Issue #2150
- WEALTHY: A real estate marketing tool that works better than any other (Marko Rubel)
- HEALTHY: The shocking study results that could make you years younger (Jon Benson)
- WISE: Benjamin Franklin on time
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- An important marketing decision (Michael Masterson)
- Fancy limos and luxury hotels are NOT the way to go (Jason Holland)
- It’s Good to Know… about the world’s oldest diamonds
- Add "cozen" to your vocabulary
"I lost my fear, opened my mind and listened and I cannot believe the result."
Hello Bob,
I finished The Billionaire Way about 10 days ago. Now I promise you I did not cheat on this so hear me out.
I started the first two or three days I think and there was a transaction I was involved in that I was not comfortable with but had an emotional attachment to. I sat down one night and crunched the numbers and made some tough decisions, all emotion aside.
Then about two weeks into the program there was the day when we had to exclude our emotions and cut off dead baggage. Wow, I felt like yeah, OK I’m getting this because I just did that.
OK so now I’m tearing along the program, accepting things that I am already doing and working on the things I am not comfortable with. Vigilantly everyday, watching the DVD after the kids were in bed and working my work book.
Two days after I finished the program I saw an opportunity which I could assess very well given my clarity of vision, my assessments of my talents and the work I had accomplished.
It is my joy to tell you that I am founding executive of a new international network marketing company, the likes of which have never been seen and I have already built my team Australia wide within 10 days, using the billionaire way techniques.
I lost my fear, opened my mind and listened and I cannot believe the result. Thank you so much…
Regards,
Kathy
Learn more about The Billionaire Way program today…
"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of."
Benjamin Franklin
How to Focus on the Most Profitable Foreclosure Leads
By Marko Rubel
Whether you’re new to real estate investing or a seasoned pro, you can’t make money unless you have a list of qualified leads (people who are probably ready to sell their homes).
If you market your services to people in foreclosure, or to any targeted list of ready-to-sell homeowners, you’re going to get qualified leads. But leads aren’t deals… yet. Some may become super-profitable bargains that put thousands of dollars in your pocket – but if you want to make top profits, you’ll need to focus on the best leads and discard the rest.
It’s easy for new investors to get excited when their marketing starts working, and understandably so. And it’s tempting at this stage to want to contact everyone who responds. But it only takes a few days to discover that not all leads are created equal.
This is true even when investing in foreclosures, where most of your leads will be motivated to sell. Buying at foreclosure can be very profitable – especially once you learn how to flush out the best ones.
When I started investing, I quickly learned that I’d never have enough time to contact every lead. Instead, I’ve learned to evaluate and screen my leads to find the best possible opportunities. Over the years, I’ve used a 24-hour recorded message, direct mail, and a live answering service. But I’ve found that one tool works better than any other: the Internet.
Almost all my marketing to people in foreclosure drives the prospect to one of my websites, for two reasons:
- People in foreclosure are usually scared and confused. As a result, they’re more likely to visit a website – where they can remain anonymous at first – than call you directly.
- The website encourages prospects to qualify themselves.
I load up my websites with audio and video testimonials from previous sellers… people I’ve helped by buying their homes and stopping the foreclosure process… people I’ve helped after their listing with a real estate agent expired without a sale… and so on. These are all real people who sold their homes to me when they were in foreclosure or needed a quick sale.
If you’re new to real estate and don’t have these kinds of testimonials yet, you can partner with an investor who does have a track record and use his testimonials (while you also benefit from his experience). Or you can include general testimonials from people who know you and know you’re trustworthy. Have them say things like "Jack always comes through with his promises"… or "Alice does what she says she’s going to do when she says she’s going to do it." Then make sure you live up to those words.
I invite my website visitors to submit an electronic form with all the information I need. I promise them a response within 48 hours, but at no time do I tell them I will make an offer on their home.
The prospective seller must answer all the questions on the form before the website will allow them to submit the form to my office. The questions are designed not only to get qualifying information, but also – and just as important – to find facts that could disqualify them. That’s because I don’t want to waste a lot of time following up on unqualified leads.
Some of the questions are the sort of thing any investor would ask: how much the seller owes, to whom, and so on. But I also ask questions that "test the waters" to gauge how motivated they are (such as how many payments they’re behind).
