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Feels Like I'm Doing Things Right But... One Year No Results

Anything related to matters of the mind

Olie Sins

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Hola gentleman,

I don't want to go to much into my story without boring you guys, but I read The Millionaire Fastlane a couple of years ago, and I was reading through it earlier today and realized I have come quite a ways.

I read success and mindset literature everyday, I don't have a t.v., I don't party or do drugs, I work a full time job, have my own apartment and pay my own rent. I go to Toastmasters every week to make speeches (I make a couple speeches a month to avoid hogging the stage), I paid a millionaire real estate mentor six grand to mentor me for six months and I learned an incredible amount from him, only I couldn't afford him anymore. I also have a mentor from toastmasters who I meet up with once or twice a week for help with my speeches.

I visualize, have a vision board, and big goals.

Since February 2018 I have been wholesaling real estate. I know it isn't Fastlane, nor does it follow the CENTS outline, but it's not meant to be fast lane, merely a means to get out of my job and into real estate.

I am spending most of my free time working on this wholesaling business and am continuing on, but I just sometimes wonder what I am doing wrong? I mean there were other guys in the Real Estate Coaching program I had joined who were getting deals their first week, month, three months, and even as late as eight months. I am coming up on a year and still no dough.

I don't hang around toxic people, I don't binge watch anything, I don't party, I read and study every day and do SOMETHING for my future everyday. But sometimes I feel no different than the retards and sidewalkers I see shopping around at Wal-Mart, dressed like they just got out of bed. I am making big strides to make things happen and though I feel like a different and better man than I was last year, I feel like things aren't moving fast enough.

Has anyone ever been in this position? Any suggestions?

One thing I love about the Fastlane Forum is that the things I read on here have a funny way of sticking in my head. Even seemingly forgettable comments. I think I need to be on here more.

Would greatly appreciate the help.
 
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lewj24

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Has anyone ever been in this position? Any suggestions?

I feel the exact same way.

Maybe I'm wrong but I think this is how it's supposed to feel. It's all bout the long term. What you have done is put the odds of long term success in your favor.

I say keep going. Keep improving. Keep striving for your goals. It may take longer than you think.
 

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Who are you helping? Who are you mentoring? Who are you giving advice to that doesn’t feed your ego? Who are you encouraging that forces you to be patient, kind, understanding, vulnerable and loving?

In other words how are you specifically sowing into other people on a regular basis?
 

Zcott

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I just sometimes wonder what I am doing wrong? I mean there were other guys in the Real Estate Coaching program I had joined who were getting deals their first week, month, three months, and even as late as eight months. I am coming up on a year and still no dough.

This might be a stupid question, but what is it that they've doing that you're not? Is there anything they're doing that you can add to your own process?

When I did door-to-door sales, I thought I was doing everything right, I had a great pitch but I was getting no sales. I shadowed my manager and instantly realised what I was forgetting to do. I implemented that to my own pitch and my sales immediately increased. Could be a similar situation for you, is there someone in the wholesale real estate industry you trust and can speak to for advice?
 
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Madeline

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Are there any weak links in your business that could be better done if outsourced?

Or, sometimes things don't work out when we try our best.. maybe it's the energy behind it - you mentioned "big multi-family real estate and hotel investing...and finally making motion pictures, but that's the end of the line.".. Maybe you should be doing your passion/mission NOW. You've undoubtedly learnt something about real estate from your current business.
 

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Maybe this will help ..... I'll re write your post the way I am reading it...
----------------------------------------------------
Hey,

I have a negative mindset and self worth. Though I recognize some progress.

I action fake. I paid for training and did nothing with it. Now I can't afford the training.

I action fake.

I have been action faking and don't really believe in what I am doing so I am not giving it my all.

I am not getting instant success with my half attempt. I put in the hours, just not the effort.

I feel like I am doing something because I am action faking.

Anyone help me?

I'll remember stuff if you tell, just not really put them into effect.

Thanks!
------------------------------------------------------
@Olie Sins if you or your loved ones were sick and the only way to save them was to get a deal THIS week, what would you do different??

You don't want this bad enough. If you did, you wouldn't wait a year and keep doing the same things everyday.

You would find a new way. You would take the people making deals to lunch. You would will yourself to success.

Quit half assing and going through the motions and GO GET A DEAL!!
 

Olie Sins

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I feel the exact same way.

Maybe I'm wrong but I think this is how it's supposed to feel. It's all bout the long term. What you have done is put the odds of long term success in your favor.

I say keep going. Keep improving. Keep striving for your goals. It may take longer than you think.
Thanks for that. That seems to be a common theme, successful people feeling the same way, experiencing similar thoughts and feelings. I remember last year when I asked my mentor that I think I have a problem with laziness; his reply to me was that everyone battles it, that he feels the same way. There was especially one day a week where he really had to fight it. He said on those days to put it in low gear and grind on.

I also like the way you said I am putting the odds of long term success in my favor, that's a good way of looking at it, I am increasing the odds. Thanks for the help
 
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Olie Sins

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Who are you helping? Who are you mentoring? Who are you giving advice to that doesn’t feed your ego? Who are you encouraging that forces you to be patient, kind, understanding, vulnerable and loving?

In other words how are you specifically sowing into other people on a regular basis?
Never thought about it that way, I guess I too often feel like I don't have or know anything worth mentoring people! Thanks for the advice.
 
Last edited:

Olie Sins

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This might be a stupid question, but what is it that they've doing that you're not? Is there anything they're doing that you can add to your own process?

When I did door-to-door sales, I thought I was doing everything right, I had a great pitch but I was getting no sales. I shadowed my manager and instantly realised what I was forgetting to do. I implemented that to my own pitch and my sales immediately increased. Could be a similar situation for you, is there someone in the wholesale real estate industry you trust and can speak to for advice?
Zcott, I think about that all the time, what are they doing that I am not? Unfortunately, there aren't any people from the group that live in the same state as I do. I love your idea of shadowing someone, and funny you should mention it, I really started thinking about it a couple of weeks ago. I will start looking for successful wholesalers in my area today, and start seeing how they do it. Thanks for the help.
 
Last edited:

Olie Sins

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Are there any weak links in your business that could be better done if outsourced?

Or, sometimes things don't work out when we try our best.. maybe it's the energy behind it - you mentioned "big multi-family real estate and hotel investing...and finally making motion pictures, but that's the end of the line.".. Maybe you should be doing your passion/mission NOW. You've undoubtedly learnt something about real estate from your current business.
Hi Madeline,

Thanks for the help. As far as outsourcing goes, I am unfortunately a little strapped for cash and have to do everything myself since this venture is still in its infancy. That means all marketing, follow-ups, and meeting with homeowners(the most important thing I should be doing). I wear all the hats lol. But I most certainly will be delegating in the future.

