MARKETING - SFL System Questions, Tips and Discussion

Carol Stinson mentioned going to lead pipes and saving the cash buyers list as rehabbers. After you have it saved, it lists every cash buyer under the section you chose. e.g. rehabber She continues "you will see the property address as the name and then below that is the buyers address..." From what I've noticed, I tend to see some addresses in the name field, but MOST are just names and not addresses, then below the name field, the address field of the cash buyer does show the address. I've come up with a few questions:

1. Is there an easier way to look up the property address the cash buyer purchased, perhaps through the buyer > rehabber tab, or do I just have to go back to lead pipes and search to find the address that way? If I can make a suggestion to the SFL Dev team, allow us to see this info for all cash buyers side-by-side rather than trying to compare the saved list to the lead pipes. And also, when we go back a page, please allow us to go back to the page we were on, and not reset back to page 1 each time.

2. I noticed my imported cash buyers list has duplicate entries of the same buyer, with the exact same info for each of them (sometimes it shows the same entry 8 times).

3. I noticed on the window with some of the buyers names populating (the ones in the same window as the name/address field, below it where it shows the state & city,) a few of them show states other than the one for my chosen counties. One of them said New York, and another North Carolina, when the two counties I chose are both in Texas.

4.Does everyone in this list use SFL?

5. I noticed the email buyer function in the cash buyers window. Does SFL have every cash buyer's email stored, but where we can't see what their email address is?
Note: I have not yet tried actually sending one yet to see if it works. Also, I'm very new to real estate, and excited to get that first deal down.

The address in the name field is the property address also when you pull up the cash buyers list in Lead Pipes it gives you the address of the property that they purchased.

Question #2. The imported cash buyers list will have the same info if the buyer purchased multiple properties. It will give you their mailing address every time they purchased a property. If it shows the same info 8 times than your buyer purchased 8 properties.

Question #3. The reason why it shows different states and cities other than your County is because that is the buyer's state and city not the property address they purchased. Some of the buyers apparently live out of state.

Question #5 No the SFL system does not have their email address stored. However you can try to find their email address here http://www.emailfinder.com/

Hope this helps

Since the buyers list I've pulled up in the Set For Life system does not have phone numbers or email addresses, I've decided to send post cards.

What is the best way to send out Post Cards to contact Cash Buyers?

1) Buy a box of post cards?

2) Have some printed up with my company name on it?

3) Use an online mailing service like click-to-mail?

Look for what someone believes to be both the least expensive, and the most effective?

Thanks,

Stephan Roberts

Hello,

This is what Dave and I have come up with for our marketing postcard for SFL:

I suggest you say the following;

'Your name was given to us by a referral. We are also investors that sometimes have more properties than we can handle. We try to acquire homes 50% below FMV. Contact us so we can discuss your property qualifications.' Then we have a logo and our contact information.

I saved the list from SFL to a .csv file and then used Microsoft Office to open it up in Excel. I deleted everything but the Business name, first name, last name, and mailing address, mailing state, mailing zip code. Once I did that I saved it to and Excel file. Then I did a mail merge into Word as labels; From here I printed out the labels and mailed out the postcards. If this sounds too technical - email me your contact information and I will be happy to call you and walk you through how to do this.

Success to all!

Laura and David

That's awesome! I already know how to do that, but I didn't even think to put two and two together! I think I just might have to steal that! I appreciate you sharing your strategy on sending out postcards. I haven't tried it yet.

...Keep those great ideas coming. You might even be able to go to a local printer, Staples, Office Max or Office Depot to have them print up postcards for you. Be sure to include a contact phone number, web site address (if appliable) and your email.

It may only take one good lead to result in a deal that will more than pay for your postcars and mailings. The great thing is the more of a relationship you establish with your print service company the better. You will probably be returning for business cards, flyers, etc. The more business you give, the betetr pricing you may get in return. Do not be afraid to inquire about discounts. Definetly this can create a WIN-WIN business relationship. Good luck on all those great leads! Believe and Achieve! - Joe

Quote of the day: "If you don't get noticed, you don't have anything. You just have to be noticed, but the art is in getting noticed naturally, without screaming or without tricks." - Leo Burnett

These are some great ideas. I appreciate the suggestions.

