One Thing Keeping Investors From Closing More Deals
When investors are so focused on the deal and the transaction, they skip a critical step, and create a barrier to closing the deal. They frequently miss the critical part in the process that will turn a seller lead into a transaction.
The conversation and the relationship aspect is the part we simply can’t skip. It’s the part that turns leads into deals and dollars.
How we approach and talk to the seller is the crucial part we must master. Sellers don’t want to be sold to or at, they want to be listened to and understood. They want investors to solve their pain points and genuinely care about them and their lives. That’s why being empathetic is one of the most powerful skills we can have in sales.
How do we find out what sellers really want so we can step in and help them? Why is listening the key to converting leads?
In this episode, I share 3 effective ways to communicate with and listen to the seller, and why that’s one of the most crucial parts of converting leads
If you listen to sellers, they will tell you exactly how to buy their house.
Robert Syfert
Watch the Full Episode Here:
Three Things We Learned
- The more we allow someone to talk about themselves and their situation, the more they get to know, like and trust you. That’s where the sale occurs.
- Develop and nurture the skill of listening to sellers. The more a seller talks, the more you’ll learn about them, the problem they have and how to step in and solve it by buying their home.
- Sellers will talk about the problem they want to solve if we ask them simple questions and leave room for them to open up. Ask simple questions, listen and that will allow them to open up and go deeper.
75 Hard and Setting Short Term Goals
The biggest reason we fail to achieve our goals is a disconnect between our long-term vision and the small actions that will get us there. We’re often so focused on the future that we overlook what we need to do in the present.
If we don’t have a plan that governs what we do daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly, it’s hard to create any meaningful momentum. The short-term is what sets the pace and accumulates the results that will get us to our super long-term goals.
75 hard is a system that can catapult us in the moment and create the path to our long-term future. It allows us to focus on the smaller sprints that will help us run the entire marathon.
What is the first step we need to take if we want to achieve our goals? How do we determine the smaller things we need to do consistently if we want to create long-term momentum? In this episode, I share a method we can use to govern our goal setting and priorities in order to achieve our bigger goals.
Most people fail at their short-term goals because they are so focused on the long-term goal. They forget about the little boring details they have to do every day.
Robert Syfert
Watch the Full Episode Here:
Three Things We Learned
- Your big goal should be something that stretches your ability and makes you a bit uncomfortable. It should go beyond the abilities you have now, and require you to improve yourself to get there.
- Don’t set a long term goal that’s really a disguised short term goal. Define your big goal and then set short-term milestones that fit into the bigger vision. This approach builds the foundational momentum.
- Honestly evaluate where you are right now, so that you are clear on what your big vision is and the smaller benchmarks you need to achieve to get there.
Resources Mentioned
The One Thing
12-Week Year
90-Day Year
Understand the New Google Ads Policy Update Before It Impacts Your Real Estate Campaign
Last month, Google announced a planned update to their Personalized Advertising Policies specific to Housing, Employment, and Credit ads, effective October 19th, 2020.
Google’s new policies will affect real estate entrepreneurs that target their ad campaigns using demographics that may be interpreted as biased. While Google’s official announcement doesn’t detail all limitations, their notification suggests the elimination of exclusions for gender, age, and marital or parental status, as well as zip code.
According to Google, these changes are intended to improve inclusivity for users affected by societal biases.
“In an effort to improve inclusivity for users disproportionately affected by societal biases; housing, employment, and credit products or services can no longer be targeted to audiences based on gender, age, parental status, marital status, or ZIP code.” – Google Support’s update to Personalized Advertising Policies posted August, 2020.
Google pointed out examples which included housing listing sites, individual houses for sale or rent, and real estate services, as sectors expected to be impacted by their upcoming changes.
Expected Changes Include:
- Targeting specific zip codes will no longer be available
- Excluding specific zip codes will no longer be available
- Excluding specific demographics will no longer be available
Following the October 19th, 2020 update, advertisers will be required to comply with Google’s new policies.
Real estate entrepreneurs that used zip codes, among other filters to target their advertising campaigns must agree to comply with Google’s new update before creating any new ads. Additionally, existing campaigns using the newly restricted targeted criteria must be modified before advertisers can place ads.
What Should You Do Next?
Since this is a fairly new policy, advertisers using the selected criteria may consider making these changes as quickly as possible to modify their existing campaigns to be in compliance with Google’s new rules.
Since criteria used in the past may no longer be available, advertisers should look at alternatives when targeting their audience.
