I just got done with my first mailing campaign. I sent 2,000 postcards to a somewhat popular county in what I believe is a popular state for land investors (might be my first mistake). On these postcards, I put offer amounts (essentially did a mix of blind offer letters on a postcard). For the first 1,000, my offer was around 17.5% of market value, and after realizing how low that was, the next 1,000 I bumped that up to 30%.
Now all I’ve gotten are TWO clicks on my website, with nobody submitting their information or giving me a call. Basically a complete flop at this point. The mail was delivered 1 week ago. I’ve got 3,000 postcards left to send out off my initial purchase of 5,000 and I wanted to get some ideas on how best to proceed with some questions below for those that are further along than I:
Do I switch to the envelope with a one page offer letter?
Are popular states essentially impossible to work in for this model these days as saturation seems to be incredibly high?
Has anyone gotten contacted weeks or even months after sending a mailer - could it be I could still get a deal out of this mailing?
I used DataTree to filter my list for out of state vacant land owners as Seth has shown in the masterclass videos. I’m reasonably certain I’ve done all of these steps correctly - just feeling really demoralized at this point and am a bit hesitant in sinking more and more cash into mailers. I suppose I’m looking for confirmation that this model still works at this point - I really just want to get the proof of concept and am itching to get my first deal done.
Thanks for any help, support, etc. in advance - appreciate it.
@achokshi12
When mailers hit they hit different locations at different times because of travel time. If I do a stand alone mailer (not dropping some each week) I get calls regularly for about a month! So you could definitely still pull a deal. As for your card, I personally think new investors should start with a neutral. I don’t think you have to switch to letters, but I wouldn’t put a price on the card. For two reasons, 1.) pricing can be tricky and cause more bumps when you’re trying to get your feet under you, 2.) you need to practice being on the phone so having eccesssive phone calls at this point will work in your favor. It will give you experience and propel you forward faster. And for the location, I find super hot markets are hit or miss. Some it doesn’t matter if they are getting a lot of mail, but if it is a place that is selling super quick (Florida comes to mind), it can be a lot harder to convince someone to sell to you when they know they can list it and get market value or higher within 30-90 days.
I also wouldn’t measure the success of your campaign based on website traffic. Visits to your site will happen with some people, but many simply won’t do it. It’s a good mode of communication to have available, but don’t expect everyone to use it.
You might have to give it more time too. And the neutral letter idea may also be worth a try.
Lastly, if you’re hitting a hyper-competitive (in land investor terms) area, it might be worth picking another market altogether.
Having a campaign that flops should not be seen as a failure. What you’re doing here is learning, which may not seem valuable yet, but this is what every successful land investor has to struggle through. This is far more productive than doing nothing, because now you’re armed with actual results about what’s not working in this market right now. There are some key changes you can start making on the next go around that will almost certainly make a difference.
Thank you @randi and @donyost! I really appreciate the input. I think I’ll finish out the rest of my postcards in a different market altogether and try a neutral approach. The market I hit was in Arizona and a hot county, so I think it might just be hyper competitive.
Thanks again for both of your input - it is so very much appreciated.
@achokshi12 believe me, it does work but it takes time…which means it also takes some money out before you start see some profit (according to my limited experience at least). It’s a marthon, not a sprint, so calibrate your efforts accordingly and be patient.
To answer your questions:
I suggest you to switch to blind offer or ranged offer (till now I used blind), 1 or 2 pages is up to you.
Hot States are not impossible but I believe that low offers are not what works the best there, especially in a Seller market. Sure you can be lucky and find somewhere a sweet spot but I wouldn’t rely on that model. Think about shifting your mindset from “what percent should I offer?” to “what is the minimum profit I’m available to accept?” and then reverse engineer to determine your percent offer.
I’ve been contacted after weeks and also after months, so don’t worry too much about that.
Good luck!
Arturo