Yellow Letters: The Best Lead Gen Strategy for Investors?

For many investors, the financial benefits of a lead gen strategy are not worth the time and effort. However, for those who have taken on this path in order to grow their businesses, it’s certainly been worth the cost. https://www.entrepreneurmagazine.com/articles/essential-lead-gen-tips

The “what does yellow letter mean in wordle” is a phrase that has been associated with the finance industry for some time. It refers to a lead gen strategy for investors.

Handwritten prospecting letters sent to homeowners by real estate investors or agents in order to create seller leads are known as yellow letters. Because they were formerly scrawled on yellow legal pads, they’re known as “yellow” letters. In 2017, we spoke with successful real estate investors to learn about their yellow letter techniques and best practices.

Curiosity + Empathy = Phone Calls: Why Yellow Letters Work

While the great majority of investor yellow letters nowadays are made to seem handwritten using computers rather than written by hand, and many are printed on white paper, the term is still widely used to describe to prospecting letters addressed to homeowners.

Check out this example of a yellow letter from Yellow Letters Complete to get a better understanding of what they look like.

Let’s be honest. The hard sell seldom works, and most individuals have learned to disregard sales presentations since they are constantly assaulted with them. If you’ve ever worked in sales, you know that one of the most effective methods to persuade someone to do what you want is to make it seem as if it was their idea all along. Surprisingly, there is scientific evidence to support this. Researchers discovered that merely adding lines like “you will probably decline, however…” to charity contribution sales presentations improved donation rates from 25% to a startling 39 percent in one recent study. Why? They made the individuals they were asking for contributions feel as though it was their idea to give. In other words, they offered them a far better chance to say no.

One of the key reasons this works is because it allows people to instantly identify with them. They’re no longer a paid employee representing a major charity; they’re a person with emotions, desires, and ambitions. This is the message you must convey in your yellow letters.

Increasing Curiosity

For a similar reason, yellow letters have a high reaction rate. Many individuals, like me, sift our mail via a recycle bin. It takes a fraction of a second to decide whether to retain or throw anything, and it’s nearly instinctive. Yellow letters function in a unique way.

Imagine putting 90% of the junk mail (marketing items someone worked very hard on) into your blue recycling bin when you come upon a hand addressed letter with no return address. Toss or open? If you’re like the majority of individuals, you’ll open that envelope. I’m sure I would.

Developing Empathy

Let’s pretend you open the mail and take out a nice, professionally made leaflet from Bank of America offering to purchase your property. The letter offers promises, but it has such a generic appearance that it sets up warning bells in your brain. This corporation employs hundreds of attorneys and accountants, and they are going to outbid me in negotiations!

What if you received a nice handwritten letter from someone who just signed the letter Kelly instead of the glossy letter from a big bank? Who would you put your faith in? Bank of America is urging most customers to sell, whereas “Kelly” is politely asking. They believe they made the decision to call Kelly rather than having it imposed on them by a team of Madison Avenue ad executives. Kelly is essentially saying, “You’ll probably reject, but…”, which might help to decrease people’s defenses.

“I find that the people who respond to yellow letters are looking for a simpler person to work with. There seem to be two rationales behind this: some people think a simpler person isn’t going to try to take advantage of them, while others think that they will be able to take advantage of a simpler person and come out ahead. Either way, the people who respond to yellow letters tend to be very different from those who respond to the more traditional marketing messages.”

On the psychology of yellow letters, — Mark Bloom, President of Networth Realty

Writing Yellow Letter Copy That Makes Your Phone Ring is Your Elevator Pitch

Trigger Direct is the source of this information.

Because your hand-addressed mail is certain to stimulate your homeowner’s interest, the next stage in getting your phone to ring is to develop empathy. That’s when creative copywriting for your yellow letter comes in handy.

While there are many various approaches to writing copy, the golden rule of marketing should always be at the back of your mind while you write. After reading your message, your homeowner just wants to know one thing: WIIFM stands for “What’s In It For Me.”

Don’t worry about using fancy vocabulary or impressing your English instructor from 12th grade. You’re not penning a New York Times op-ed piece. You’re writing a personal letter to someone from whom you’d want to purchase a house. You want to go to to the subject and develop empathy with the homeowner by telling them you want to purchase their house and asking them to contact you. Simple.

Here’s a sample of text for your yellow letter that you may wish to consider:

Greetings, [their name]

My wife, Linda, and I have lived in the neighborhood for a long time and are extremely interested in acquiring your house. If you’re thinking about selling, we can make you an all-cash offer and close quickly.

