Epic Real Estate Investing - When Your Direct Mail Stops Working | 344

Episode Date: February 12, 2018

Epic Real Estate Investing gives you a step by step guide on what to do when your direct mail stops working. Get more lines in the water and recommit to generating motivated seller leads in your market with these Epic strategies. Get the one thing that will make all the difference in your long-term success. Avoid discouragement to keep on the path to financial freedom with Epic Real Estate Investing! ______   The free course is new and improved!  To access to the two fastest and easiest strategies to a paycheck in real estate, go to FreeRealEstateInvestingCourse.com or text “FreeCourse” to 55678. What interests you most? • E.ducation • P.roperties • I.ncome • C.oaching Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Terio Media. Yo. I'm not sure for what you came for. Throw you smoke up your ass, seminars. It's next door. Line your tips up, man, just like a next door. All you're winning and wanting, yo, that's what we check for. Not building power to cash, create cash flow.

Epic, real estate, investment, I make your cash grow. When I can tell, you ain't worked as hard at all. Tell people you work hard, you ain't working hard at all. Go deep with your investment. You're going wide. Too cold for your. Yo, you need to go inside. It's not a money problem.

It's an idea problem. Epic real estate investment, then we can solve them. Scared money, you don't make money. Passing income cash flow, yo, how you create money. Safer as a losers. Open your eyes and see them. Matt Derry, y'all creating your financial freedom. Yeah, yeah, we got the cash flow.

Yeah, yeah, we got the cash flow. Yeah, yeah, we got the cash flow. Yeah, yeah, we got the cash flow. Yeah, welcome. Welcome to the Epic Real Estate Investing Show. Glad you found us. You know, if you're struggling with a lack of money, limited options in life, finding the right education, I want you to know that you're in the right place.

If you're frustrated by a job that has a, you know, it's lost, it's luster, this lack of free time frustrates you and you're concerned about your financial future. You're in the right place. We eat challenges and frustrations like those up for lunch every day. Real estate investing in it specifically, it is the final frontier where the average person has a legitimate shot at creating epic wealth. So if you have just found us, we meet here every Monday discussing how to make money and how to create wealth with real estate.

And then on Tuesdays, we discuss how to keep it and make it grow. And that's our tax hacker Tuesday with our resident tax hacking genius, Tim Berry. That's on Tuesdays. So we make money on Mondays. We learn how to keep it and save it and make it grow on Tuesdays. All righty. So click the subscribe book. button and never miss an episode. You can now find us on Spotify if that's a more convenient

place for you to listen. And you can follow us for daily motivation, inspiration, tactics, and strategies. In short, easy to consume blurbs. And we're doing that on Instagram. And that's at Epic Real Estate. All righty. Got an email today. It reads, Hi, Matt. I posted a question yesterday, but not receive a response. So forgive me for that, by the way. And I could not find your response. So I couldn't respond. So I couldn't respond. to us. So I was like, well, hey, we'll just respond to it right here on the air. So it says, my mailings are not pulling very well and was wondering what mailing list you guys used to generate leads, thanks, Dave. All righty, so let's discuss that. And thanks for the email, Dave. And sorry that

you had to wait for this. But hey, now we're on the stage and it just made you famous. So let's discuss what there is to do when your direct mail isn't working or it's not working as well as you'd like. You know, is it the list? I mean, maybe, but maybe not. You know, I understand the The frustrations here when you get a low response rate. And the frustrations when, you know, that expense, right? Direct mail can get expensive. And also you, when it's not working, you start looking for other directions to generate these.

You start chasing these shiny objects that are everywhere. And the fear that this isn't going to work for you, the way that it's working for others, that fear starts to creep in and it can be debilitating, right? It can be paralyzing. It can be a little depressing too. But when you get this part right, I mean, you get that steady flow of leads. That's what you want. What you want are just lower costing leads that would be preferred.

You want to find something that works so you can stick to just that. And, you know, and all this with the aspiration that real estate keeps its promise to you that it delivers the financial independence and freedom you signed up for in the first place. Because when you decided to pursue real estate as your vehicle, that was the promise that's made to you and that's all that you want. I get it. When you get that part right, that's what you do get. So I was thinking about this email.

and as I was preparing for this episode, it made me think back to when I got started because I didn't use direct mail, nor did I even know anybody that was using it. I wasn't even aware of the concept of buying leads. So I learned only one way in how to make money in real estate, how to generate leads that led to the actual business that led to a paycheck. And that's the freeway. So I want to go over a little bit of that today as well, as well as what there is to do with, about your direct mail.

