Back when we first started the podcast, very early on we did an episode on Direct Mail. It was our most popular episode to date. Recently, we went back to that topic in order to build on that prior knowledge and help get you on the road to bigger profits in Episode #73. So, in essence, Episode #73 was meant to be updated version – version 2.0, if you will… So, a year later, a different market, what is different and what is relevant? Let’s take a look a few caveats to the direct mail game!
First, let’s talk about how to get deals in today’s market. It’s as simple as this: there are Realtors/RMLS (waste of time), Foreclosure Auctions (super slim margins), Online Ads (untargeted), and the last way is Direct Mail. The beauty of Direct Mail is it is super targeted and self-directed. You’re depended on no one but yourself. But, there is a wrong way to do Direct Mail. What is it? Well, every other Talking Head and GURU says pull an absentee owner list and send them yellow postcards through click to mail, and be sure to send a ton of these yellow postcards to thousands upon thousands of owners a year. Does this work? No. Do people fall for it? Yes. Why? Because it’s easy.
So, here is the long and short of it – there is a better way to do Direct Mail. First thing, you need to consider who you’re mailing. The harder that list is to generate, the better that list is going to be. Why? Because less investors are going to be mailing those homes. What we do is generate our Driving For Dollars List. These take time and energy to create (Something we’ve talked about on the podcast), but it’ll become much more streamlined with our D4$ App coming out this summer.
We target specific neighborhoods that we want to be building in. And then, we target specific properties that could be renovated. There’s no point in mailing a home that was bought 2 months ago. There is no motivation and there is no equity. As investors, we need to target specific properties that fit what we are going to do with them: renovate and repair, then sell at a profit. If there is nothing to renovate and repair, then there is nothing to buy.
