I sat down with Ryan Smith to ask him the questions we are asking all our Flip Hacking Live speakers this year ‘What is Working in the Market Now? What Will Work Next?’
Ryan Smith owns a company that does marketing for wholesalers and flippers all across the country. He is on the front lines gathering information on current marketing trends nationwide. With this exposure he has highly informed insight on what works! Using his expertise we identified a few crucial pointers that will help you land deals in the current market.
So, what is happening in the market right now?
Straight talk: It’s harder to get a deal than it was a year ago. The cost per deal is going up, the market is shifting and it is becoming more challenging to get deals. There is a trend right now that the more used lists are going to be harder to land a deal on because your competition is higher. Start by seeking out the smaller lists because the lists that take more work to get to, are the ones producing the most deals.
Here’s 4 pointers on how you can separate yourself from the pack.
- Get your budget together for four or five months. Know exactly what your numbers are.
This will allow you to know not only what you can invest in marketing and for how long, but it will help you be clear on what you can offer which will help you make quick and solid offers on deals.
- Find the marketing channel that resonates with you that is best for you, your time, and your budget, that you know you are interested in enough to do over and over again.
What exactly does it mean to find a channel that resonates with you?
The data shows that there are clients using various different channels and having success with every marketing channel. It is more about how the channel is used than the channel itself.
If you don’t feel comfortable cold calling, you would have to hire that out. If you know that you are better with direct mail and having people reach out to you on their own time, use that channel. If your budget supports it you can hire out. If it doesn’t, learn the channel you are more naturally inclined toward because it will be you working it.
Bottom line: If you are using the channel well, in time you will see results, if some part of your implementation isn't working and you don’t adjust, you won’t see results.
- Commit to that channel for a period of time without getting distracted by other channels and bouncing between them.
Pick a channel that fits your budget and start funneling your marketing toward those people. Don’t wait until you have it a hundred percent figured out to start. You have to start talking to sellers. When you first start and are keeping track of your numbers you don’t have all the info yet to really know how long everything will take but you can keep working with the data you are gathering as you start working the channel. This is why it is important to pick a channel and work it consistently over a period of time. Don’t hop around.
Pro-tip:
Speed of implementation is crucial. Being afraid to start, analysis paralysis, is common when you are first starting.
- Set a goal to talk to x number of sellers per week and track it. You have to talk to sellers to get deals. Pay your dues, make your offers.
You have to throw a number out and make the offers. Be willing to take action without knowing every step of the process before you get started. You will be learning some steps as you go. The most important thing is to take the first one.
We often spend money wanting a guarantee on our return for money. You may not have immediate success but the results will have valuable information. How can I learn from this, what am I going to do differently and how can I make a slight adjustment to see how the next experiment will turn out?
You can always do a risk/cost analysis. Is your risk a few thousand dollars and the potential reward a hundred thousand? You make your money back the second you make a decision even if the lesson is knowing what you DON’T want to do.
So get out there & get started! The Unknown is the scary part. If you choose a direction you are heading in and make a plan you can be off and running right now!
