Don’t have a lot of money for marketing?
Don’t have any money?
You don’t need it to make a killing doing deals.
I’m totally serious and here’s why….
Networking.
Yep, I said it. I know it’s a word people hate hearing anymore, but I think that’s because it’s way undersold these days, and people don’t really understand the sheer power of doing it right.
I see networking as super important if you want to do a lot of deals and make a lot of money. I strongly suggest you begin proactively doing it.
Here’s how to start…
Find other investors in your area and ask them if you can help them grow their business.
I DON’T mean inviting them to coffee and picking their brain. They don’t want that. Don’t. Do. It. :/
You need to show them the value you can bring to them… how you can help them make more money and do more deals.
“Mr. Investor, I want to help you grow your business. What area are you looking in and what kind of deals do you want? Can I bring you deals?”
Know what they’re going to say?
They’ll say: Yes!
And in the beginning, don’t even worry about commissions too much, maybe ask for $1,000 per deal to start. Once they see that you’re a serious player and you hustle to get deals, they’ll want to keep you around.
At some point, as you gain experience, you’ll be able to split the profits 50/50.
So, once they tell you where and what kind of deals they want, you move on to another phase of networking…
YOUR GOAL: Collect as many email addresses as possible.
Look on the MLS or RedFin.com for listings that are pending in the specific zip codes your new local investor-buyers want to buy in – position yourself as the buyer – and call those Realtors:
“Mrs. Realtor, I realize the listing is under contract, but could you give me a call if the contract falls through? I’ll make an offer and you can represent me and get both sides of the commission. Can I get your email address and send you my contact info?”
And just like that you’ve gotten their email address. Goal accomplished! Now, just rinse and repeat.
While you’re at it, also find out what kind of deals they want and how they want you to present the deal to them—email, Podio, etc.
You need good Realtors in your network list.
Here’s another solid gold networking idea…
Look on Zillow for rental properties and reach out to the property managers as a buyer:
“I was wondering if you’re interested in selling the property. Can I email you my contact info so if any of your owners are looking to sell, you can call me. And you can represent me and get both sides of the commission.”
Call all the FSBOs on Zillow and Craigslist—investors, wholesalers, Realtors—call them all and keep calling them to get your name out there.
Also, you can go to REIA meetings and collect email addresses.
Here’s the power in all this networking…
With all these phone calls, in just 2-3 weeks, you’ll have well over 100 email addresses.
Then what?
Once a week, email everyone on your list.
“Hey, got any deals?”
Keep that communication very simple… no website link… don’t make them jump through hoops.
Do this long enough and you’re going to land deals.
I did it this way and it works. Check this out…
I hired an acquisitions manager, we did direct mail campaigns, and leads came in. And we started targeting buyers. From all that marketing, we’d begun collecting lots and lots of email addresses— property managers, Realtors, investors, wholesalers…
Then, my acquisitions guy started emailing them once a week asking for specific deals.
Know what happened?
We started doing way more deals that way—by people bringing us their leads. More deals than we were getting from our own marketing. For real.
In fact, for a time, we actually stopped doing any outbound direct to seller marketing because of this.
In St. Louis, we were getting leads from wholesalers who were happy just to make $1,000 while we made $7k-$10k.
REMEMBER THIS: He who has the buyers has the power.
Need more convincing?
I have a coaching client who doesn’t do any marketing—he’s networking just like this and following up with emails and calls… and he’s crushing it.
My advice: Know where the demand is—where are the buyers buying?
And once a week send an email to your list, then maybe the next week send a SlyDial broadcast…
Remind your network that you’re there—stay top of mind.
Pro Tip: YouTube “Yet Another Mail Merge.” It automates and personalizes your emails, using the contact info from a Google Doc or a spreadsheet that you’ve collected. I’ve used this and it works.
So…
Make it your goal to network and call and email.
If you do, you can totally get away without spending any money on marketing if you want to. 🙂
