David: Guys, welcome back Discount Property Investors. You are listening to the Discount Property Investor podcast, hosted by David Dodge and Mike Slane. Mike, what are we talking about today, buddy?

Mike: I don't know, what do you want to talk about? That's what we do a lot of the times before podcasts, guys. I don't know, what should we talk about today?

David: Let's talk about wholesale call scripts.

Mike: I love it, man. Wholesale call scripts. That is-- again, we love wholesaling real estate, we love talking to and helping new investors. This is a question we are asked a ton. We are asked, what call script do you use? Or can I see-- do you have a wholesaling call script you use that you can share with me, things like that, right? So we get that all the time.

David: We get that a lot.

Mike: The answer is, you don't really need a call script. You don't, you don't need a wholesaling specific call script.

David: Totally agree.

Mike: Say it one more time, you just don't need it. What you need is to be able to talk to people. What you need is to qualify your sellers, qualify your leads.

David: Qualify I think is huge.

Mike: Yeah I think that is one of the only things you are really trying to do. I mean-- your ultimate goal is to try and qualify the lead when you are on the phone with them.

David: Why? Why would you need to qualify the lead?

Mike: I think as I evolved, it wasn't so much as me wanting to get an appointment, wanting to go look at properties as much as wanting to defend my time. I have always looked at myself this way, my time is more valuable than anything else that I have. In St Louis we are kind of spread out. To hop in the car, go to the appointment, run the appointment and then drive back home or to the office. You have probably got 20-30 minutes of drive time there and back, maybe 40 minutes of drive time, just to go to an appointment. On top of that, you have the appointment yourself and walking around the house. It is probably going to take your 15-20 minutes. So you are literally at least an hour worth of time invested in an appointment.

David: Minimum.

Mike: I always factor at least an hour, then drive time.

David: Then drive time, yeah, exactly.

Mike: That said, I am trying to defend my time. I want to qualify this lead to make sure this is, 1, the person that owns the house. Guys, this is first and foremost-- like one of the most important things, are you the decision maker?

David: Are you the owner?

Mike: Are you the decision maker?

David: That's such a good point.

Mike: Can you sell this house?

David: If you are not the owner, you can't even sign the contract. Somebody else has to.

Mike: Exactly.

David: That's a great point.

Mike: When this comes up most frequently I would say is-- inherited houses, where you have siblings where maybe one of them is the power of attorney, or whatever-- can sign for the estate and one of them isn't. One of them is just shopping for others because they don't think the other is doing it right, or whatever it is. So again, you want to make sure you are dealing with the person who can sell the property. You want to build a relationship with that person. If you are building a relationship with the sibling, that's great. It sometimes works that that sibling is able to encourage the other one to work with you. But they are not the decision maker--.

David: You always want to get the decision maker.

Mike: At the end of the day, wouldn't you rather talk directly to the person making the decision versus somebody who may or may not have any power over the situation.

David: Exactly, why would you do it any other way?

Mike: Again, don't necessarily need a call script, but you do want to qualify your leads. Qualify 1, is this person able to sell me the house?

David: Are they the owner? Do they have the ability to sell it? Correct.

Mike: Wasting an hour to two hours just going out there to look at a house. Not so good. What else?

David: Decision maker, number one. You want to get the decision maker on the phone or-- you want to talk to that person prior to setting up the appointment. You want the decision maker to be there, or at least have contact with the decision maker prior to the appointment. They may send out a property manager or an employee, and that's fine. But you don't want to be going out and meeting people that are not the decision maker if you haven't already spoken to the decision maker. That's number one, I think that's where you should start, I love that idea. Whenever our calls come in, or go out, we handle them the exact same way. Now, when they are going out it is cold, obviously it's going to be a little bit different. But, at the end of the day it is actually very, very similar. So when the calls come in, we typically start by getting their name and their phone number. The reason is, we want to be able to reach them back, and we want to know who they are. We say, hey this is Dave, how can I help you? They start talking, telling me a little about the situation. I say, okay great, can I get your name and number, so I can get back with you in case we get disconnected or later if I want to send you an offer? They say, no problem. I have never had a problem with that. I will also typically record the date in which the lead came in. This is very important for your KPI's down the road. But, it is also going to be helpful for you to know when the last time that you talked to them or the first time you talked to them, the date in which the lead came in. Then, who is going to be assigned to this lead? That might just be you if you are a solopreneur, or a one man show. If you have multiple people in your office, you can actually assign them to the lead right then and there when the lead comes in. So then we are going to look for the property address. We are going to want the property address relatively quickly. The reason is, often times I want to be doing some due diligence on the property while I am on the phone with them already. I want to pull it up on Zillow, or Red-fin, PropStream is one of our favorites to use. We want to pull up the property so we can get an idea of the bed, the bath, the square footage. Just some of the basic general info.