Since you didn't mention it, I also assume that you write this information on standard postcards that you can pick up at any stationary store?

Thanks again for everything!!!

I found a copy that will print and mail your postcard without leaving the comfort of your own home, and they have no minimums!

http://www.postcardbuilder.com/

Hey Chris (and everyone),

Good-looking find! Another website you and others may want to look at is https://click2mail.com/. A simple one-sided postcard (count of 50) apparently is only $17 to print and mail. Now I must add the condition that I have not completed the whole process to see if there is any other fee. This may be even more affordable to those with limited resources.

Sincerely,
Kevin A Goldman

Goldman's Gardens Real Estate, LLC
Wholesale Real Estate Investing
Great Success to Us All!

Thank you for the links to the postcards; the one that cbrindamour posted is really reasonable.

It took us a few weeks of procrastinating to send out our postcards; since we didn't know what to say and how to approach it. However, It Works! We've already have gotten a call from it. Wish us luck we’re searching for it NOW!

The follow-up is a MUST - Don't be afraid what the worst thing that can happen someone says NO! You have cash buyers just waiting to buy. It really is true and believe me I was the biggest skeptic.

One thing I've learned in the past two weeks is that don't let your fears keep you back! We are gaining momentum!

We wish everyone the best!

Newb question here but, what's the difference between Lease Option, Landlord, and Renter? I got a bit confused when I was trying to organize some of the new people I'm adding to my buyer's list.

Thanks!

We all must conquer those same fears...great job on beating me (and many others, I'm sure) to it!

Giving it a shot here, hopefully those more knowledgeable will correct/back it up.

All are different types of buyers. Lease options are for people who want to buy a house cannot afford it right now or had some financial issue that prevented them from getting into a home through traditional means (i.e., going through a bank, putting 20% down and getting a home loan for the rest). You (or a landlord) will be taking payments from them until a point in time at which they decide if they are going to buy the property or not. I am not sure about this, but I think that you decide on that predetermined time with the lessees and it's in your contract. If they're buying, I think the lessees make a balloon payment or maybe they have repaired their credit and can get the home loan they could not previously. Then the landlord (you or someone else) would probably negotiate/settle on the terms of their purchase of the property.

Renters are just people that a landlord (you or someone else) gets into their property to create cash flow! (Which also is part of the point of the lease options.) They simply pay the landlord rent to stay on the property.

The landlord buyer, as you've figured by now, will be you or someone who is looking to own any type of property where they will collect and have a cash-flow property!

Hope this helps (and more importantly, I hope it's right)!

Do you have the Set For Life system? There are some good marketing tools in there and I'm sure there's a couple templates for that. There's also info on that in Profit From Real Estate Right Now. Things like "I find great deals on [what you will specialize in - REO's, FSBOs, etc]! Contact me right away if interested!"

Hi Guys,

I'm thinking maybe we should start a thread that has mailing campaign details in it.

Overall System:
-Mailing Times
-Budget/Pricing (Printing & Mailing)
-Target Market
-Companies Used to Print and/or mail

If you've completed a successful mailing, please consider contributing to this thread.

Stephen,

There are many companies that will create and mail postcards. Here are two that I recommend...

http://www.postcardbuilder.com/

http://www.planitpromo.com/

Hope this helps!

Hi,

Just wondering what you all think about marketing to the cash buyers list with Postcards or Letters. Which one will have a higher success/Return Rate?

Does anyone have an example of what the letters or postcards should say?

I am getting the list narrowed down from 5,714 buyers, sorting them out into specific cities where they live.

My next step is to market to them I just want to make sure I am getting the best bang for my buck so to speak.

Any advice will surely help.

Happy Investing,

Greg Rowe
Elk Grove, CA

From what I remember in the PMI Training, postcards have the highest return rate (at 5%) while other methods of direct mail generally hit around 1-2% return rate. I also remember hearing that hand-written letters are pretty successful when delicately worded to those going through forclosure.

For wording I remember a few weeks ago Laura and David wrote:

As for postcard websites:

cbrindamour mentions http://www.postcardbuilder.com/ and it has no minimums
And Kevin A Goldman mentions https://click2mail.com/ as another good site (50 1-sided cards for $17 to print and mail.