Instead of using specific zip codes or excluding them, marketers suggest considering regions such as state, county, town or city. To further filter your targeted audience, consider other criteria that represent your demographics but are not societal biased.
Marketers suggest updating ad copy to include negative keywords that would limit your ads to desired groups. They also suggest utilizing ad extensions to better communicate your product or service. Images or niche copy may help.
While it isn’t clear if some criteria, such as income levels, will be excluded, creatively revising your campaigns would help minimize the impact of this new policy and target your desired audience.
Now’s the time to develop a strategic plan so your ad campaigns don’t skip a beat.
Need Help With Your Campaign?
If you need help finding more leads, ask us how we can help you drum up more business. We have a suite of solutions that are made to solve everyday problems real estate entrepreneurs like you might have. Learn more about our solutions at RealEstateInvestor.com.
If You Do Nothing Else in Your Follow Up, Do This
As with any form of sales, follow up is absolutely the most critical element. While it’s important to have variety in our follow up methods – there’s one that stands above the rest, and is also the most effective at connecting with people.
We must use the phone in our follow up, especially texting.
Texting is the most effective, efficient, and scalable follow up method; and it’s most likely to elicit a response from people. This is a part of the follow-up system that we simply can’t skip.
What makes texting such a powerful follow up tool? How can we build it into our marketing and outreach operations? In this episode, I share the one thing you should be doing in your follow up process.
The whole purpose of follow up is being there when they are ready. Until they know, like and trust you, they may not do business with you.
Robert Syfert
Watch the Full Episode Here:
Three Things We Learned
- Most deals are not done on the first contact. There should be multiple touch points included in our follow up sequence, including email, traditional mail, voicemail drops and text messages.
- Texting is a simple way to gauge where someone is and if they’re ready to sell. By contacting them regularly, they get to know, like and trust us.
- If we’re going to use text messages in our follow up, there has to be a consistent pattern of contact. Block out time in your schedule to make sure you’re always doing phone calls or voicemail drops. We can also hire someone to text for us.
Repealing Like-Kind Exchanges is a Bad Idea
Like-Kind Exchanges have been used in real estate transactions since their inception in 1921. While there’s opposition regarding these exchanges by those who see these as tax loopholes for the super rich, there are several good reasons as to why Like-Kind (1031) exchanges have remained a sound tax policy for close to 100 years.
Since repealing 1031 Exchanges has been a major topic of discussion in this year’s election, we thought it would be important to share more about this policy and how repealing it could negatively impact real estate entrepreneurs.
What are Like-Kind Exchanges?
While it’s referred to several ways, Like-Kind or 1031 Exchanges, were named after the Internal Revenue Service Code Section 1031. Exchanges allow real estate entrepreneurs to defer capital gains taxes on investments if the proceeds are reinvested in another property of equal or greater value.
There are restrictions real estate entrepreneurs must meet, however, which limits its use. To qualify, properties must be “like-kind” such as single family or multi-unit buildings. Real estate entrepreneurs cannot use an exchange on a personal residence or on personal property, and they must complete both transactions within a six-month period.
When real estate entrepreneurs can use an exchange and not have the immediate tax burden like with ordinary sales, they have more capital to spend. By nature of the policy restrictions, real estate entrepreneurs must match the value or upgrade the second property which in turn raises the tax liability due when it is finally disposed of through an ordinary, taxable sale.
Without exchanges, real estate entrepreneurs will be required to pay capital gains taxes when a sale occurs. This would reduce the amount of capital a real estate entrepreneur has to fund their next purchase. With less money to spend, we can expect transactions to be at lower values than if the tax was deferred.
Elimination of Like-Kind Exchanges will not raise more revenue.
Studies have proven that repealing Like-Kind Exchanges will not equate to the theoretical surplus of funds that some parties believe it would. (Some parties wish to repeal 1031 Like-Kind Exchanges in order to allocate the surplus of funds that will draw towards a proposed Care Plan.)
According to a 2015 study, The Economic Impact of Repealing or Limiting Section 1031 Like-Kind Exchanges in Real Estate by Professors David C. Ling and Milena Petrova from Universities of Florida and Syracuse, respectively, eliminating exchanges will not raise more revenue. In fact, we should expect less current tax revenue.
Why?
Smart real estate entrepreneurs will no longer make as many transactions as they do now. Instead, they will begin holding onto properties longer, and with fewer transactions, there will be less tax revenue, not to mention a reduction in other sectors impacting the US economy.
