Become A Modern Day Treasure Hunter
- Brad Whiteman “I am a single guy with kids, working a full time job, and building a real estate business at the same time. Having Realeflow has changed my working life. Instead of spending my time shuffling papers around on my desk, I can spend my time marketing, making offers, and getting deals done.”
- Kurt Verscharen
Transfer Testimonials Closing Paperwork Greenlight Selling System Centers of Influence Listing Agreement Renovation Repairs Managing Expectations Negotiation File Submission Data Mining Segmenting Research Computer Legal Management Automation Accounting Property Inspection Bankruptcy Comparables Direct Mail Voice Broadcast Billboard Yellow Pages Positioning Copywriting Seller Negotiations Positive Results Conversation PACER Center of Influence Gourmet Packages Offer Letter Compensations Work Estimates Contractors Permits Property Staging Letters Lumpy Mail Postcards Making Offers Purchase Agreement Trust Software Taxes Management Brokers Maintenance Tenants Accounts Receivable Contractors Permits Realtors Attorneys PR Articles Counter Offers Pictures REO Worksheet Communication Follow-Up BPO’s Research Validation Organizing the Package MLS Pocket Listing In-House Buyer’s List Management Showings Offers Addendums Title Company Insurance Survey Utilities Option Contract List Loss Mitigation
Disposition Up-front Marketing Acquisition
Systems Management Construction Back End
Marketing
“Our business is immediately light years ahead of where we were a week ago. You’ve changed the industry.”
The Freedom
Manifesto Become A Modern Day Treasure Hunter
YOU
~By Greg Clement~ Copyright Notice
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means elec- tronic or mechanical. Any unauthorized use, sharing, reproduction, or distribution is strictly prohibited.
Legal Notice
While attempts have been made to verify information provided in this publication, neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility for errors, omissions, or contradictory information contained in this document. This document is not intended as legal, investment, or accounting advice. The purchaser or reader of this document assumes all responsibility for the use of these materials and information. Realeflow, LLC. assumes no responsibility or liability whatsoever on behalf of any purchaser or reader of these materials. © 2007 Realeflow, LLC.
The Freedom Manifesto
Table of Contents
The Modern Day Treasure Hunter ........................................................................................................... 1
Get In The Game ...................................................................................................................................... 4
Why Most Real Estate Investors Fail Before They Get Started ............................................................... 6
Why a Lack of Organization Can Lead to a Business that Runs Like a Machine ................................... 8
Poor Business Design Results in You Doing All the Work ...................................................................... 9
The Helping Hand Positioning Process .................................................................................................... 11
Little Hinges Swing Big Doors ................................................................................................................ 17
Why Delegate When You Can Automate? ............................................................................................... 21
Why Repetitive, Time-Consuming Tasks Will Be Your Downfall.......................................................... 25
Positioning Your Business ........................................................................................................................ 28
$32,000 Per Hour Work ............................................................................................................................ 31
The Dating Game ..................................................................................................................................... 32
Why Staging Is Becoming The Only Way To Sell Quickly For Full Value In Any Market ................... 36
Becoming Ambitiously Lazy ~ The Pursuit of Freedom ......................................................................... 39
3 Secrets to Putting it All Together .......................................................................................................... 40
Buckle Up! ............................................................................................................................................... 42
Mapping Treasure Island .......................................................................................................................... 43
The Freedom Manifesto
The Freedom Manifesto is written for 2 and ONLY 2 types of people
1. The NEW investor looking to break free from the shackles of their very predictable life. This person wants more and wants real estate to bring it to them. They want FREEDOM from their work, from their boss and maybe even from the rut that they find themselves in. They want to work for THEMSELVES. They want to wake up when they decide to wake up NOT when some electronic gadget blares in their ear. If you are this type of person then you’re in the right place NOW. This guide will help you break free from the chains that society has placed on you and start you on your NEW LIFE. Its right around the corner…
2. The EXPERIENCED investor who is looking for more FREEDOM from their business. After all, we all started as a number 1 above. You want your business to support you and you are sick and tired of doing everything in your business. You want a totally different level of FREEDOM. You want to be able to travel to Europe for 2 years and come back and be making more than before you left. You want automation. TOTAL FINANCIAL FREEDOM IN A POLITICALLY FREE ENVIROMENT
IS A RARE THING INDEED. But, then again you are a rare bird…
The Freedom Manifesto
The Modern Day Treasure Hunter
One of the first books I ever read as a young boy was Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. The story has everything: sleek schooners, crafty buccaneers, a mysterious island in the Caribbean, and a treasure map. It’s a coming of age story about young Jim Hawkins and the world he encounters when he first leaves home. When I first read that story I wanted to be Jim Hawkins. I wanted to explore new places, seek new challenges and find treasure. I wanted to be free from homework, and chores, and responsibility.