Mike: So this is all qualifying a lead, guys. Again, how is asking their name, their phone number and their address--- how is that qualifying? Well you probably sent out mail or did some marketing. You don't know that stuff. Again, they may be like, why are you asking me this?

David: You may be answering the phone while you're driving too, and if you're recording the calls that will be very helpful. Lot's of reasons. But qualifying is what it comes down to.

Mike: Qualify the lead, that is first and foremost. Then what comes up next? Have a conversation with the people. Again, you need to learn about the property, but you have to have a conversation. You are trying to-- what is referred to as build rapport. You want to build a relationship, you want to make a friend. All of that is just have a conversation, that's why you don't need a wholesale call script, because you are trying to be a person on the phone, not a robot.

David: Yeah.

Mike: If you want a robot, you can probably figure out some way to have a call system or something like that. But get the basic info, then start making a friend. Talk about the property, that's your reason for talking to each other, and start from there. What Dave mentioned though, getting the phone number or property address. The property address is super important, because you are going to start trying to find out--.

David: Looking at what's going on while they are talking to you, just makes your job easier if you can be looking at the property while they are explaining certain things. They may be able to explain something or you may have a question about the pictures you have found online of these properties.

Mike: The pictures, or if you have used Google, do the Google Map thing--.

David: Google street view.

Mike: You can get that and you can ask more specific questions. Oh hey, I noticed there is a burned down property on the Google street view--.

David: How many other vacants are there?

Mike: Is that property still burnt down? Did they rebuild it?

David: Is it on a cull-de-sac, so on and so forth? How many lanes of traffic? Some of these type things. So basically qualify. We want to get the decision maker, we want to get the basic info, their basic info. We need their name, their number, maybe even their e-mail address if you plan on sending them an offer. Start the conversation, which basically-- you can sum it up into-- thank you for calling me, why are you wanting to see? Why do you need to sell? I prefer the word 'need'. Why do you need to sell? Just stop and listen, don't interrupt them, just let them tell you all the things that they want to tell you. That could take 30 seconds, it could take 30 minutes. Just be patient with them, but figure out why they are selling. That is the number three thing in terms of qualifying on our list here. Why are they selling. So this should start to reveal some of the reasons that they need to sell. It will help you in qualifying, because if they are calling just because they are curious to get an offer from you, well that's not a very motivated individual. If they are calling because they are being relocated for their job, or they have recently inherited a property, or a spouse just passed away and they are downsizing or moving, or if they are having kids and the current house isn't big enough, or any other reason along those lines. They got divorced recently--.

Mike: Tenants trashed it.

David: -- that they are ultra motivated, super motivated. We are looking for motivated sellers. We exchange convenience and cash for a discount. Why would we want to exchange our cash and our high level of convenience to somebody if we are not in return getting a discount? It doesn't make sense. So we have to get a discount in order to supply them with what we provide which is convenience, cash, as is, quick. Simple, okay? So figure out the why, why are they selling? If they are not ultra motivated, you probably don't want to set up and appointment, at least not today.

Mike: If you're brand new, set an appointment and go out there if they want to meet somebody.

David: You need to learn.