We’re hoping to close on a house in the next few weeks, so if this seems like something you’d be interested in, please give us a call at 555-555-5555 as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Jack

[sign your name]

While this letter may not be precisely what you write, the concept is the same. You should be able to achieve a fair response rate if you focus on your value offer (you can purchase their property for cash) and establish empathy.

Colin Corrington, a real estate investor, has provided another another excellent yellow letter example. He regularly states that he will purchase for cash and ends with a religious connection. Something like this could work for you if you know the community you’re pitching in:

Expert Advice: Yellow Letter Samples for Various Leads

StopFlipping.com co-founder Collin Corrington is an actor who has been in many films.

Dear Mr.and Mrs. Homeowner,

I was passing by your house at [Address] yesterday and thought I’d drop you a line. Over the last ten years, I have actually assisted hundreds of San Antonio locals by paying CASH for their houses. I’m recognized in San Antonio as the go-to person for hassle-free CASH house acquisitions.

Please contact me at [phone number] if you are interested in selling your house. My name is Collin Corrington is an actor who has been in many films., and I buy houses as-is, with no inspections, appraisals, or surveys required. I will pay for all closing fees in full and present you with evidence of money when we sign a contract. I just want to buy it for cash.

There are many so-called “investors” that play games with you and promise you the moon and stars but never deliver. I am the genuine thing, and I will provide you a NON-REFUNDABLE earnest money deposit and can often close in three days.

Your neighbors will be grateful that you sold the house to us. We will remodel the property and will not be renting any of the residences we buy. We exclusively sell to San Antonio locals who meet our strict criteria.

A $1.00 down payment for the purchase of your property is included. Please contact me right away at 210-439-4471 if you’re ready to sell today. If not, please purchase a beverage on my behalf and save my business card for future use.

May God bless you and your family in the future.

Sincerely,

Collin Corrington is an actor who has been in many films.

Choosing Your Objectives – In 2017, what kind of lead responds to Yellow Letters?

Real estate investors have traditionally sent yellow letters to homeowners who are likely to sell their properties but may not react to regular marketing methods. Owners of troubled properties, or those who are overdue on their mortgages or own properties that are neglected, abandoned, or not producing money, were included in this category. Here are a few more common homeowners that might benefit from yellow lettering.

Probate is a legal process that involves the administration of a

People who have recently inherited a home from a deceased loved one are frequently interested in selling. They may not be willing or able to keep up payments or maintain the home. Also, the bereaved frequently live out of state which means caring for a home they inherited is going to be difficult. You can certainly use yellow letters for Probate is a legal process that involves the administration of a, but you might want to think about only using a handwritten envelope and typing out a more formal and professional looking letter on white paper. People in the grieving process need to be treated a more delicately than a typical absentee owner or pre foreclosure lead.

Owners who are not present

Absentee homeowners are those who own homes outside of the state in which they reside or who own numerous properties. A homeowner in California, for example, may inherit a property in Ohio from a cousin. They may be willing to sell since maintaining and paying taxes on the Ohio property is a financial burden.

Foreclosures in the early stages

Foreclosures in the early stages are homeowners who are very far behind on their mortgage payments (often defaulting) and are close to entering the foreclosure process. Since the foreclosure process can be expensive, stressful, and take a long time, many of these homeowners are willing to just walk away from the property and settle their debts.

Other insolvent properties

Abandoned properties, non performing rentals, or Other insolvent properties can also be good candidates for yellow letters.

Yellow Letters Complete will assist you if you are ready to send out some yellow letters but are unsure where to begin generating leads. When you order seller leads from Yellow Letters Complete, you will have exclusive ownership of those leads for six months, meaning no one else in your region will be able to buy them. You may also target absentee-owned, high-equity, or other specialty groups by filtering their lead lists in your agricultural region. 0

Expert Advice: Driving for Cash Is Still Possible

“Either ourselves or we hire someone to drive a neighborhood looking for houses with bad roofs, derelict cars, tall weeds and we save those houses on a GPS system that auto downloads to our mailing database.”

— Mike Bolen, Partner at Conway Ridge and Napa Valley real estate investor

People who have access to capital

Finally, homeowners who have paid off their mortgages or liens hold their homes “free and clear” and may frequently be convinced to sell for a reasonable price. They may not know how much their house is worth, or they may be ready to downsize or go to another state. For homeowners who own their homes outright, a hefty cash payoff might be a very appealing inducement.

Investors in California are avoiding distressed properties, according to one expert.

“We are a hard money lender based in California that works with flippers all over the state. Here in California, investors have moved mostly away from distressed inventory (foreclosures, short sales and trustee sales) to focusing more on People who have access to capital. Whether it be absentee landlords and individuals looking to sell as-is for all cash, the marketing world has gotten incredible noisy and print is a really important part of an investor’s toolkit.

