This I know- telemarketing

[SLP-NYCT]

I am Lucky I live in CT and we can call expired and FSBO if they are on the no call list.. The fact that they are expired and FSBO makes it legal. you just need to be doing it for the buyer.

If you have a State DNC list, you still must check it against the Federal DNC list and the Federal DNC list will prohibit this action. They do not have an Expired or FSBO exception. I do think you have mis understood the law and should get a better clarification on it.

1) We can call a FSBO or Expired, or anyone for that matter, if we have a particular client that wants to see the house. However, if your buyer is not interested in it, You Can Not then try to get the listing without then being in violation of the law.

2) Cell phones are on or can be on the DNC list. Regardless of where I own land. the DNC law follows that phone. So if I am now living in Florida and still using my Ct. cell phone to sell my Ct. house, but the cell phone bills come to me in Fla. You would have to check Fla. DNC list.

Just with that alone, you can see how complicated this gets. There are absolutely No Blanket Exceptions to these Laws and No State can reduce the Federal Law, but they may add to it. So Federal Law is the Foundation and each state can build on it.

In addition, these laws presume you are guilty if you are reported as violation the law and you must prove your innocence. You do this by having a great system in place. At $10,000 per violation, (thats per call) you can see why you need a really good system.

If you are going to play this game, it is best to have a very well organized system to prove you did indeed check the number and have some way of proving such.

By the way. There are a minimum of two DNC lists you must have.
List #1 is Federal.
If your state does not have one of its one, then there is List #2.
List #2 is your companies DNC list. Every company that participates in telemarketing MUST keep their own DNC list. So if another agent called the expired and the expired requested to be put on the companies DNC list and you then called, you are now in violation of the Federal Law. Please pay $10,000 (per phone call) and move on.

I personally think that Expires are one of the greatest sources of listing lead's, but without a great system in place. There is no way its worth the risk. And that fine is on you as well as your broker.

[tolsen48]

Yepper the dialers are still legal. You need to have a list that is "scrubbed" against the federal DNC list. I use five9 for the dialer, pretty cheap 200 a month per seat after the set up fee which is minimal.
They have a system that allows you to scrub all your data to make sure it's clean.
Tele marketing is rough, but if your decent it will always be the cheapest albieght rough way to generate buisiness for yourself.
I have a crew of 6 guys who do telemarketing 4 days a week with great ROI. Hope this helps a bit.

Levi,

Good to see another San Diegan using this technology. Although predictive dialer's are old school you can own your own web based system and get all the free leads you could possibly use 12 million divided up by state and up dated every couple months or I can up load my own client list. All for the price of a couple predictive dialer campaigns. The monthly fee is $27. This system you can call 10,000 people or more in an hour. It automatically washes your list of people who are on the DNCL or the numbers you have already left messages with in the last 10 days. And it is all included. You can even give people the option of opting out of receiving any more calls from you and the system will automatically do this.

I combine my system with a web based 1800 number that my script directs them to. It has all kinds of cool features. One of them is when someone leaves a message I am emailed in real time. The email contains the wave file with the message so I play it right then or delete it. It also has a white page link that when I hit it it gives the name, address, map, family income, and other neat little things so when my agents call the people back it really makes a difference. Or I can have the calls forwarded to any of my agents numbers for a live response.

One thing to remember about lists that you buy. If they are internet generated leads were the person has opted in and requested information, it is perfectly legal to call them even if they are on the DNC list as long as lead provider includes the IP address you will be fine. Oh and I think they need to be under 90 days old.

If you would like information just email me at tomolsen1@att.net

[DRIFT]

Actually i have not much ideas but i listen about FSBO.i think its good

[keenjosh]

Scripts are a funny thing. I think the problem with most of them is they assume far too much about what the prospect needs/wants and don't allow a natural conversation to unfold. I've found, in my 8 years of "cold calling" the most appropriate way to enter a conversation is to find out whether the other person is even open to the idea of talking to me in the first place. Most realtors go in assuming the longer they can stay on the phone with someone (ie. the more they talk) the better the conversion rate. This couldn't be further from the truth (at least in my experience).