Mike: You've got to practice. It is not big deal to go out there and practice with people that maybe don't sound motivated on the phone. A lot of times you will get that. Someone who doesn't sound motivated, you have drilled down trying to get they why, then show up on the appointment, okay when can you close? Literally it is almost like a 360-- or 180, opposite direction. It does not happen that often which is why you want to qualify it. So new people I always suggest running those appointments when you can, when someone wants you to come out and meet them, it means A, you did a decent job selling yourself to them via your marketing and via your conversation skills on the phone, so good job. Run that appointment. Like I said though, your really do want to qualify once you get a little bit more seasoned and defend your time. I am a big proponent of-- again, just thinking about things like defending my time. Dave-- he does it in the same way, he is just very candid. I'm an investor, I don't need to buy this house. I would like to if you would like to sell it, or rather if you need to sell it. I would love to come buy that house. So again, it is one of those things where-- yeah it's an evolution in your real estate investing career. What are some other talking points-- our title is 'Wholesale calling scripts'. So what are some other talking points on the phone and-- that will help you qualify the lead?

David: There are some very common, very easy, very-- universal questions, right? Start with that, what is the style of the home? Sometimes when you say that people won't understand what you mean. They will just say, it's a piece of crap. It's like, oh cool that's great information. Other times they will say, oh it's a ranch,  two storey, split leveled duplex, so on and so forth.

Mike: Or they might say some weird word you're not familiar with, like oh it's mid century modern, or it's cottage or bungalow or shot gun. If you don't know the answer to that, just say, oh cool.

David: Write it down and look it up later.

Mike: Or be like, what do you mean by that one? I've not heard that one before. But again, that's a talking point. You focus back the conversation on the house, just to keep the conversation moving, keep talking.

David: You want to-- Mike has a great point, you want to keep talking, you want to keep the conversation going. Again, these are lots of great questions about the house. So style, bedroom, bathroom count, obvious guys, you need to know this information. The size--.

Mike: That stuff may be on Zillow but it may be inaccurate. It may be on the county tax record website, but it might not be right. So yeah, confirm all that stuff, especially if you're seeing it online.

David: We come across properties a lot that are not-- that are not the same bed bed or square footage as Mike just said, as Zillow or tax records, so verify that information. Love it. Next would be the square footage, very important.

Mike: Yeah, how big is the house?

David: How big is it? When was it built? Was it build in 2015, or was it built in 1945? You are typically going to have a big difference in those type of houses when you're running comps, when you're doing repair estimates, as well as your ARV's in general, okay? If it has a basement or garage, what kind of basement? Is the garage attached? Is it detached? Is the basement a full basement? A half basement? A pit basement? Does it have a walkout? Is it finished? Partially or fully? Just general questions about the garage and the basement. Next, that is going to bring is to amenities. Does it have a porch or a deck or a sun room? Is there a fence in the back yard? Does it have a fire place? Is there a patio? Does it even have a mother in law suite? You just want to keep the conversation going, and you want to ask if there are any amenities that could be a list very long. Is there a swimming pool? Anything and everything that it has to offer you want to learn about.

Mike: This is-- it's a pretty good order, again, even though we don't recommend a script, keep the conversation flowing naturally, but this is a really good way to help you disarm your sellers, think about everything we have talked about so far. It was, hey what's your name? Hey, what's your phone number? Can I call you back on? Tell me a little bit about the house. What style is the house? None of this stuff is intrusive, none of this stuff is like, are you up shit creak right now? Need to sell this thing tomorrow or what? Hey, you know what I mean? So none of that is too personal. But then you're going to start getting into things that are a little bit more sensitive or personal, because we are going to start talking about money. I mean in my opinion once you get that rapport built, you are kind of having a conversation, you are going back and forth, that's when you need to shift into some things that are more sensitive. One of the next things I would ask about is, hey is there a mortgage on the house? How much do you owe on this property? Again, if they say they are not comfortable sharing that, oh no problem. You just keep the conversation flowing. But, if they give you that information, it is good information to have. So you move past that and say, okay well do you know how much you want for the property? Kind of drop it like that. How much do you want for the property? How much do you need to get out of it? Something along those lines. Next step is, okay so you want that much, how much work does this house need? Does it need a lot of work? Is it move in ready? Just rehab the bathroom or are these original to the 1960's age of the house you just told me about? So again, if you have 60 year old bathrooms that haven't been updated, you are going to spend a little bit more on repairs than if it was a 1960's build, and yeah we updated it last year, looks really good. It's very different, and it's going to help you formulate whether this person is motivated or not. Again, I think you and I, Dave, we kind of skip over determining motivation without directly asking for it, which is the why. So we mentioned that earlier as well, which is find out why they are selling, because that is going to help you determine their motivation for selling. Their asking price and what their perception of the property is, is also going to help you determine that. So that's where I would dig in. So none invasive questions upfront, get your conversation flowing, then kind of start trying to pry a little bit more information that again, I am calling it more sensitive, which is mortgage amount, asking price, repairs needed, the condition of the property.

