Set the Stage for Raising Real Estate Capital – Your Target Market

In this first part of this series, I discussed how I went about trying to raise capital the old-fashioned way. I picked up the phone and dialled for dollars, made countless elevator pitches, and I tried all the traditional networking channels.It was a desperate chase for money to finance a great deal that had just fallen into my lap. In short, it was a painful lesson in what not to do when chasing finance that ultimately ended in failure.Even worse than having to let go of a great deal was the fact that I had turned off a lot of prospective investors. This lesson is about doing something different so you can learn from my mistakes. It’s a simple three-step email campaign that works extremely well for our clients. Keep reading to learn how you can use our system to attract 6 or 7 figures worth of capital faster than you ever thought possible.If you still need to create your list of 200 dream contacts, you can learn more about how to do that in lesson one. If you’ve got your list ready, it’s time to start what I call the “Warm Up Campaign.”You need to warm your contacts up before you start talking real estate, which you can do through our simple three-step email campaign.

Start by creating a drip campaign that sends out three emails: one on Monday, another on Wednesday, and the last on Friday. The CRM does most of the heavy lifting for you because once you set it up, the emails will go out on autopilot according to your configurations.Each email follows a set pattern that first reconnects and then warms your prospect to the idea of partnering with you on your real estate deals.

The first email is the icebreaker. It’s a general email of the type you see every day, but it needs to be personal. You are catching up with people you haven’t connected with in a while, and it could be four to five years since you last spoke.So, the goal of this first email is to keep it strictly personal.Back in the day, I had an aunt who used to send regular mail (snail mail) every once in a while, to catch everybody up on what was going on in her life. This was how people stayed in touch during the 70s and 80s, before the internet was a thing and when long-distance telephone calls would cost a fortune.Every Christmas she would write a lengthy letter that she would photocopy to send with every Christmas card. It was a nice way to connect, and everybody would look forward to reading about what my aunty and her family had been up to for the year.The first email in your sequence is a lot like those letters families would send out. Discuss what you and your family have been up to during the last few years, the fun stuff, the trips you’ve taken, what’s going on with the kids, and so on. Remind them of names and ages and all those personal details they might be interested in knowing.Wrap the email up by asking them to hit reply and let you know what’s been happening with them and their family. Send that email off to all 200 people in your CRM.

The first email goes out on Monday, with the second one going out on Wednesday using the same kind of idea. However, we recommend mixing it up a little by using a different format rather than another written email.A video email is perfect for your follow-up as it will have a greater impact than a written message.Start by saying you thought you would try something different, and then go into catching them up with everything. You aren’t reading your first email, but you talk about the same kind of things.At the end of your video, you can finish up by saying something like “well. that’s what’s been happening with me, how about you?” “If you haven’t had a chance to get back to me, I would love it if you hit reply to respond to this message.”

The third email is what we call the “transition message.” It’s where we let people know we’re switching gears and transitioning from warm and fuzzy personal messages of just catching up, to getting down to business and letting them know about our real estate investments.You will also mention how you will do a better job of staying in touch in the future, so they should expect regular communications from you.Mention that you are open to working with other people, partnering up, sharing expertise, and combining capital to leverage bigger and better deals.Again, this is just a short and sweet video message no more than 45 seconds long.Once the third email goes out, you have effectively set the stage. You’ve got people ready to go with the rest of the marketing that will be arriving in their inboxes.The goal of this mini-email campaign is not to get investor meetings booked. Instead, it’s all about reconnecting at a personal level, setting the stage, and letting them know more marketing will be coming down the pipeline. Hopefully, it’s all starting to come together and make sense for you.The great thing about this system is that it’s straightforward and doesn’t need a lengthy and complex marketing message that’s not likely to work anyway.Your job now is to make sure you respond to every reply you receive and get those out fairly quickly. You may get some lengthy responses in return, and that’s good because you’ve already let them know what you are up to. Engage in a little back and forth because there is capital in those reconnections.The folks who respond are keen. They may not be ready to invest just yet, but they are the most responsive. Use your CRM to segment these prospects so you can give them more attention and TLC later.

Here’s your homework for this lesson. Create an outline about what you have been up to for the last three to five years. Keep it personal and include the good stuff along with the not-so-good, what’s happening at work, and the kids, but always sign off on a positive note.Unless the respondents know you are full-time in real estate investing, don’t mention it in this initial catch-up session. Keep that tidbit for the transition in the third email.Stay tuned for the next article in this series where I discuss what we call the ninja way of getting prospective investors keen to see your presentation. It will be a valuable addition to your real estate strategy, so don’t miss it.