Epic Real Estate Investing - EPREI 052 : The Fastest Way I Know to Identify Motivated Sellers Over the Phone

Episode Date: April 17, 2013

So you've placed your ads, pitched your bandit signs, mailed your yellow letters and now your phone is ringing. Congrats! Now the real fun and money-making begins. What do you say to the person on the other end? How do you know if they're a suspect or a prospect? How do you turn a suspect into a prospect? These are all questions that Matt will answer on today's episode. Never find yourself toungue-tied on the phone again. Download Matt's free real estate investing course "How to Do Deals - No Money Required" at FreeRealEstateInvestingCourse.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

And this stops a lot of people in their tracks. And if it doesn't stop them in their tracks, they'll just, they'll blow the entire call. Without further delay. Your guru. Sorry. Your guide to a better life through real estate investing. Matt Terrio. Hey, this is episode 52 of the epic real estate investing podcast.

My name is Matt Terrio, the rat race escape artist. And if you haven't done so, go to free real estateinvestingcourse.com where I show you step by step how I got started on my journey to escaping the rat race once and for all. And I show you exactly how I did it with absolutely no money or credit. Believe it. I leave nothing out. Everything is there for you in 10, easy to follow tutorial videos. And that's yours for free at free real estate investing course.com. Okay.

It's been a couple weeks since our last episode. and really just to be straight with you, every other week or so will probably be the norm for a while as I'm doing a lot of traveling for my own investing, my own company, my own business. You know, as I've mentioned,

I'm opening up new markets for myself and my clients. Memphis, Tennessee. I've talked about that a lot. It's open and running smoothly. It's been up for quite a while. And St. Louis, Missouri is open and running very smoothly as well.

In just two months. Under two months, I've already closed 20-plus deals there and have another third. 30 or so under contract right now. And I'm very happy with that market. And this week, tomorrow actually, I am leaving for Kansas City, Missouri. I've been hearing great things about that market for quite a while.

So this week I'm taking the first step to assembling my Kansas City teams. And the following week, I'm headed to Cincinnati, Ohio to conduct my due diligence on 40 properties that I just put under contract. I think I mentioned that on the last episode of how that all came about and how it came to me from an investor that just wanted. to retire, specifically wants to retire from managing his property. So I said yes to that deal. And then I'll be home for a week. And then I'll probably be headed right back out on the road to check out the Chicago and Indianapolis areas.

Then when I get back from there, it looks like I'll be taking a trip to Beijing. And all that to say is I'm going to do my very best to maintain a steady podcast schedule. With all of this traveling, it's giving me actually an idea to start thinking about scheduling some live workshops in various cities around the country. I haven't scheduled anything yet, but it's in the plan. So if you want to attend a workshop, stay tuned. Stay tuned. There will likely be a minimal charge, just enough to pay for the venue, but I'll keep

it as low as I possibly can. And, you know, if someone were to donate a nice facility, I'll do it for free. And there won't be a sales pitch either. This is just straight instruction and questioning and answering and get into know each other and seeing how I can help you be more effective and be more successful. I've been able to meet so many cool people from my podcast audience that doing this with the possibility of meeting other cool people and potential business partners, this would totally be my pleasure. So that's why I'm doing it. So stay tuned for that.

Also, I have something very exciting on putting together. Actually, a few things. First, I'm working with a partner on putting a lead list service together, my own lead list service. I get a lot of inquiries on where do I get the names, where do I get the list to mail? to who do I call, that type of information. I get requests, I receive requests for quite frequently. So I'm in talks with one of the more prominent list services in the country and how I can bring directly to you lists of names of potentially motivated sellers at a super discount.

That's, that's key. I don't want the marketing to break the bank for you. So I want to get at a super discount. That's what we're talking about. The second thing I'm working on with another partner, an expert in direct response marketing, to provide you with turnkey landing pages to attract buyers and sellers to you. You know, I've been referring another service as an affiliate, which I believe is a good service.

I've used the service. I have a couple websites through the service, but apparently their customer support has been slipping a bit over the last six months, and I've been receiving a lot of complaints, so I can't have that. So it's not, they're not representing my company well, so I'm going to have to discontinue that relationship. So what I thought I'd do is I'd just go ahead and put together a similar service and do it for much cheaper, like at least half price. So we're in the talks or not in the talks.