I wanted adventure. Problem was that the older I got, and the more responsibilities I
“I wanted adventure.”
embraced, the more I felt like my life was getting painted into a box. I was being hemmed in by choices I made and choices made for me, and I never quite forgot that story and never gave up that idea of being an explorer and living each day with the thrill that comes with adventure.
I recently read an awesome article about 2 guys who find hidden treasures. John Morris and Greg Stemm, founded Odyssey Marine Exploration, a company that conducts extensive deep ocean search and recovery operations around the world. Before John Morris teamed up with Greg Stemm to bring a boyhood dream they shared to life, he had been successful in real estate and construction. Greg Stemm’s background is that of an academic, explorer and entrepreneur. Basically, what the two of them do for a living is find buried treasures. A properly constructed real estate investing business can and will make you feel like a modern day treasure hunter just like John and Greg. They use the most sophisticated tools and technology available today to find hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sunken treasure almost every year. How can you do the same? In The 4-Hour Workweek, Timothy Ferris suggests, “the opposite of happiness isn’t sadness, but boredom.”
He’s right. Despite the success I’ve had in business, any unhappiness I experience isn’t from a lack of family or friends, or from money: I’ve
“the opposite of
been blessed in so many different ways. No, whenever I’ve been down, I’ve been bored.
happiness isn’t sadness, but boredom.”
My peak moments occur not only when I am doing something that I love, but when I am doing something that challenges me on many different levels to perform at my best. Real estate has long been the “sure thing” for those who have yearned for a better life and weren’t afraid to work to achieve it. Everyone knows that real estate has churned out more millionaires than any other industry: late night television infomercials attest to the power of this idea and countless gurus can be seen pitching their program to teach you how to make millions.
The Freedom Manifesto
The Freedom Manifesto
Unfortunately, the “sure thing” that real estate once represented has changed with the subprime lending fiasco and the downward turn in the housing market. Like the Conquistadors of old, people are still looking for a “city of gold” that ends up being nothing more than a flickering illusion in the far horizon. But, it’s still there… The problem isn’t real estate.
The challenges associated with investing in real estate today have less to do with real estate and more to do with people’s false expectations. An environment of easy money, and countless get-rich-quick scenarios involving false appraisals, or houses in markets that were appreciating too fast caused everyone involved in the game to believe they themselves were brilliant – true winners.
In essence, real estate investors were like children playing musical chairs: In the beginning, almost everyone has a place to sit when the music stops and they can continue playing the game. But as the chairs are slowly removed, it gets more difficult.
But the music is still playing. My name’s Greg Clement and on behalf of my team here at Realeflow we’d like to welcome you to our world… a world filled with a sense of independence, accomplishment, boundless opportunity and excitement. And we’d like to thank you for giving us the chance to share our story.
As a kid looking to start a business I wondered why certain people had a knack for success in business while others failed. Was it formal education? Luck? Connections? Perhaps they had secrets that only a select group had access to... or maybe it was all of the above? What if we could show you some of the techniques that allowed us to build one of the most successful residential
real estate investing businesses in one of the worst markets in the U.S. ? We never had crazy appreciation
in our market to count on and we had to build our business while navigating through the sharks that circle any financially distressed market. In other words, we didn’t have anything handed to us. Our goal was to build a business that was consistently producing month after month after month. I wanted a business that would generate income without me being behind the wheel and making it go. And we did!
