Creating A Solid Direct Mail Piece To Locate Motivated Sellers

One of the most important aspects to a marketing campaign that is going to work is to create a solid mail piece for your business. These are key points for creating a solid direct mail piece that folks will respond to no matter what business you are in.

1. The first thing you’ll want to do is to “touch” your prospective customer or seller with “the dream”, or “the solution” to their problem. You’ll want to touch the basic emotions and the needs of your client or seller within the body of your letter, whether that is fear, relief, greed, pride or vanity.

2. Keep it simple. The grammar doesn’t necessarily have to be perfect. You want to reach this person at their comfort level. Keep your letter relaxed, personal and conversational.

3. Use simple language; don’t fill your letter with big words or technical words or “industry jargon” that your seller or your customer might not understand. 

4. I also use paragraphs so that there is a specific break between thoughts and so that the letter just flows better and is more pleasing to the eye.

5. Even though this is a personal letter, I still begin with a powerful headline or first sentence to make sure I have their attention so that they read the rest of my piece.

6. I also list the benefits to the seller of choosing to work with me the investor, as opposed to perhaps listing their home or trying to sell it themselves. You always need to list the benefits of whatever it is you are selling and why they should buy yours.

7. In any piece you send out you need to have your USP (Unique Selling Proposition). For the Real Estate Investor this is going to be the ease with which you can help the seller solve their problem and/or debt relief. For every business the USP will be uniquely different.

8. Always include a strong P.S. In my case the P.S. is “contact me immediately since we budget to purchase a certain number of homes each month.” This motivates them even more to contact me right away.

9. Create residual mailings so that your seller/customer sees your message over and over again. By doing this you create credibility with your prospect and when they need your services they will contact you first.

When you are creating direct mail pieces or letters no matter what business you are in remember to think about writing your letter as though you are writing to just one person.

For example, you wouldn’t begin your letter “Dear Neighbors” you would begin it “Dear Neighbor” or “Dear Friend”. Within the body of the letter you should write as though you are writing to just one person, so you wouldn’t say something like “all of you” within the body of your letter. These few points will help you to create direct mail campaigns that will net you excellent results just as ours have over the years.

This time of year is absolutely the best time to gear up the number of letters you are sending out to potential sellers. For one thing property tax bills are going out and if a seller has a home they don’t want or need another tax bill is a great motivator for them to sell. And we are moving into the holiday season and potential sellers are opening all of their letters during this time so your response rate will be even higher.