This was day four of our month long live series on aged expired listings. On day three I shared the one question I open with: are you still accepting offers on the property? A great question came in from chat after that one. What do you say when they answer yes and ask if you have a buyer?
So I started there, then showed what I do with an owner who raises their hand but isn't ready yet, and spent the rest of the hour working cards live. One of those cards texted me back before the stream was over. I've left out every homeowner name, address and number from the calls.
Do you have a buyer? Yes, and here's why
The short answer is yes. I have buyers, and that's the whole reason I ask the question. It's step one of our 1 Deal A Week blueprint: know which buyers you have ready before you call a single seller. I group them three ways:
- Pocket buyers. Retail or investor buyers you have in your pocket at all times, ready, willing and able to make an offer if you find them the right property.
- Portfolio buyers. Owners who already hold several properties and may want more.
- Institutional buyers and offers. Companies that make real offers on homes that fit what they buy.
That's also how I decide which aged expired pond to fish in. If I have pocket buyers looking in a couple of zip codes, I build my list around them. Best case, I find a match. Worst case, I build a listing pipeline in an area and property type I want more of.
What I never do is fake it. "We don't ever want to be doing bait and switch." When an owner says yes, I want to know I have at least one, if not several, buyers who could be interested.
Following up when the answer is not yet
On day three I talked with an owner who had paused his plans to sell and build something new. He hasn't given up on that plan. So on this stream I pulled preliminary offer options for his home, live, so you could see the process. "These are real buyers. Real buyers. This isn't bait and switch."
Here's my follow up for an owner like that:
- A personalized video message from me with those preliminary offer options.
- Add him to my CRM and to a monthly market report.
- Add him to my monthly market update postcard, a physical card he gets every month.
I did the same thing for another lead from day three. I had reached a relative who offered to text me the owner's number. The owner texted back later that day. He has a tenant he wants to let stay through the end of the school year, then he plans to sell. That's another longer term lead, and it came from fully working every card.
Remember, "a no isn't the end of the conversation." Not right now often means later, and I want to be the agent they think of.
DNC isn't always the end of the line
On the first card of the day, I found out the owner was a real estate agent, so I didn't call. But it was a good reminder that "DNC isn't always the end of the line." Many numbers on the Do Not Call list are publicly marketed online, and a quick search shows it. If a number isn't publicly marketed, I send email instead.
When the data is thin, I tap to enhance the skip trace. On one card that turned up a number not on the DNC and a couple more emails. When I'm still not sure I have a good number or email, and I know I have buyers for that kind of home, I send direct mail.
Voicemails that tie to a text
When I get voicemail on a cell phone, I tell them I'm going to shoot them a text when I hang up. Then I do. In the text I keep it simple and end with, "If you could please let me know either way." As simple as it sounds, that line gets more replies.
If a number might belong to a relative, I get curious and honest. I say who I'm trying to reach, that it's nothing bad, and ask them to pass along my info or a good number. Those calls get call backs and text backs more often than you'd think.
Do you need an unsubscribe footer on these emails?
A viewer asked about this one. I'm not an attorney and this isn't legal advice. These are one to one, peer to peer emails, not mass messages from a CRM, so I don't add opt out language. One to one messages are also more likely to land in the primary inbox and get a reply. If your state requires something specific, like a license number, add it to your script.
A direct mail story
Does direct mail still work? On the way home from picking up my daughter from school, I got a call from a man who had gotten my letter about a property he owns. He wants to sell. That letter came from a live session a few weeks ago where I prospected vacant land owners for a pocket buyer. I couldn't reach him any other way, so the mailer got the conversation started.
Live text win
After working the full Perry County deck, I had four warm leads out of 30 cards. That's before any nudge emails or any replies from direct mail. Then I switched to a deck in a school district near my office where I know I have buyers.
On one card the voicemail box was full. So I texted and mentioned I'd tried to call but couldn't leave a voicemail. That small detail sets me apart from spam texts. Before the stream ended he texted back, we set up a time to talk, and I started pulling preliminary offer options for him. When I followed up, I learned it's a rental with a tenant in place. That's exactly the kind of owner I want to talk to more.
The Gmail nudge
When an email goes out and gets no reply, Gmail nudges me 3 days later. I hit reply, type three question marks and send. It takes about a minute to do 10 of them, and in my experience it brings in another 10 to 20, sometimes 30 percent more replies. "Any reply or response is a bite on the line."
Time blocks and the courting process
How much time should you put in? My rule: "however many transactions you want to close per month, you should do that number of one-hour time blocks per week." Want four a month? Block four hours a week.
I treat it like fishing. More lines in the water, the right bait and the right pond mean more bites. I'd rather go deep on 10 cards than race through a dialer.
To wrap up the week, I walked through what I call the seven C's to more compensation: choose who to reach, collect the data, get the contact info, have a conversation, connect on a deeper level, get to contract, and get to closing. Compensation is the eighth C. Some sellers are ready on the first call. Most need you to court them a little first, by solving a real problem over time.
Key takeaways
- Know your pocket, portfolio and institutional buyers before you ask if a seller is still accepting offers.
- Never bait and switch. Only ask the question when you can back it up.
- Turn not yet into a long term lead with a personal video, your CRM, a market report and a monthly postcard.
- Check whether DNC numbers are publicly marketed, and use email or direct mail when you can't call.
- Tie every voicemail to a text, and reply to the Gmail nudge with three question marks.
- Block one hour a week for every deal you want to close each month.
Chapters
- 00:00 Day four of the aged expireds series
- 03:30 Do you have a buyer?
- 06:00 Pulling preliminary offer options for a not yet lead
- 10:00 My follow up for not yet leads
- 12:00 Closing the loop on a relative's text back
- 14:00 Live calls start
- 15:00 DNC isn't always the end of the line
- 20:00 Do you need an unsubscribe footer?
- 25:00 Sending direct mail
- 30:30 A direct mail story
- 33:00 Four warm leads from the Perry County deck
- 46:00 The Gmail nudge and time blocks
- 48:00 Live text win
- 51:30 The seven C's to more compensation
- 54:00 Courting sellers and wrapping up