Why did it take me going fulltime in real estate to see the importance of follow up? I guess when all your living expenses are covered by your W-2 income, talking about the number of deals your doing is just cool conversation at the local REIA club. However, when the transactions are buying your groceries, you are always looking for ways to create more deals. The simplest idea can sometimes make all the difference. I'm going to give you an idea that I guarantee will increase your deals by 15%.

  My forte is wholesaling. I take control of property and then sell the opportunity to others for my profit. Making thousands of dollars without risk, money, or good credit is an awesome way to start you investing career. However, there is a draw back to wholesaling. You have to do another deal to make more money. There is no residual income in wholesaling. The way you make more money is to actually keep one of the deals you could have turned, or do more deals. There are many of ways to increase your leads to enable you to buy more houses. You could spend more money on advertising. You could do more networking and call on more FSBO's. Maybe you should simply make more offers with a good Realtor, but what about the leads that you already paid for? How could you close more from that category?

  Follow up is the key to getting that almost motivated seller to become motivated enough. When I talk to a seller and I come close to making an appointment, I grab one of my postcards specially designed for follow up. The card has a picture of a lady listening through a door with an empty glass. It says, "Thanks For Listening" along with my contact info including web address. I use the back of the card for the customer's address and a hand written note with something specific about the conversation I had with them. This card also goes into the mail the next day to all the customers that did not accept one of my offers. By the way, if I had an appointment with them, they received an offer. If you put this into your routine, you will increase your business by 15% or more.

  Many sellers call me back and let me buy their house just because of the follow up post card. One seller even said my offer was less than another investor's offer, but she was impressed with the professionalism of the post card. This example represents $3500 in my pocket from one wholesale deal. I am glad that I spent the $0.23 for the stamp, $0.06 for the post card, and the 45 seconds it took to address and write a quick note.

Jason Dillard's marketing techniques, including the follow-up card described in this article, are described and shown in an interactive product, Learn How to Wholesale Houses with Jason Dillard.
Jason Dillard is an active investor in Greenville, SC. Jason started his real estate career taking many more risks that he does today. He bought houses using bank notes and was only a landlord. Now he uses several methods to buy houses. Today, along with his investing in real estate, Jason is teaching investors to do what he does.