Let’s talk about some more successful marketing strategies. Marketing is, as I mentioned in another article, basically anything that makes the phones ring. Here is a quick tip. If you have voicemail where callers responding to your marketing can leave a message, be sure to ask them to also leave their email address and to speak clearly. This way you can go ahead and put them in your database even if you can never get them on the phone.
Bandit Signs: One of the first things is the bandit signs, the little 12 x 18 signs (some people use 18 x 24) that you see on the side of the road or on telephone poles and trees. I use the 12 x 18 size and my sign is real simple. Yellow with black letters and it has been proven that the colors yellow and black signify budget or economy and that is the reason I use it.
You don’t want to have a lot of information on the sign. We used to have a sign that said, “I buy houses, any condition, any situation, any price, with the number”. That is too much information. A person in a car, whether it is at an intersection or going down the road or looking in front of one of your houses cannot read that if there is too much on it. So keep it simple. Ours simply says, “I buy houses, with the toll free number”.
If and when you get a call from a code enforcement officer advising you about your signs, which are illegal, I want you to turn this into a buying opportunity. You do this by first of all agreeing with them and letting them know you will take down the signs as soon as possible, however while on the phone tell them that as they can see, you buy houses.
Then ask them if they ever have any properties under code enforcement that they either can’t get the owner to repair the property or they can’t locate the owner. I offer to help them. Remember, this is public information so they are not doing anything wrong by telling you about a property under code enforcement. I have built strong relationships with code enforcement officers that all started with them calling me to take down my sign. Now that’s how you turn lemons into lemonade!
If you can, you need to get a vanity number. A vanity number is like 1-877-LarryGoins. (This is my real office number). Now you don’t need the “INS” at the end of my number but it will not hurt anything if they enter it when dialing. You can check to see if your current number has any possible words to use and also check the numbers for certain words at Phonetic.com. So signs are one of the number one things. We used to put out probably about 100 to 300 signs every month. However, with all of the other automated marketing we do now, we do not put out many signs anymore.
Here is another idea that one of my students told me about. If you are worried about code enforcement finding out who you are and fining you for posting your signs in the city, then you simply get a pre paid phone and put that number on your signs. From what I understand, the number can’t be traced back to you. You will however need to make sure that you keep the number of minutes you need so the number doesn’t get disconnected.
To see more about the my real estate training course, check out the Ultimate Buying and Selling Machine.