And funny still you should mention it, I know a guy who does multi-family deals and I actually hit him up the other day but I told him to forget it, I have to get my first wholesale deal, I am committed to it. I want so badly to get into multi-family, but I feel that jumping ship on wholesaling would not be good footing for my next venture.

Then again, I think about two different things that MJ said in his books. One was knowing when to change lanes, when it's not quitting, it's simply changing lanes, that is, changing businesses (though I don't know if that applies here, I feel like I wouldn't be changing lanes, but quitting).

Another thing he talked about was the Echo. Sometimes the silence we get from our businesses IS the echo. And I wonder if that applies to my situation.

Thanks again for your help
 
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Olie Sins

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Maybe this will help ..... I'll re write your post the way I am reading it...
----------------------------------------------------
Hey,

I have a negative mindset and self worth. Though I recognize some progress.

I action fake. I paid for training and did nothing with it. Now I can't afford the training.

I action fake.

I have been action faking and don't really believe in what I am doing so I am not giving it my all.

I am not getting instant success with my half attempt. I put in the hours, just not the effort.

I feel like I am doing something because I am action faking.

Anyone help me?

I'll remember stuff if you tell, just not really put them into effect.

Thanks!
------------------------------------------------------
@Olie Sins if you or your loved ones were sick and the only way to save them was to get a deal THIS week, what would you do different??

You don't want this bad enough. If you did, you wouldn't wait a year and keep doing the same things everyday.

You would find a new way. You would take the people making deals to lunch. You would will yourself to success.

Quit half assing and going through the motions and GO GET A DEAL!!
I was waiting for a comment like this lol. First of all, thanks for the input.

The situation is a little more complex than that, but you do hit on some true points. At the end of the day, if I really want a deal, I'll go get it.

Perhaps there was a lot of action faking and "busy work."

In February 2018, I handwrote, hand labeled, and hand stamped 1,000 yellow letters and mailed them all out carrying a big bag to the post office. I got 22 calls, no motivation.

That was an expensive campaign that I couldn't afford to do anymore. Since I didn't have a car, I had to go pay people on Craigslist to go take pictures of distressed homes, and then I would skip trace and cold call all of them. I spent hundreds of dollars doing this and went broke very quickly. I had to get a credit card. I got a couple of appointments out of that, but no deals.

That was March.

In April I paid 6 grand for a mentor. He suggested marketing signs. I ordered a bunch, and because I didn't have a car, again, I had to pay people on Craigslist. One guy put up all 50 in one small neighborhood (lack of instructing on my part). The next girl stole my signs. I called the cops, and they couldn't do anything. Days later she called and said to pick them up, so I had the next guy I hired to pick them up from her (I didn't have a car), and then HE stole them.

I had to buy a bicycle.

That was April.

May, June, and July consisted of me, after 8 hour work shifts, rigging a box onto my bicycle, putting my bike on the bus, riding the bus for an hour out to the drop zone, spending two or three hours nailing signs to telephone poles, then taking the bus an hour back to my apartment. I would put out 50 to 120 signs a week on my bike. 200-400 signs a month. I also would take the bus to investor meetings and aggressively network with as many investors as I could.

I also mailed out some more letters and did a ringless voicedrop (dropping thousands of calls that go straight to their voicemail). Whenever I had an appointment with a homeowner, I would take the bus. Sometimes they would ask where my car was (sometimes they would see me walking around the corner), I would just tell them it was around the corner.

After all that work I barely got any calls. So I changed the template on the signs and boom, I was getting calls. I started going on appointments. I was finally at a point where I had 3 appointments a week. I even got a house under contract, and was on track to make $15,000....but the seller backed out.

I kept pushing and pushing and leads started to come in from weird places. And finally......at the end of July..... I got a call that my 22 year old brother had just died. I flew back to Phoenix from Portland to bury him and when I got back a week later I just didn't have the drive to keep going. I moved back to Phoenix in August to be with my family and totally started over from scratch. It was a slow few months from August to December, but in December I started gaining speed again.

I joined Toastmasters to get better at speaking and communicating, and even in the month I've been going I feel like a much better speaker.

I also have been reading all kinds of success books and I even recently finished reading the King James Version of The Bible, cover to cover.

Action faking? Perhaps. There was a lot of time spent just riding on the bus. But I was always reading during that time.

However, despite all of that work, I still couldn't help but always get the feeling that I was just screwing around, that some how I was just beating around the bush. That if I really wanted a deal I would have gotten one already.

But I like your idea of taking a hugely successful wholesaler out to lunch, I haven't tried that yet.

Thank you again for your input!
 
Last edited:

Olie Sins

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Maybe this will help ..... I'll re write your post the way I am reading it...
----------------------------------------------------
Hey,

I have a negative mindset and self worth. Though I recognize some progress.

I action fake. I paid for training and did nothing with it. Now I can't afford the training.

I action fake.

I have been action faking and don't really believe in what I am doing so I am not giving it my all.

I am not getting instant success with my half attempt. I put in the hours, just not the effort.

I feel like I am doing something because I am action faking.

Anyone help me?

I'll remember stuff if you tell, just not really put them into effect.

Thanks!
------------------------------------------------------
@Olie Sins if you or your loved ones were sick and the only way to save them was to get a deal THIS week, what would you do different??

You don't want this bad enough. If you did, you wouldn't wait a year and keep doing the same things everyday.

You would find a new way. You would take the people making deals to lunch. You would will yourself to success.

Quit half assing and going through the motions and GO GET A DEAL!!
And perhaps my original post didn't capture the work I've put into this venture. In fact, just reading it I can clearly see why someone would think I was an action faker lol. Again, all too often I feel like I am just busy and not actually getting anything done
 

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By reading your last post it sounds like your issue is closing the deal. You are getting calls and appointments but no deals. So maybe that's the part you need to work on. Why are these potential deals falling through?
 
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jakeG

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I was waiting for a comment like this lol. First of all, thanks for the input.

The situation is a little more complex than that, but you do hit on some true points. At the end of the day, if I really want a deal, I'll go get it.

Perhaps there was a lot of action faking and "busy work."

In February 2018, I handwrote, hand labeled, and hand stamped 1,000 yellow letters and mailed them all out carrying a big bag to the post office. I got 22 calls, no motivation.