Like-Kind Exchanges are important to efficient operations of thousands of businesses in our country.
Contrary to what some people believe, Like-Kind Exchanges have a significant positive impact on many industries. However, opponents seem to forget who would be impacted the most if this policy were repealed.
Real estate transactions involve numerous people in the real estate sector, as well as within the community. According to the Ling-Petrova study, exchanges encourage real estate entrepreneurs to seek the best use of real estate which often leads to property improvements, employing contractors and laborers, increasing purchases of building materials and supplies, all of which stimulate the local economy.
It is a domino effect at its simplest form.
The transaction may begin with brokers and agents, but it involves appraisers, inspectors, mortgage lenders, title companies, insurers, attorneys and many more. Building improvements often lead to higher local taxes as well, further helping the community.
In the long run, repealing Like-Kind Exchanges will decrease demand for these positions and increase unemployment.
Real estate entrepreneurs don’t avoid taxes, they defer taxes with Like-Kind Exchanges.
Adversaries to Like-Kind Exchanges believe that real estate entrepreneurs will never pay taxes on real estate. But this could not be further from the truth.
For starters, real estate entrepreneurs can only defer capital gains taxes. They cannot avoid or eliminate taxes altogether. When the property eventually sells via an ordinary sale and not utilizing an exchange, tax will be due.
Opponents argue that real estate entrepreneurs rollover properties indefinitely, thus being the never-ending loophole opponents of this policy want to close. But the Ling-Petrova study contradicts the myth these adversaries support.
The study shows that 88% of properties acquired in an exchange were sold through a taxable sale, and not a subsequent exchange.
In fact, when an exchange property is sold through an ordinary sale, the tax liability is higher than if the real estate entrepreneurs didn’t use an exchange at all.
Like-Kind Exchanges benefits all real estate entrepreneurs—not just the wealthy ones.
Despite what you may have heard, you do not need to be super rich to benefit from Like-Kind Exchanges. As a matter of fact, real estate entrepreneurs and individuals alike have utilized exchanges in real estate transactions for years.
Middle-class Americans who purchase a rental property to support their income and build wealth for retirement are a large portion of the real estate entrepreneurs who would be impacted if this policy were repealed.
Small business owners have historically relied on exchanges when making decisions regarding their operations and facility. Having the ability to defer tax provides more cash flow enabling them to improve efficiencies to grow their business. And with growth, comes added jobs.
Without Like-Kind Exchanges, real estate entrepreneurs have less incentive to invest in real estate.
Repealing Like-Kind Exchanges will have a negative impact on the economy.
Without the ability to defer taxes, real estate entrepreneurs will pull back. We will see fewer transactions which will ultimately affect the workforce.
In the best of economic times, repealing exchanges would be challenged due to the negative impact on so many industries and professions. Jobs would be lost. Unemployment would rise.
But in today’s post-coronavirus recession, repealing exchanges would be a horrible idea, one that would devastate our economy beyond repair.
Simply put, Like-Kind Exchanges are good for the US economy.
As real estate entrepreneurs ourselves, RealEstateInvestor.com is not in favor of anything that eliminates 1031 Like-Kind Exchanges as this would negatively impact the amazing real estate entrepreneurs whom we have the privilege to serve.
Like-Kind Exchanges encourage investment and transactional activity which creates and retains jobs here in the US. By supporting Like-Kind Exchanges, we are supporting America and reinvesting in our future.
We encourage our members to do their own research on policies that threaten to repeal 1031 Like-Kind exchanges so that they can better understand where they stand on policies such as this one that is up for debate in 2020.
Resources Used:
https://www.financialpoise.com/like-kind-exchanges-4-myths-debunked/
https://1031x.com/biden-to-end-1031-like-kind-exchanges/
https://www.1031taxreform.com/wp-content/uploads/FEA-ltr-to-Biden-Campaign-5-5-20-FINAL.pdf
*We Are Not Affiliated With Any Of The Above Websites. We Simply Used Data From These Resources In Research For This Article Only.
Voicemail Drops: Are They the Silver Bullets for Higher Closing Rates?
As we scale our investing businesses, automation has to become a crucial part of our operations, especially on the lead generation and marketing front. One of the most effective ways to scale our lead generation is through the use of voicemail drops.
On a lower level of business, we can get by with just calling people, but this is unsustainable as we grow. Voicemail drops can be as effective as actually having a conversation on the phone because they get to connect with us through our voices.
