Transcript:
Choosing Your Customers
Welcome to the Tax Sale Podcast, where tax sale investing is made easy. My name is Casey Denman, I’m a tax sale veteran, the leading tax sale expert, author of The Tax Sale Playbook, founder of The Tax Sale Academy and I’m your host right here on The Tax Sale Podcast.
Thank you so much for joining me on today’s podcast episode. This is a completely free podcast and is brought to you through and because of The Tax Sale Academy. If you’re looking to learn more about investing in tax defaulted real estate, just head to TaxSaleAcademy.com. Again that’s TaxSaleAcademy.com.
Today I want to talk about something that some people might see as odd or perhaps even controversial. And that’s choosing your customers and how you engage with them.
I can remember when I first got into real estate. I would do anything, anything for my customers. I’d answer calls at all times of the day. I’d show customers properties any time, any place. I’d do anything to make customers happy . . . even if it was to the detriment of myself.
And then one day something happened that hit me. One day I realized that I was allowing myself to be taken advantage of by my customers with hopes of one day earning their money. I had someone call me and ask me about my background and the property. A few minutes later they called back to tell me that they were coming to town over the weekend and wanted to see some of my properties. Fantastic I thought. I had made a good impression and I’d trade my Saturday for a nice little profit. At the time I had about 10 vacant lots I had purchased at a tax sale that I was now selling and they were scattered across a few different counties. I laid out a little map, put the folks in my truck and drove them to the first lot. They asked loads of questions about the area on the way there, then didn’t seem to interested in the lot. We drove to the next lot, asking more questions about the market and the areas we were driving through, but didn’t seem to interested in the lot. We continued driving from lot to lot with a few detours here and there to seem to popular subdivisions – I didn’t think it was a big deal as I was trying to help them see the area.
At the end of the day the gentleman told me that he wasn’t really interested in the lots, but appreciate the tour and information and gave me $10 for gas. $10. First off, I spent probably $50 in gas. Secondly, I was trying to sell them my lots, not give them a tour. Lastly, it became apparent he was using my for my knowledge of the area more than anything else.
At the time I was young and naïve, but it tought me very valuable lesson. And that is that I have the opportunity to CHOOSE who I work with and HOW I work with them, not the other way around. My time is most valuable to me. And this is something that has become more and more important and obvious to me over the years. How I spend my time is my business.
And I operate like that to this day. When it comes to real estate I absolutely choose who I want to work with now and do that by design.
If a potential buyer has a question I’ll answer any question you could ever have. And I do it at all times of the night and day – but I’m not going to miss my son’s baseball game to answer a question. I’m not going to get so stressed out about responding to an email within 3 seconds. I’m not going to cancel all trips or vacations to wait for someone’s call. And no customer should expect that – if that’s the type of customer someone is, then that customer isn’t necessary to me and shouldn’t be necessary to you either. It’s not worth it in the long run.
So much about choosing your customer doesn’t come at the first interaction with a customer. It comes well before that. It comes in the way you have your business setup and THAT comes by having intention in what you’re doing.
When I look back I was taken advantage of by customers simply because that’s how I set myself up. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll do anything for a customer that I can. But oftentimes, if you set yourself up correctly in the first place it won’t’ be nearly as stressful and demanding as it would’ve been if you didn’t set yourself up correctly.
Let me give you a few ideas on how you can better choose your customers:
Let’s talk about property types first: The more valuable the property, the more demanding the customer will typically be – rightfully so. If you have a million dollar house, you’ll likely need to be able to show the potential buyer htat property. You’ll need to answer questions, meet inspectors, appraisals and see that deal through all the way until the end. For the vacant lot in the middle of nowhere, it’s unlikely that you need to put forth much effort to show that property. Now, obviously, there is a threshold here. You don’t want to sell $100 dessert lots all day long. And perhaps that million dollar house yields you $800,000 in profit, that probably justifies your time investment. But understand that it’s important to keep your eyes out for trends – if you’re involved in properties that require substantial time investments but very limited upside, then it’s probably time to make an adjustment.