That was an expensive campaign that I couldn't afford to do anymore. Since I didn't have a car, I had to go pay people on Craigslist to go take pictures of distressed homes, and then I would skip trace and cold call all of them. I spent hundreds of dollars doing this and went broke very quickly. I had to get a credit card. I got a couple of appointments out of that, but no deals.

That was March.

In April I paid 6 grand for a mentor. He suggested marketing signs. I ordered a bunch, and because I didn't have a car, again, I had to pay people on Craigslist. One guy put up all 50 in one small neighborhood (lack of instructing on my part). The next girl stole my signs. I called the cops, and they couldn't do anything. Days later she called and said to pick them up, so I had the next guy I hired to pick them up from her (I didn't have a car), and then HE stole them.

I had to buy a bicycle.

That was April.

May, June, and July consisted of me, after 8 hour work shifts, rigging a box onto my bicycle, putting my bike on the bus, riding the bus for an hour out to the drop zone, spending two or three hours nailing signs to telephone poles, then taking the bus an hour back to my apartment. I would put out 50 to 120 signs a week on my bike. 200-400 signs a month.

I also mailed out some more letters and did a ringless voicedrop (dropping thousands of calls that go straight to their voicemail). Whenever I had an appointment with a homeowner, I would take the bus. Sometimes they would ask where my car was (sometimes they would see me walking around the corner), I would just tell them it was around the corner.

After all that work I barely got any calls. So I changed the template on the signs and boom, I was getting calls. I started going on appointments. I was finally at a point where I had 3 appointments a week. I even got a house under contract, and was on track to make $15,000....but the seller backed out.

I kept pushing and pushing and leads started to come in from weird places. And finally......at the end of July..... I got a call that my 22 year old brother had just died. I flew back to Phoenix from Portland to bury him and when I got back a week later I just didn't have the drive to keep going. I moved back to Phoenix in August to be with my family and totally started over from scratch. It was a slow few months from August to December, but in December I started gaining speed again.

I joined Toastmasters to get better at speaking and communicating, and even in the month I've been going I feel like a much better speaker.

I also have been reading all kinds of success books and I even recently finished reading the King James Version of The Bible, cover to cover.

Action faking? Perhaps. There was a lot of time spent just riding on the bus. But I was always reading during that time.

However, despite all of that work, I still couldn't help but always get the feeling that I was just screwing around, that some how I was just beating around the bush. That if I really wanted a deal I would have gotten one already.

But I like your idea of taking a hugely successful wholesaler out to lunch, I haven't tried that yet.

Thank you again for your input!
That sounds like a lot going on Olie. I'm truly sorry for your loss. I have a brother in his mid twenties and if I lost him I wouldn't give a damn about business for a while. Kudos for pressing on.

The two main things I am seeing are time and lack of action that provides results, with a subsequent not return on your feedback loop. Businesses often grow at an exponential scale. Meaning, they start at zero, can remain at zero for years, then 2 years in small growth, 3 years in slightly more growth, etc. The successes often dont happen a decade or longer. Grant Cardone has spent 30 years building his real estate empire.

I also think you could try marketing tactics that cost little to no money and could be extremely beneficial to you. Go to Udemy.com and get a $12 class on Instagram and Facebook ads. Right now it sounds like you are trading a ton of time for no payout.

Find exactly what value you are bringing to customers, and expand on that. If you are not bringing any value at all, you may need to switch your field into something you are more familiar with, where you can also solve someones problems.

I also think its probably time to put down the Success and Mindsets books. If you have been consuming those materials for years, then you already know enough. Use that time to learn new trades that can provide you immediate value. Spend more time selling, less time reading.

Godspeed Olie
 

Olie Sins

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By reading your last post it sounds like your issue is closing the deal. You are getting calls and appointments but no deals. So maybe that's the part you need to work on. Why are these potential deals falling through?
I definitely need improvement on my ability to close deals. I need to work on my sales and people skills (that's a work in progress, something I am always working on). I want to shadow some successful wholesalers in my area, I know that will help tremendously.

Another factor is that so much of getting deals is finding someone who is highly motivated to sell; most of the appointments I have been on I knew well before hand they weren't motivated to sell (especially in this market), I just went on the appointments for the practice. My mentor used to say it takes 20 no's before I get a yes. Since I have been on maybe 8 or 9 appointments, I've got about 11 more no's to go. So it's partially a leads problem too, I think.

Thanks for your help.
 

Olie Sins

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That sounds like a lot going on Olie. I'm truly sorry for your loss. I have a brother in his mid twenties and if I lost him I wouldn't give a damn about business for a while. Kudos for pressing on.

The two main things I am seeing are time and lack of action that provides results, with a subsequent not return on your feedback loop. Businesses often grow at an exponential scale. Meaning, they start at zero, can remain at zero for years, then 2 years in small growth, 3 years in slightly more growth, etc. The successes often dont happen a decade or longer. Grant Cardone has spent 30 years building his real estate empire.

I also think you could try marketing tactics that cost little to no money and could be extremely beneficial to you. Go to Udemy.com and get a $12 class on Instagram and Facebook ads. Right now it sounds like you are trading a ton of time for no payout.

Find exactly what value you are bringing to customers, and expand on that. If you are not bringing any value at all, you may need to switch your field into something you are more familiar with, where you can also solve someones problems.

I also think its probably time to put down the Success and Mindsets books. If you have been consuming those materials for years, then you already know enough. Use that time to learn new trades that can provide you immediate value. Spend more time selling, less time reading.

Godspeed Olie
jakeG,

Thank you for your advice, and I am glad someone can relate to what it might feel like to lose a younger brother.

I am looking to find a business where my services would be more beneficial, but sometimes I feel so invested in this one that I feel I should just keep pressing on.

That you tell me businesses grow exponentially gives me hope for the future. It makes me think of Ray Kroc in The Founder, a failure as a salesman with nothing to look forward to, and then bang, billionaire.

As far as cheaper marketing, the marketing signs are the best I have going on right now. The trick with them is testing them out, and since I recently changed the template (and I have a car now by the way lol), I can get more out much easier. So already my situation is better than it was last year.

I have never thought about looking into a Udemy course on Facebook ads, and for $12 you can't beat it. I will look into it.

As far as the success and mindset literature, it was my old mentor who really drilled into my head to read and read. And the books I am reading aren't mental masturbation books, but books on practical skills like selling and negotiating, and real estate. But I will take what you said to heart, maybe less reading and more selling.