Including voicemail drops in our follow-up sequence significantly boosts our business and gives us more opportunities to build a deeper connection with our leads.
Where do voicemail drops fit into our 10X follow-up plan? How do they make our marketing feel more human and personal? In this episode, I talk about the power of using voicemail drops in our follow up.
A flawless follow-up machine has to include voicemail drops. If it doesn’t, we’re missing the boat and the opportunity to close more deals.
Robert Syfert
Watch the Full Episode Here:
Three Things We Learned
- Anytime you’re going to send a text message, you should be sending a voicemail within the same timeframe. It allows them to hear our voice and feel more connected with us even if we didn’t have an actual conversation with them.
- Respond to people using the phone number we originally contacted them with. They have to see the same number and talk to the same person who first reached out.
- The laws of voicemail drops differ from state-to-state. To be on the safe side, check with your TCPA attorney in your area to verify the restrictions and what you can do.
3 Keys To Building A Team You Actually Trust
As you grow your business, it becomes critical to build a team around you that allows you to focus on the most productive use of your time. For this, we need to bring in the right kind of talent and if we want to hire and retain the best people, there are certain pieces that need to be in place first.
Without these pieces, it’s hard for the people we hire to succeed and help us achieve our business goals.
Why is it so important for us to have standardized procedures in our operations? What are the key metrics we need to focus on? How do we hold the people we hire accountable? In this episode, I discuss the 3 critical pieces your business needs to have so you can scale a trustable team.
If you don’t know your metrics, you won’t know what’s actually making you money.
Robert Syfert
Watch the Full Episode Here:
Three Things We Learned
- Don’t wait to hire until you have problems and fires to put out. If you’re prepared, you’ll be able to spot a trend fast and hire people early.
- You already have a way you run your day and things you do everyday in your business. That is your system, it already exists. If you document it, a hire can be trained on it.
- If we bring in people without systems, processes and metrics, we’re putting them into a chaotic environment. They won’t succeed and they won’t last.
Join our Facebook group Real Estate Investor Beacon, which we created to navigate investing during the Covid-19 Epidemic.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/reibeacon/
Ready to discover the power of a 40 person marketing & sales team…WITHOUT having to hire a single person? To learn more, hear what members are saying, and see if you’re qualified, visit RealEstateInvestor.com.
Why You Don’t Need More Leads
If you’re an active real estate investor looking for a way to scale, your first thought is to invest in more lead lists, and turn onto the next marketing channel. If you have a database or CRM, you don’t necessarily need more leads; there’s a ton of business already available to you that you can tap into.
The truth is, many investors drop the ball when it comes to lead follow up, so we might be missing out on the gold that’s already in front of us. Going back and refreshing these leads is a highly productive activity.
Where do we look for these leads and how do we reactivate them? In this episode, I share how to quickly and easily increase your leads without investing in new ones.
Reactivating and re-engaging with older leads in your database is the best list you’ll ever buy.
Robert Syfert
Watch the Full Episode Here:
Three Things We Learned
- If you haven’t automated your outreach, you probably have many leads sitting in your CRM waiting for follow-up. These are the names you need to start re-engaging with.
- Old leads in our databases are people who have already expressed interest at some point. That means we’re already in conversation with them, so we don’t have to ask them to opt in again.
- Our databases are going to have people we didn’t follow up with, people no one has been in contact with or people who weren’t ready to sell before and are ready now. That’s why we have to re-engage with them consistently as their needs change.
Join our Facebook group Real Estate Investor Beacon, which we created to navigate investing during the Covid-19 Epidemic.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/reibeacon/
Ready to discover the power of a 40 person marketing & sales team…WITHOUT having to hire a single person? To learn more, hear what members are saying, and see if you’re qualified, visit RealEstateInvestor.com.
The Most Efficient and Cost-Effective Source for Warm Leads
Real estate investors have their pick of multiple lead sources, channels and ways to get in contact with homeowners, but when it comes to finding motivated leads, not all are created equal.
If we want a business that will give us freedom, financial abundance and long-term steady results, direct mail should be in our arsenal. The reality is, direct mail will always be king. It’s efficient, has less downsides, and has the potential to cut our marketing work in half.
What are the advantages this method has over the other trendier models? How can we do effective direct mail without a massive budget? In this episode, we discuss the marketing channel that puts us in front of the most motivated leads.