I own rental properties and like receiving messages from investors. From hilarious postcards to yellow letters to business letters, I receive it all. Investors that are serious about the mailer approach may follow up with more than three, each using a different style to target various types of possible sellers.”

— Aaron Norris, Vice President of a hard money lender in California The Norris Organization

In 2017, learn how to write and send yellow letters.

While yellow letters are designed to seem as if you hurriedly dropped them on their doorstep, you’ll probably need to send hundreds of them to obtain a meaningful reaction. Even if you reach them before other investors, most direct mail pieces need many touches to elicit a reaction. Here’s a summary of how 2017 investors are making yellow letters.

Handwriting

Even while it might be unpleasant to sit down after a long day of work and handwrite letters, a few investors swear by it. However, if you’re thinking about doing this, you need select your targets extremely carefully since the amount of hours (not to mention carpal tunnel pain) you’ll have to put in will make getting a respectable ROI tough.

Computer-Generated Letters (DIY)

Making a font from your handwriting and using it to address envelopes and fill in the “to” line on your letters is another alternative that will save you time (and money on physical treatment). You can then import your spreadsheet of leads into a CRM like Contactually, which will fill the “to” line with your prospects’ initial names typed in your handwriting font.

Then all you have to do is print your letters and envelopes and send them to a local printer.

Here’s a simple guide on utilizing Myscriptfont.com to make a font out of your own handwriting:

Handwriting generated by a computer

The only problem with making a typeface out of your handwriting and printing it is that others will see that your yellow letter isn’t really handwritten. Even the most advanced printers don’t look exactly like ink.

You may submit your yellow letters to a yellow letter printing firm that utilizes a “robot” to really draw out your letters with a pen or marker if you want them to seem realistic.

New Scientist has a brief video of a handwriting robot in operation. It’s very awesome!

The only disadvantage is that it might get rather costly. For handwritten letters, services like Maillift or Bond Co in New York City charge roughly $5 each piece. This would be OK for a Christmas card for your top clientele, but sending out hundreds of them to generate prospects is unlikely.

What are the costs of Yellow Letters?

If you choose the DIY route, you’re simply concerned with the expense of printing your letters and envelopes. Printing prices vary greatly, but for modest numbers, expect to spend roughly 50 cents each piece, which includes envelopes but excludes postage.

Starting at 79 cents a letter, Yellow Letters Complete will hand address and ship your yellow letters. You may utilize their real estate lead generation templates, or you can create your own and have them handwritten for you.

Birthday card-sized yellow letters printed on traditional lined yellow paper and a selection of brightly colored envelopes are available through Trigger Direct, with prices ranging from $1.49 per piece for less than 500 to 39 cents per piece for 20,000 and more.

Yellow Letter bundles from GoBig Printing start at roughly 83 cents per letter and go up from there.

Yellow Letters Alternatives

If you’re not convinced on yellow letters, you can always use the same curiosity and empathy-inducing strategies to persuade your phone to ring. Mark Ferguson, a real estate investor, offers some advice on how to be creative with mailers:

“I see yellow letters, pink, orange, white and all types of colors. Some are just normal letters and some are postcards. The idea behind the yellow letter is it is supposed to looked like someone jotted a note down on a yellow piece of notepad paper. In theory that is supposed to look less like a company and more like an individual taking the time to write out the note. If the person wrote out the note, then maybe they really want that one house and it is not a mass mailing. I think the industry has shifted away from yellow letters and moved toward postcards that can be yellow or pink. The postcards have more info, people can read them quicker, and they are cheaper too.”

— Mark Ferguson, Founder of Investfourmore.com and Real Estate Investor

You may wish to think about these alternatives to classic yellow letters:

Hangers for the doors

Hangers for the doors are cheap to print, and while they may not have the personal touch of a yellow letter, depending on how you write them and what you include, they can have a huge response rate.

Postcards

Postcards can also have a great ROI for lead generation. Like with Hangers for the doors, you can adjust your message to help build curiosity and empathy to get your phone ringing.

Deep Dive: Check out our in-depth tutorial to learn more about utilizing postcards to generate leads.

Knocking on the door

While definitely not for the faint of heart, Knocking on the door can be an amazing way to generate leads once you hone your pitch and get over your fears.

Final Thoughts

To break down their barriers and elicit a reaction from leads who are difficult to reach via conventional advertising, you need to generate both interest and empathy. Yellow letters are a fantastic method to achieve this, but the ideas of composing them can be used to a variety of different marketing strategies.