The next one is where you advertise. Certain websites will require you to put forth more effort than other sites. And in some situations, that might end up being a huge waste of time. If you decide to advertise your property on Facebook for example, then you need to be ready to field lots of potential inquires from lukewarm buyers. If you advertise your property in a very targeted place, then the results will be better with higher quality leads and less time investment required. Again, there are strategies and times to use both of these methods and many others.
Another huge way to choose your customers is through your sales copy. That’s another term for the style of writing you’re using to describe and hopefully sell your property. If you use very vague descriptions of your properties, expect to have a significant time investment clarifying what you’re selling. The sales copy that includes something like 3 bed 2 bath home in Jonesville isn’t going to help in choosing your buyers. But something that targets, say investors, and includes a lengthy description of what you’re selling is liable to help you choose the customers you want to work with.
Something else that I usually do that might look a little aggressive but serves a very specific purpose is I’ll put in requirements of my buyers. For example, an ad might include the traditional sales copy followed by something like: “Important: All transactions must be cash and must close within two weeks. Offers less than full price not considered.” This is a way for me to lay out my expectations, it puts me in control of the transaction and it also filters out the buyers that I don’t want to work with, since I work predominately with investors.
Something else I’ll do is compile a list of frequently asked questions. This is something that I’ve built over the years as a result of the questions I receive. When it’s not possible to put this information into the description of the property I’ll add it as a spate section whether it’s on a website, a flyer, or wherever. These frequentrly asked questions might include school zone information, flood information, time limits to build, closing information, taxes, all that kind of stuff. The idea is to be able to answer ANY questions as buyer might have before they are able to ask it. This saves you and your buyer time.
I’ll also require the buyer to perform their own due diligence. This is a trap that’s easy to get sucked into. You think that, of course, a buyer should be performing their own diligence. But it starts out with a question like, Can I park an RV there full time? Then you tell them you don’t know. They press and before you know if you’re the one going to the county asking for the zoning requirements. Sure, it’s helpful to know this information if you have multiple people asking it, but it’s so much easier for YOU if you send your buyers to perform their own due diligence based on whatever they want instead of you doing it for them. It’s also safer from a liability standpoint as well.
Communication is another huge way to help you choose your buyers. My preferred method of communication is email. It allows me to respond when I’m able to. It also insures I remember to respond and it provides me with a record of our communications. Because of this I build it into my sales copy with quick lines such as: Email me for more information. Obviously, some buyers, especially older buyers prefer to discuss things over the phone and that’s ok, but I’d much prefer to direct as many people as I can to email. Some people prefer phone calls or text messages and if that’s the case be sure that you properly suggest that during the marketing phase.
The last one I want to mention is the collection of leads. You’ll likely have multiple people contact you about each property you have for sale. What you do with these leads is your business, but I collect each one. And then I’ll filter and sort them. One list for investors interested in land in this area, one for investors interested in homes in that area, one for end users in this area or that area. And then when I begin to market the next property I can market it to the appropriate list which will allow me to essentially choose my buyers.
As you can see there are plenty of ways that YOU can choose your own buyers. Now for most people, this is something they’ll have to build up to over time. But we don’t get into business to allow other people to dictate how we run our lives. Unfortunately many people end up investing or starting a business for the freedom they desire, only to have that business remove all their freedoms. Be intentional with all things surrounding your tax sale business including choosing your own customers!
I truly hope this has helped. If this episode has helped at all, please do us a huge favor and leave some positive feedback on whatever podcasting platform you’re listening to us on right now.
For more information on strategies for success as a tax sale investing just visit taxsaleacademy.com where we teach about all this and so much more inside the academy.
Thanks so much for taking the time to listen. We’ll see you next time, right there on The Tax Sale Podcast. Take care, bye bye.