds of deals you’re looking for, and of your ability to step in and land those deals, and get them compensated easily in the process.

It’s called, “Harvesting Mind-Share” and with each week’s email, you’re harvesting just another little piece of it for yourself.

I think you can see how, once you have compiled a nice sized list that you’re staying in constant contact with, the leads should start flowing in, and the deals will be a natural byproduct.

OK, Time for Some Next Level Thinking

OK, a couple of things that’ll really make this very easy process even easier and even awesomer for you.

Thing #1: Write all your emails in advance.

There’s literally no reason whatsoever for you to have to sit down every week and actually write, then send these emails. All the services mentioned above include an autoresponder feature, which lets your write emails today, then queue them up for far into the future.

So sit down and write out a year’s worth all at once — that’s 52 emails, right? These are short, easy emails. This should take you like a couple of hours tops.

Then create an email campaign with each email spaced exactly a week apart.

Then whenever you add a new lead to the email campaign, they’ll automatically get email #1… then next week, email #2 automatically goes out to them… and the rest happens on autopilot, with zero involvement from you or anyone else.

(Insert Kip voice) “Oooooh, I love technology… but not as much as you, you see… but still, I love technology…”

Thing #2: Outsource the heck out of this.

Maybe it’s a no-brainer for you or maybe it’s not. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that it doesn’t have to be YOU calling these people and adding them to your email database every day. This is something you could easily train (i) an assistant, (ii) a family member or even (iii) a virtual assistant to do for you.

You simply write a good script for them to follow (keep it simple, naturally) and make a screen-capture video one time, showing how to add them to the email service.

I’m telling you right now, Joe McCall doesn’t do anything anymore that he can get a $5 an hour Filipino to do for him. So think about that.

It’s All About the Benjamins Marketing

I’ve said this a number of times before, but it really can’t be over-emphasized:  You’re not in the real estate business, you are in the marketing business.  Leads are the life blood of your business.

So if you are not doing enough marketing (and doing it consistently) then your business will sputter along at best, or even worse, die a slow, miserable death.

But your steadfast commitment to ongoing lead gen doesn’t mean you have to spend a ton of money doing it. You don’t necessarily have to spend thousands of dollars a month on postcards or yellow letters. Sure, it helps. Definitely not a bad idea. But there’s a lot heckuva lot of marketing out there you could do for free (or very cheap) that works really well too.

This is one such tactic, and it’s ridiculously easy to deploy, isn’t it? It’ll take you like a couple of hours tops to pound out a year’s worth of short emails to queue up. Then just add people to the autoresponder as you go, and let the momentum begin.

I hope you guys had a “A-ha” moment or two and that challenged your noggin a bit. Talk to ya soon…

PS- Cool Points for Comments

Yep, I am passing out 10 cool points to everyone who makes a comment, 15 if you have some major insight or a mind boggling question, and 100 bonus points if you can find a way to use the word “moist” or “flaccid” in your comment.

What are cool points really worth? They just make you seem really cool in my mind.