Finally, I ask the seller to tell me why they want to sell now. In many cases, this question makes or breaks the deal. Here’s why:
If they write a long story on that last question (I often get as much as two and a half pages), I learn something important about them. And if all the numbers work, I put them on the top of the pile.
Why? Because people in distress appreciate it when you let them pour their hearts out. I’m a good listener, so I’m sympathetic when they tell me about the tragic circumstances and bad luck that have brought them to their present position. And because I listen, the seller is frequently on my side when it comes time for me to present my offer. That makes negotiations much easier.
But if they write something like "I’m not taking one penny less than the full value of my house. My bother-in-law says it’s worth $250,000 and that’s what I expect"… I won’t waste another 10 seconds on that lead. I won’t even waste the time it takes to put his address on a pre-printed, pre-stamped rejection postcard.
In short, my website does almost all the work of qualifying my leads. I waste no time on any where there is no deal to be made.
I recommend that you establish a method of pre-screening and pre-qualifying your leads, preferably with a system – like a website – where the prospects screen themselves. This method has made me a better, more focused real estate investor – and it can make you wealthier in your own business in a much shorter period of time.
The more I’ve concentrated on the best prospects, the less time I’ve wasted, the more deals I’ve closed, and the more money I’ve made. Recently, I made over $1 million in a 12-month period. I would never have been able to achieve that before I fine-tuned my marketing.
[Ed. Note: Marko Rubel is a multimillionaire real estate investor living and investing in the Phoenix, AZ area. Marko will reveal his secrets for finding motivated sellers in a reservations-only webinar on Wednesday, September 19. Participation is limited, so click here to secure your spot today.]
Are YOU Ready to Snatch YOUR Share From This $300 BILLION Cash-Pile Looking for a Home?
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Why Would Someone Want to Buy What You’re Selling?
There are two kinds of products: need-to-have products and want-to-have products. Knowing which kind you are selling is critically important to your success.
Need-to-have products include houses, furniture, food, water, and electricity. Selling these products is usually a matter of providing good value. The great thing about need-to-have products is that customers keep on buying them. The difficulty is that you are usually competing against a host of like products – so the pressure to keep rates low is enormous. (Think airline travel. Think coffee.)
Want-to-have products include jewelry, perfume, draperies, and art. To sell these products, you need to create a perceived value for them. You also need to create the desire in your customers to own them – and that takes a great deal of skill. What’s great about want-to-have products is that they tend to be viewed as being unique. So if you promote them properly, you can charge a lot of money.
Most products are not clearly one way or the other. In that case, you need to make a decision as to which way you are going to push your marketing.
Take coffee, for example. If you want to sell your coffee beans to the need-to-drink market, you’ll have to accept very small profit margins. You’ll have to cut big deals and move a ton of beans. Once locked in with vendors, you might enjoy very good ongoing business and very nice (though small, percentage-wise) profits. But you won’t have to keep on selling very hard.
If, on the other hand, you want to position your coffee beans to the want-to-drink market, you will have to come up with a good reason why people should pay a premium price for them – and you’ll have to keep the creative process going to continue to support your argument.
[Ed. Note: Get dozens of proven business-building strategies and sales-boosting techniques from Michael Masterson and a group of the world's leading Internet marketing experts this fall at ETR's Info Marketing Bootcamp: Making a Fast Fortune on the "Other Side" of the Internet. Sign up today.]
The Wrong Way to Attract Superstars
How far would you go to recruit great employees? Limo service from the airport to the job interview? Luxury hotel stays? Free Broadway shows and sightseeing tours?
Joel Spolsky, CEO of Fog Creek Software, does all that and more to find potential superstars, according to a recent Inc. Magazine article. Spolsky’s strategy is designed to dazzle the best and brightest college students into joining his summer internship program, then working for him after they graduate (at jobs for which he offers a starting salary of $75,000).
Spolsky is right to seek out top talent. Michael Masterson – who’s relied on superstars to help grow dozens of businesses over the last few decades – says (in his soon-to-be published book Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat) that superstars will allow you to gradually pull away from the daily decision-making, freeing your time for other pursuits and opportunities.