All righty, so I've got five hot principles for you. One, I'm going to talk about your expectations. Two, I want to talk about the list. And three, I want to talk about diversification. And four, I want to go deep. And then five, I'm going to talk about your stictuitiveness. All right. So of those things, your expectations, the list, diversification, going deep and stick

toitiveness. Which one of those do you need most? Which one of those is troubling you the most? Which one of those, if you were to solve it, would make, have the biggest impact on your business and why. about that. All right? And we'll go through them. So first, your expectations. Let's talk about your expectations. This is a biggie. You know, disappointment really is just unmet expectations. And for the most part, direct mail has always had a terrible response rate. You know,

historically, across every industry, I'm just talking about direct mail in general. I mean, you've had to send a lot to get a little. So if you're above one or two percent response rate, you're doing better than most, regardless of industry. You are getting exactly what you're supposed to get historically. We might have been a little bit misled over the last, I don't know, almost a decade now or so, eight, nine years where the response rate has been significantly up, right? Because there's a whole lot of demand and pent-up demand out there that people are responding to it. And now it's kind of settled back down to a normal market.

Also, direct mail, it's a game of testing, right? It's marketing. You're always trying something new to get people to open up their mail. I mean, right now, we're just in a society where it's one big fight for people's attention. You know, you've got the TV, you've got the radio, you've got magazines, you've got the cell phones, you've got Netflix, you've got YouTube, you've got text messaging, and you've got mail, right? So think about, like in the past, when it comes to your mail, how many different gimmicks? have you received in your mailbox over the years? Right?

I think back when I, if I go back far enough, what I really used to, what I remember specifically is there was a company called Columbia House, and they used to send a penny attached to a letter in the mail and said for one penny, you get 10 CDs. Those are compact discs for those of you that don't remember back that far. That's what they used to play music on. We used to walk into stores and buy music on a compact disc.

That seems like it was just so long ago, right? and seems so archaic, but that wasn't that long ago at all. But anyway, that was a gimmick. Let's put something on the direct mail piece in the envelope, makes it heavy, makes it look unique, separates its appearance from everything else. And we're still doing that today. You know, businesses are always trying something new to get your attention because they know their direct marketing, their direct mail marketing.

It mostly gets ignored. I mean, most people stand over the trash can and sort their mail. If it looks like it's trash, it's going in the trash. So think about that with your direct mail and just kind of set your expectations appropriately. If people aren't responding to your direct mail, maybe you change it up, maybe you send it to someone else, or maybe you just kind of adjust your expectations and continue. The second thing to address Dave's question specifically, let's talk about the list. Let's talk about who you're sending it to.

Because I'm asked daily, you know, what list is the best to use? Well, maybe not daily, but it's a pretty common question. What list should I send to? and my answer, the best list is the one that you'll actually send the mail to. And here's what I mean. We're looking for people that want to sell their property, right? And if you go, like, look at people like realtors. They'll pick a neighborhood and just send every single door in that neighborhood because that's where they want to work.

So that's the best list for them because it's where they geographically want to work. But is it the best list for motivation or finding people that need to, need to sell. No, it's just the best list for them geographically and by sending it over and over and over, they can trust that they're going to build, I don't know, inadvertently a relationship become recognizable and familiar to the houses and the homeowners in the houses of those areas. So if we want to pick up the motivation, right, inside of a list, we're going to look for signs of distress. And we've talked about it here countless times, financial distress and personal distress and property distress.

So now you can narrow those lists, maybe not define them geographically so much, but more define them if they have specific types of distress attached to them. Like a probate, like code violations or divorce or bankruptcy or absentee owners or out-of-state absentee owners or vacant houses. Like all of those things are just little signs of distress. And every single one of those things can cause a person into a situation or can push a person into a situation that would have forced them to sell their property at a

discount. So which one is the best? They're all just clues that there might be some distress there. Is there an actual, are there people in foreclosure that are going to come clean and come current on their bills? Yes, there are. Are the people that haven't paid their taxes in a couple years that are eventually going to pay them before they lose their house?

Yes. But there are some people in there that might not, right? And those are that, so you're just kind of playing the odds. So the more factors you can stack on your list, probably the better the performing the list will be. So if you find someone that's in foreclosure and tax delinquent and has a code violation, that's a really good indicator. That might be someone that's really motivated to sell. But then again, might not. And then when you start adding those factors on top of each other, the list gets smaller and smaller pretty darn quickly.

So it's not, I don't think it's so much the list. I think you're going to get a response from a list as long as you hit that list, have your expectation set appropriately. and you're not sending anything ridiculous to the list that wouldn't resonate with them. I don't think it's the list. I really don't. The third thing I want you to talk about or consider is diversification. Diversify. If you're counting solely on direct mail as a lead generation source, you're going to need deep pockets.

It'll work. It absolutely will work. But you'll need the budget to make it work. You know, I recommend that you have at least three, preferably five. marketing channels working for you at all times. The more the better, but the more as many as you can responsibly manage. Keep your direct mail going. That's game of consistency and accept what it brings in. But consider adding additional marketing channels like PPC or a Facebook campaign. Consider bandit signs. Consider online classifieds. You know, you got the housing wanted section, the real estate for sale,

garage sales, estate sales for rents, jobs and gigs. Consider door knocking, working for sale by owners, for sale by owner websites, expired, all that's just time-honored stuff that does work. People continue to use it. What else? Property management websites, auction websites, auctions themselves, and your network, right? Your network, create, build and nurture strategic relationships,

be known as the person that buys houses and buys them quickly and easily. And, you know, I went into this deeply and in great detail on episode 325. I'm actually building an entire lesson around that inside of the academy right now, but it's all right there. The lesson is there. Episode 325, it's actually how I built my business with no money.