With any type of advertising where the contact is inbound, they are asking you for help, not the other way around.
Robert Syfert
Watch the Full Episode Here:
Things We Learned
- With any form of marketing that is an outbound effort you have to reach out to people and hope they respond. With direct mail, you’re putting out a message so they reach out to you.
- After direct mail, the next best lead is the one that’s already in our database. Those are the people we need to re-engage and follow up with consistently.
- Direct mail is one of the best channels in terms of it’s return-on-investment. Even if the leads aren’t ready today, they are the ones most likely to call us back.
- The more super-niched you get in your lists, the less budget you have to put behind direct mail.
Join our Facebook group Real Estate Investor Beacon, which we created to navigate investing during the Covid-19 Epidemic.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/reibeacon/
Ready to discover the power of a 40 person marketing & sales team…WITHOUT having to hire a single person? To learn more, hear what members are saying, and see if you’re qualified, visit RealEstateInvestor.com.
Don’t Search for a Needle in a Haystack
You’re ready to invest in your next property. You spent hours comparing your lists, sorting records to find leads. You drafted your letter and spent thousands of dollars on a mailing only to hear crickets in return.
Sound familiar?
Not to our customers!
At Property List Manager, we’ve helped our clients reduce their marketing costs by 97%!
Seems unbelievable but it’s true.
Our cloud-based property list stack filtering platform pinpoints leads with a higher probability of wanting to sell their home fast. And our fulfillment service has helped thousands of real estate investors save time and money.
Imagine having a tool at your fingertips that makes finding motivated sellers easier?
You may think an absentee owner is motivated to sell, and perhaps they are. But an absentee owner already in pre-foreclosure and delinquent on their taxes is highly motivated!
What if you sent out 30 letters and got 4 phone calls?
That’s what our customers have experienced using Property List Manager. Without our system, you could send 10,000 letters and hope for that same response.
Our list stacking tool is simple, easy to use, and delivers fast results by helping you to identify overlapping markets and find those truly motivated sellers.
What’s list stacking and filtering, and why do you need it?
List stacking is an innovative method of filtering and managing your properties that helps you identify only the most highly motivated sellers across all your lists.
Simply import your lists, stack, sort, and then filter the leads across all of your lists in one place, at one time.
With advanced algorithms, Property List Manager allows you to stack lists, map fields, and filter out properties using dozens of criteria.
The result?
Targeted leads specific for you!
We validate addresses upon import, remove duplicates, and check for vacancies on the USPS system. Best of all, we recheck for vacancies monthly, providing up-to-date leads when you need them.
No more sending letters to bad addresses or stressing over spreadsheets that require expert Excel skills.
With Property List Management, you don’t have to be tech savvy.
And there’s no more throwing darts at a blank wall.
But that’s not all!
Once you have targeted your most profitable leads, we can help you send personalized Postcards and Letters, Email and Phone Append, DNC Scrubbing and even Skip Tracing at special members-only wholesale rates. Special rates that beat out most of our competitors!
Still not sure if you really need a list stacking filtering program?
Go ahead…do it the old-fashioned way….
Become an Excel expert. Manually sort, filter, and purge records. Or send letters to everyone on your list and hope for results.
You have all of the time in the world, right?
Not if you’re like most of us real estate investors! Time is money.
Sure, you can do it all yourself… But why not let us do the $10 per hour tasks so you can focus on the $10K per hour job of closing deals and signing contracts?
We offer three convenient, economical packages to fit your business needs.
As a member you get…
- Address validation
- Vacancy checking, and rechecking monthly using USPS system
- Absentee filter for those owners not living at the property
- Mailing fulfillment service
- Skip tracing below market rates
- Monthly live webinars where you can gain tips, tactics, and hacks to turbo charge your marketing
- Inclusion in a private Facebook group to share ideas, get trade tips, and brag about your successes
- Did we mention that we have the hottest pricing on Skip Tracing out there? Our PLM members are seeing MASSIVE SAVINGS here over other service providers they’ve used in the past! (As low as 12 cent skip tracing, 4 cent phone and email appends, and 1 cent DNC scrubbing.)
Stop spending endless hours searching for that needle in a haystack.
With Property List Manager it’s simple and easy to use, saving you time and money. Map and import your lists, then stack, sort and filter your addresses to laser target your highest motivated leads. Export to Excel or reach out to your list right inside Property List Manager.
Get started now.
Click Here to Become a Property List Manager member today.
You deserve it!