But putting on over-the-top spectacles (and laying out lots of cash) to convince people to work for you is not the way to go about it. You can find potential superstars at conferences, industry events, dinner parties, or even among your current superstars’ friends and families. And while a good salary is important, says Michael, true superstars can’t be bribed by bonuses or extravagant gifts. Instead, they want to be challenged by their work and be in the middle of the action. They get satisfaction from doing their job well and being recognized for it.
Here are three of Michael’s recommendations for keeping your superstars happy:
- Pay them well. Not excessively, but enough so that they don’t jump ship for another job.
- Keep them on their toes. Let your superstars come up with creative solutions to complex problems. High performers think of the big picture, ways to fundamentally change practices or processes that are holding your business back. If you relegate them to rote tasks, they’ll get bored and seek greener pastures.
- Don’t treat your superstars as regular employees. When you know you’ve got a potential superstar on your hands (and you’ll know very early on), treat him as you would a partner in training. You just might be grooming your successor.
Ed. Note: Learn how to find, hire, train, and keep superstars in Michael Masterson’s soon-to-be-published book on business building, Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat.]
The Unbelievable Anti-Aging Properties of Resistance Exercise
By Jon Benson
Of all the studies I have read, this one from the Buck Institute for Age Research seals the deal. The study headline reads: Resistance Exercise Reverses Aging in Human Skeletal Muscle.
Not "slows" or "repairs." Reverses.
As we age, our muscles begin to show what researchers call "mitochondrial dysfunction." (The mitochondria is the energy factory of the human cell.) This is what causes all the bad stuff associated with "sarcopenia," the gradual wasting away of muscle due to age and under-use that most people experience.
The problem? The less muscle you have, the more body fat you will gain – even if you don’t eat any more food. Muscle loss is also related to the onset of bone diseases, including osteoporosis and even various forms of arthritis. The muscles that hold the spine in alignment can deteriorate as we age and cause major back problems. The same is true for the muscles and tendons around the knee and hip joints.
Resistance exercise – training with weights or by using your body weight – builds muscle. And it does so at any age. But the real find of the Buck Institute study is that after just six months of resistance training, test subjects (all of them 65 or older) showed a "reversal of most of the genes affected by age" in muscle tissue.
After the subjects engaged in resistance training (in this case, simple weight training), their strength increased by over 20 percent. And their genes literally "reverted back" to the same markers as "younger" genes after only six months of exercise.
Maintaining muscle as we age is good. Gaining muscle is even better. But literally reverting our genes to a "younger version" within the muscle – after only six months – is mind boggling.
Add resistance training to your exercise regimen. You’ll look better and feel better than you ever have.
[Ed. Note: Jon Benson, a lifecoach and nutrition counselor who specializes in helping individuals discover a life-altering mind/body connection, offers practical advice for becoming stronger, healthier, and more energetic in the articles he writes for ETR's FREE natural health e-letter. His work in the field of post-40 fitness and mental empowerment has helped countless thousands. Learn how you can do the same at www.fitover40.com or www.mpowerfitness.com.]
It’s Fun to Know: The World’s Oldest Diamonds
Australian geologists recently discovered the world’s oldest known diamonds. The 4.25 billion-year-old gemstones, which don’t have any commercial value and aren’t destined for any engagement rings, are already providing researchers with lots of new information about the formation and early geological history of Earth. One previous theory that no longer holds up posited that the planet formed 4.5 billion years ago and the surface was made of molten lava for more than 500 million years thereafter.
(Source: National Geographic)
A Top Business Breakthrough Known Only by a Handful of Insiders Turns Out to Be One of the Best New Ways to Make a Bundle…
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Well, we’ve found it…
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What is it? All I can tell you is that more than half of the world’s billionaires have made their money this way. You’ll have to read on to learn more about it.
Finally the cat’s out of the bag… Click here to read more…
Word to the Wise: Cozen
To "cozen" (KUZ-un) is to cheat, usually by means of a petty trick or fraud.
Example (as used by Robert Louis Stevenson in The Master of Ballantrae): "You would naturally not think so flat a rogue could cozen you. But have a care! These half idiots have a sort of cunning, as the skunk has its stench."
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007
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