“We spent months trying to cobble together a programs that would allow us to systematize our business, you know systems are what it’s all about right? Well, Steve from Maralogix, recommended we take a look at your program and well, after I got up off the floor, had my partner slap me to see if I was dreaming, ran around screaming like an idiot, laughing, giggling like a girl.......you get the point? Our business is immediately light years ahead of where we were a week ago. You’ve changed the industry. This program will make us more accountable, responsible, and professional. Ok, someday I’ll stop laughing uncontrollably, but not very soon.” Brad Whiteman
Broker/Owner Real Living Now We had to really learn the real estate industry… we didn’t buy a business in a box, but we did spend some money on education that, in retrospect, has proven to be priceless. We also relied on our understanding of human nature and how free markets work in a free society. We want you to achieve freedom from work, anxiety, and financial struggle and, ultimately, freedom from your business.
You see we have cracked the code
We operate a super-successful real estate investing business that runs by itself – a dream held by many who enter this industry – but only achieved by a few. Well guess what? That’s all about to change because we think that there’s enough out there for everybody, and we’re here to make that happen.
The reality of real estate is that anyone can get lucky with a quick hit that makes thousands, but building a sustainable business involves some work. Moreover, mistakes made in this profession can cost you those same thousands made on the previous deal. In essence, there are short cuts, and there is a way to work smart and to build a business that you control.
My goal is simple: to give you the golden nuggets we discovered in building our own highly successful business so that you can: 1) implement a buying SYSTEM that will allow you to attract properties like a magnet; 2) implement a SYSTEM to process these leads efficiently; and 3) implement a SYSTEM to rent or resell these properties at maximum value and realize HUGE cash profits. That’s it. That’s all. End of story.
Well, one more thing...
4) to set your business up to RUN WITHOUT YOU, so that you can enjoy your life. So let’s get started, we have a lot to cover and the story, yours, is only beginning.
“...set your business up to
RUN WITHOUT YOU, so that
you can enjoy your life.”
The Freedom Manifesto
Get In The Game
Remember the early years of grade school when the physical education teacher would order you to get dressed in the appropriate gym uniform and tell you to meet as a class out behind the gymnasium? I do. Or at least I remember what it was like those first few weeks of the new school year with the Indian summer sun blazing down. I’d dress with my peers and head out back to find an assortment of equipment: balls, rackets, cones, jump ropes, etc. We’d be put through a series of drills and tests that not only helped to identify our strengths and weaknesses but it also introduced us to different sports. Through those activities I learned what I was good at doing. I knew, for instance, that I hated standing up at the plate and whiffing on a pitch so much so, that at times I would feel like faking an injury to get out of the game. On the other hand, I had a natural affinity for contact sports – wrestling, football – and I tended to spend my time after school pursuing these activities. In short, I had to figure out what I was good at doing, what I enjoyed doing, and decide how much time and dedication I was going to put into the training. Not every sport offered the same benefits: some sports were done more in the public eye and drew bigger crowds than others. I just had to figure out where I felt comfortable, what my goals were and how I was going to achieve them. In a similar sense, deciding to start a business reminds me of my years as a student in P.E. You have to figure out what game you want to get in, what the challenges will be, what the payoff is, and how hard you’re going to work to get where you need to be. I mean let’s be honest- YOU have an abundance of opportunity right in front of you. Pick up the latest issue of Entrepreneur Magazine and you will have no fewer than 100 business opportunities to choose from. What I am hoping you will see by the time you finish this reading is that REAL ESTATE
INVESTING is: 1. one of the fastest ways to reach millionaire and multi-millionaire status. AND 2. if designed and built properly can be an awesome “geyser” like source of consistent income.
A quick example, when I left college I saw most of my friends go into entry level managerial or marketing type positions. Hmmmm... let’s see, I could go work for a company that offered me $35,000 a year starting salary and security, or I could go back and get my masters degree but have to spend another 2-3 years in class (I barely made it thru the first time) while making NO money.
But there was another option. I saw an ad for an internship in the insurance business. I could gamble on myself and go into the financial planning industry. I knew that this path would be a difficult one: it would force me outside of my comfort zone, and leave me no security since I would be working for 100 percent commission.
