Jack Thursday - How Most Decisions Come Down to One Number (LA 1766)

Transcript:

Steven Jack Butala:

Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:

Hello.

Steven Jack Butala:

Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala.

Jill DeWit:

And I'm Jill DeWit, broadcasting from the Valley of the Sun.

Steven Jack Butala:

Today's Jack Thursday, and I'm going to talk about how most decisions come down to one single number. I have to say, if numbers are not part of how you make decisions, and you're really making decisions based on how you feel, you're in for it.

Jill DeWit:

I can't wait to hear more of this [inaudible 00:00:36]

Steven Jack Butala:

Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landininvestors.com online community. It's free. Please don't forget to subscribe on the Land Academy YouTube channel. Comment on the shows you like. It actually helps us produce better content.

Jill DeWit:

John wrote, "If you're new, your first year is most likely going through some of the growing pains of answering some of these questions for yourself."

Steven Jack Butala:

This is very long, and this is okay, and it's very ... It's not a question.

Jill DeWit:

I can talk.

Steven Jack Butala:

John is a ... Let me set this up a little bit.

Jill DeWit:

You don't like how I'm reading it.

Steven Jack Butala:

No, I love how you read it.

Jill DeWit:

Oh, okay.

Steven Jack Butala:

It's just really long and I don't want you to burn through it. This is a long ... It's not a question, what John did here, because there are a lot of questions. He decided, thank you, and this is why I put it in the show, to share his experience after a few years of sending mail successfully, and the things that he learned his first year that he's sharing with about, you know, get over it.

Jill DeWit:

Cool. I kind of gathered that.

Steven Jack Butala:

Okay, good.

Jill DeWit:

All right. So he says, "If you're new, you're going to go through some growing pains and answering some questions for yourself. You're going to make some mistakes. You're going to have some mailers that don't go as planned and deals that fall through, et cetera. You're looking to weather those storms and make mistakes so you can come out of the first year knowing what you need to accomplish in order to succeed. If you have a budget for 30,000 mailers, to see if this works, I know it's tempting to jump in with both feet and send out a bunch of mail, but I would suggest spacing that out over a year so you're learning the cycle of this business. Mail goes out, hate wave and missed price offers come in a week, and then the core of the campaign happens over the next couple months, and then offers trickle in indefinitely. Rinse and repeat. It's not foolproof, but understanding where you are in the response window for your mailer campaign is important, because over time you'll get a sense of what type of seller responds at different stages.

Jill DeWit:

"And more importantly, if a campaign deviates too far from the norm, it's good to reflect on where you're targeting your pricing. If every time you send out 3,000 letters in California, you're going to get about X hate, y no-deal leads, and then Z actual deals. And one campaign goes completely flat or turns into an ATM, you'll have that knowledge of previous campaigns to say, 'Let me pause and dig into what happened with this one.' If you send out 30,000 offers all at once and nothing for another six months, it's really hard to get a feel for what's happened and what can be improved on. I partner with various members on campaigns, and another thing I notice is a batch of mail going out is like a birthday or a lotto ticket or spring training."

Steven Jack Butala:

That's how I feel about it.

Jill DeWit:

Yeah. "That excitement for what could come, starting from a clean slate, puts wind in people's sails, versus trying to circle back on a previous mailer and looking to salvage it or...