That's actually was launched today. The design has started. So hopefully I'll have that for you very soon. So that's in the works. And third, you may remember several episodes back that I offered you the opportunity to refer buyers to me through the cash flow savvy opportunity that I do for my busy professionals and my doctors and my lawyers and my small business owners, my mid-level. level executives. I go ahead and I buy property, distressed property, I rehab it, I put a tenant in place, I connect them with their property management, and I hold their hand for the whole year and get them up and running with cash flow investments. And I offered an opportunity a few episodes

back, actually, it's been quite a while now that I'm thinking about it, where you could actually refer clients to me, and I'd pay you a handsome $2,000 referral fee. So I think you, I think it's epicproincome.com is where you can get more information to that. Epic. Epic. Pro Income. I haven't said that web domain in quite a while. I think it's EpicproIncome.com. And so that's one side. You know, you need buyers and you need sellers, right?

So I gave you the opportunity to refer buyers. Now I'm going to put another system together on the other end. In fact, this one's, it's almost done that it's going to allow you to wholesale properties to me. So for those of you that have been stuck at finding buyers for your deals or finding the money to conduct your deals, you'll soon have an additional option as an exit strategy. I can be an option, one of your exit strategies, I can be here for you. And I should be able to officially announce this on the next episode or two.

It's really, really cool. I mean, you'll just go to a website, you'll fill in the blanks with your deal, and then you'll click submit, and within 24 hours or so, you're going to receive either an acceptance, a rejection, or a counteroffer from me. Okay? I've been testing this for a few months with some of my coaching clients, and it's been working very, very well. As I mentioned, Brad and St. Louis last episode, he's been somewhat of my primary guinea pig with this system. I've purchased, I think, at least a half a dozen deals from him in the last 30 days, putting well over, I'm not going to count his money for him, but well over $30,000 in his pocket.

I think it's much more than that, but I know at least that. And I'm going to have him on the show very soon to share him. his experience and success. And he can confirm that number when he's here. Anyway, more details to come on that. So those are some few things I'm working on. Just wanted you to know that I'm constantly looking for new and better ways to help you become more successful as it's a part of my 2013 commitment to put your success before mine. That's my commitment this year. Actually, it's going to be my commitment from this point forward is to put your success before mine because I know if I can get you to experience success in this business,

if you actually get to experience it and it came through me, my success is in, it'll just happen. It'll just be the result of helping you get what you got. You know, as the late and great Zig Ziglar said, you can get anything you want as long as you help enough people get what they want. So I'm trying to help you get exactly what you want. That's my focus. And I'm here to solely just help you get what you want.

And this is a philosophy. I invite you to adopt. when dealing with your motivated sellers also. It works in every genre. It works in every context. If you help enough people get what they want, then you're going to get what you want. So when you're dealing with motivated sellers,

you need to find out what they want. Then you need to help them get it, and then you'll get what you want. That's typically a property with equity. And let's take this opportunity to discuss what to say when your phone actually starts ringing, how to start that conversation with motivated sellers and start detecting where,

to discovering what they want so you can give it to them. And then in return, you get what you want. That's the whole idea. You know, last episode I went over in detail on how to find motivated sellers. And if you missed it, go back and check that out. I think it's two of the more last episode 50 and 51, I think, are two of the more important episodes. Or, yeah, two of the more important episodes that I think I've recorded that can really make a difference in your business and help you get started right now. and if this is your first time listening to the show,

just go back to episode 50. That's a great place to start if you're just discovering this podcast. So last episode, I went into detail of how the best direct mail piece in existence. The best direct mail piece in existence works, the yellow letter. And I recommend you have multiple forms of generating leads. Multiple forms. You need multiple forms of generating leads. And regardless of which generation or lead generation strategies that you choose,

make sure that the yellow letters are one of those methods, one of those strategies. Make sure that you have the yellow letter working as it's the best thing out there to get your phone ringing. In my opinion, my experience, and I've noticed it. It's the exact same experience all of my coaching clients are getting as well. And, you know, as I covered pretty thoroughly, when your phone rings, most of the calls that you get, though, they will not be deals. They will not be motivated sellers ready to sell. their property at a discount. And with that being the case, I want you to be able to sort through these calls swiftly so you can separate the suspects from the prospects. You're going to have to go through

