Posted by Stacy (AZ) on March 08, 2001 at 13:43:00:
Ann, just for kicks I entered “AT&T 1872” into Lycos, and got several links to sellers. Might want to give it a try.
Stacy
Here is my ans. service script. Comments please… - Posted by Byaka
Posted by Byaka on March 05, 2001 at 16:09:08:
Hi,
I am just starting out and after thinking about it for a long time, I figured out that the best way for me to attract potential sellers is to give ads in the papers, and have a professional answering service handle the calls using the script that I will provide. I am not able to take the calls during the day just yet. Please let me know what you think about the script that I came up with, plus share your experience with professional answering services.
Here we go:
Bla-bla Properties, how may I help you? All of our agents are out of the office right now, so, please answer a few questions, and somebody will get back with you shortly.
Name __________
Phone What is the best time to call? ____
Address of the property ______________________
Is the property vacant? _________ If “yes”, your address _________
How many bedrooms and bathrooms? _______________
What is the approximate square footage? _____
What is the construction? ____________
What is the condition of the house? __________ Does it need repairs? ______
What are you asking for the house? _________
If we were to have your house appraised, what do you think it would be worth? ______
Why are you selling? ________________
What is your loan balance? _____________
What is your payment, including taxes and insurance? __________
Are you offering any terms? (Would you consider owner financing?) _______
Ideally, when would you like to close? ____________
If we can not buy your house for cash right away, we are offering a program where we make your mortgage payments for you and also take care of the maintenance until the house is sold. Would you like to know more about this program? __________
How did you find out about us?______
Thank you for calling. Mr. __________________________________ will be back in touch with you shortly to discuss several possible options to purchase.
Forget the script . . . - Posted by JoeKaiser
Posted by JoeKaiser on March 05, 2001 at 22:52:13:
There are few things in this business that pay better than talking with motivated sellers. Anything you put in the way of that is not a good thing. An answering service with a script sounds good but in reality is a clunker of an idea. YOU need to be talking to callers more often than not.
But . . . when you do a good job of marketing your services, the callbacks can be overwhelming. So, you need a system that effectively weeds out the tire kickers from the hot-to-go sellers.
Here’s how we do it. It’s the best system I’ve used and one that works well for everyone I’ve turned on to it.
The phone number in our ad goes to our voice mail. It briefly describes what we can do for them (90 seconds total) and invites them to leave a number after the tone. Easy. I continue with “but if you want me to drop everything and swing by your place right now to write up an offer, give me a call on my cell phone at 123/456-7890 and I’ll head on over.”
People who call and leave a voicemail message I get back to when convenient. People who “call through” to my cell are prescreened and ready to deal. Those are the people I want to talk to and those are the ones who get my full attention.
Forget scripts . . . talk to people who are eager to sell and ready to sign today.
Joe
FYI - Posted by TC
Posted by TC on March 05, 2001 at 22:52:00:
You may want to replace the “agents” with Mr/Mrs … to keep from possible license problems.
Re: Comments please… - Posted by Merle E Woolley
Posted by Merle E Woolley on March 05, 2001 at 19:49:33:
I agree with the other responses. It’s not the number of calls you get … it’s the number of properties you buy. The more “dead” calls you can eliminate, the better. To buy one house, you need one call. Ten calls means yuou wasted a lot of time.
Be more descriptive in your ads. Spell out exactly what you want. Try to limit the responses to only those you want to talk to. We have always used an answering machine. Still think it works better than an answering service. Just think of all the times you have reached an answering service to be asked, “can you hold on please?” That’s when I often hang up.
My comment - Posted by Dee-Texas
Posted by Dee-Texas on March 05, 2001 at 16:57:18:
Hello Byaka,
Your idea is good in theory, BUT, it’s been in my experience that people won’t answer all of these questions right off of the bat.
The main thing is to get the phone to ring.
Have your people get their name, phone numbers (meaning home, work and cell phone) adddress, and the best time for YOU to call. That’s when you start learning the business. All the books and courses in the world won’t help if you don’t TALK to the buyers-sellers upfront and personal. For me that was the hardest part by far. After you do this a few hundred times it does get easier. The by product is that you will make some deals, some new friends and learn a great business.
Welcome to the world of investing and I wish you all the success!
Dee-Texas
Couldn’t Help Myself! - Posted by Wayne (MD)
Posted by Wayne (MD) on March 06, 2001 at 09:44:33:
Called your machine a total of three times! Nice presentation very much. I would change one phrase, however. At one point you say, “. . . it probably won’t be a big check, but . . .” I would change that to " . . . may not be a big check . . ." for the simple reason that the word probably inidcates a certain finality – no he won’t write me a big check, maybe I ought to just forget about it – whereas may holds out hope there may be more than I think there and whets the curiousity a bit. Just a thought.
