Letter Box Drops

I have an area in mind for building on a rear block, but nothing comes up for sale very often. So I was thinking of doing a letter box drop this weekend.

Has anyone had much success with this method?

Chomp
 
I have an area in mind for building on a rear block, but nothing comes up for sale very often. So I was thinking of doing a letter box drop this weekend.

Has anyone had much success with this method?

Chomp
Read this snippet in a real estate magazine recently: "Letterboxes don't buy homes!", it's supposed to be a very low strike rate method for generating sales, probably applies for most things.

A retired agency owner of some decades recently told me he loved the letter box drop method however, just combine the letter box drop times with the probability of the local elderly owners and the like being out and doing the gardening, this can lead to some great (and profitable) conversations.
 
Read this snippet in a real estate magazine recently: "Letterboxes don't buy homes!", it's supposed to be a very low strike rate method for generating sales, probably applies for most things.

A retired agency owner of some decades recently told me he loved the letter box drop method however, just combine the letter box drop times with the probability of the local elderly owners and the like being out and doing the gardening, this can lead to some great (and profitable) conversations.

I think this snippet is referring to real estate agents dropping fliers of properties on their books in people's letter boxes. The OP is wanting to buy properties not otherwise on the market.
 
Typical industry stats are that you get about a 1 - 1.5% enquiry rate from mailouts.

That means 1,000 letters = maybe 10 enquiries / responses.

The you have to apply a conversion rate of enquiries to appointments. You may get 33% appointments and then get a 33% closing ratio.

If those numbers worked then you'd get 1 sale from the 1,000 give or take.

When you see these stats it is no wonder that 30 letters = 0 responses :)
 
They have computers now with Word Processing capability and mail merge and stuff...........marvellous stuff. You should look into it ;)

Have they figured out how to make printers print like real handwriting yet? I'm not talking about fonts, I'm talking about the ink on the paper.
 
tried it a couple of times without a response. but that was when i was looking at specific properties - not just a generic letterbox drop.
 
We do letter canvassing campaigns for particular clients (just finished a whopping 700+ letters for one!) as part of the service, if they're after something unique that doesn't come on the market very often, have limited criteria or are keen on a specific area of a suburb.
However, we put them in envelopes and post them :D as home owners are much more likely to open them and peruse rather than a flyer popped in the letterbox with the rest of the junk mail. Naturally, it's much more work but it does yield results, when compared to simple flyers (very low hit rate). We also personalize the letters according to the specific client's needs (and situation) and this seems to have been more successful as well.

If you are genuine about wanting a particular area for a PPOR such letters can be effective, even given the low strike rate. We've had people ring us up many mths afterwards, wanting to know if we were still interested in their property. Doorknocking can also work, but you need to be prepared for many rejections and suspicious home owners!
Good luck :)
 
I sent out about 25 letters trying to entice with words like - "will be able to make a decision quickly", "can offer cash", "I am not a real estate agent". Got 4 replies which I thought was excellent.

Cheers, MTR
 
Can I offer a tangent here and suggest reading the excellent 'The Psychology of Persuasion' Robert Cialdini. To help with wording of any document and just a general great read for anything involving influence of our fellow humans.
 
I sent out about 25 letters trying to entice with words like - "will be able to make a decision quickly", "can offer cash", "I am not a real estate agent". Got 4 replies which I thought was excellent.

Cheers, MTR

Nice one MTR I printed out 100 today similar sort of wording without the cash part!,I will deliver them tmrw morning, hopefully without a hang over but hey its Friday so will see how it goes.

Thanks for the feedback everyone

Chomp
 
Nice one MTR I printed out 100 today similar sort of wording without the cash part!,I will deliver them tmrw morning, hopefully without a hang over but hey its Friday so will see how it goes.

Thanks for the feedback everyone

Chomp


Hi Chomp
keep us all posted, as would like to know how you go.

Cheers, MTR
 
Ok so I delivered 100 signed pre printed letters and recieved 3 calls ;

Call 1 - triplex block with an existing house already on it (out of my price range at this stage)

Call 2 - house and land that cant be sub divided (not what Im after!)

Call 3 - house on triplex block but then says actually I think Ill keep it for my family (so why call me?)

Back to the drawing board, but still I think it was worth the effort, I got to know parts of the area in a bit more detail and did a bit of excercise as well, wouldnt rule out doing it again but probably not.

Chomp
 
Back
Top