a lot of suspects to find those prospects. And your time is valuable. I don't want you to spend a lot of time with the suspects. Your time is very valuable. I believe it's your most valuable asset. And these calls can seriously steal your time if you let them. So I've created a series of three questions that will help you sort the bad calls from the good calls. And I'll get to those questions in just a second. But understand, this is the objective of each call. You know, you send out your letters and the phone starts to ring and you get the call. Here's the objective of that call when you pick up and answer the phone.

The objective is to first build rapport. You got to build rapport. They got to like you if they're going to do business with you. You got to build their rapport. Very important. The second is you want to reveal their motivation. you want to discover why they are selling. Second most important thing.

And then if these two pieces are in place, if you have rapport built and you've discovered their motivation, third, your third objective is to set an appointment to meet with the seller and view the property. That's your objective of these incoming calls.

You've got to build rapport, you've got to reveal the motivation, and then you've got to set the appointment. That's the objective of the call. It's not to close the deal. It's not to find out every detail about the property. It's not to, to, to issue an offer to purchase right through the internet.

That's not the, that's not it. That's not the objective of this call. It's just to build some rapport, reveal the motivation, and set an appointment. So, when your phone rings and you answer, you'll hear something to the effect of, hey, I got your yellow letter and I wanted to know what this is all about. Something like that. I got your yellow letter. I was just calling.

And the first question you'll ask is, great. Can you tell me about your situation? Can you tell me about your situation? You know, you want to ask about their situation, and then you want to let them talk. During this time is when you're, when you are actually building rapport. This is when the rapport is being built. And to build rapport initially, you want to express interest and you want to do a lot of listening. It's not, it's not cracking jokes.

It's not finding a bunch of places of common ground and common interests. No, you want to express interest in their situation because you just asked about it. it. You want to express interest in their situation and then you want to do a lot of listening. And a lot of, oh, really, can you tell me more? Or how's that? Or how come? Or why? A lot of those types of open-ended questions that keep them talking and you want to listen. Listen until it hurts. Listen as if there's going to be a test at the end of the phone call. You want to really listen. And when their answer comes to an end, the next question you'll ask is, what do you want to have happen. That's the next question. So you've listened to their about their situation. Wow.

And you've empathized with them and you've connected with them by listening and showing interest. And the next question is, so what do you want to have happen? And then again, just listen. This is where you get the key to the deal. If you can give them what they want to have happen, this is where you have the opportunity to create a situation where you can get what you want in exchange. This is the key to the whole deal. What do you want to have happen? You got their why, right? You heard about their situation, why they want to sell or why they're calling you. And then here's the key. What do you want to have happen? Because if you can give them what they want, they're going to give you what you want. At least you're going to have the opportunity to create

that situation where you can get what you want in exchange. So after you've heard what they want to have happen, the third question, if I could make that happen, if I could make that happen, for you, how soon would you be ready to sell? There's your question. Your third one. There's only three of them. If I could make that happen for you, how soon would you be ready to sell? And they will tell you.

They absolutely will tell you if you did the first two questions correctly and listened. They will answer this for you. And if at this point, you don't detect any sense of urgency or any possibility of you being able to give them what they want to have happen, the conversation is essentially over. You've sorted this and you've classified this person as a suspect. If they don't have any urgency or there's what they want is unreasonable and you don't see any possibility of you being able to give it to them, the conversation is essentially over.

You're likely speaking to a suspect, not a prospect, and you're only looking for the prospects. Now, having said that, use your judgment. don't ignore your instincts. If you detect an opportunity, if it's in your gut, it's okay to inspect further. I mean, if you're in doubt,

whether there is an opportunity there or not, ask yourself this question. Does this person sound like they want to sell or do they sound like they need to sell? That's the big distinction there. Does this person sound like they want to sell or do they need to sell? if you think they need to sell and giving them what they want is within possibility,

I say you set up an appointment to meet with them and view the property. If you think that they actually need to sell, they might not have come out directly and set it, but if that's your gut feeling, what you've kind of come to the conclusion after your phone conversation, is that they need to sell. And if you can give them what they want, I mean, if that's within possibility,

set the appointment to meet the seller and take, take a look at the property. Now, if you think they merely just want to sell, say something to the effect of Mr. Seller, from what I'm hearing, I don't think I'm the right person to help you out of your situation. Should something come up that causes your circumstances to change and you've exhausted all other options, I'd be happy to hear from you again. Please give me a call.

