Direct Mail & Automation for Real Estate Investing

Find the deals that nobody knows exist.

Sometimes I look like this

•Real estate investor since 2006

•Title insurance examiner & closer for 14 years

•Own several rental properties

•Have done deals in just about every niche

imaginable:

•Subject – to

•Lease Option

•Short Sale

•Flips

•Notes

•Wholesaling

Sometimes I look like this

•Father of 5 (sort of)

•Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Blue Belt

•Huge Detroit sports fan

•Lifelong Michigander

•Born & raised in the city

•Live in the country on 10.5 acres

Sometimes I look like this

Too much competition on the MLS

Who REALLY wants to calls FSBOs & Craigslist ads?

Because most people WON’T do it

Deals that few, if any, people know are available (off-market/pre-market, thinking about selling, etc.)

My favorite reason though is because…

It’s like turning on a faucet of cash

Marketing is an INVESTMENT not an expense.

Exchange Rate?• Would you trade

$3,000 for $40,000?

Market – WHO are you marketing to?

Message – WHAT is your offer? What can you do for your prospect?

Media – HOW will you reach your prospect?

Money – HOW MUCH will you spend on a campaign or to do a deal?

Market – I mail mostly to absentee owners. I also mail to other lists too – but absentee has produced the best results.

Message – I buy houses! Media - This is the fun part!

• Postcards Regular or Oversized? Color or Black and White? White or color card

stock, etc. etc.

• Yellow Letters Red Ink? Black Ink? Blue Ink?

What about the envelope?

Postage Meter? Stamps.com? Regular ole stamp?

• Post-It notes (yep, done that too)• Flyers• Newspaper inserts

Money – the more you spend, the more

you make! • Spend as much as you can. You can get a deal on

as little as $500/mo

• Remember the exchange rate

• Make them tap out! Mail until they tell you to stop..

Or die.

Why not use both?

Does this look like I wrote it?

Did I type these postcards or

draw on them?

Ain’t nobody got time for that!

Outsourcing – I’m only one man, with 24

hours in a day, and a family. In order to do

the volume I need, I need to delegate and

outsource

Automation – People forget, make

mistakes, get overwhelmed, etc.

Automate to alleviate!

Key Number 1: Outsourcing

Virtual & Local Assistants

• I have 2 local assistants (Stephanie and my step-daughter Mariah)

• I have 1 Virtual Assistant (VA) in the Philippines

• Adding another VA soon

• VA schedules postcard mailings, which list, when, etc & adds to cart, I review, & pay (usually every 90 days)

• VA tracks calls/response rate and provides me with a report (weekly & monthly)

• 2 local assistants write the yellow letters now – but I can outsource that as well

VA orders the list, or pulls the list and sends to the YL outsourcer who writes, stuffs, stamps, and mails the letters

VA can still track the call responses

Answering Service = PatLive• The NUMBER ONE best decision I have EVER

made in regard to my business.

• NO MORE unmotivated sellers, “take me off your

list”, “How’d you get my address” or Talkative

Tinas who want to tell you their entire life story.

• Professionally answered by LIVE receptionists,

24/7 – 365.

Answering service takes the call, and inputs it directly into my CRM.

• I get an email notification

• It starts the automation process (will get to this in a minute)

This is what one campaign

looked like last month

That’s 108 calls I would have

had to take, and probably

double the number of minutes

if I had taken the calls

personally.

THAT’S 600 minutes saved!

PatLive takes the call, and puts the lead right

into my CRM. I then get this email:

Sneak Peek at my CRM

Phase II (trying to implement this now)• Outsourcing my bandit signs

• Outsourcing property inspections/photos

• Outsourcing online marketing (CL ads, Blog Posts,

Social Media, Etc)

• Outsourcing Errands – post office, bank, putting

up for rent signs, etc.

You MUST have a system• Without a system leads get lost. When leads get

lost YOU LOSE MONEY.

• This is what happens to most investors that start

direct mail.

• What is my system?

It’s NOT perfect (yet)

Sometimes it feels like herding cats!

VA gets mailing list & schedules mail

PatLive takes initial seller phone call

PatLive inputs caller into into my CRM

I get an email notification with my tasks,

while my VA gets emails with her tasks

(pull comps, public record info, etc. and

input into CRM)

VA calls seller back for initial pre-screening

If the seller is REALLY motivated, she sets the appointment right then – or – if they insist on speaking to me I call them.

VA uses Google Calendar to schedule the appointment for me and I get an email notification of the appointment

I go out and meet the seller and inspect the property (outsourcing soon I hope!)

I take a LOT of pics, and upload them to Cloud (Drive, Dropbox, etc)

I determine MAO (Maximum Allowable Offer)

VA will sometimes negotiate with sellers• I tell her what to say, and what price and let her try.

• Usually the unmotivated or semi-motivated only

Once seller agrees on price:

• If seller uses email, my VA (now) sends a contract via

HelloSign

• If not I meet them and sign the agreement in person

Yes, the selling side is automated too.

CRM sends tasks to VAs and myself to

complete

Still a work in progress

To Be Continued….

Steve Londeau

Direct Cell – (734) 272-7004

Email – [email protected]

Find me on

stevelondeau @stevelondeau

313cashdeals @313cashdeals