The key with cold calling is really understanding that the sale/conversion is lost in the beginning of the call -- not the end. That's why an effective scripts focus on opening a natural conversation from the beginning. Build trust in the middle. And only after a natural dialogue (two way conversation) is established do you offer a solution. You see...most calls are doomed from the beginning because they immediately identify you as a "salesperson" -- and all the negative associations that people have to sales people then trigger sales resistance and you're dead in the water.

I start my calls with a respectful, low key, non assumptive opening phrase:

"Hi...my name is Joshua...you and I have never met...and I was hoping you could help me out for a moment?"

The response? Well...

6 out of 10 folks say "uh...sure".

2 of 10 say "who is this?"

and 2 of 10 say "what are you selling"/"I'm all set"/"I'm not interested" or some variation of it.

only 1 of 100 (give or take 1%) flat out say "no". These are the people that I don't want to deal with anyways.

So the conversation unfolds from those 3 points of reference...(and since most of us in this forum generate leads from our websites that's what I'll focus on here).

They say "sure"....

I say:

"Oh...no problem...I'm with RealSourceBrokers.com...and I've got a note here...that says you might have been looking at homes for sale on the internet. I'm simply calling to make sure you found what you were looking for and to see if you would be open to sharing a bit about what brought you to our site?"

They say "Who is this?"...

I say:

"Oh ... I'm sorry ... my name is Joshua ... I'm with RealSourceBrokers.com ... and I've got a note here ... that says you might have been looking at homes for sale on the internet? I'm simply calling to make sure you found what you were looking for and to see if you would be open to sharing a bit about what brought you to our site?"

They say "what are you selling"/"I'm all set"/"I'm not interested"

I say:

"Oh...I'm sorry if I gave you the impression I'm selling something...I'm not selling anything. I'm with RealSourceBrokers.com...and I've got a note here...that says you might have been looking at homes for sale on the internet. I'm simply calling to make sure you found what you were looking for and to see if you would be open to sharing a bit about what brought you to our site?"

Usually the question "would you be open to sharing a bit about what brought you to our site?" leads to the prospect talking for 1 to 2 minutes about their situation, in detail. At which point the dialogue unfolds naturally from there. The key here is to have something that you can talk about that leads to an exchange of commitments between you and your prospect/lead. You can't expect someone to commit to you as a Realtor before you demonstrate your expertise and show a commitment to helping them solve their problem. Most folks online have a "search" problem. They don't know how to effectively qualify/disqualify neighborhoods, price ranges or specific homes from the searching they're doing online. So I "pitch" the solution to that problem by responding with a search solution:

"You know...I had a thought...and it might make sense if we came up with a list of homes that meet what you're looking for. That way...you're not wasting a ton of time online looking and filtering through all the 1000s of homes that aren't a good fit. Would be open to maybe a different way of targeting your search so you're only looking at the best homes on the market?"

Now...what happens next is an insider conversion secret of mine worth hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last few years...but I know you're smart enough to fill in the blanks from here with your own approach from here.

[GregPDX]

Great scripts Joshua.... I may try to incorporate some of those

[keenjosh]

If you have a State DNC list, you still must check it against the Federal DNC list and the Federal DNC list will prohibit this action. They do not have an Expired or FSBO exception. I do think you have mis understood the law and should get a better clarification on it.

This is more out of curiosity than anything -- are any agents/brokers here in the forum aware of actual fines being levied for calling FSBOs or Expireds? I've called them for years now and have never had an issue with the DNC. I do scrub my lists...but...I know **some** may slip through the cracks.

Just curious.

[Valjon]

Before the do not call list, I have great deal of sucess in cold calling. I used a script that was very basic. If was the follow-up questions that were important after you found out they wanted to sell their home.