Hey Moguls, Preston Ely here…
This is going to be short and sexy since I am both busy AND sexy.
Why am I so busy? Cause the Mrs. and I recently had a baby girl! (Why am I so sexy? You’re gonna have to ask God about that one.)
Seriously though, we are so thankful and feel truly blessed to have sweet little Presley Rae in our family. Wow, life is good.One day, she’ll probably take over my REI business and crush it even better!
Okay, back to the business-y stuff…
Here’s today’s main point…
All big real estate wholesalers do mailers. You need to do mailers (if you can afford them).
By “mailer,” I mean simply a short note mailed to a seller expressing interest in purchasing their house. This is known as direct response marketing.
Direct response marketing is the art of sending out a marketing message and compelling the recipient to respond immediately. Direct mail is one form of this.
This is the most important thing to remember about direct mail: All your recipients open their mail standing over a trash can/recycling bin
The trash can. Otherwise known to direct marketers as “The Round File.”
You better do something special to not end up in the round file with all the other junk mail. After all, it’s about .41 cents for every one of your letters that ends up there.
This is the good stuff
3 short, simple steps to getting your stuff read:
1. Use a plain white envelope and handwrite the name and address. Duh.
2. 
Use a regular stamp as opposed to a postage machine. (No, not a bulk mail stamp, a regular stamp. Yes I know it costs more, but you know what costs even more, your letters not being opened at all because they look like junk mail.)
3. Superimpose Ed McMahon’s face right on the front with him giving a “thumb’s up” and a smile with a little blurb coming out of his mouth that says “Open me please!” Just kidding. Do not do this. Make the blurb say something else.
4. Yes, four. I switched it to four things at the last second. This is my article. I can do what I want – Either use a personal return address like a label or don’t put a return address at all.
5. Spray perfume all over it. (Again – totally joking. Use catnip. I’ve heard motivated sellers loooooove catnip. Or try experimenting with that lure spray that fishermen use because they’re addicted to buying fishing things that do absolutely nothing.)
And lastly…
A great tip I picked up from an investor friend is to send them out in invitation-style envelopes because who the heck doesn’t open that when it appears in their mailbox with a real stamp on it?! A good source that can handle those for you is Yellow Letters Complete.
So there ya have it. Do that, and your letter will get read. Now, let’s just hope your letter says something that they’ll actually respond to.
Anything to add?
Got any more tips about getting your letters opened and read? Share below, friends.
Know that mailers are an effective marketing tool.
Handwrite the address on the envelopes.
Place a real stamp and a real label on your envelopes.
Consider using invitation-style envelopes, which are more likely to be opened by the recipient.
Preston Ely
is a real estate investor, serial entrepreneur, life coach, musician and philanthropist. CEO of Real Freedom, Inc, one of the most influential internet-based information publishers in the world, owns the largest Anytime Fitness Gym in the United States, is recording a music album with Atlantic Records, sits on the board of Advocates Of Love Orphanage, and has a non-profit charity assisting the poor and oppressed in Cuba with both their physical and spiritual needs.
With over 200,000 subscribers to his email newsletter, he is rapidly fulfilling his mission on earth, which is to glorify God by setting people physically, mentally, financially, and spiritually free through his music and his message of FREEDOM. Preston is 37 years old, lives in Tampa, FL with his wife Ashley, where he spends most of his time reading, writing, and practicing mixed martial arts.