Need inspection work? Get up to 250 good local inspection leads now. Totally free!

[Rick Maday]

Originally Posted by mboyett

Yes, and I don't mind that stumbling as long as it doesn't cost me a bunch of money. My thinking is that to send a snail mail to each of the 250 leads will run me somewhere around $150....postage, envelope, paper & printing costs, time, etc. I do want to make sure I'm spending even that small amount on a viable marketing endeavor. That's why I want to validate a sample of the list I received to make dang sure I'm sending to folks that can & will use my services. There's no doubt that if the list is valid then this can be a real winning proposition.

250 postcards from Vista Print - $19.99
250 postcard stamps - $67.50

Getting one inspection from a less than $100 investment - Priceless.
Ok, really about a 434% ROI.

[ccurrins]

Go here and enter your zip code to see homes for sale in your area.

http://www.realtor.com/?source=a15696

[Rick Maday]

I use www.illinoisproperty.com

[Michael R. Boyett]

Originally Posted by rmaday

Getting one inspection from a less than $100 investment - Priceless. Ok, really about a 434% ROI.

Like I said...There's no doubt that if the list is valid then this can be a real winning proposition.

[Brian Long]

Hi All,

I think most of you have received at least one e-mail from me by now. I notice a few common questions coming up on this forum and would like to provide additional background and answer questions as they come up. For starters:

Our list is comprised of people who are selling their homes. The presumption, of course, is that they are also buyers. So, you may have multiple sale opportunities from each homeowner.

We watch real estate for-sale advertising nationwide to identify home owners who are 'in-market.' We then use real estate public records and telephone listings to identify the owner of the home. Our list is compiled only from public sources and we do not use Realtors or their proprietary MLS systems. We cover for-sale-by-owner as well as for-sale-by-agent properties.

We suppress duplicates and most vacancies, so the list you get each week is highly deliverable. (You should still expect to get some back as undeliverable -- this is normal for direct mail).

[Michael R. Boyett]

Will the list each week be new entries only for the prior week?

[Brian Long]

Also, here are some of the things we do that you will not get from a real estate website:

1) Address verification to be sure that mail is actually deliverable to that address.
2) The name(s) of each homeowner.
3) Suppression of vacant properties such as new construction, foreclosures, investor owned property, and non-owner occupied property. We suppress these because your mail will probably be undeliverable.
4) Check with the US Postal Service (in limited areas) to see if they have already moved or if the home is standing empty.

What we do is not rocket science, but it is labor intensive. Please think of us as smart outsourcing -- your time is better spent on other things.

[Brian Long]

Duplicate records are also suppressed -- Just new names each week.

[Linas I. Dapkus]

I sent my request. Thanks Nick.

[Rick Maday]

Originally Posted by blong

Also, here are some of the things we do that you will not get from a real estate website:

1) Address verification to be sure that mail is actually deliverable to that address.
2) The name(s) of each homeowner.
3) Suppression of vacant properties such as new construction, foreclosures, investor owned property, and non-owner occupied property. We suppress these because your mail will probably be undeliverable.
4) Check with the US Postal Service (in limited areas) to see if they have already moved or if the home is standing empty.

What we do is not rocket science, but it is labor intensive. Please think of us as smart outsourcing -- your time is better spent on other things.

Thank you for the list!

[bdoles2]

Another postcard resource - fellow contractors use him quite a bit.

eBay postcards

[Brian Long]

I have extensive experience helping find new customers for moving companies. Here are a few of the things we have learned over the years (in no particular order):

1) It usually takes up to eight weeks of mailing to get a direct mail program 'up & running.' Consumers will actually hang on to your marketing material and call several weeks after the fact. If you mail weekly, you will have a cumulative effect that builds up in your favor. After 8 weeks you will clearly know whether or not the program is working.
2) Repeat mailings, to the same household, work -- especially in this market. Space your mailings about 4 weeks apart. A quick and dirty way to manage this is to print two sets of labels and place a post-it note on the second set and mark a date 4 weeks into the future so you know when to mail it.
3) The marketing work you do now, in the slow season, will pay off in the spring.
4) Moving companies typically convert 1% of mail into paid jobs. After considering the cost of the list, materials, labor, and postage, this should work out to less than $100 per job.
5) Expect to get 5 - 10% of your mail back as undeliverable. The reason you are mailing to home sellers is because they are moving. It is normal, and expected, to find that they have already moved and get materials back in the mail.
6) For moving companies, both postcards and letters provide the same response rate. In other words -- they both work the same. Postcards are cheaper to mail, but you can get more information into a letter. Experiment with each and use the format you like best.

What works for a moving company may not automatically work for a home inspector. What direct mail techniques work for you?

[Tad T. Petersen]

My request is in.

[RAY THOROMAN]

Now that I researched this a bit more and see the bigger picture, these are not quality leads, hence the free part.


A while back I tried getting leads for USHUD.com..... very similar type leads. Tire kickers. You'll spend more time and money chasing these type leads than it's worth.



But good luck I say

[Nick Gromicko]

Thanks Brian!