Thanks again for your help.
 
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ZCP

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What was your goal? Close a deal
What were the problems preventing you from closing a deal? [List them here] ... no car, people taking your stuff, can't close, no idea what i am doing ..... keep listing
What were the root causes for this failure? [List here.... this is the key!]
What is your plan for going forward? [List here]
What is your metric to measure where you are and how you are getting better going toward your goal?

go through this exercise here ..... post your thoughts and answers
 

Get Right

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Since February 2018 I have been wholesaling real estate. I know it isn't Fastlane, nor does it follow the CENTS outline, but it's not meant to be fast lane, merely a means to get out of my job and into real estate so I can get into big multi-family real estate and hotel investing

I don't think you are going to get where you want to go with that approach.

Call me cynical but I don't consider wholesaling real estate a business. Maybe a hustle if you stretched it. Either way, its the bottom of the barrel in real estate. I certainly wouldn't put it on my resume.

Have you considered working for a real estate development company? Work for them, absorb information and after a while ask to be cut in on a deal. After that, try to bring your own deal to the table (and use their money). Soon enough you will be making your own deals with your own money.
 

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I don't think you are going to get where you want to go with that approach.

Call me cynical but I don't consider wholesaling real estate a business. Maybe a hustle if you stretched it. Either way, its the bottom of the barrel in real estate. I certainly wouldn't put it on my resume.

Have you considered working for a real estate development company? Work for them, absorb information and after a while ask to be cut in on a deal. After that, try to bring your own deal to the table (and use their money). Soon enough you will be making your own deals with your own money.
Get Right,

Thanks for the input. I don't consider it a business either, I call it a hustle. Though I do know guys who have turned it into a business.

I know a lot of people view it as the bottom of the barrel of real estate, and sometimes I ask myself why I don't just get into a real business like the one you mentioned, development.

I didn't think that way a year ago, but now, after getting a more in depth look at it, I am starting to think about it.

I have a way to get into the multi-family business, but I don't like the idea of just up and leaving wholesaling just because it's been a year without results. What will be different with my next venture?

I want to build on successes, but perhaps this isn't necessary.

Isn't it the case that a lot of entrepreneurs go from failure to failure until they finally hit that home run?

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the matter. When in your opinion is it time to move on? When is it not quitting, but changing lanes?

Thanks for your advice.
 
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Get a real estate license and start selling for a broker. Then get a brokers license and start selling for developers and investors. Find your own deals while getting paid to handle other deals.
 

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No one is cursed. You are just missing something.

I was waiting for a comment like this lol. First of all, thanks for the input.

The situation is a little more complex than that, but you do hit on some true points. At the end of the day, if I really want a deal, I'll go get it.

Perhaps there was a lot of action faking and "busy work."

In February 2018, I handwrote, hand labeled, and hand stamped 1,000 yellow letters and mailed them all out carrying a big bag to the post office. I got 22 calls, no motivation.

That was an expensive campaign that I couldn't afford to do anymore. Since I didn't have a car, I had to go pay people on Craigslist to go take pictures of distressed homes, and then I would skip trace and cold call all of them. I spent hundreds of dollars doing this and went broke very quickly. I had to get a credit card. I got a couple of appointments out of that, but no deals.

That was March.

In April I paid 6 grand for a mentor. He suggested marketing signs. I ordered a bunch, and because I didn't have a car, again, I had to pay people on Craigslist. One guy put up all 50 in one small neighborhood (lack of instructing on my part). The next girl stole my signs. I called the cops, and they couldn't do anything. Days later she called and said to pick them up, so I had the next guy I hired to pick them up from her (I didn't have a car), and then HE stole them.

I had to buy a bicycle.

That was April.

May, June, and July consisted of me, after 8 hour work shifts, rigging a box onto my bicycle, putting my bike on the bus, riding the bus for an hour out to the drop zone, spending two or three hours nailing signs to telephone poles, then taking the bus an hour back to my apartment. I would put out 50 to 120 signs a week on my bike. 200-400 signs a month. I also would take the bus to investor meetings and aggressively network with as many investors as I could.

I also mailed out some more letters and did a ringless voicedrop (dropping thousands of calls that go straight to their voicemail). Whenever I had an appointment with a homeowner, I would take the bus. Sometimes they would ask where my car was (sometimes they would see me walking around the corner), I would just tell them it was around the corner.

After all that work I barely got any calls. So I changed the template on the signs and boom, I was getting calls. I started going on appointments. I was finally at a point where I had 3 appointments a week. I even got a house under contract, and was on track to make $15,000....but the seller backed out.

I kept pushing and pushing and leads started to come in from weird places. And finally......at the end of July..... I got a call that my 22 year old brother had just died. I flew back to Phoenix from Portland to bury him and when I got back a week later I just didn't have the drive to keep going. I moved back to Phoenix in August to be with my family and totally started over from scratch. It was a slow few months from August to December, but in December I started gaining speed again.

I joined Toastmasters to get better at speaking and communicating, and even in the month I've been going I feel like a much better speaker.

I also have been reading all kinds of success books and I even recently finished reading the King James Version of The Bible, cover to cover.

Action faking? Perhaps. There was a lot of time spent just riding on the bus. But I was always reading during that time.

However, despite all of that work, I still couldn't help but always get the feeling that I was just screwing around, that some how I was just beating around the bush. That if I really wanted a deal I would have gotten one already.

But I like your idea of taking a hugely successful wholesaler out to lunch, I haven't tried that yet.

Thank you again for your input!


February:
Mailers are highly inefficient. You can have a great list and still have to send out 4000 of them. Being new you'd probably have to send out more for a deal. You only sent out 1000. Not the best way to get started. Especially with not a lot of initial investment.

March:
You PAID people from CRAIGSLIST to find ugly properties?

The code enforcer's office compiles every single property with a violation. These aren't just distressed, these are properties that will start receiving fines. It's FREE (or at least very cheap). I can get every condemned property in my area onto a spreadsheet with the owner's name next to it...for free...from my laptop...before breakfast.

You can get access to a list of vacant properties as well for like $10 for 1-month of access (I downloaded the page onto a PDF so I can have it forever). There's 3000+ vacant homes within 20 miles of my zip code as an example. You can even filter for private owned, equity, includes phone number, time since last sale, etc.

Skip tracing is not that bad, but I'm guessing you did it in a small volume. Not enough to statistically deserve a deal.

