Hey. What’s happening, fellow investors? This is the next video that I’m coming at you with, the second video to talk about how to pitch yourself; how to talk about what it is you do in real estate investing to other people. We’re going to talk about the value proposition, the “elevator pitch”, as it were. This is where people really get caught up. The one thing I want to remind you starting out as you’re getting ready to pitch, a lot of people get really nervous when they’re trying to approach somebody or trying to bring up the topic if it doesn’t feel like it’s coming naturally to them.
The question that I have, it’s as simple as someone asking you, “Hey. What are you doing these days in your off-time?” “Well, right now, I work full-time, but on the side, I’m doing real estate investing.” “Oh, really? Real estate investing? I didn’t know that, tell me more about it.” Instead of, You can go ahead and give your pitch there, or you can even say, “Well, yeah. It’s great. It’s awesome that you’re interested. Why do you ask?” Even though you’re going to be pitching, even though you’re going to speaking about what it is you do; I don’t want the focus of this necessarily to be you telling somebody. Keep your ears open. Listen. Ask why they’re even interested in some of that in the first place. Maybe they have someone on their mind that they go, “Wow, yeah. I just heard somebody else do real estate investing. Maybe I could hook these two people up.” It may be as simple as that, so ask the question about why they might be doing that in the first place.
So, as you develop your pitch. We talked about who you are in the first segment that we did, so in this one, I really want to say just a couple different scenarios. If you’re a wholesaler, you can say, “I find houses at a deep discount, and I sell it to other investors that meet their criteria.”
That audience that you might, No, actually, that’s one big thing. When you’re speaking to somebody, try the best you can to know your audience when you’re talking to them. If you’re at a real estate investment group, you can really go into the pitch; you can be unabashed about what it is that you’re doing. If you’re meeting somebody on the street, maybe you know them, maybe you don’t. You might want to find out a little bit more about them in general, but try to explain some of those things in layman’s terms. “I find houses at deep discounts and I sell them to other investors that meet their criteria.” That’s something that’s easily understood by any person you’re coming across, and it might pique their interest enough or it might not, and that’s okay.
Another one would be buy and hold. I find homes that meet my criteria and my private investor’s criteria to get them a good return. If you’re talking to somebody who is already somewhat savvy as far as investing goes; whether that’s in stocks or their retirement account, you can open that up. You can also ask them questions. This is one of Roberta’s favorite questions to ask, “What are you getting? What return are you getting your retirement account? Oh really? Well, I can get maybe six times that.” You don’t necessarily want to talk to numbers every single time a person comes up. You want to make sure you’re staying current with all the SCC regulations that are out there, but when you’re talking with somebody about what you may be able to do for them, that’s the value proposition that you’re looking for. If you have a specified amount of return that you can find that you’re trying to get for investors because that’s your strategy, you can say that.
Also, you know, flippers. It’s kind of a tag line. I improve neighborhoods by fixing up one home at a time and selling it to a great, new family that’s looking for a new home for themselves. There’s different ways that you can pitch it, so you have who you are, what it is that you do, “I find houses at deep discounts. I find houses for long term buy and hold.”
In the value proposition, maybe to the person that you’re talking to, depending on the audience, would be a return that you might get or that could be a possible seller. Or they might be able to hook you up with somebody who might be a private investor themselves.
The last that I want to stress here is for who you are and what you offer. Write it down. Write it down. Have something that is practiced and rehearsed in your mind. Stand in front a mirror, hear yourself say it a little bit; talk to somebody else, let them hear you say it, let them give you feedback on it. Maybe repeat it every single day, maybe that’s something that you’re putting, other than just reviewing your goals. When you’re thinking about your real estate investing and you’re getting passionate about it, put that up in front of you and memorize that sucker. That way, when you go to talk to somebody else about it, it’s right there on the tip of your tongue, ready to go. You’ll know, I think, the moment that it happens.
Guess what? If you fail at it, if you come off too strong, that’s okay, there’s another person down the road. If you missed the chance, that’s okay too. Go back and practice and get ready for the next one that’s going to come up. With that, I’m going to wrap it up. So you’re developing your pitch. We talked about who you are, talked about what your value proposition is; getting it written down and telling people where you can provide value.
Check us out on Facebook with RealEstateInvestorsWealthAcademy.com or the Roanoke Real Estate Education Group. You can also go to REIWealthAcademy.com to check out the blog. If you’ve not already followed us on Facebook or you have somebody that is definitely interested in this, the value proposition we have for you is that they won’t be disappointed by learning more about real estate investing and what it can do for their future.
This is John, I’ll see you at the next video. Take care.