At Yellow Letters Complete, we source and market many types of leads for business owners. For real estate investors, our most common leads are: NOD, high net worth, renters, and absentee owned.
In recent years, we’ve noticed a growing demand for probate leads. Though we do not source these, we’ve helped scores of investor create direct mail campaigns targeting them.
Probate leads are different from other lead types in that they are not driven by market conditions. Whether there’s a recession or not; a buyers or sellers’ market, you will find probate leads are always valuable.
What is a Probate Lead?
A probate lead is potential seller who has inherited property after the passing of a relative. Oftentimes these properties will be out of state from the new owner and causing the sale to happen quickly. In addition because of the suddenness of the inheritance, new owners will likely be unprepared for the financial responsibility of taking care of the property. According to our research 40% of homes newly listed in probate will sell within 6 months.
How to Find Probate Leads?
First and foremost be cautious about buying probate leads from independant websites. Since probate leads are a highly valued type of lead, do you research before accepting anyone’s claim to have good data.
Consider going straight to the source!
Probate leads are matters of public record accessible by anyone. The most reliable source would be your county clerk’s records. Google “ local probate listings” and locate how your county lists probate court properties.
Once you build your trusted list of probate leads, you next must create a multitouch mail campaign to get the highest response possible.
Here’s our recommendation on how what to say, and how to setup your campaign:
Four Steps to Successfully Market to Probate Leads
Though more expensive than the others, probate leads can be more than worth the investment. The key to marketing your list of probate leads will be patience, multitouch, variety and empathy. Let’s breakdown each of these for you:
1. Be Patient With Your Marketing
Marketing to probate leads requires patience. These individuals have just experienced the passing of a loved one and you shouldn’t bombard them. Instead by plan on sending a few follow up messages and don’t give up early.
2. Plan a Multitouch Campaign
Probate leads have a lot happening. To help your brand stand out, plan on sending multiple mailings. A multitouch campaign will help you look professional and serious about your interest in purchasing their property.
3. Use a Variety of Media Types
When sending your multitouch campaign, don’t just send postcards. Oftentimes the best results will come from a white letter with a hand-signed postcard, followed by a postcard about two weeks later. If they still do not respond in the next few weeks, we’ll send another white letter branded with your company logo.
4. Be Empathetic in Your Messaging
The final suggestion for you probate campaign is to be empathetic. Oftentimes, investors may send letters that are too informal, too aggressive, or too short. With probate leads your approach needs to be totally different. You must come with empathy and sympathy because their recent loss. Your messaging should be more formal and carefully written.
How to Get Started?
If you already have a probate marketing list and would like additional guidance, please schedule a free consultation. Yellow Letters Complete offers every customer a white-gloved, full-service campaign support no matter how large or small your campaign is.
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