April:

$6,000 for a mentor? That just told you to place signs???? Books are $10. Forums are free. Buying someone lunch and asking them questions costs $30. It's good you went to meetups though. Read bigger pockets, they'll tell you a great way to waste your money is to send out mailers as a newbie.

May, June, July:

Signs work like cutting a lawn with scissors. But..

You really hustled, tried different versions, got plenty of appointments and even got a deal under contract. Good. Unless they're taken down, the signs will keep working for you. Unfortunately you moved...

Who'd you send your ringless voicemails to? That makes all the difference. That's better than mailing a list, but targeting is everything.

The books, toastmasters, motivation, etc. All of that pays dividends. You'll BE better and it WILL matter in the future. But it won't get you a deal this week, this month or even this year.

But hearing about your tactics? Man, it sounds like you're trying to hammer in a nail with your forehead...

Wholesaling is finding needles in haystacks. That's why investors want to work with you. You are finding the needles for them. Don't jump in and start looking for the needles. Burn the haystack and then walk over it with a metal detector.

It's a marketing hustle. You need creativity and efficiency for it to work.

My recommendations:

General advice: every morning and night for the next few days, read forums and blogs about what people are doing to kick a$$ in what you're trying to do. Print out the stuff you think you should do, keep it at your desk and use it to make a plan and put it on paper.

Here's some links to stuff I found. I did the work for you.

Great blog post.
Driving For Dollars - 5 Deals in 30 Days

(replace the driving around with going directly to the code-violation properties and knock on the doors or leave a letter, or go to the mailing address if it's somewhere else)

Read the first post by Larry Higgins towards the middle of the first page (Post starts with: "The quickest most efficient way to get deals...")
$5k Wholesale Budget

Some great tools:

List of vacant houses...

vacanthousedatafeed.com (just pay the $10 1-month access, search for all vacant properties in your area, press CTRL+P and save as a PDF, take that PDF to a file converter and turn it into an excel spreadsheet)

List of distressed properties...

Search for your county or city clerk's office and request a list of all properties that have code violations or access it online if possible. (my county has it all online so it's convenient)

Also from the county: get properties that are 2+ years delinquent on their taxes.

Also easily available: find all pre-foreclosures in your area.

Now you have a list of a ton of messed up situations that would likely lead to someone wanting to sell their property to a wholesaler.

Combine those lists and prioritize them based on what they all have wrong. Multiple things gets top priority.

Eliminate the ones that have been sold recently.

Now find the owners. Get in front of their faces. Knock on their doors. If they're vacant, find the tax address and go there. If they are far away, skip trace them and call them. If they don't answer, find them on facebook. Or their wife, or their sister, or their friend. Just find them. Pick one day to do all your door knocking, calling, etc. Make a plan. Hell, put up a FSBO sign in their yard and wait for the angry phone call.

extra link:
It's a good read.
The Best Direct Mail Lists For Real Estate Investors

Final word:
Don't be a sucker and suck. Be a winner and win.

Edit: I had some buddies who started wholesaling 3 years ago. I see them cruising around in private jets nowadays. They said they had to make 20 OFFERS to get a single deal their first month. You'll need to contact a lot of people. They said they made 100 cold calls each day.

2nd edit:

A detailed strategy for you to execute on tomorrow:

1. Sign up to the vacant house data feed tomorrow (pay $10)
2. Set these parameters (zip code + 20 miles)(exclude everything besides single family residence)(exclude everything besides privately owned)(exclude over-leveraged)(year built: before 1980)(last purchase date: greater than 2 years)(equity:30% and up)
3. Take the results and scroll to the bottom until they all load (it only loads 100 or so at a time)
4. Press CTRL+P and save it as a PDF
5. Convert it into an excel spreadsheet with some online converter
6. Copy all of the phone numbers.
7. Get a google voice number
8. Open up a slybroadcast account and create a recording that says "Hey I saw your property and thought it might be vacant and I'd like to buy it call me back at {google voice number}"
9. Buy a few hundred credits for only like 30 bucks or so and send out the voicemails to all of the vacant properties.
10. Wait 1 day. Pursue any leads. If no good leads, cold call the numbers that didn't deliver. Pursue any leads. Only move on if someone says "I'm not interested" and take them off your list.
11. If no leads, now your list is stripped of good numbers, it is time to reach them another way.
12. The next day...Hop in your car and plan to visit 50 properties that are nearby. Plan your route on mapquest so it's efficient. Print out letters at office depot and take them with you.
13. Visit the property, look at it, take a photo, leave a letter, repeat. Eliminate any properties that don't look like good wholesaling opportunities.
14. The next day: take that list, find all properties with different mailing addresses, plan out a route if they are not TOO far, and knock on their doors.
15. Stay in touch and build rapport with anyone who would consider selling. Set your appointments and stay busy.

You might have a deal this week.
 
Last edited:

Rabby

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I've felt the same way. You'll get there.

Funny enough, I know some people in the RE wholesaling business. I really mean business - they have made something out of it that at least approaches what you would call "fastlane." Employees doing most of the work, etc.

Talking with the few people I know who have done this in RE wholesaling, I think it's because they focused on developing it as a business.

That means scalable, repeatable processes.

It also means finding an ideal customer with a specific problem, communicating with them that they identify with that problem (usually while finding out exactly what they need, other than just "money"), and offering a solution.

The fact that they are wholesaling real estate... is really secondary to the operational skills they've gained, in my opinion.

Wholesaling isn't my business, but I think there is reasonable business advice in this thread. You need to keep your marketing costs down so that you can reach more people with a message. And you need to focus on the problems you can solve for distressed property owners. If you can show them that you "get it" and you have a solution for their specific pain, I think your numbers will improve just from that.
 
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No one is cursed. You are just missing something.




February:
Mailers are highly inefficient. You can have a great list and still have to send out 4000 of them. Being new you'd probably have to send out more for a deal. You only sent out 1000. Not the best way to get started. Especially with not a lot of initial investment.

March:
You PAID people from CRAIGSLIST to find ugly properties?

The code enforcer's office compiles every single property with a violation. These aren't just distressed, these are properties that will start receiving fines. It's FREE (or at least very cheap). I can get every condemned property in my area onto a spreadsheet with the owner's name next to it...for free...from my laptop...before breakfast.

You can get access to a list of vacant properties as well for like $10 for 1-month of access (I downloaded the page onto a PDF so I can have it forever). There's 3000+ vacant homes within 20 miles of my zip code as an example. You can even filter for private owned, equity, includes phone number, time since last sale, etc.

Skip tracing is not that bad, but I'm guessing you did it in a small volume. Not enough to statistically deserve a deal.