The Freedom Manifesto
The Freedom Manifesto
AND, I would have to talk a lot... to a lot of people. Not too hard for the average person, but a little harder for a guy with a stuttering problem! I had stuttered literally as long as I could remember and some days were definitely worse than others. They really don’t know what causes stuttering, but for me – some days were pretty traumatic as a kid. Not to change the story here, but one time in college speech class I had stood up in front
of a group of my peers and turned a 3 minute speech into a 20 minute horror story. I could see it in their eyes,
they were literally feeling sorry for me. Thank goodness I talked the teacher into letting me do the rest of my speeches after class.Anyways - all that risk meant one thing... if I made it I’d have a shot at building the life that I had long envisioned – three day work weeks, plenty of time to be with my family and to do what I wanted to do, “living the dream” as Owen Wilson said best in Night at the
Museum .
So what did I do? I took a chance on myself, went to work in the financial industry, worked my butt off and did pretty well. I struggled at times, but overall had “control” of my income and lifestyle. I knew what game I was suited to play, and I was willing to bet that I’d make it on top and I did. Since then, I’ve left the financial industry for the wide-open opportunities in real estate.
It’s about Income, Independence, and Impact. It’s also about Systems, Work, and Focus. For those of you who like the thrill this business provides, step it up and take it to the next level. If you want to be a professional then you need to begin thinking about your business as something that you work on, instead of working in. This is something that I will discuss in great detail later, but what I mean is, how much can you scale your business before you are completely burned out? What will it take to make your business super smart and super efficient?
As long as you are working IN your business, you will most likely never be able to scale it the way you intend in order to achieve your financial goals. I’ve never forgotten a story about Cortez that I heard in a Central American history course I took in college. Some of you may recall that Cortez was the Spanish Conquistador who conquered the Aztec people and brought a glorious civilization to its knees. But did you know that when they arrived on foreign soil AND in order to
“...three day work weeks, plenty of time to be with my family and to do what I wanted to do...” motivate his men to do the unthinkable – they were vastly outnumbered and had no maps – he had his ships burned? He burned his SHIPS, all of them and in doing so triggered a psychological fight or flight instinct in his men. They couldn’t return so they had to fight, and fight they did.
There was no turning back. His Conquistadors would have to fight with all their intelligence and passion in order to achieve success. They did and the Spanish influences on not only Central America, but the rest of the Americas are seen every day, everywhere.
“Hey Greg, I am a single guy with kids, working a full time job, and
The good news: you’re not going to have to conquer an empire.
building a real estate business at the
The bad news: you might have to do something that for some is very
same time. It is an overwhelming
difficult – you’re going to need to shift your thinking on what is
schedule to say the least. The possible as well as redefine your expectations. business suffers the most due to my time limits, I have only been able to
dabble in R.E. until now. Having Dream big, but be accountable to what those dreams mean, and
Realeflow has changed my workingwhat they will demand. Understand what you and your business do
life. Instead of spending my time well. shuffling papers around on my desk, I can spend my time marketing,
Finally, make sure that you carefully implement a structure and
making offers, and getting deals
system in your business that will help you to define, measure and done. It’s like hiring two assistants. achieve your goals.
I can’t thank you enough for developing this system.”
When I started, after a while I had too much business... money was coming in but I was working harder and harder to keep up. I
Sincerely, Kurt Verscharen realized that I needed to work smarter not harder: I needed to come
up with a different way to run my business and do so fast or I was going to burn out. Figure out what you’re good at doing, define what it is that you want to do and... Get in the game. You can start building your money today.
Why Most Real Estate Investors Fail “I realized that
Before They Get Started I needed to
Let’s take a look at the mindset of the real estate investor. They’re people who are independent self-starters who like to be in control.
work smarter They enjoy the excitement that the real-estate business can bring them.
Moreover, people go into real estate believing that they are going to
not harder.” make money fast.
The Freedom Manifesto One problem with real estate is that while it can be extremely profitable, transactions are seldom as fast as you thought. But if you expect this AND plan for it, then you can build your pipeline so that you are working on multiple deals at one time.
