I recently had an idea to do marketing to a very captive audience. I have never heard of this before, and am sure I will be the first to try. I know that this isn’t for the faint of heart, but if it works, the ROI will be infinite. I was thinking of buying a bullhorn and going to an area that I have picked to farm. I will go on a weekend ( Specifically a Saturday ), after 11am. I will then say " My name is —, and I buy houses. If you need to, or want to sell your home, please take a few minutes to come out to speak to me. I buy them in any condition or situation. Also, if you know someone that needs to sell a home for any reason, come see me and learn how you can be paid for your referral". I will wait a minute, and repeat the message. If after 5-10 minutes I don’t get a response, I will go to the next block and repeat. I know that someone will most likely get annoyed and call the police, but I can plead ignorance, and go to another area I have picked out. Let me know what you think, and any feedback will be appreciated.
I don’t know if you’ll be the first person to ever do that, but why not give it a shot.
I’m not sure why you’d do that in a residential neighborhood, though. As you said, you’re just going to irritate some people, and I’m thinking that the ones who really need you (I don’t deal with people who want to sell a house, I work only with those who NEED to) may not want to approach you in a public setting.
Why not go to a busy street corner on a main road and do the same thing, only wear a sandwich board with your phone number and Web address?
I’m also thinking of something that will really get attention, like hiring a street team of models on rollerskates in bikinis to zip around the city with my URL on their, um, backsides. If I did this, though, I’d make sure that the local stations knew the where and when and hopefully get the whole thing on a 30-second segment on the 6 o’clock news.
The sandwich Idea is a home run Paul. School is out and alot of unemployed high schoolers with sandwich boards, a cell phone(to call you with highly motivated seller standing in front of him) brochure rack with biz card attached,
I’m calling the chamber to find out next upcoming outdoor city park gig and showing up with a team of sandwiches. I am also going to set up a booth at the same event so I will be on site should a seller need immediate attention. Lap top for checking county info and ownership, open cooler with .25 cent water w/company logo, comfy chairs , perhaps a Realtor Team member, contracts, High hopes…need…fix…sooon
Well, I know some people will be annoyed, but I am looking for different ideas. I’ll never know unless I try. I’ll either be known as the “Bullhorn Guy”, or the “Town Idiot”. We’ll see.
I have yet to test gravity. Maybe this evening I will jump off my roof and see what happens. Maybe if I have an umbrella I can fly! I have seen people standing on the corner with a bullhorn. I have seen people standing with those sandwich boards. I would guess that I am in the majority when I say that I don’t take those people seriously AT ALL! They look like idiots! If I was in trouble and needed help with my home I would not, I repeat WOULD NOT put my trust in some dumbass with a bullhorn.
Thank you to everyone who responded with a logical opinion be it encouraging or not. To everyone who answered with a response that was down right rude, I just have this to say. I am just trying to think out of the box. I expected to receive good professional advice. In hindsight, it may not have been the greatest idea, but I at least expected a modicum of decorum ( nice vocabulary for an idiot ) from the people on this forum. I believe in treating everyone with respect, and being treated the way I would treat others. It really surprises me that some of you choose to belittle and berate people who are asking for help and who you really don’t know. I won’t let this deter me from posting in the future, and hope that people will try and give a little respect to others. Sorry for the rambling message.
Hey Bryan… I get thinking outside the box. That’s what you need to do in this or any business. The thing is that when you put an idea out there like you did, expect some feedback. The majority of the feedback was that you with a bullhorn announcing that you buy houses is cheesy. The response you would probably get is NOT GOOD. Is there a chance you could get a deal? Maybe. Is there more of a chance you will make a bad name for yourself? Yes.
What you may see as belittling is just some of us being honest. You asked opinions and you got them. On to the next piece of marketing. Good luck to you and I hope you get everything you want out of investing!!! :beer
Why not knock on the doors? One thing to remember that people now a days love privacy, so if you will be doing what you are saying you want to do, I doubt any will come out to talk to you. At least not to sell you a house thats for sure. Now, if you just walk down the street and knock on the door and introduce yourself and do a sales pitch, then you will have higher rate of success.
I would definitely X this idea and move on to something else. There are other more reasonable ideas.