April:

$6,000 for a mentor? That just told you to place signs???? Books are $10. Forums are free. Buying someone lunch and asking them questions costs $30. It's good you went to meetups though. Read bigger pockets, they'll tell you a great way to waste your money is to send out mailers as a newbie.

May, June, July:

Signs work like cutting a lawn with scissors. But..

You really hustled, tried different versions, got plenty of appointments and even got a deal under contract. Good. Unless they're taken down, the signs will keep working for you. Unfortunately you moved...

Who'd you send your ringless voicemails to? That makes all the difference. That's better than mailing a list, but targeting is everything.

The books, toastmasters, motivation, etc. All of that pays dividends. You'll BE better and it WILL matter in the future. But it won't get you a deal this week, this month or even this year.

But hearing about your tactics? Man, it sounds like you're trying to hammer in a nail with your forehead...

Wholesaling is finding needles in haystacks. That's why investors want to work with you. You are finding the needles for them. Don't jump in and start looking for the needles. Burn the haystack and then walk over it with a metal detector.

It's a marketing hustle. You need creativity and efficiency for it to work.

My recommendations:

General advice: every morning and night for the next few days, read forums and blogs about what people are doing to kick a$$ in what you're trying to do. Print out the stuff you think you should do, keep it at your desk and use it to make a plan and put it on paper.

Here's some links to stuff I found. I did the work for you.

Great blog post.
Driving For Dollars - 5 Deals in 30 Days

(replace the driving around with going directly to the code-violation properties and knock on the doors or leave a letter, or go to the mailing address if it's somewhere else)

Read the first post by Larry Higgins towards the middle of the first page (Post starts with: "The quickest most efficient way to get deals...")
$5k Wholesale Budget

Some great tools:

List of vacant houses...

vacanthousedatafeed.com (just pay the $10 1-month access, search for all vacant properties in your area, press CTRL+P and save as a PDF, take that PDF to a file converter and turn it into an excel spreadsheet)

List of distressed properties...

Search for your county or city clerk's office and request a list of all properties that have code violations or access it online if possible. (my county has it all online so it's convenient)

Also from the county: get properties that are 2+ years delinquent on their taxes.

Also easily available: find all pre-foreclosures in your area.

Now you have a list of a ton of messed up situations that would likely lead to someone wanting to sell their property to a wholesaler.

Combine those lists and prioritize them based on what they all have wrong. Multiple things gets top priority.

Eliminate the ones that have been sold recently.

Now find the owners. Get in front of their faces. Knock on their doors. If they're vacant, find the tax address and go there. If they are far away, skip trace them and call them. If they don't answer, find them on facebook. Or their wife, or their sister, or their friend. Just find them. Pick one day to do all your door knocking, calling, etc. Make a plan. Hell, put up a FSBO sign in their yard and wait for the angry phone call.

extra link:
It's a good read.
The Best Direct Mail Lists For Real Estate Investors

Final word:
Don't be a sucker and suck. Be a winner and win.

Edit: I had some buddies who started wholesaling 3 years ago. I see them cruising around in private jets nowadays. They said they had to make 20 OFFERS to get a single deal their first month. You'll need to contact a lot of people. They said they made 100 cold calls each day.


No one is cursed. You are just missing something.




February:
Mailers are highly inefficient. You can have a great list and still have to send out 4000 of them. Being new you'd probably have to send out more for a deal. You only sent out 1000. Not the best way to get started. Especially with not a lot of initial investment.

March:
You PAID people from CRAIGSLIST to find ugly properties?

The code enforcer's office compiles every single property with a violation. These aren't just distressed, these are properties that will start receiving fines. It's FREE (or at least very cheap). I can get every condemned property in my area onto a spreadsheet with the owner's name next to it...for free...from my laptop...before breakfast.

You can get access to a list of vacant properties as well for like $10 for 1-month of access (I downloaded the page onto a PDF so I can have it forever). There's 3000+ vacant homes within 20 miles of my zip code as an example. You can even filter for private owned, equity, includes phone number, time since last sale, etc.

Skip tracing is not that bad, but I'm guessing you did it in a small volume. Not enough to statistically deserve a deal.

April:

$6,000 for a mentor? That just told you to place signs???? Books are $10. Forums are free. Buying someone lunch and asking them questions costs $30. It's good you went to meetups though. Read bigger pockets, they'll tell you a great way to waste your money is to send out mailers as a newbie.

May, June, July:

Signs work like cutting a lawn with scissors. But..

You really hustled, tried different versions, got plenty of appointments and even got a deal under contract. Good. Unless they're taken down, the signs will keep working for you. Unfortunately you moved...

Who'd you send your ringless voicemails to? That makes all the difference. That's better than mailing a list, but targeting is everything.

The books, toastmasters, motivation, etc. All of that pays dividends. You'll BE better and it WILL matter in the future. But it won't get you a deal this week, this month or even this year.

But hearing about your tactics? Man, it sounds like you're trying to hammer in a nail with your forehead...

Wholesaling is finding needles in haystacks. That's why investors want to work with you. You are finding the needles for them. Don't jump in and start looking for the needles. Burn the haystack and then walk over it with a metal detector.

It's a marketing hustle. You need creativity and efficiency for it to work.

My recommendations:

General advice: every morning and night for the next few days, read forums and blogs about what people are doing to kick a$$ in what you're trying to do. Print out the stuff you think you should do, keep it at your desk and use it to make a plan and put it on paper.

Here's some links to stuff I found. I did the work for you.

Great blog post.
Driving For Dollars - 5 Deals in 30 Days

(replace the driving around with going directly to the code-violation properties and knock on the doors or leave a letter, or go to the mailing address if it's somewhere else)

Read the first post by Larry Higgins towards the middle of the first page (Post starts with: "The quickest most efficient way to get deals...")
$5k Wholesale Budget

Some great tools:

List of vacant houses...

vacanthousedatafeed.com (just pay the $10 1-month access, search for all vacant properties in your area, press CTRL+P and save as a PDF, take that PDF to a file converter and turn it into an excel spreadsheet)

List of distressed properties...

Search for your county or city clerk's office and request a list of all properties that have code violations or access it online if possible. (my county has it all online so it's convenient)

Also from the county: get properties that are 2+ years delinquent on their taxes.

Also easily available: find all pre-foreclosures in your area.

Now you have a list of a ton of messed up situations that would likely lead to someone wanting to sell their property to a wholesaler.