Thanks very much for sharing with us. Your dedication to the board and and willingness to so freely help others has convinced me you are what you present yourself as. You will get my business when it comes time to order the Foreclosure material.
Thanks,
Wayne Carpenter
The Friendly Investor - Posted by JoeKaiser
Posted by JoeKaiser on March 05, 2001 at 23:26:19:
For those who’ve emailed, here’s my “Friendly Investor” phone number so you can check out the system for yourself . . . 1 253/565-9478.
Joe
Re: Forget the script . . . - Posted by Stacy (AZ)
Posted by Stacy (AZ) on March 05, 2001 at 23:15:36:
I read this strategy from your prior post, and I’m trying it now. Sure sounds like a good idea. And I thought to myself, you know, that Joe Kaiser guy seems like he might know a thing or two about investing, so why not give it a shot?
Thanks for the idea.
Stacy
Re: My comment - Posted by Bill Bain (RW Trainer)
Posted by Bill Bain (RW Trainer) on March 05, 2001 at 20:06:35:
Byaka,
I don’t know what your ad says, but look at this situation:
A poor woman (or man) in foreclosure calls on your ad. Their a bit depressed because they going to loose their house, their credit or both. The $5 an hour employee at the answering service had a bad night so he/she is in a grouchy mood. All of a sudden the AS person starts firing off 100 questions to your prospect… your prospect hangs-up.
It’s your business, don’t delegate others to do the important tasks. People will deal with you because they like you, your questions are your “ID period” to get to know the buyer and vice-versa. Have the AM person just get contact info, and you call them.
Bill
Cape Coral, FL
Re: My comment - Posted by Byaka
Posted by Byaka on March 05, 2001 at 17:08:02:
The plan was that the answering service would collect the preliminary info, and of course I WOULD FOLLOW UP on the calls. During my call the actual discussions and prescreening will take place, but at least I will know upfront what to say, will have some rought idea about the property, might even have the comps done, etc. I just thought that having a live person answer the phone is better than asking the caller to leave a message on the machine, even though he will be doing exactly this, but talking to the ans service rep.
I tried this thing with the answering machine for two weeks, I had about 10 calls per day (callerID showed that), and only 1-2 messages.
Thanks.
Byaka
Re: Couldn’t Help Myself! - Posted by eric-fl
Posted by eric-fl on March 06, 2001 at 10:29:57:
Then again, maybe that is exactly the impression he wishes to convey. The whole thing seems to be designed to screen out unmotivated sellers; perhaps he doesn’t want calls from someone holding out hope for something he knows he won’t be able to do. Perhaps he only wants calls from people who have faced reality, realized they really are not going to get a big check, and thus won’t give much resistance to the lower amount. I know if I were a “tire-kicker”, I’d just hang up on that one. I also know if I had to leave town, TODAY, I’d probably ring up the cell phone to see what we could do.
Re: The Friendly Investor/ansering machines - Posted by AnnNC
Posted by AnnNC on March 06, 2001 at 18:56:56:
Loved it! Just oozed friendliness!
By the way, you have referred in another post to your answering machine with mailboxes. I have 4 mailboxes, but I can only give one outgoing message.I can say for a., b., c., etc
but it is not a progressive “menu”, only one menu.
Mine is from Radio Shack, and I called them today, they
don’t have anything but the one -outgoing message type.
Just wondering what brand you use, or if I misunderstood.
My machine can work for this, but I’d have to have
an outgoing message that mentioned properties or types of properties, or whatever coordinated with a running ad
. It can be done on my machine, perhaps using an ad code.
Ann
Where do I sign? - Posted by Bob H
Posted by Bob H on March 06, 2001 at 24:51:37:
I’m ready to deed you my house . . . and I don’t even want to sell!
Nice. That is, simply put, the best VM message I have ever heard. Maybe I do need to buy your course.
Re: My comment - Posted by phil fernandez
Posted by phil fernandez on March 05, 2001 at 17:21:39:
But the one or two callers that left their names are probably your motivated sellers. Those are the ones to jump on.
I agree with Dee. It is a people business. Usually sellers don’t open up right away. You have to build a degree of repoire with them.
Re: The Friendly Investor/ansering machines - Posted by Merle E Woolley
Posted by Merle E Woolley on March 07, 2001 at 07:09:25:
We use an AT&T Model 1872. 2 lines, 4 mailboxes, 4 outgoing messages.
Purchasing information: - Posted by AnnNC
Posted by AnnNC on March 08, 2001 at 12:48:41:
Here is who does not have it: Staples, Office Depot,
OfficeLand, Circuit City, Radio Shack, Walmart.
AT&T says it is at Sears, Target and K-Mart Have not called those yet. No one else had any other models with the multiple outgoing message feature.
Don’t know of any other sources.
Thanks for your info.
Ann