Success With Cold Calling
I had a very informative guest post this past year from fellow real estate investor Neva Williamson. Neva shared with us some information on one of her “no cost marketing strategies”; cold calling. I have great admiration for her for her success with this strategy. Most people myself included, would rather do just about anything than make those types of calls. They do work though, and I wanted to share with you email I got from one of my readers George Calvert Cox . He writes about the success he is having with this real estate investing strategy.
Here is the email I received:
Sharon – I wish you a prosperous 2013, full of opportunities and new ideas!
Meanwhile, I remember reading somewhere that you are not big on cold-calling probate leads. I decided to start calling leads from lists I purchased in 2011 to see if there is anything to be had. I am amazed by the results!
The people are very receptive to the call and immediately open up to discuss their situation and challenges. Even the ones that aren't interested in selling are very graceful about it. And this is Philly, mind you! The response rate compared to my direct mailing campaigns has been through the roof!
It is so interesting to learn the timing involved as far as the motivation of the executors. Here it is more than a year later and they are just now getting around to selling the house. Now, I'm sure there is a huge difference from folks on an older list and folks on a new one. On the older lists, the people have pretty much gone through the grieving process and are now starting to address their challenges. I even have people recognize my name and tell me they have my letter tucked away (for a year now!) for when they are ready to sell! Anyways, that's my experience.
For me, I'm going to be a cold-calling machine and actually see more value in the older lists. Just wanted to share…
Regards,
George Calvert Cox
You can see from this email, that taking action does pay off. My hat is off to Neva Williamson for sharing this idea, and to George for taking massive action. If you would like to see Neva's post you can do that by clicking here.
Thanks so much Seth. I really appreciate it. You can subscribe and get each post by email too. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Sharon,
Great blog! I’ve appreciated your posts in the BiggerPockets forum as well. You always seem to have very informative and well thought out contributions to each discussion. I’ll be sure to bookmark this website for future reference.
Keep it up!
Seth
I will send you an email.
Hi Allison-
I’m glad you found us here. I would be interested to hear from other folks that try cold calling. Thanks for stopping by.
Sharon
Hey Neva –
When I got that email, I knew it was a perfect time to remind folks about cold calling. You are living proof that it works. Thanks again for doing the post. Let’s try to talk sometime.
Sharon
Hi Neva and Sharon! I was just browsing my RSS page and saw my friend Neva’s name on the Louisville Gals headline!
I have not tried cold calling in an organized way but and over the past 4 years I’ve gone from a phone-phobe to a phone-hugger when it comes to business calls. I love my work and love to talk about real estate so what better place to do it than with prospects? Think I’ll add this to my marketing arsenal for 2013.
Thanks for the reminder!
Alison
How awesome 🙂 I am so happy that my post motivated someone to pick up the phone and call property owners. Now you all know its not just me and I don’t have any special skills. I’ve learned that some property owners no matter how many postcards and letters we send will never call us. However if we call them…..DEAL.
I closed a deal last month. I net over 22k on my wholesale fee.
The seller can’t stop thanking me and I am absolutely sure he’s received tons of marketing from my competition but just never picked up the phone and called anyone.