Sound good? That's how you politely get off the phone if they are a suspect. It's Mr. Seller, from what I hear. I don't think I'm the right person to help you out of your situation. Should something come up that causes your circumstances or your situation to change and you've exhausted all of your other options, hey, I'd be really happy to hear from you again. Please give me a call.

Is that okay? Something like that. Okay, but get off the phone. Get off the phone right now. Your time is valuable and this is a suspect. It's just a way to do it politely. So these are your three questions. Can you tell me about your situation?

What do you want to have happen? And if I could make that happen, how soon would you be ready to sell? Those are your three questions. You've got to put those in memory. I mean, write those down on a piece of paper, keep them by the phone, and refer to them on every call

until they become second nature for you. And, you know, it may seem a bit awkward initially, but stick to them. Stick to the questions. Keep asking, and you will get more comfortable, and your skill will improve, and you will start to get better results. And then you'll continue to get better and better results.

I promise. The more you practice them, the more they become a part of you, the better the results you're going to get. So those are your three questions for when you're receiving calls from your marketing materials. Your yellow letter or any of your marketing materials, whether it's the internet or a business card or your bus bench or a flyer that you handed out or a door hanger, whatever it may be. What are your roadside signs when they call? Those are your three questions.

Can you tell me about your situation? What do you want to have happen? And if I could make that happen, how soon would you be ready to sell? Now, if it were that simple, if that's the only thing you had to remember, this business would be really, really easy. but you're going to get a couple objections. There's some common objections and they're really easy to overcome, but they can throw you off

if you're not prepared for them. So one question you're likely to get at some point during that conversation and most of the time it's right at the beginning. You're likely to get the question, how did you get my information? Or why did you send me this letter? And this stops a lot of people in their tracks.

And if it doesn't stop them in their tracks, they'll just blow the entire call. because they just weren't prepared for it. And if you do, no big deal. We all blow calls now and then. Even I blow calls every once in a while still. And I feel I'm pretty good at this. And sometimes I'm just caught off guard or just not in the right mindset when I picked up the phone.

Or whatever. We all blow calls. So don't worry about it if you do. There will be more calls. They're coming. I promise you, if you're doing your marketing activities correctly, there will be more calls. You'll have another chance. But when people blow calls, it's usually because they are asked one of these questions

by the caller. How did you get my information? Or why did you send me this letter? They panic with that question for some reason. And what throws most people off might not necessarily be the questions, but the tone of which the questions are asked. It might be a very forceful or controlling tone or an accusatory tone, something other than, I'm so happy to receive your letter. You don't always get that, that's that, you rarely get that. I'm so happy that you sent me this yellow letter. No, it's more, where did you get my information from?

Or why are you sending this to me? Something like that. So it's okay. Don't let that throw you off. People that you're sending these to are likely in some sort of distress situation and they're a little nervous. They're a little scared.

They're not acting like they normally would. So don't hold that against them and don't let it freak you out. So here's your response. First, I want you to match the tone in which the question is asked. okay this is very important I want you to match the tone

in which that caller asks you this question I mean if it's asked in a forceful way you're going to respond in a forceful way you know so how did you get my information you want to answer that's the tone okay if it's asked in a curious way

respond in a curious way however it's asked match the tone and the attitude of the caller. So how did you get my information? Then you want to hear that tone. That's the tone. We'll get to the words in a second, but I want you to get the tone down. Okay?