Combine those lists and prioritize them based on what they all have wrong. Multiple things gets top priority.

Eliminate the ones that have been sold recently.

Now find the owners. Get in front of their faces. Knock on their doors. If they're vacant, find the tax address and go there. If they are far away, skip trace them and call them. If they don't answer, find them on facebook. Or their wife, or their sister, or their friend. Just find them. Pick one day to do all your door knocking, calling, etc. Make a plan. Hell, put up a FSBO sign in their yard and wait for the angry phone call.

extra link:
It's a good read.
The Best Direct Mail Lists For Real Estate Investors

Final word:
Don't be a sucker and suck. Be a winner and win.

Edit: I had some buddies who started wholesaling 3 years ago. I see them cruising around in private jets nowadays. They said they had to make 20 OFFERS to get a single deal their first month. You'll need to contact a lot of people. They said they made 100 cold calls each day.

2nd edit:

A detailed strategy for you to execute on tomorrow:

1. Sign up to the vacant house data feed tomorrow (pay $10)
2. Set these parameters (zip code + 20 miles)(exclude everything besides single family residence)(exclude everything besides privately owned)(exclude over-leveraged)(year built: before 1980)(last purchase date: greater than 2 years)(equity:30% and up)
3. Take the results and scroll to the bottom until they all load (it only loads 100 or so at a time)
4. Press CTRL+P and save it as a PDF
5. Convert it into an excel spreadsheet with some online converter
6. Copy all of the phone numbers.
7. Get a google voice number
7. Open up a slybroadcast account and create a recording that says "Hey I saw your property and thought it might be vacant and I'd like to buy it call me back at {google voice number}"
8. Buy a few hundred credits for only like 30 bucks or so and send out the voicemails to all of the vacant properties.
9. Wait 1 day. Pursue any leads. If no good leads, cold call the numbers that didn't deliver. Pursue any leads. Only move on if someone says "I'm not interested" and take them off your list.
10. If no leads, now your list is stripped of good numbers, it is time to reach them another way.
11. The next day...Hop in your car and plan to visit 50 properties that are nearby. Plan your route on mapquest so it's efficient. Print out letters at office depot and take them with you.
12. Visit the property, look at it, take a photo, leave a letter, repeat. Eliminate any properties that don't look like good wholesaling opportunities.
13. The next day: take that list, find all properties with different mailing addresses, plan out a route if they are not TOO far, and knock on their doors.
14. Stay in touch and build rapport with anyone who would consider selling. Set your appointments and stay busy.

You might have a deal this week.
Johnny boy,
Wow, thanks for the great read and advice therein.

I had no idea what I was doing when I was writing those letters and didn't find out until afterwards that the key to mailing is consistency and I had heard you have to hit the same list like 7 times at least. At the time I just couldn't afford it so it was in a way a waste of time and money.

And yes I did pay people from Craigslist I am ashamed to admit lol. I have never tried the code enforcement list. Last month I went to the court house for pre-foreclosures but I got the run around and came home empty handed. When I go again, I will get the code violations.

And yes, I did do skip tracing but the thing was I was using a service called Find The Seller, which was incredibly expensive (though highly accurate), now I am using Skip Genie which is so much cheaper and honestly about as accurate, but yes, while in March I was dialing 50 to 100 numbers a day (whether they were dead #s or people I actually talked to) I didn't dial enough to get a deal, only a couple appointments.

I am also very interested in that vacant home service, and I see you have it listed below on one of your edits.

As far as the mentor, it was 5 grand for 3 months of training, including access to talking to him any time on Voxer, and then $300 a month after that. For me it was totally worth it. He told me more than to just put up signs believe it or not lol, he just recommended signs for guys on a budget who are just starting out. He was always telling us about all kinds of marketing we could do and was always up to date with the newest tactics. Every week we had a coaching call which was a Facebook live, and he would bring on all kinds of successful entrepreneurs and millionaires who gave absolutely great advice. That part of the coaching alone was well worth the money. For me also, he was the first real successful millionaire I have met who actually did things like visualize, write goals, and read books everyday. He made it real for me, it was no longer something I just read out of a book, but something REAL successful human beings actually do, and for me that was a big mind shift. Also a lot of doors and opportunities were opened just by connecting with the other guys in the group.

You are right on the money about books and the shit loads of free information out there. With all the information out there we could all make fortunes, but we tend to only value things we pay for which is perhaps why I have overlooked the BiggerPockets Forum. That's one thing I will do different this year because you mentioned it, I will take more advantage of the gold mine of info on there and everywhere else.

By the way, thank you for digging up those posts.

With the ringless voicedrop I just sent it to an absentee list I pulled from listsource. But after getting a shit load of calls from people just to tell me they DIDN'T want to sell their house, I realized it was basically cold calling in reverse, instead of me calling them and saying no, they were calling me and saying no. I pulled the plug because I was getting viable leads from my signs and way too many garbage leads from RVM and didn't want to miss the sign leads.

You hit it right on the head with the books, they won't get me a deal this week, month, or year, and it often feels like that when I am reading them, but the payoff is later down the road. Same with Toastmasters, though Toastmasters does seem to be having more immediate effects and I already am hearing and seeing differences (mentor advised me to do both of these things by the way lol)

I like your idea of burning down the haystack then going over it with a metal detector, that's a good way to look at it lol. I also like your simile about the hammering the nail in with my forehead, unfortunately it really feels that way. Last year really felt like a shit show, but I am going to make this year better, and more efficient. The situation overall has improved dramatically, especially now that I have a car.

I will be subscribing to vacanthousedatefeed.com tomorrow, and I will read those posts. In fact, I'll start tonight since it's 230 in the morning and can't sleep for shit anyway lol.

Thank you for the step by step process, I will take your advice and follow your instructions.

Thank you again for the insightful read, it makes me want to refocus and keep pushing forward (lately I have lost focus and have just barely been going through the motions).

You've been the biggest help to me since I have been on here, and one day I want to be able to advise people like you advised me!

God bless you.
 
Last edited:

Olie Sins

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I've felt the same way. You'll get there.

Funny enough, I know some people in the RE wholesaling business. I really mean business - they have made something out of it that at least approaches what you would call "fastlane." Employees doing most of the work, etc.

Talking with the few people I know who have done this in RE wholesaling, I think it's because they focused on developing it as a business.

That means scalable, repeatable processes.

It also means finding an ideal customer with a specific problem, communicating with them that they identify with that problem (usually while finding out exactly what they need, other than just "money"), and offering a solution.