Okay? That's how I got started without direct mail. And so listen to episode 325. Go to your Rias, go to your meetup groups, chambers of commerce. There's a ton you can do on a daily basis. And it's work, right? It is work. So you need multiple channels working for you.

So diversify your marketing. Now the fourth thing is I want you to go deep. Now this is a little bit of a contradicting statement with what I had to just what I just talked about with regards to diversifying. But pick a marketing channel. Pick one. There's a lot of them to choose from. I just went through, I don't know a dozen. Pick a marketing channel that you know that you'll do.

So pick one that you know that you'll do consistently and go deep with it. Get good at it. Put it in place and basically just get good at it before adding another one. But go deep before going wide. And so direct mail, not too difficult to go deep on. You get a good list and you get a good mailing piece and then you go ahead and you schedule that out for 90 days and be ready to answer the phone when the phone rings. That's as deep as you really need to go with the list. But now add something else.

Don't just count your rest on your laurels with that. Just keep on adding different marketing channels. And I recommend you go to at least five. Get there. You don't have to do it all in one day. You don't have to do it overnight. But have that in mind that you have to work your way up to that. And it might be a marketing piece.

It might be a marketing activity. It might be actual work or relationships or just a practice that you do. or maybe it's a piece of technology that's, you know, brings in leads automatically. I don't know. There's shiny little things like that all over the Internet all the time. I don't know which ones work. But I don't care which ones you use. Just the ones that you're going to use consistently is the ones I want you to use.

Okay. So that's going deep. Fifth, persistence, right? Persistence. You got to stick to it. This business and any business for that matter is built on consistency and persistence. You know, if you chose real estate as a, I'm going to give this a, try for 90 days type of thing.

And if that's what you were thinking about, let me give it, try it 90 days, see how it works. If that's what your thought was, you might as well just quit now. That's not the mindset that's going to produce consistent long-term income and wealth creation for yourself. If your direct mail didn't deliver after the first or second attempt, and that's what has you discouraged, this might not be for you. If your marketing channel of choice didn't generate a deal in the first week and that's what's got you discouraged, this might not be for you.

You know, lightning has been known to strike in this business, and you can get a deal right away. And it happens much more frequently than people get struck by lightning. And it's not uncommon to get deals done inside of your first couple months, not uncommon at all. But for the most part, it's going to take longer than you want it to. That's what I know. For most people, it takes longer than they want it to. And, you know, what you really got into real estate for was not to flip a few houses and quit. Anyone that told you it was easy money was lying to you.

It's simple. but even when that told you was easy, they were lying to you. And that's not why you got into just to flip a few houses and quit, right? But rather to make some money, convert it to passive income so you can take your foot off the gas a bit in the next few years. Certainly before the typical traditional retirement age, that's the goal. That's why you got into it. So remember why you got into real estate in the first place and stick to it. I mean, what's your alternative?

I just got off the coaching call with the client and we were talking about it. And he's like, I need to, I just need to stay focused, man. I need to stay focused on your plan. I just walked them through a process and got him all the way down to why he's got into real estate in the first place, right? Why do you want real estate? Why are you into real estate? Very few people are in it because they love real estate.

That's very few people. They get into it because of the income potential, the earning potential, the wealth creation potential. And so the next question is, why do you want the income? Why do you want the wealth creation? Well, because I don't want to have to work so hard. And so why don't you want to work, don't have to work so hard? Because I want to enjoy life a little bit more.

I want to spend that time with my family. I want to spend that time with my grandkids. And so why do you want to do that? Well, it makes me feel good. And how does that make your family and your grandkids feel when you feel good? Well, I'm much more fun to be around and they like me more. Great. And then how does that make you feel?

Well, that makes me feel fantastic. Boom. That's why you got into real estate. That's what you focus on. It's the feeling we're after. It's not the real estate. It's not the money. It's the feeling that we think the real estate and the money is going to bring us.

that's worth it. It's worth sticking to. And the alternative is, well, you really don't have one. You don't have a choice. So get back out there. Get it done. And don't quit until you do. Your odds of success are greater in real estate than anything else. The numbers and the statistics, they prove it. Time to do. So I'm going to give you three quick action items. One, pick three to five marketing channels that you see yourself doing consistently. Pick three to five marketing channels that you see yourself doing consistently. and then do them consistently and stick to it. We met a lot of people too smart to get this,

having yet to meet someone too dumb not to. It's that simple. So that's it for today. God bless. And to your success, I'm Matt Terrio, living in the dream. The cash flow. Yeah, yeah, we got the cash flow. Yeah, yeah, we got the cash flow.

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