I am trying to refine my approach to park acquisitions and I was hoping I could get some advice on how best to spend my time.
I recently started sending out personalized mailers(telling a bit about myself, typed up but hand signed and envelope is hand signed too). I am going to begin cold calling soon as well but I wanted to get some opinions on what works best.
Does anyone have any kind of ball park figure for how to spend their day? I.e. spent 60% making calls and 20% on mailers and 20% on personal visits. I really donât want to spend too much time on something that is not very effective.
I send letters every 3 mos. to the parks in my state which are 30+ units. I try to find the Mom and Pop owners who donât necessarily live away from the parks. To do this, I have to really do research online to pierce the anonymity of an LLC. You do that by searching on all the addresses and people you see in the LLC docs. Anyway, then you have to use an app like BeenVerified to get the personâs phone number. There about 110 parks in my state I am interested in. I have been able to get phone numbers for about half. I spend maybe 5 hours a week âworkingâ my database. That includes calling if I can. Once I talk to someone, I continue to call them about every 3 mos after I send another letterâŠI send a different letter if I have their phone number. I try to make myself useful and send some information like market rents, vacancy rates, articles from the MH press, etc. At Christmas, everyone gets a Christmas card. An old man once told me, "Keep contacting them until they sell it to you or sell it to someone else.â
I suggest you do both. Send out your letters and follow up with a call stating that you ârecently sent a letter and wanted to follow up with a conversation to introduce myself and to see if you received the letter and might be considering selling your park, now or in the futureâŠâ.
MHP owners are receiving a lot of post cards and letters so you want to try to stand out a bit. Continue to follow up every so often. Ask the owner if itâs ok to follow up and if so how often. If they say in a month, then you know they may be thinking about selling⊠if they say in a year then they probably arenât interested in selling. I would send the latter a follow up letter every 4 months or so and call them in 9 months.
I get some calls from every mailing. Apparently, they donât receive too many. I have made one deal from calls Iâve received. But I think it takes a systematic application of both to get the best traction. Remember this: Youâre trying to make a friend who will remember you months or years from now when they are ready to sell. They get calls from Frank and Dave and the other big funds, but they like dealing with another Mom and Pop like us. Consistency is the key. And variation in materials sent. Also, ask for their email address and cell phone number. That way, you can also email them an interesting article you read. With a cell phone, you can also use Slydial to call directly into their voicemail, saving time. (Use sparingly, but not every call needs to end in a live conversation.) âHi, Bob, this is Steve from Atlanta. Iâm the one who calls you every quarter to talk about your mobile home park. Well, itâs that time again, so I thought Iâd give you a shout. Nothing urgent, just thought of you because I drove by a park thatâs a lot like yours and I had an idea I wanted to share. Give me a call if you feel like it. Hope youâre doing well.â Then you tell them of the nice fencing or sign you saw on another park.
Got a tip from the Joe Fairless podcast Sunday: On your third mailing with no response, change it to reflect an invite to an event like a Meetup or seminar in their area. Make the RSVP to the event the call to action for that letter. Then go to that event and meet them in person.
Remember: 80% about them and the MHP business in general; only 20% asking about their property. Be USEFUL to these owners.
The ultimate goal is to get a face-to-face meeting over lunch or dinner so you can really build the relationship.
Realize that this strategy could take YEARS to produce results. The one who sticks with it gets the deal; those who give up two years in are soon forgotten.