A friend and fellow investor asked me an interesting question the other day. “Sean, how can I make myself stand out from the crowd when targeting past foreclosures with direct mail?” he asked. Don’t you think that’s a great question? I do… and here’s why:
1) Real estate investors as a whole seem too often to get caught up in the herd mentality
2) Previous foreclosures may be the most competitive market that real estate investors target
So what was my response?
“Look at what others do and do the opposite” I told him. You see, when it comes to targeting previous foreclosures through direct mail, most investors make a couple of big mistakes. First, most investor mailing postcards with little content. Second, they do it only once or twice.
The problem with sending postcards is that it’s not personal. If you want to grab a prospect’s attention, you absolutely must “enter the conversation in their head.” The best way I’ve found to do this is by sending prospects a letter that addresses their situation in detail and offers a solution towards the end of the letter. In other words, draw them into your ads by making them personally and emotionally connect with you. Below is a random example of how this would work.
________________________________________________________________
Dear (first name),
Not long ago, I fell behind on my mortgage payments and almost lost my house to foreclosure. I remember sitting up at night and wondering “what am I going to do”. I remember feeling helpless and worried about my credit being destroyed. I was worried that the mortgage company would file a lawsuit against me. I was worried about where I would go if I lost my house and how I could afford to move when I can’t even afford my mortgage payment.
Do you have these same fears?
If you were a homeowner facing foreclosure and received a personal letter that began this way, would it catch your attention? I know mine would hold. The reason I would keep mine is because the writer “got into the conversation” he was having in my head at the time. And not only that, but the writer can obviously relate to my situation, so I’m connecting with him personally and emotionally.
Now, I realize that most people have not been in foreclosure and I am not recommending that you lie to your prospect! The opening paragraph above is simply an example of how you can connect with your potential customer. If you have experienced those feelings personally, write about them. Otherwise, you could still ask your prospect the questions without saying you’ve been in their “shoes” and still have a similar effect on your prospect.
So “getting into the conversation” in your prospect’s mind is a way to stand out from the crowd when targeting previous foreclosures through direct mail.
The next way to stand out from the crowd is to simply email the prospect multiple times. For example, send letters at scheduled times during the foreclosure process. Most investors send a postcard when the prospect goes into foreclosure for the first time and that’s it. Many times you need to email a prospect 6 or 7 times before they reply. That’s not always the case, but most of the time it is.
There are many other ways to separate yourself from the “herd” as a real estate investor. The key is to “think outside the box”. If you start to incorporate a creative spin into your real estate investor marketing, you will see a huge improvement in the results you receive.