Posted by Doug (ON) on December 17, 2006 at 22:34:26:
What are your conversion rates now?
Remember that Zig Ziglar, arguably one of the greatest salemen of all time, can only convert 1 in 20 on his best day.
I average about 1 or 2 in 100.
How can I improve offer making skills? - Posted by chris
Posted by chris on December 17, 2006 at 22:19:42:
I’ve been investing full time for a year and I’m doing quite well. However, I get a ton of leads, but don’t convert as many as I think I should. I’m looking for any resources out there (courses, taped calls, etc) that might help me with better converting my leads to deals.
Thanks,
Chris
Re: How can I improve offer making skills? - Posted by WeRealtyDo!
Posted by WeRealtyDo! on February 10, 2007 at 14:27:14:
I use to be the same way. Here is what I did, I shifted all of my thoughts off of me and started thinking “how can I help these people” even if I don’t make money I still need to help them. When I looked at it from this point of view I converted most of my leads into some type of money.
Happy investing
Re: How can I improve offer making skills? - Posted by GL(ON)
Posted by GL(ON) on December 20, 2006 at 10:51:50:
Ray Como the House Buying King makes a specialty of this. He calls it Transaction Engineering. It is based on NLP techniques, and scripts and contract forms which he has developed over many years and thousands of deals.
At his Boot Camps they advertise in local papers and take calls as they come in. His students handle the calls according to his instructions, using his scripts and contracts. They buy about 1 house for every 100 incoming calls.
Once his students learn and practice for a few years they get better at this. But I doubt Ray himself gets more than 2 deals per 100 callers.
It is mostly a matter of effective advertising, finding motivated sellers, then not blowing the deal when you talk to someone who is eager to sell to you.
He is dealing in a chronically depressed market where there are lots of desperate sellers of cheap houses.
You could look up his web site for more info.
Re: How can I improve offer making skills? - Posted by Don (VA)
Posted by Don (VA) on December 19, 2006 at 17:50:33:
There are lots of books and tapes out there, but many offer conflicting advice. I’d offer two pieces of advice:
Different sellers, in addition to differing levels and reasons for motivation, have different personalities. Some like the facts-and-figures approach–“Here’s why I’m making the offer I am…rehab costs…holding costs…just a bit of profit…” etc. Others like the warm-and-fuzzy approach: “Look, I can solve your problem. No more hassles, no more headaches.” Read up a bit on Myers-Briggs and other personality categorization structures. Different sellers respond to different approaches.
Yes, I know that some on this board, including some very successful investors, say, “I present them with my number. If they’re motivated, they’ll take it. If not, I move on.” Fair enough. But I think you might boost your success ratio a bit if you tailor your pitch/style to be most effective with the particular seller.
Second piece of advice: Give people what they want, not what they need. If stores only gave people what they needed, there’d be no need for Mercedes…no need for Godiva chocolate…no need for Victoria’s Secret. But people do buy fancy cars, chocolate, and underwear…because they want them, not because they need them. Same thing with real estate. Maybe the seller needs (would be better off with) one type of deal. But the seller wants different terms, or a different structure. Figure out what the seller wants, then present an offer that comes as close as you can (within the parameters of your business plan and finances) to meeting the seller’s wants.
Hope that helps.
Re: How can I improve offer making skills? - Posted by Chris
Posted by Chris on December 18, 2006 at 21:56:56:
No, offers are case specific, but certainly reasonable. As I say, I’m a full time investor and doing well, but just feel like I could improve. I’ve heard of some folks using an offer sheet where they break down their offer. Maybe something like that might help with some folks to help them better understand why I’m making the offer I’m making. Any of you use such a thing?
Re: How can I improve offer making skills? - Posted by Brian_wa
Posted by Brian_wa on December 18, 2006 at 15:43:55:
What kind of offers do you make relative to the market value? If the house is worth 200k as-is and you want to buy it for 80k then obviously your conversion rate should be close to 0%.
Also, how motivated are you potential sellers?
Brian
Re: How can I improve offer making skills? - Posted by Tom Dunn
Posted by Tom Dunn on December 18, 2006 at 05:39:21:
Chris,
There are many factors involved in your conversion rate that have nothing to do with what you say or do when they call. For instance, what type of marketing are you using that’s getting them to call in the first place? The sellers who call you after reading an ad that says “I buy houses for cash or take over payments” may have a different level of motivation than those who call you from a postcard you mailed to foreclosure listings.
Understand that out of every 100 callers, at least 90 of them aren’t motivated enough, so there’s no deal there even if you hypnotize them with your melodious voice. Six more have circumstances that prevent you from putting a deal together, leaving about four where a deal might be possible. If you’re converting two of those, your conversion rate is fifty percent, excellent in my opinion.
Here’s a thought for you. If there are six out of the hundred that have circumstances preventing you from putting a deal together, maybe you could learn one new investing technique, like a lease option or subject2, that would allow you to make a deal where there was none before.
Another tool in your bag is the most effective way to improve your conversion rate. Think of it this way- if you are converting fifty percent of your possible deals as I outlined above, and you increase the number of possible deals from four to eight, you’ve just doubled your conversion rate.
I can’t think of any power words or phrases that can accompish THAT!
Now, go make more offers!
Tom Dunn
DealFiles.com