This is so key. And don't be afraid to overdo it either. I mean, don't be afraid to go overboard and matching their tone, almost to the point where you might feel like you're almost making fun of them. Don't overdo it. I mean, they are calling you. they have no idea who you are and they know they have no idea who you are as a person they have no clue to your personality or your disposition or what you look like or anything so i encourage you to

fall into acting mode a bit and and almost try to mimic the person's personality that's calling you almost try to do an impression of the person that's calling you and this can be really really fun when you've done it a couple of times and it can be very lucrative when you're doing it regularly It can be fun and lucrative. It might feel a little weird at first, but it can be very fun once you just let it go and detach yourself from the outcome, and when you get good at it, it's extremely lucrative.

This is key. Match the tone and the attitude of the caller. And the response you'll give to their questions of how did you get my information or why did you send me this letter. It'll be something like, hey, I'm glad you asked. I buy properties in the area and your property fits my criteria.

So you received one of my yellow letters. Most people don't call me back, but those that do are typically open to selling. Is that your situation? That's what you say. And always end with a question. So why did you send me this yellow letter? Okay, let's do it like this. So they go, why did you send me this yellow letter?

They're all upset, right? Why did you send me this yellow letter? Well, I'm glad you asked. You know, I buy properties in the area and your property fits my criteria. So you received one of my letters. You know, most people don't call me back at all. But those that do are typically open to selling. Is that your situation?

That's what you say, and that's how you would say it. Matching their tone. And you always end with the question. The person that's asking the questions is in control of the conversation. So if they're asking you a question, they're in control. So you need to answer the question and then ask a new question so you can get back in control. Make sense? The person asking the questions is always in control of the conversation.

So if they ask you a question, answer the question. answer the question, but then ask a new question to get back in control. So when they ask, how did you get my information or why did you send me this letter, you respond by answering their question and asking a new question. I'm glad you asked. I buy properties in the area and your property fits my criteria. So you received one of my letters. Most people don't call me back.

But those that do are typically open to selling. Is that your situation? And if they say yes, you just go. right into your first three questions. Well, great. Can you tell me more about your situation? And it goes right into those three questions. You go right back there.

And if they say no, you can either say, okay, thanks, take care. Or you can dig deeper and have fun with it a bit. You know, when I'm in the mood, and if I'm not too busy, I typically respond to their answer of no. And I'm not interested in selling. And they say, no, I'm not interested in selling. that's not my situation. I'm like, okay, I can appreciate that, but I'm just curious.

You did call me. May I ask what it was about my letter that inspired you to pick up the phone? When they say, no, I'm not interested in selling. That's not my situation. Okay, well, great, I can appreciate that, but, you know, I'm just curious. You did call me, and may I ask what it was about my letter that inspired you to pick up the phone? Sometimes it will open up the conversation a bit as they'll start to think. You know, yeah, you know, if I'm not looking to sell, why did I call?

and you'll get an answer and sometimes that can go right back into great well can you tell me a little bit more about your situation you go right back into the three questions anyway either way don't take these calls too seriously most of them will not be deals

always be aware always remember that don't feel like you failed because it didn't work out or this thing doesn't work understand I'm telling you right up front most of them will not be deals you're only looking for the ones that are so if you just relax match the tone and attitude of your caller,

have fun with it, and act like it's no big deal. Hey, I do this every day, no big deal, and stick to the script, and then you look at these calls as an opportunity to practice your performance and perfect your technique. Look at the calls as practice.

Hey, you're just practicing your performance. I'm perfecting my technique. And if you maintain that mindset, if it's no big deal, I do this every day, and you just stick to the script and you just, hey, this is just practice. practice time, when you do that and you do truly get a motivated seller on the line, it's going to go so easily.

The call is going to be effortless, and you'll set an appointment to meet the seller, and you'll view the property with absolute ease. So just have fun with it. It's no big deal. Don't let 20 jerkheads that called you get you down. I'm telling you up front, you're going to encounter them. Most of these calls will not be deals. I told you right up front.

You're only looking for the ones that are. So when someone calls, that's not a deal. Great, I'm not looking for you next. Not looking for you next. Not looking for you next. Then you get the call. And now you had all this practice ahead of you, and you're absolutely perfect on this call,

and you close the deal. That's how it works. Okay? The other question, the other question you'll frequently get is, when you get to the point, you know, where you need to ask for their name or the property address, you might get, sometimes they'll be a little bit of a smart ass about it.

well, you sent me the letter, you should know. And you asked for, can I get your name, sir? Can I get your name, man? Well, you sent me the letter, you should know. I mean, I love this one. Again, match their tone and attitude and respond with something like, Mrs. Seller, I sent out a few letters a day.