Expectations are super important in this business: yours, the sellers and your buyers.
A quick story to illustrate this point: my family and I visit Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio almost every year. It is a wonderful amusement park on the coast of Lake Erie. Each year it seems as if they are building a new state-of-the-art roller coaster, and last year was no different as they built the Top Thrill Dragster - a 400-foot plus behemoth of a ride. That summer, the wait to get on was over three hours long, which made it “unattractive” for us to wait around. Later in the year, around Halloween, we went back and found the wait to be only 90 minutes; I jumped in line as soon as I heard the good news. Having expected a wait of over two hours, I was delighted when we learned it was shorter. And although the ride lasted only 30 seconds, it was a blast! Afterwards, as we drove home exhausted and starving from a day in the sun, we stopped at the first McDonald’s off the highway. And guess what we saw? Long lines of hungry people equally as tired from a day at the park. We weren’t the only ones with the same idea. There’s nothing quite like having to wait in a long line for 20 minutes to get Big Macs. I wasn’t happy, and I certainly left feeling frustrated at the end of what had been an awesome, fun-filled day.
What happened? For most people eating a Big Mac is more enjoyable than getting
“Our expectations
launched from 0-122 mph in under three seconds (not me), so why was
were set, and
it so frustrating to wait a fraction of the time it took to ride the coaster? EXPECTATIONS. Waiting in line for fast food put us in a crabby mood,
when they were yet when we waited 90 minutes for a 30 second ride, it made our day. not met, our
Our expectations were set, and when they were not met, our emotions shifted 180 degrees. emotions shifted 180 degrees.”
The same can be said regarding investors new to the real estate industry. They go into it expecting things to happen overnight.
The Freedom Manifesto
By shifting EXPECTATIONS just a little, and expecting the unexpected, investors can be on their way to experiencing tremendous profitability. It truly is a mindset.
The main difference between those that are successful in this business and those that fail has little to do with start up capital and everything to do with having proper expectations and taking ACTION!
Why a Lack of Organization Can Lead to a Business that Runs
Like a Well-oiled Machine
I’m not very organized. I can be, but usually choose not to be. Many experienced and novice investors alike get sucked into the same whirling vortex of a never-ending list of tasks and responsibilities. The end result is that their business feels like they’re walking in sand AND pulling an 800 pound gorilla behind.
What further compounds the problem is that it is rare for any real estate investor to be great at everything. Lead acquisition, sales, managing properties and managing the business can be tough to do for one person without a SYSTEM. Quite frankly, most of us simply do not have the organizational skills necessary to keep things on track. As the pile on the desk grows, so does the opportunity to completely lose focus.
I often hear GURU’s talk about not having a system and at what a disadvantage it puts the investor. I disagree. Everyone has a system, some suck, some are average, some are decent, a few are good, and a small number are exceptional. After reading this you will understand how exceptional systems work and how TOP investors all over the country are using them.
For example Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software comes into play when businesses are trying to improve their systems. CRM is a term used to broadly define the concepts used by companies to manage their relationships with customers, including the capture, storage and analysis of customer and internal process information.
Realeflow is a CRM that we designed to do the above and more for those individuals interested in streamlining their business for maximum effect. So what does this actually mean? It means you have access to ALL your information with a click of a button. I am assuming that everyone reading this at some point has had to call the cable company for one reason or another. Generally, you are requested to put in your account number – usually your telephone number. This allows the customer service representative on the other end of the line to look up your billing history, and any record they have of you as their customer. The end result is that the company representative should be able to
The Freedom Manifesto assist the customer more efficiently than if he/she had to sort through files or send a question up to a supervisor. Why is your business any different?
“I’m new to Real Estate Investing and Short Sales
The amount of material and information you have to
in particular. Being a newbie and essentially being
process for one deal, let alone the several deals a year
a one person shop, I have been VERY concerned
you need, to be ultra-profitable is enormous. Have with how I would be able to manage everything. you ever kept track of how many calls you make
I started to think that maybe I would not be able
when working on just a single case? How about the
to enter the very timely and lucrative area of
notes you made for each call so that you could keep
Short Sales because of all the moving parts. Well
track of the process? If you’re like me, then at times
Realeflow is answered prayer! Now I feel extremely
you probably didn’t keep notes. On those occasions confident that I will be able to manage it all!
Thank you so much for all the time and effort that
when I did, I’d stuff them into a folder - never to be
went into creating such a well-planned and all- heard from again. encompassing management software. I am certain that my future success is going to be in large part to
You need something that can provide the information
Realeflow!!!
you need whenever and wherever you are…
As you can see even though I have only being using In a “SNAP”. Realeflow for about a week, I am VERY excited about it!! I plan to tell everyone I know about it.”
A CRM that can manage the complexity of multiple real estate transactions while managing multiple
Very Warmly,
properties is critical to staying on top of your Monica D. McDowell business. After all, you want a business that performs beyond your efforts. One that has the capability to run by itself.
Only by realizing our weaknesses can we ever truly REALIZE the importance of improvement. That
last sentence is simple but if you can fully grasp the true meaning then you are well on your way to achieving quantum leap growth… By being disorganized you should realize how much stuff is falling thru the cracks and realize the importance of finding a solution.
Poor Business Design Results in You Doing All the Work
What if I told you that you are exactly where you should be, in life, in business, and in the amount of happiness you experience on a daily basis? If you’re not making enough money or not as satisfied as you should be then you need to DESIGN your life differently – your business differently. When I first began building a real estate company, I thought that I could do it all: take the calls, do the appointments, write up the paperwork, meet the appraisers, manage the contractors, run the office, etc… Boy was I busy, and while I was having some success, I’d go home at night feeling as if somehow I was missing the big picture: something wasn’t quite right. And then one day it was as clear as daylight: what’s the point of
The Freedom Manifesto
“owning your own” business just to work harder than you did when you had a steady job with steady pay? I mean, what was I working for? The right to call myself self- employed isn’t so great if my business owns me and not the other way around. Here’s a litmus test to see where you stand in relationship to the business you have or the business you hope to create. Ask yourself “what if I were to leave my business for two months or two years, would I still have a business that would run without me?” If the answer is yes, congratulations; if no, then what you’re saying is that by leaving your income will stop. In other words, while you have achieved self-employment you haven’t achieved what most hope their business will provide: an AUTOMATED source of income. Don’t run your business like so many other investors in real estate. Don’t be one of those individuals that rationalize daily challenges with the thought “at least I am working for myself” while expecting things to get better. If you have a flawed business design, it won’t. Differentiate your business on every possible level, beginning with the structure that you need to keep things flowing while you are away. The only way to set your business up to run without you is to develop systems and processes that will keep your business going even if you’re not present. You need systems to bring in leads, to market and sell property and to manage the multitude of tasks necessary in running a real estate investing business.
Use Our 3-Step Formula
1. Spend 2 hours a week on the highest dollar per hour work known to man- THINKING. Think about your business weaknesses and how to improve/solve them. Think about your strengths and how to further enhance them.
2. Next, map out an Action Plan. I love mind-mapping software like www.mindjet.com. It is easy to use and since humans are so visual (it produces a one page document that my mind can understand) it’s effect is magnificent.
The Freedom Manifesto
3. This last step is the KEY to fortunes. You could stop reading in a second, never pick this book up again (please don’t... you’ll miss many other secrets) and if you do this I GUARANTEE your life will never be the same. Ready? Speed of Implementation- say that 30 times now. This is what separates the men from the boys.
Multi-millionaires THINK, PLAN (map) and IMPLEMENT very, very quickly.
It’s up to you to decide how you wish to design your life and your business. Avoid the trap so many fall into by building businesses that are flawed and becoming indentured servants. By establishing a set structure that will do what I’ve discussed, the sky is literally the limit for your business and the life that you want to create.
Marketing is a problem that confronts everyone in the real estate industry. It costs money, it takes time, and the results are often erratic. Be it bandit signs, cold calls, door knocking, newspaper, direct mail, (least expensive) or billboards, radio and television (most expensive), finding a way to get leads in the door is an endless source of stress for most.
Many real estate investment businesses only focus on the front end when they need the leads. As soon as the leads come in, they begin to process them, and their marketing programs lose focus and momentum. Several months later, once those initial deals have closed, investors will once again bring their attention to lead acquisition.
This up and down pattern means an up and down cycle of closings and therefore profit. In essence, it’s a feast and famine cycle that will keep your business from realizing its full potential. It doesn’t have to be this way. In putting together our real estate business we went through a wicked period given that our market had more houses available for sale than any time since the Great Depression: and this was when there was record appreciation in other states like Florida, Arizona, and California, etc!
Greg, we just purchased Realeflow about a week ago and it is amazing. The features that this site provides is just incredible. The construction estimator is easy and very useful when dealing with the banks. I also love the match features that you have created for the buyers and properties, also visa-versa. I could go on and on about the benefits of this program but I have to work today. Thank you for creating something that will revolutionize our community.
The Helping Hand Positioning Process
Patrick C. Ruddell President The Rehab Outlet, Inc
“...it’s a feast and famine cycle that will keep your business from realizing its full potential.” We couldn’t just buy a house, sit on it for six months while it appreciated 30 percent and sell it for a nifty profit. We couldn’t be lazy... if we wanted to keep our
“We couldn’t just buy a house,
company alive it demanded and depended on finding
sit on it for six months while it
the formula that would generate the leads we needed to
appreciated 30 percent and sell it thrive. for a nifty profit. We couldn’t
We turned marketing into our own science project, using
be lazy... if we wanted to keep
scientific methods to observe, ask questions, generate a theory, and then test that theory. our company alive it demanded
and depended on finding the
Basically, that was our approach to marketing. We’re
formula that would generate the
not MBAs – didn’t have any inclination to work for corporate America – and besides, we’re firm believers in leads we needed to thrive.” experiential education... in other words, getting out and putting theory into practice.
Our basic formula was as follows: 1) through trial and error we identified our target audience – what neighborhoods, what kind of houses, what range of values; 2) we made a commitment to be specific about where we wanted to work and seldom deviated to chase long shot deals in parts of town that were unfamiliar to us; and 3) we held firm on costs, eschewing bolder forms of advertising like television, radio and billboards that would have flooded us with unqualified leads at a steep price.
Make True Contacts
We understood that whatever marketing program we developed needed to identify those “true contacts” that would give us the best shot of closing a deal. We define a true contact as an individual who is pre-qualified and predisposed to doing business. These are people who CALL us and ask US to help THEM. Our challenge was to develop a system that we could put into place that would achieve this and moreover, we needed this system to be automated so that it could run efficiently over long periods of time. Remember this: Effective marketing makes selling superfluous. If your marketing is good then you will NOT need to do much selling at all.
The Freedom Manifesto All we had to do was discover a way to make as many “true contacts” per month as possible, without breaking our budget. And we did. The framework that we use in our approach to marketing is called The Helping Hand Positioning Process. It positions us as the leader in our area for helping people with problem properties. Using the ideas listed below has allowed us to develop marketing programs that never leave us scrambling for deals. The lead left us scrambling to keep up with the deals that come in! As you can see by the diagram below there are two ways to “get” a TRUE Contact: either by referral or traditional advertising/marketing.
The Freedom Manifesto A cornerstone of The Helping Hand Positioning Process is the referral. Here’s a quick story (and a huge secret for those reading). Going back to my days as a representative for a prominent financial services company, the importance of referrals was ingrained early. In fact, we would spend hours role-playing different ways to ask for referrals at the end of an appointment. Armed with my brief case I would go out on appointments, attempt to sell our services, and then at the end of the appointment use one of the many techniques we spent so much time learning. Guess what? It seldom worked. When I just asked them for names they really didn’t have any.
So at a certain point I knew I had to go beyond the training materials and do something a little different. What I did was combine a little research with a little psychology, and the result made a huge difference.