David: Yeah, more property information versus the why, right? Some more information about the property itself. Could be the subdivision or the school district that it is in, we always like to know that.

Mike: In St Louis, school districts are super important.

David: Yeah it's very important to know the districts. Then we will always ask them, what is the condition of the property? Because their idea of a condition may be different from yours, but you want to hear it come out of their mouth. If they say, oh it's a piece of junk. That's good for you because your offer can be lower without them getting all heated about it. If they say, oh it's pristine, it doesn't need anything. Well that's fine. I just say, okay great, I can't wait to see it. I will be the judge of the repairs. As an outsider I will be able to know-- I will look at those things.

Mike: That's a much better way the phrase-- what kind of repairs does it need, what's the condition?

David: What's the condition

Mike: That's going to help you determine what kind of repairs are needed.

David: Yep.

Mike: Again, it's just keeping that conversation going.

David: Right. I always like to ask the condition of the roof, and if the city water and sewer-- sorry if the sewer and the water is on a city or county service, or if it's on a well or a septic. Now if you are in the middle of a big city and you don't plan on going outside of the city limits, you will probably not want to ask this question, or won't need to. But here in St Louis if you get too far outside of the city, the houses are on wells, and they have septic tanks. They are no longer on the city or the county sewer and water districts. So that may effect the value of the property or the cost of the reapirs if your septic tank is shot. It could be 15 grand, maybe more.

Mike: They are not cheap to dig up and replace.

David: You want to know that in advance. The whole reason that we are doing this episode, and that we have titled it 'wholesale call scrips', is because we just want to learn how to qualify better. We want to know how to qualify the sellers that either we are calling, or they are calling us, and see if they are motivated. This is a numbers game, and if you are are chasing around a bunch of unmotivated sellers, you are probably not going to make any money.

Mike: You are just going to be super frustrated too.

David: Spinning your wheels. So find the motivated people.

Mike: It's 10 to 1, guys. You are going to have to talk to-- this is a numbers game but a people's business, right? So you are going to have to-- like Dave said, you are going to have to talk to a lot of people.

David: Yep, number four-- in our list of qualifying, number one we have get the decision maker. Number two is basic info about the person, right? Number three is find out their why. Number four would be property information, okay? Information, general information about the property. Number five I would say would be condition. You could ask them, when was the last time that you updated the property? They say, oh we put a kitchen in 15 years ago and that's it, that's all they've done. That leads me to believe it needs a roof, it needs windows, going to need flooring, going to need paint, going to needs kitchens, bathrooms and maybe that kitchen that has been updated 15 years ago will be okay, maybe not. So definitely just ask them what is the condition of the property?

Next, after I get through the condition of the property, I would say number six on my list would be, are there any taxes or leans on the property that are owed? This is basically asking them, do you have a mortgage on the property? Or just come out and say it like that, do you have a mortgage on the property? If so, how much do you owe? They may or may not tell you, but from my experience, 50-70% of the time when I ask that question I get an answer. It might not be the exact answer of what they owe but it's a ball park. It helps me to to determine, A, are they motivated enough to make this work? Is there enough equity in the property to make it work? Or, if they are motivated enough, but they owe more than I am willing to offer, are they willing to bring money to the table? It's all a question of motivation, but it is fact finding, it is seeking out what-- they owe, what their interest in selling is, what their why is, also the general information about the property.

So last but not least, well I guess there are a couple of more things; we will typically ask why-- sorry how quickly they need to sell. I will usually bundle that in with my why. It's typically more a why and a when. If they need to sell next week, we that tells me there is a high level of motivation. If their number isn't in line, maybe we can work with getting it in line, right? If they say, oh I don't need to sell next week, I am just looking for offers, and I don't even need to sell it at all, but if someone brings me the right offer then I would consider it. Well that is somebody I am probably going to follow up with in year, six months to a year. I have zero intentions of setting an appointment with that person. They are not motivated, they are tire kicking, okay? Figure out how quickly do they want or need to sell.

