Finding people for the deals

I think you'll have to be more specific than "finding clients for your deals" to get any advice.

try the local noticeboard for sharehouse or the gumtree website.

Hi N

Local notice board is a great one, but not all noticeboards are created equal.  Test, test, test.  Our area has four or five of them, but only one, outside the local IGA supermarket,  is really effective.  And they get so many notices that the supermarket pulls them all down regularly and starts fresh.  I keep a bunch of fliers (with little tear-off tags) already printed out in the car.  When I see the fresh board (my previous advert has gone) I whack up a new one immediately.

Local newspaper (not city-wide: if there's a free local one that's best) is good.  I have a small I-buy-houses advert (costs $10.60) that runs every week.  It is simple and directs people to a website as well as my mobile number.  I often get calls from people who say they have seen the advert many times, and just now are responding.  It's worth the $500/year to have this, since only one deal covers the cost easily.  Sometimes I also put a selling advert in the paper (costs a lot more usually!) but in this area I have found that does not work as well as the noticeboard.  In a previous area such an add in the free local paper would pull about 30 calls.  This local rag is paid-for ($1.00) and only pulls about 3 calls.

Bandit signs are a GREAT way to get customers.  Put a hand-written sign in the window of a property you are selling, and in the front yard – and if your local council is not too sign-police orientated, you can also scatter smaller ones around on poles etc, with appropriate wording depending on your aim: directing people to the property you are selling, or trawling for sellers.  Tip: go to a signwriter and buy corflute offcuts.  Tomato stakes from the local hardware store are a cheap way to mount them if it's for a yard sign.

A business card can help a lot too, if it's done properly.  Your name should be tiny, and what you do should be large. An offer on the back to pay a finders-fee is also worthwhile.  Put them in local businesses, keep several tacked to the local noticeboard mentioned above, and hand them out.  I find that on the counter at accountants and solicitors offices have been useful places to put a little dispenser of them.    You don't have to  get expensive cards, but they need to have a motivating message, and do use both sides! Tip: vistaprint.com.au but don't get the free ones because they have Vistaprint advertising on the back.

A website is also be a great way to find customers – both for buying and selling.  Don't pay a lot to have an expensive site built.  A blog-style site is easily maintained yourself, but don't use the "free blog host" type sites… you need your own domain.  Get a good domain name.  Make sure people can get on your mailing list at your website.  Learn about SEO.  We get a lot of business from our websites, but it's not always in the local area.  However, when someone calls, even locally,  I ask if they have internet access, and get them to fill out an online application.  Works pretty well.   (Disclaimer: My other company sells domains, builds and hosts websites, installs blogs etc, but I am not asking for business here – we are not the cheap solution you are looking for)

We offer a finder's fee to existing and past clients if they put a new client onto us and they buy.  We send a 'thank you' note to the referrer even if the referred does not buy. We keep in regular contact with existing and past clients asking for referrals.  These people are your best 'champions'.   This referral program has been very successful for us over the years and up to the present.

We are also about to start (in the new year) radio adverts and sponsorship of a real estate information program on our local station.  We have high hopes for this, but we are unable to report on it's effectiveness  (Yet!)

I saved the best one for last: flapping the gums.  Have a sentence ready that explains what you do.  Dunno if I should put this on a public forum, but I don't suppose it will hurt… Mine is: "We buy houses and then sell them on vendor terms to people who don't currently qualify for bank loans."   Simple and clear.  Almost always gets a good reaction, and people remember us and tell their friends.  I will often mention in passing that we pay finder's fees if they know someone who wants to sell a house.

These are some of the ways we use to "reach clients".  "N", do them.  Do them ALL, don't rely on just one or two.

Cheers

Mr Fair Go

HI NL, PLEASE EXCUSE THE CAPS….LOOK, YOU JUST NEED TO GET OUT THERE AND TALK TO PEOPLE. GO TO PI SEMINARS, TALK TO YOUR FRIENDS, WHEN YOU HAVE THE RIGHT DEAL, IT IS EASY TO GET INVESTORS ON BOARD.