fbpx

What is the Key to Attracting Sellers?

Share This:

People often ask, “What is the key to attracting Sellers for real estate investing?” We actually think that that’s the wrong question to be asking. The question isn’t how to attract Sellers, because all Sellers aren’t created equal, and all Sellers aren’t necessarily the kind of people that you do want to attract. So the better question is, “How do you attract the right kind of Sellers for you?” And what this gets down to is the idea of FIT. Who are the Sellers that are going to be the right fit for you? Because not all Sellers are the right fit for you, and you’re not the right fit for all Sellers.

So what does fit really mean? Well, another way to talk about fit–another way to think of this question–is, “Who are the Sellers that I’m most likely going to be able to help get where they are trying to go?” If I know how I help people, if I know the types of deals I want to do, the types of solutions I like to be able to provide, etc, then I can work backwards from that to figure out, “Who are the people who are candidates to have the attributes that are most likely for me to be able to actually serve them?”.

In the Sleaze-Free Real Estate Investing school of thought, which is our way of thinking, we believe that the best way to attract the right type of Sellers for you is through the process of sending direct mail letters. And I’d encourage you to go and listen to episodes number four and number five of our podcast, Sleaze-Free Real Estate Investing, because in those two episodes, we dive deep into what we call the three types of Seller marketing. So go back and listen to those, and it’ll explain to you why we feel like letters are really the best way to reach these people.

But in the letters, I want to give you three ideas of things that you do that are powerful in terms of attracting the right type of Sellers.

1) The first thing you want to do is to project to the recipients of your letter, what it’s like to actually talk to you and to do business with you. So the tone that you use, the words that you use, the whole sort of way you frame your message not only delivers those exact words, but it delivers to them a feeling of how you like to work, and what it would be like if they were to pick up the phone and give you a call. So they’re already getting an early teaser and a taste of what it would be like to call you and to ultimately work with you.

2) Secondly, in the letter, do not go and make some kind of a proposal or an offer. If you go in there and you say, “Here’s how I want to do it: I want to pay for this fast. I want to use all cash. I want to close quickly. I won’t make you do any repairs because we’ll do it as-is,” you’re already taking the big giant box of possibility with the Seller and you’re already making it way too small. Making some kind of a proposition like that is insanely premature, because you have no idea what it is they want to accomplish. So just completely avoid all of that.

3) The third and final thing I wanted to tell you is to make sure that if you were to put yourself in that Seller’s shoes, they open up your letter, they’re reading the letter, make it so that calling you back is so low commitment and so nonthreatening–that it is an absolute no brainer. Make it so that they’re not thinking, “Oh boy…if I call this person, I’m going to be pressured into this or that, or they’re going to want this, they’re going to start talking to me about numbers. I don’t want any of those things.” Have a little bit of empathy and think, “What is it like to receive that letter?” And then take out all of the reasons why somebody wouldn’t be comfortable calling you right back.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *