Re: Both sides . . . - Posted by JoeKaiser
Posted by JoeKaiser on March 31, 1999 at 15:27:09:
Jim,
Good point, and believe me, I’ve made thousands of calls I suspect were very similar to the sort of calls you make.
But, there’s a real distinction to be made here. I ALWAYS talk to people who are responding to my marketing. I like to think the marketing has already done some of the prescreening for me and in most cases, the person on the other end of the phone is in fact someone I very much want to talk with. Like you, my calls are answered by voice mail and when I return the call, I’m fully prepared to do so.
However, when it comes to calling on ads, which I thought was the thread here (oops), I quickly get frustrated with how little gets accomplished in the amount of time it takes. Just the telephone tag alone, especially since you are working with voice mail, quickly becomes burdensome.
So, for ads anyway, I either ignore them entirely or I let someone else wade through them. My goal here is not to try to have my caller figure the thing out or put a deal together. They simply provide me with a fair but not perfect appraisal of the homeowner’s motivation to sell.
Frankly, I’d much rather pick up a list with a dozen names and numbers from people who’ve indicated to my screener that they’re eager to sell then to pick up that big Sunday paper and start circling ads.
Finally, it isn’t all rocket science here. I suspect if I just paid someone to call up every ad and simply say . . . “I’m looking for a house but I’m a little tight on funds right now. I saw your ad and since I figured it couldn’t hurt to check, I thought I’d call and ask . . . if I can pay all your closing costs and either take over payments or make monthly payments to you, would you be able to close in the next couple weeks?” or something like that, you’d likely end up with a handful of prospects I’d wager would fall into the “motivated” catagory.
Ditto for the houses for rent ads. “I’m looking for a place I can rent for at least a couple years and maybe even buy at some time in the future . . . would that work for you?”
I suspect it would work for me.
Joe