My presentation in June 2014 on Direct Mail and how I automate my real estate wholesaling business

1. Find the deals that nobody knows exist.

2. Sometimes I look like this
•Real estate investor since 2006
•Title insurance examiner & closer for 14 years
•Own several rental properties
•Have done deals in just about every niche
imaginable:
•Subject – to
•Lease Option
•Short Sale
•Flips
•Notes
•Wholesaling

3. Sometimes I look like this
•Father of 5 (sort of)
•Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Blue Belt
•Huge Detroit sports fan
•Lifelong Michigander
•Born & raised in the city
•Live in the country on 10.5 acres

4. Sometimes I look like this

5.  Too much competition on the MLS
 Who REALLY wants to calls FSBOs &
Craigslist ads?
 Because most people WON’T do it
 Deals that few, if any, people know are
available (off-market/pre-market, thinking
about selling, etc.)
 My favorite reason though is because…

6. It’s like turning on a
faucet of cash
Marketing is an
INVESTMENT not
an expense.
Exchange Rate?
• Would you trade
$3,000 for $40,000?

7. Market – WHO are you marketing to?
Message – WHAT is your offer? What can
you do for your prospect?
Media – HOW will you reach your
prospect?
Money – HOW MUCH will you spend on a
campaign or to do a deal?

8.  Market – I mail mostly to absentee owners. I also mail
to other lists too – but absentee has produced the best
results.
 Message – I buy houses!
 Media - This is the fun part!
• Postcards
 Regular or Oversized? Color or Black and White? White or color card
stock, etc. etc.
• Yellow Letters
 Red Ink? Black Ink? Blue Ink?
 What about the envelope?
 Postage Meter? Stamps.com? Regular ole stamp?
• Post-It notes (yep, done that too)
• Flyers
• Newspaper inserts

9. Money – the more you spend, the more
you make!
• Spend as much as you can. You can get a deal on
as little as $500/mo
• Remember the exchange rate
• Make them tap out! Mail until they tell you to stop..
Or die.

10. Why not use both?

11.  Does this look like I wrote it?
 Did I type these postcards or
draw on them?
 Ain’t nobody got time for that!

12. Outsourcing – I’m only one man, with 24
hours in a day, and a family. In order to do
the volume I need, I need to delegate and
outsource
Automation – People forget, make
mistakes, get overwhelmed, etc.
Automate to alleviate!

13. Key Number 1: Outsourcing
 Virtual & Local Assistants
• I have 2 local assistants (Stephanie and my step-daughter Mariah)
• I have 1 Virtual Assistant (VA) in the Philippines
• Adding another VA soon
• VA schedules postcard mailings, which list, when, etc & adds to cart, I review, & pay (usually
every 90 days)
• VA tracks calls/response rate and provides me with a report (weekly & monthly)
• 2 local assistants write the yellow letters now – but I can outsource that as well
 VA orders the list, or pulls the list and sends to the YL outsourcer who writes, stuffs, stamps, and
mails the letters
 VA can still track the call responses

14. Answering Service = PatLive
• The NUMBER ONE best decision I have EVER
made in regard to my business.
• NO MORE unmotivated sellers, “take me off your
list”, “How’d you get my address” or Talkative
Tinas who want to tell you their entire life story.
• Professionally answered by LIVE receptionists,
24/7 – 365.

15.  Answering service takes the call, and inputs it directly into my CRM.
• I get an email notification
• It starts the automation process (will get to this in a minute)
 This is what one campaign
looked like last month
That’s 108 calls I would have
had to take, and probably
double the number of minutes
if I had taken the calls
personally.
THAT’S 600 minutes saved!

16.  PatLive takes the call, and puts the lead right
into my CRM. I then get this email:

17. Sneak Peek at my CRM

18. Phase II (trying to implement this now)
• Outsourcing my bandit signs
• Outsourcing property inspections/photos
• Outsourcing online marketing (CL ads, Blog Posts,
Social Media, Etc)
• Outsourcing Errands – post office, bank, putting
up for rent signs, etc.

19. You MUST have a system
• Without a system leads get lost. When leads get
lost YOU LOSE MONEY.
• This is what happens to most investors that start
direct mail.
• What is my system?

20. It’s NOT perfect (yet)
Sometimes it feels like herding cats!

21. VA gets mailing list & schedules mail
PatLive takes initial seller phone call
PatLive inputs caller into into my CRM
I get an email notification with my tasks,
while my VA gets emails with her tasks
(pull comps, public record info, etc. and
input into CRM)
VA calls seller back for initial pre-screening

22. If the seller is REALLY motivated, she sets
the appointment right then – or – if they
insist on speaking to me I call them.
VA uses Google Calendar to schedule the
appointment for me and I get an email
notification of the appointment
I go out and meet the seller and inspect
the property (outsourcing soon I hope!)
I take a LOT of pics, and upload them to
Cloud (Drive, Dropbox, etc)

23.  I determine MAO (Maximum Allowable Offer)
 VA will sometimes negotiate with sellers
• I tell her what to say, and what price and let her try.
• Usually the unmotivated or semi-motivated only
 Once seller agrees on price:
• If seller uses email, my VA (now) sends a contract via
HelloSign
• If not I meet them and sign the agreement in person

24. Yes, the selling side is automated too.
CRM sends tasks to VAs and myself to
complete
Still a work in progress
To Be Continued….

25. Steve Londeau
Direct Cell – (734) 272-7004
Email – slondeau@gmail.com
Find me on
stevelondeau @stevelondeau
313cashdeals
@313cashdeals