Hope this was helpful

Thanks Nelson,

I am leaning more toward letters because of cost. I can actually print letters quickly and free (cost of envelopes and stamps). Not sure if postcards would be affordable for me now.

I do want to know if anyone is using letters and if they have had success what is the script of the letter.

Thanks again I really appreciate it,

Greg Rowe
Elk Grove, CA

I guess the script that Laura and David have would work for letters too. Wonder If I should do hand written letters? Hope I am not over analyzing this.

Thanks.

I just join the PMI academy. I am aware about the SFL but I don't know much about it. Would you please tell me which one is better?

Freud

Hi Freud!

Just today someone asked the same question. I have lately seen several people curious and asking about it and even about comparing the two. So today I copy/pasted what I wrote about it a few weeks ago, so here it goes:

Since then I realized that SFL provides a lot more than just what I mentioned about it. Clicking on the SFL tab on the bottom left is an Information button, which gives links to a heck of a lot of resources I recently discovered. It covers so many strategies, not only marketing, but basically every step of the way. There's even a 30 day step-by-step calendar that plans out what to do each day to make that deal in 30 days (I seriously need to get around to it, but I'm trying to still finish up PMI). But not to say that to write off PMI by any means, I think they are both excellent resources! I still feel so new, trying to understand it all myself, hehe. Just over a month in so far, with zero experience in REI up until now, but I've got to say that you guys help motivate me, and I hope to do the same. So thank you so much DG Family, you guys are wonderful!

Also, I hope this info was helpful

I have created my squeeze page and similar to what others have done I go to that squeeze page and opt in to see exactly what it is my clients will be recieving. I dump my email address in and viola, I receive the first email in the sequence with the free report. But it stops there. The email that is set up to come on day 3, never arrives. I am using a Buyers sequence and the next email should be about "where you will find your next dream home", but that email doesnt arrive to my email. I have checked my spam folder as well as putting in the email address I am using into the "Accept mail from these people" filter. Has anyone else experienced this?
Marc

Marc,

I have done the same, but mine seems to have been successful (so far). I just received my 2nd email yesterday, same as yours ("where will you find your next dream home").

Have you double checked under "Current Auto Responder Steps" - "Edit" column to make sure document is actually there? Just a thought....

Nelson5337 previously had some similar problems. You can check out his comments on Carol Stinson's SFL thread at http://www.deangraziosi.com/real-estate-forums/set-life-system/58834/car... posts #66 and 87. Otherwise, you may have to wait and call Customer Service Monday.

Good luck.

I have saved my buyer's list in my 'rehabbers', but I was wondering if there is a way to print the list-there are so many cash buyers that it would be easier for me to highlight the ones I send letters to-any ideas on how to keep track of the ones you already mailed to?
thanks,
Valerie

Hey Valerie,

You absolutely can! You will want to go to your cash buyer's list, and highlight them all by clicking type, then save it, and it will give you an option to save to a .csv (comma seperated value, a format used by Microsoft Excel) in addition to saving it to a catagory of buyer (e.g. rehabber, retail, lease option, etc.). Once you save it, you'll get a little popup on the bottom right corner, with an option to open the document. From there you can open it (and save it to a folder/location of your choosing) and edit the info. Since it's opened in Excel you have rows and columns of cells. Several columns don't have the most pertinent of information and can be deleted, but you can also create a column that you can input whether or not you sent out direct mail to that buyer as a way of tracking that info.

(Also note: Here in the .csv file you also have the buyer's address in addition to the purchased property address, as the lead pipes section only shows the purchased property address) I mention this because many people have this question, and this just might be what some people people were looking for.

Hope this information was helpful

Valerie,

I don't think you can print your "rehabbers" from this tab. You can click on each buyer to open each individual file. There are 7 tabs at the botton of the page. The first one is "Notes". Just click on "New Note" where the green arrow is. A window opens where you can enter any customized text you like. You have the option of making the note "private" if you want. You'll see the check boxes at top of the window. This is probably the best place to do this, as it will give you a "permanent" record of sending your letters.
Otherwise, to do this manually; you could use the CSV/Excel file that you originally created when saving your list from Lead Pipes.

Hope this helps.

Valerie -

Nelson beat me to the punch. Goes to show you that there is more than one way to "skin a cat".

Great job on details with .csv file, Nelson!