I am considering putting out bandit signs. How many should I put out? 50? 100? 150? I am interested to know from those who use bandit signs how many they put out and what is the return.
I’d definitely start out buying quite a few with the steep quantity discounts you’ll get, you’ll need them eventually as they get ripped down or destroyed. How many you need to put out is an unknown. How big is the market you are targeting? How many calls can you reasonably handle? If you put out 500 signs all over the county could you handle that many calls? I’d probably start out slowly and put a few up strategically in your target area and start adding more slowly so you don’t overwhelm yourself. As they get taken down replace them, your continued presence with the signs will be along the same lines as keeping a long running newspaper ad and show the public that you’re there to stay and not a fly-by-nighter. That and most people may not need you the first time they see that sign but a few months later when they need to sell they are going to drive by and write down your info. Also, I wouldn’t be so quick to overwhelm a town with signs, you may get some unwelcome attention from the local gov’t. A few signs here and there aren’t going to make a big stink but 200 in one small town might.
…or you can do what everyone else does and put all 500 in one 1/4 acre lot!
LOL
Keith
What’s the rule, if you see grass you aren’t trying hard enough?
Can I handle them? sure, I have answering service that prescreens all my calls. I can then pick the viable ones to return. But do I want 500 calls in a month? no. I am trying to see what those utilizing bandit signs are doing and how many are they putting out.
I did not get into details in this post, but I am also doing other marketing concepts such as direct marketing and an ad in the paper. I am trying to crank up my buying machine to be get steady 1 to 2 deals a month so my signs will be used to supplement my marketing.
fadiz,
I was looking for threads about Yellow Pages and came across yours from last year. I assume that you’re still not considering this as an option.
I see in one of my local books that there are two ads for “We Buy Houses.” I called one. The guy seemed genuine enough when I asked him how the ad was working, and he said that he’s been in the book for years and would never stop. He said that his preference is to use non-phone company books because they cost less.
What I’d really like to do is look for older phone books…even only 2-3 years old…and see if any of the ads run then are still running today. That would be the best proof that these ads pay for themselves.
I can get in the BellSouth books for the four counties that I like for $500/month. That’s a business card size ad. Between the four counties, that’s about 2 million books distributed (because they go to residences and businesses). I just have to think that with 2 million books out there, I can get 2-3 solid deals per year from my $6,000 investment. That would be my target.
Is Yellow Pages advertising still off the table for you?
Well, the next run of the YellowPages in my area will be next November so I have not decided to run an ad yet. One of the big players in town said she likes running the ad in the yellow pages. She said she doesn’t get many calls on it, but usually the calls she get are good calls.
I see an ad in the yellow pages by a fellow investor and he is running it for the second year in a row. I may give him a call before I place my ad to see how he is doing.
My only issue with YellowPages is that it is a year commitment. My ad would cost me $700/month for a year. Non payment means losing my branded phone number which I don’t want to do. It is not off the table, but I need to be convinced it will be worth the investment and I will need to talk to few investors I know.
What category in the Yellow Pages do you run the ads in?
In San Antonio they are under “Real” for real estate along with the realtor ads.
My average return on bandit signs for motivated sellers varies from area to area. Generally speaking you should average 1 call for every 3-4 signs you put out.
I have had times where I got 2 calls for every sign and other times 1 call for every 10 signs.
How many deals are you closing per sign?
Look to do 1-2 deals per 100 signs. It’s all a numbers game. It also depends on what type of discounts and types of deals you are doing.
Thanks guys. I am getting good response rate on my post card campaign, but since I am going after 1-3 year loans, all the calls so far have been either at market value, or over leveraged. I need to get one or two deals from this marketing campaign, and then I will go with bandit signs along new post card campaign.
I still have 4 months to go on my current campaign (5 post cards per prospect).
By the way, thanks for the excellent feedback. Thats the type of answers I was hoping to get 