Mike: With someone like that, oh I am just getting offers. I like to come back with-- when they say I don't need to sell it right now. I will say, okay I am not in the business of appraising properties for free.

David: Yeah, you don't have to be rude. That's not rude. I don't think it is.

Mike: It isn't.

David: Just make it clear like, listen I am trying to buy a house today. I do pay cash, I buy as is, and I can close very quickly. I provide a high level of convenience, but I only provide that to people that are willing to give me a good deal. If you are just looking for offers, then I don't think this is going to be a good fit. I am looking to make an offer on a property that I can actually get a contract signed on today or tomorrow or very quickly. If they are tire kicking--. You can handle that however you want.

Mike: My thing was-- more of a personality mirror thing. Somebody says, oh I don't need to sell it. Say, that's good because I actually don't need to buy a house today either, then talk about what Dave just mention.

David: Love it.

Mike: Again, if they are a strong speaker then you kind of come across strong as well.

David: Love it. So after you get through the condition of the property, does it have any mortgages or taxes. Sometimes you might come across a property where they haven't payed their property taxes in five years, two years, four years. I've seen it up as much as seven or eight years. If the taxes are three grand a year and they are give years behind, that's $15'000, guys, that you need to be aware of. That's going to be taken at closing or it is going to be needed to be paid by somebody at closing in order ofr it to close and transfer properly. So always ask are there any taxes or leans owed that I need to know about. If they say no, then lead that right into, is there a mortgage? If they say it's not your business, just move on. You can find that information on PropStream, you can get a 14 day free trial at DPIPodcast.com/Comps. That's where we go to find out if they owe money on the property if they don't tell us. So use the same system that we do.

We talked about the repairs that we think might be needed. Again, over the phone it's going to be a little difficult unless they can help you with that. Just ask. We said earlier, have you made any updates to the property recently? That's one way to go about it. Another way is to just straight up ask them, hey does this property need a bunch of repairs? They are either going to say yes or no. If they say yes, it is going to be quite obvious. Yeah the roof's been leaking for three months. How do I know? Because on the inside of the house on the ceiling, there is a big brown spot where I can see it getting wet when it rains. So these people, they are going to tell you.

Last but not least, two things; how did you hear about us? It's probably one of the most important things behind the why, because as you build as an investor and a wholesaler, you are going to start doing multiple types of marketing. You want to be able to track where that marketing came from.

Mike: Even when you're starting out it's good to ask that question.

David: Absolutely.

Mike: Maybe they heard about it through a friend or a Facebook post or something you didn't even think about. Hey one of your posts on Facebook, you don't think you have anybody following you. One of you friends gave your info to this person.

David: Maybe they saw a bandit sign, maybe they got a letter or a postcard in the mail, maybe they clicked on one of your ads and found your number on your website, but didn't fill out the form and decided to call the number. So there might be other ways for you to track this, which is great. But the easiest way is just to ask them when you are on the phone. Hey, Mike, thanks for calling me today. If you don't mind me asking real quick before we get started, how did you get my number?

Mike: I don't need to sell you my house-- oh wait, wrong part of the conversation. Yeah you're right, 100%.

David: How did you get my number? Oh great. Let me get some information about you, your phone number and address, then while I'm doing that, tell me why you're looking to sell this property. Boom, all of it segments into itself really nicely.

Mike: Do we have DPIPodcast/CRM? I think that's the one where--.

David: I think we do.

Mike: -- our CRM's on there.

David: I will just look.

Mike: Again, Dave said asking is the easiest way and I agree 100%. It is pretty effective. But just like eye witnesses to crimes, it could be wrong, it could be wrong 10% of the time, could be wrong 50% of the time, I don't know. Long story short; if you get a CRM and you get different--.

David: This is the tool kit right now, but I think we do have the CRM.

Mike: I'm pretty sure we put the CRM out there. Well check out DPIPodcast, go up to the tool kit--.

David: It's a page, we will build it out. Tool kit, go to tool kit.