The fact that they are wholesaling real estate... is really secondary to the operational skills they've gained, in my opinion.

Wholesaling isn't my business, but I think there is reasonable business advice in this thread. You need to keep your marketing costs down so that you can reach more people with a message. And you need to focus on the problems you can solve for distressed property owners. If you can show them that you "get it" and you have a solution for their specific pain, I think your numbers will improve just from that.
Rabby,

Thank you! I think a lot of people don't see that it can be a viable business (though it isn't necessarily my business plan). It is totally scalable. My old mentor scaled it. Right now it is a hustle, but it could be so much more.

The most important part (and this is something I really need to work on) is realizing that I am dealing with real people, with real problems. And I feel tactless sometimes when I meet up with these homeowners. I do make efforts to build rapport with them up front, never even mentioning the house in the beginning, but I need to learn more about what their actual problems are, rather than just see them as talking checks.

Thanks for the response Rabby.
 

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One other thing I thought of this morning. Several people I've met in residential real estate (both rentals and wholesaling) tend to ask people "if they know anyone" who might have an unwanted house. I think there is a subtle difference between that and saying "can I buy your house." For one thing, if they have no intention of selling, they can at least refer someone. Secondly, it feels a little more natural, less confrontational, because it doesn't initiate a negotiation between strangers. I do the same thing when selling other stuff... it just feels easier I guess.
 
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Solving Pain
It is understandable that getting started in selling anything is very tough. You are up against a mountain of conditioning that is very evil...

Question, what specifically did your 6 Grand millionaire mentor teach you about prospecting and probing for pain points in sales?

When you don't close a sale it is because you didn't talk to the right person, or didn't find out their true pain.

Every person wants something they can't get. They will stay inactive until it is more painful/they have something to lose. Frustration and a burning desire are what motivates 99% of people to act.

Have you ever heard of "SPIN Selling" or "You Can't Teach A Kid To Ride A Bike At A Seminar?" I SUCKED at selling until I read those books and @Andy Black and @Lex DeVille threads.
 

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It is understandable that getting started in selling anything is very tough. You are up against a mountain of conditioning that is very evil...

Question, what specifically did your 6 Grand millionaire mentor teach you about prospecting and probing for pain points in sales?

When you don't close a sale it is because you didn't talk to the right person, or didn't find out their true pain.

Every person wants something they can't get. They will stay inactive until it is more painful/they have something to lose. Frustration and a burning desire are what motivates 99% of people to act.

Have you ever heard of "SPIN Selling" or "You Can't Teach A Kid To Ride A Bike At A Seminar?" I SUCKED at selling until I read those books and @Andy Black and @Lex DeVille threads.
It is understandable that getting started in selling anything is very tough. You are up against a mountain of conditioning that is very evil...

Question, what specifically did your 6 Grand millionaire mentor teach you about prospecting and probing for pain points in sales?

When you don't close a sale it is because you didn't talk to the right person, or didn't find out their true pain.

Every person wants something they can't get. They will stay inactive until it is more painful/they have something to lose. Frustration and a burning desire are what motivates 99% of people to act.

Have you ever heard of "SPIN Selling" or "You Can't Teach A Kid To Ride A Bike At A Seminar?" I SUCKED at selling until I read those books and @Andy Black and @Lex DeVille threads.
Process,

Thank you for the input.

Truthfully, my 6 grand millionaire mentor (lol) didn't go much into the sales part of it. He covered some pretty elementary stuff like the importance of building rapport, listening for problems which equals their motivation to sell, but he didn't go too much into the "sales" part of it.

I will add Spin Selling and You Can't Teach A Kid To Ride A Bike At A Seminar to my reading list. I want to go heavy on the sales study this year, that's one thing I definitely want to improve on. I will also start following both of those threads.

I am currently listening to Grant Cardone's: Sell Or Be Sold, it's a great book about sales and the biggest thing I have learned so far is that I know almost nothing about sales!

Thanks for your advice!
 

Process

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Process,

Thank you for the input.

Truthfully, my 6 grand millionaire mentor (lol) didn't go much into the sales part of it. He covered some pretty elementary stuff like the importance of building rapport, listening for problems which equals their motivation to sell, but he didn't go too much into the "sales" part of it.

I will add Spin Selling and You Can't Teach A Kid To Ride A Bike At A Seminar to my reading list. I want to go heavy on the sales study this year, that's one thing I definitely want to improve on. I will also start following both of those threads.

I am currently listening to Grant Cardone's: Sell Or Be Sold, it's a great book about sales and the biggest thing I have learned so far is that I know almost nothing about sales!

Thanks for your advice!

No problem, put it to use. Grant is good to start with.

The gist of sales is:
1. Find the hungry crowd.
2. Find out their pain, don’t talk about features and benefits unless it directly relates to their pain.
3. Do more listening and demonstrating than talking.
4. Follow up is very powerful. It shows integrity. Don’t be afraid of it.
5. Upsells, referrals, and repeat business is where the profit is. Getting started is the tough part.
6. Value is relative. If they are sick of their pain, they will find the money.
7. Focus on prospecting and servicing existing clients. Do the busy work later or on the weekend.
 
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chuckypita

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Best advice I read goes along the lines of what DJ says - "NOBODY GIVES A F***"

In other words, "what's in it for the customer?"

It awesome you're building a business - focus on the core questions:

-What does my customer want/need? How can I provide it?
 

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The gist of sales is:
1. Find the hungry crowd.
2. Find out their pain, don’t talk about features and benefits unless it directly relates to their pain.
3. Do more listening and demonstrating than talking.
4. Follow up is very powerful. It shows integrity. Don’t be afraid of it.
5. Upsells, referrals, and repeat business is where the profit is. Getting started is the tough part.
6. Value is relative. If they are sick of their pain, they will find the money.
7. Focus on prospecting and servicing existing clients. Do the busy work later or on the weekend.
I'd add one more thing. Once you know their pain, ask what they'd like instead. In other words, paint a picture of the relief of having their problem off their hands, and do it in their language/words. "How would it feel to not have the stress of getting collections calls all the time?" for example.

Your services are the means that get them from the pain to the pleasure. Don't sell the means - sell the pleasure. When they ask 'how can you do that?', you'll be in a better position to inform, not sell. You'll know they're sold when they say something like 'would you help me?' In other words, become a consultant, not a salesperson.

One more thing. Pre-qualify your leads. Don't waste more time 'practicing' on real prospects. Do that with friends and mentors, and spend your precious appointment time working with people who are truly motivated.
 
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