This was the last day of week two in our month long live series on aged expired listings. Earlier in the week we spent a lot of time on what to do when an aged expired actually says yes. This session was mostly the other side of the work: getting lines in the water, live, card by card.
Along the way we hit a great question from chat. What do you do when every number is on the DNC and every email bounces? My answer is that those owners can be some of the best leads you'll ever find. I've left out every homeowner name, address and number from the calls.
The one question I keep asking
What sets this approach apart is simple. Instead of asking an owner if they want to relist, or showing up with a long marketing plan, I ask if they're still accepting offers. Then I make good on it, knowing full well we may pivot to another option or solution later.
Before the calls, I showed where to find the new swipe file of one to three page proposals I use when someone says yes. It's in the free 1 Deal A Week In Real Estate Skool community, under the Classroom tab, in the new member bonuses section. One of those proposals went to an owner earlier in the week who said he was interviewing multiple agents. Less than 24 hours later, he hired us. I didn't try to convince him. I proposed what we'd do to solve his problem.
When the number belongs to someone else
On the first card, the voicemail greeting wasn't the owner's name. So I changed my script on the fly. I said who I was trying to reach, that the number came up with the property, and asked them to pass along my info or a good number. Then I sent a text saying the same thing, with "I promise it's nothing bad."
The person confirmed it was the wrong number. The enhanced skip trace turned up a landline, and it was disconnected, so I hid it so I don't waste time on it later. I was confident the email was good, so I emailed. And because I really wanted to reach this owner, I added her to direct mail too.
Thin data means more lines in the water
The next card had two emails and no phone numbers, even after enhancing. So I sent the emails, checked whether the home was owner occupied, and added the owner to my owner occupied mailing list. Owner occupied and absentee owners go on different lists, so I always open the property snapshot before I send mail.
That's the point of having the best data organized in one place. Each day I've live prospected in this series, somewhere between 25 and 35 minutes, I've picked up a new potential client. Better data, better process, better offer.
Every number on the DNC and every email bounces
Travis asked the big question of the day. Here's what I do:
- Send direct mail. Definitely.
- Search every number. A good share of DNC numbers are publicly marketed online, tied to a business website, a Google Business Profile or a rental listing. In LeadDeck I tap the DNC chip and it runs the search for me. Later in this session, one of those searches showed a DNC number being marketed for a cleaning business, and that call reached the owner.
- Get resourceful. "It's not so much about what resources you have available, it's more about how resourceful are you?" Check the data tools your MLS already gives you. A free option is truepeoplesearch.com. Look at the tax mailing address and any related contacts listed.
I struck out on the example I worked live, and that's fine. When I do this with five hard to reach, limited data owners, more often than not I find a way to reach two or three of them, or someone who knows them.
Why hard to reach owners are gold
Before I was licensed, I wholesaled properties and mailed ugly yellow postcards to find motivated sellers. Some of the best leads I ever got came from the postcards that were returned. I'd put on my private investigator hat and track the owner down. "If they're hard to get a hold of, that means most likely no one's getting a hold of them." Be the one person who does.
The three piece direct mail sequence
Tom asked if we have a canned letter. We do, and it's short. It asks if there's any chance they'd consider selling the property to a private client of ours, and to call or text me if so. The P.S. asks them to hang on to the letter in case anything changes.
- A letter goes out first.
- Ten days later, a note card with the same message. It looks like a wedding invitation or a thank you card, so it's likely to get opened.
- Ten days after that, a postcard with the same message.
The envelopes aren't handwritten, and nobody writes these by hand. I set the campaign up once, and now I tap and the sequence goes out. I said I'd add examples of all three pieces to the free resources in the Classroom tab.
Going deep on a single card
On a non owner occupied card, I pulled up the owner's primary residence from the tax mailing address to look for more contact info. One email bounced, so I hid it. A Gmail address that looked misspelled was actually delivered. I sent to the correctly spelled version too, just in case.
Going that deep is the point. "You don't want to just open loops, you want to close the loops. You don't want to just get the line in the water, you want to actually get the bite."
Three to four one hour blocks a week
To turn the 1 Deal A Week blueprint from theory into reality, I recommend three to four one hour time blocks a week. Work 10 cards in each hour. In our experience, each block tends to unlock one potential new client.
Think of it like an endless game of Go Fish. Those hours add cards to your hand. The more cards you hold, the more potential matches you have, and the more contracts you write.
Landline voicemail vs mobile voicemail
I got a landline voicemail, so you got to hear the difference.
- Mobile: say their name and mine, ask if they're still accepting offers, ask them to let me know either way, and tell them I'll text from my personal cell when I hang up.
- Landline: same ask, but I say I'll email, because you can't text a landline. I also leave my number, since they may not have caller ID. "We want to make it as easy as possible for them to close the loop with us."
I still called the other numbers on the card. Both were disconnected, so I hid them.
A relisted property and a portfolio buyer
The cleaning business number reached the owner. Her home had been relisted the day before, after it expired at the end of August. That will happen sometimes. I deleted the card and plan to reach out to the listing agent, whom I know, so he doesn't think I'm going after his on market listing.
The next call was an owner I'd talked with before. He owns a portfolio of properties and is actively buying. He's renting out the one on my list, so he isn't selling it, but he was literally at an auction when I called. I texted him so he'd have my info, asked what kind of property he wants so I can send off market deals his way, and saved him as a contact tagged as a local investor and cash buyer. He's now a pocket buyer for me.
Problem solvers get paid
That's step one of our blueprint: know your buyers. When a seller raises their hand, I immediately think about which pocket or portfolio buyers might be a match. Two of my most recent closings happened exactly that way, and the properties never went on the market.
Too many of us treat the MLS like a slot machine. We put a listing in, pull the handle and hope. I'd rather proactively facilitate transactions between two parties. "Problem solvers get paid."
Key takeaways
- Ask if they're still accepting offers, and back it up with real buyers and a short proposal.
- When a number belongs to someone else, say who you're trying to reach and ask them to pass along your info.
- When every number is on the DNC and every email bounces, send direct mail, search every number, and get resourceful.
- Hard to reach owners are often the best leads, because nobody else is reaching them.
- Run a simple letter, note card and postcard sequence 10 days apart.
- Leave your number and promise an email on landline voicemails. Promise a text on mobile.
Chapters
- 00:00 Week two, day four of the aged expireds series
- 03:00 Where to find the proposal swipe file
- 05:00 Live prospecting starts
- 06:00 Voicemail when the number belongs to someone else
- 09:00 Adding an owner to direct mail
- 10:00 Cards with emails and no phone numbers
- 12:00 Searching DNC numbers
- 13:30 What if every number is DNC and every email bounces?
- 16:00 Getting resourceful with free tools
- 18:30 Why hard to reach owners are gold
- 20:30 The three piece direct mail sequence
- 25:30 Going deep on a non owner occupied card
- 27:30 Three to four one hour blocks a week
- 33:00 Landline voicemail vs mobile voicemail
- 36:00 A DNC number that reached the owner
- 40:00 Calling a portfolio buyer
- 44:30 Pocket buyers and the reverse offer workshop
- 46:30 Problem solvers get paid
- 47:00 Wrapping up week two