I have no way of knowing the name or address of every person that calls me back. You know, most people don't call me back, but you did. Have you already decided that this call will no longer make sense for you? Did you get that? That's how I respond to that one.

on. Mr. Seller, can I get your property address? Well, you sent me the letter. You should know. Yes, I understand why you might think that, Mr. Seller. I send out a few letters a day. I have no way of knowing the name or address of every person that calls me back. I mean, most people don't call me back. But you did. I mean, have you already decided that this call no longer makes sense for you? And if it doesn't make sense, great, goodbye. You've been able to sort that person back into the suspect list. okay, you're actually trying to get a no as soon as possible. So you can get on with your day and get on to things that are more important where your time is better used.

So if it doesn't make sense, great. Goodbye. It doesn't make sense for you. Peace. If it does still make sense, well, then Mr. Seller, may I have your name and address, please? He just said it made sense. May I have your name and address, please? Okay.

Again, your time is valuable and you don't, or you want to sort the suspects from the prospects. as soon as possible. And you will get some idiots that call. And it's your choice. You can hang up on them. I've got no problem with that. Hang up on them if they get too unbearable or unrealistic or unreasonable. Go ahead and hang up on them.

Or have fun with these idiots and use the opportunity to practice your script and phone skills. It's your choice. It's your time. So you can hang up the phone and go back to doing what you're doing. Or you can take this opportunity and spend your time practicing. Your choice. and you know with that being said I don't really get a whole lot of irate jerks calling too often

I don't want to scare you they don't call too often I mean total jerks but but you can expect a healthy bit of skepticism from most of your calls that's just natural be understanding and don't take offense to the caller asking questions maintain your composure and keep control of the conversation by answering their question and then asking another question in return

the person asking the questions always has control So if they ask you one, they've got control, right? So go ahead and answer it and ask another one right away. Get back in control. And I've given you the three foundational questions for every call. So if you get sidetracked, you know, go ahead and respond in the way that I've showed you with those two most common objections. And then get right back to your questions, your foundational questions, those three. I've given you a response to your two most common objections.

And I get right back to those three questions. there's there's um you know there's there's what should i say that's how i do it i mean i understand that there's more than one way to feel these calls this is just how i do it and i still do it this way today and after years of refinement it's the quickest and most efficient way that i know of to sorting my calls without losing the essentials of building rapport and at the end of the day that's your objective to first build rapport and second reveal urgency discover their motivation you know, the foundation of every deal lies within that seller's motivation to sell. There's no motivation, there's no deal.

And in most cases, if there's no rapport, there's no deal either. So if you have rapport with your caller and you have revealed their motivation and indeed there is some motivation, the next step is to set an appointment to meet the seller and view the property. But not until you've built rapport and revealed motivation. Okay? Now, if you happen to have a question, comment, or concern about today's podcast or any of the episodes that you've listened to, and you'd like me to answer and address those here live on the show, please share them with me on the Epic Real Estate Investing Hotline, just like some of our past people have. And they've gotten all their questions answered. I've got a bunch of questions lined up that I'll be able to share with you on the next episode, and I'll be answering all of those live.

So if you've asked a question and you're still waiting, don't worry, I'm getting to you. and if you do have a question, call the Epic Real Estate Investing Hotline [phone]. And if you enjoy the show, it would be a great favor to me if you stopped by iTunes

and just left me a rating and a review there. I love it. I love to know what you think of the show. I love to hear how the show has helped you. It really keeps me going. All righty. So that's it for today.

And until next time, as a very wise, person once said, never, never, never give up. To your success, I'm Matt Terrio, living the dream. Thank you for spending this time with Matt Terrio and the epic real estate investing podcast. When you have a moment, stop by iTunes to leave your comments and let us know what you think of the show. And if you haven't done so already, get started investing today by visiting free real estate investing course.com to access Matt's free course, how to do deals, no money required.

Until next time, to your success. This podcast is a part of the C-suite radio network. For more top business podcasts, visit c-sweetradio.com.