A Small Change Can Make A Big Difference
My next appointment I was meeting with an attorney at a big firm downtown. While I wanted to sell him on our services, I was just as interested in getting some referrals. So at the end of the appointment I took out a sheet printed with the names of the other members of the firm (I researched this ahead of time). I told him, “John, over the next 10 days we are going to be contacting these individuals. Anyone on this list that would be WORTH talking to?” And it worked! Handing the list over to John he began marking the names of the people I should see. Almost as a sense of self-worth and validation – he began to tell me about each of these individuals. Then I said, “John, would you mind if when I talked to these people I mention that we had met?” And John again was more than helpful.
I got the sale, and I think it was mainly because John had just indirectly referred me to almost his entire firm that he now HAD to do business with me. And I still had a list of contacts to pursue in the coming days and months. This approach worked, over and over. As a result, I turned around my year and finished in my company as the top first year rep in the country! What Centers of Influence would be helpful to you in building your business? I’ll give you a hint. Attorneys, realtors, and mortgage brokers could fill your pipeline so FULL of leads that you would literally have to turn the faucet off to control the chaos. We have developed a complete system based on this one approach. Our business depends heavily on this method: some 65 percent of all true contacts that we obtain are derived from Center of Influence Marketing. Far and away this is the most cost effective and productive means we have of generating leads that turn into dollars... for us, not some advertiser! The following is an outline of the rest of The Helping Hand that you can begin using today:
Positioning Process The
Freedom Manifesto
Step 1: Information Mining
Identify and implement technological tools to fill your pipeline with quality leads. Obtaining accurate data is the critical foundation for success. Efficiently mining RAW Material is crucial to building your business.
But to be effective, you need one important thing – a company identity. More on this later...
Step 2: The Multiple Medium Approach
Capture consumers based on varied responses in different advertising mediums. Customize your message and apply it to several forms of advertising as a way to ensure a greater reach. Clients will think of your company when they are ready to take action.
The bottom-line, learn what blend of strategies to rely on in order to keep a steady stream of leads coming in. Don’t just depend on one source. I had a friend in a separate real estate business that depended on an ad in the front cover of the white pages to generate the majority of his leads. Sure, he wrote a big check, but the price wasn’t as high as you would think and basically he’d have to close one deal a month to break even. At the time, this wasn’t an issue, but each year that advertisement became more and more expensive until finally he had to let the ad go and come up with a new marketing plan.
Step 3: The Consistency Formula This is one key area that separates high performers from everyone else.
Streamlining your message and delivering it in a consistent and repetitive way will establish your brand quality and trust. By maintaining the same steady outreach, this type of “gourmet” marketing will position your business to dominate the market. The key is being consistent. Don’t send out mailers and wait three months. Implement a program and give it time. After tracking its impact, you can adjust with better insight at a later date.
To achieve this, business owners need a system that will automate the complex task of maintaining multiple levels of marketing. This marketing needs to be implemented in an organized manner so that all strands work
“The key is together to generate as many “true contacts” as possible. being consistent.”
Step 4: Deal Filter
You need to be able to “check out” your leads quickly and see if they are worth your time. For example in today’s market one profitable way to
The Freedom Manifesto invest in real estate is through the use of a short sale to purchase properties in pre-foreclosure. The Deal Filter is a tool in Realeflow that provides a short sale scoring model and a profit analyzer.
The scoring model provides a formula that helps
“Realeflow has changed the way my partner
investors identify what deals to pursue and what deals to
and I do business. Our short sale company has
avoid. Likewise, the profit analyzer provides information
literally exploded since using Realeflow. Why?
useful in exploring possible exit strategies while
Because we can handle exponentially more deals identifying the one that makes the most sense. more efficiently in our pipeline. Information is available to us at the click of a mouse. Plus, our short sale business can be run from anywhere
The Deal Filter is a point and click interface that
in the world. I’m in AZ, and my partner is
provides answers at a moment’s notice. The purpose of
in KY... and there’s no lapse whatsoever in
this tool is to teach Realeflow users how to differentiate
the exchange of critical information. Prior to
between time consuming deals that don’t payoff vs. the
Realeflow, everything we did was on boards
ability to detect deals which offer the best chances of
and in paper files. I found myself scrambling closing with the most lucrative results. for files when mitigators or sellers called. Notes were strewn everywhere. My partner and I