Real Estate Postcards

Let's talk about real estate postcards. So many of you have told me that you're ready to get started investing, but "you can't find any deals! and what are the steps and secrets to finding great deals?" Some of you have even asked if there still ARE any deals left…

OF COURSE there are! We find them all the time. But you are not going to find them looking at for-sale ads in the paper, for-sale signs in the yard, or by concentrating solely on short sales, foreclosures, REOs or agent-listed properties.

You need to dig out the motivated sellers from under the rocks where they hide, and get THEM to call YOU!! Imagine how stress-free and easy it is to earn a huge income when real, genuine motivated sellers call you and you can pick the best deals out of your calls. It really is like shooting ducks in a barrel.

Now you're wondering: how can you get those same motivated sellers out from under a rock, and calling you too? The secret is in a multi-step campaign, and one of the important steps is using direct mail, meaning real estate postcards or letters that make the motivated sellers pick up their phone and call you.

Great Marketing Guide provides some techniques to writing real estate postcards that create calls from motivated sellers.

1) Write all your text or copy with WIIFM in mind. WIIFM stands for What's In It For Me. The "Me" means the seller, the recipient of your postcard. Write purely in terms of benefits to them, NOT what you'll get out of it, nor very much about you. Focus on what will excite them, what will you do for them, what can you truthfully say to make them believe you can help them.

2) Headline with WIIFM. Develop a large, bold headline of 10 – 20 words that gives your best, boldest "WIIFM punch" to them, and put it at top of both sides of postcard.

For example : "Can you really sell your home in 9 days? Don't list with an agent or put a For Sale sign out, until you read this".

Another example: "Are you frustrated because you want your home to sell overnight? You now have an easy solution for problems like: fixer-uppers, bad tenants, back payments, estate, eviction, bankruptcy, divorce or foreclosure "

3) Make the recipient's name/address as personal as possible. You don't want to look or seem like junk mail, so when you address the real estate postcard don't use 'Resident' or 'Homeowner' or 'Mr. Smith' or 'Mrs. Roberts'.

Try to simply use first name and last name: 'Susan Johnson'. You can also consider handwriting (or using a handwriting font) the recipient's info.

4) Include the address of non-owner occupied property (ie rental house) in your headline, if you're mailing to an absentee-owner or landlord elsewhere, at their home address.

This allows the recipient to know which one of her houses you are interested in purchasing.

5) Your return address should not be a "junk mail indicator" either, so consider leaving off your business name and instead just using your personal name and/or handwriting the return address, too.

6) You need testimonials from all your happy sellers (include their full names and occupations), so you can include as many as possible on your real estate postcard so that the seller can identify with them and come to feel like they know you and trust you—quickly.

7) If you're too new to have testimonials from your sellers, then write brief "Success stories". Just a paragraph or two describing how you helped "Frank and Joanne save their home from foreclosure…".

Make these truthful and cut write to the WIIFM, but don't use last names since you don't have written permission. Don't make up stories yourself. It is consider fraud.

8) Show the seller that you regularly help their neighbors and/or have a history of helping sellers, by including the number of sellers you helped last month or last year, and/or their (nearby) addresses.

9) Sellers need to see your phone number or website printed on the postcard at least 3 to 4 times. So that each time they read it they have yet another chance to lean toward and make the decision to call you.

10) Sellers trust you more when you can give a genuine Guarantee that's meaningful to the seller and that you'll truly stand behind.

For example: "we guarantee you'll receive a written offer within __48__ hours, or we'll buy you dinner or send you to the movies" (give them a gift certificate to pizza joint or theater, if you don't abide by guarantee).

11) Tell everyone, including in your postcards , that you pay referral fees if they know someone who'd like to sell their home quickly and hassle-free.

12) Give the recipient a "Not Quite Ready" response mechanism. If they are not ready to call you and speak to you just yet, but they are more than a little interested tell them how they can visit your website or call your free 24 hours recorded message for more info. This is a great non-threatening way to still allow people to start to know you and trust you.

13) Lastly, the "P.S." at the bottom of your real estate postcard has been researched as the MOST-read part of any card or letter. So include a P.S. that summarizes what you do and your phone number at the bottom.

I add to mine: "Keep this postcard for future reference ". You can't believe the people who has called me several months later after receiving my card.


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