ShortSaleWealth.com

Hi!

I just got involved in a conversation between two of my students regarding door knocking. One of my students, David Martin, had a VERY good response, and I thought I would share it with each of you. My little free tip for the day. Enjoy.

QUESTION:
I am searching for some input. I know some of you do door knocking to generate leads and since leads seem to be scarce from my marketing efforts, I want to approach this option. So any input would be appreciated.

Questions:

What do you look for?
How do you approach the homeowner?
What do you bring with you (paperwork) and what do you leave if no one is home?
Do you follow up with phone call if no one is home?

If others are doing this, do you concentrate on areas or deals? I know it’s about leads & competition, but I am not sure if I want to compete with others in the group for specific areas.

Kevin

RESPONSE:

I’ve got my website and my Voice Connect phone system but my postcards weren’t as affective as I would have liked in driving prospects to either one, so I decided to start door knocking to bring in some more leads for pre-foreclosure properties here in Jefferson County, MO. The good news is that my leads tripled. The bad news is that this marketing approach now takes 5x more time! Now, unlike Dave (another one of our coaching students) who is very direct in his “buying houses” approach, I’m offering options to people facing foreclosure and I’m building a follow-up list for when my people finally snap out of their FC denial mode, if they ever do.

Since driving is so time-costly I look up all missing phone numbers and cold phone call all of my EZ Data (foreclosure list) entries FIRST. I find maybe 3/4ths of the phone numbers. Then, after all the phoning, I can eliminate 10 – 20% of my list from the “No’s” I get and I feel this is worth the time I will save driving. By the way, over half of my calls are disconnects so going through 20 – 30 phone calls per week goes pretty fast. I still door-knock on the disconnects because they will almost always keep their cell phones if they’re still living at their house.

When I drive to a pre-FC house, I find fully half the houses are already vacant. But even there I leave my flyer proclaiming “WARNING” and “You have options!” The flyer lists the most common ways we can help and includes info about my 24-hr message and my website. Then I visit any neighbor I can find. If the neighbor is standoff-ish, I’ll tell them I’ve got some money to give to this missing person and then sit back and just listen to that neighbor as he or she spills the beans and tells me everything that I’ve ever wanted to know about the house, neighborhood, etc…! I mean, this is Jefferson County after all! If it’s obvious that they are still living there and I happened to miss them, I’ll go back a second time. I really doubt if my competition will be as aggressive.

I approach the homeowner by asking if they are Mr. or Mrs. (whatever name on half-sheet printout), and, with a visible sigh of relief, “I’m glad I’m finally talking to you,” and this gets their interest up, if nothing else. Then, “I’m Dave with JINO Home Solutions and we help people who are having trouble with their mortgage. Our services are always FREE to you, so if you need to sell your house or just look over any options you may have missed, we can help… but we can talk about that later. So, (looking VERY concerned for them) what’s your situation?” Over half the time they’re ready to dump on any listening ear. About 1/4 of the time I get ATCO-ed (Already Taken Care Of). I listen and mirror, then gently dismantle their denial, just like Shaun teaches, if I can. Then I ask for their phone number. (And sometimes I DON’T ask for it if I’M not interested in their situation.) If I get it, now I’ve got a lead; and I’ll give them my number.

I don’t bring any other paperwork except the $20,000 document which Shaun gave us in his course and a generic Authorization to Release form, which I do NOT plan to use, except if they know someone I’ve already helped, or if they’re somebody from church, or something really flukey like that. Otherwise I may mess with ‘em a little that “This IS a busy time. Now if we get just three or four MORE other people started before the weekend we MAY NOT be able to help you. You need to know that, too.”

I hope this helps.

Dave