Mike: Yeah, tool kit, go to the CRM. Like I was saying. Some of those are going to make it even easier if you have different phone numbers on different marketing pieces. Then when they call in, if they didn't fill out your form or whatever, at least then you can track which phone number they called. Which is the original marketing piece that got their attention enough to write down your phone number from that piece and called? Again, check those out as well--.

David: I love it.

Mike: -- to help you.

David: Last but not least, I said that the last time, but this is the last one though, and it's the price. So we always typically wait till the end to say, okay do you have an asking price in mind? Whatever they tell you is kind of irrelevant in my opinion, because no matter what that number is, we always follow it up with this question right here, that everybody needs to be using. You say, okay great, do you have a price in mind that you are looking to get for this property? After you told me all about the condition and why you're selling, and basic info about you, why and when you're selling, all the property information, then of course the condition. Do you have a price in mind? Then you want to wait and let them tell you that number. Immediately after that tell you that number, no matter if it's a great number or a stupid number, you want to follow it up with, sounds good. If we pay you cash and we close fast, will you take less? That's one way to word it. Another way to word it is, if we pay you cash and close fast, is that the best you can do?

Mike: That's the one I was looking for.

David: Either one. It's the same thing.

Mike: They give you a number and you say, okay, is that the best you can do?

David: Is that the best you can do?

Mike: Is that the best we can do on this?

David: Right.

Mike: Again--.

David: The reason is, people will throw out their asking price first. Which is always going to be a higher number than they are willing to take, always. Alright? If you say, I can pay cash and close fast, at you willing to take any less? Sometimes I have seen sellers say, 10%, even 15% drops from me asking one simple question, getting them don on price. Sometimes they will say no, that's my bottom dollar, I'm pricing it right, or this is what I have to get to pay the mortgage. So this is what I need to get. That's fine too. But by asking the right questions, it helps you to determine their motivation, it helps to determine the lowest they would be willing to take. It also helps you determine what you need to do to get these deal done, and if it is going to have to be a quick one, or if it's going to give you some extra time or not.

Mike: This is a lot of what we do. We do sometimes change it up. I mentioned asking a price earlier, and the reason I will do that, I will ask twice or more is because sometimes that number changes just with that too, or they don't want to share that price with you. Okay, keep building rapport, making a friend. What number did you need to get out of it? You can slip it in a couple of different ways.

David: You can.

Mike: Okay is that best you can do? Again, you're looking at comps if you're infront of your computer that is. We try to be in front of it when we are talking to sellers, you can kind of do your research. You can figure out, that number might make sense when we are out there.

David: I have a six point bullet list if you're watching you can see it, if not I'm going to read it off. This is my call script. It is literally six bullet points. I don't like using call scripts because I don't like scripted, I like to make a friend. If we get off on a tangent which if you listen to our podcast you know we do a lot of. But it's fun to listen to. I enjoy listening to it because of that. I enjoy talking to people and letting the conversation go where it needs to go and not worry so much about following it A to B. If you want to go out and find yourself a call script, that's fine. Mike and I don't suggest using them. Instead we suggest using a short list of bullet points. You can expand on those, but these are the things that really matter.

Number 1, are you talking to a decision maker? If you are not, don't waste a whole lot of time doing it. You are welcome to get information about the property, but don't set an appointment without talking to the decision marker, or at least one of them.

Mike: A really good distinction. In our prior example, siblings who have inherited it. Guess what? That person might give you more information than the decision maker. So talking to them on the phone, that's not a bad idea.

David: But don't set an appointment without--.

Mike: We don't want to run the appointment because it takes a lot of time if you're not working with someone who can make the call.

David: Love it. Number 1, decision maker. Number 2, basic info about the person you're talking to; what's their name? How do you get in touch with them? They may be calling you from a work phone number yet they only answer on their cell phone, or they may be calling you from a friend's phone. Get their number. It is not always the same number as the called ID. That's why I always say, is there a good number I can reach you back at? I will usually record both numbers, assuming they called me from one number and they are giving me another. Now I have two ways to reach this person. So just get some very basic information about the person, I don't even typically ask for an e-mail in the beginning because I am ready to get to the why and the when, okay? So number 3, the why and the when. Why do you need to sell? When do you need to close? Let them talk. The why and the when and the-- property information and the condition are basically going to take up about 80% of the phone call. Number 3, 4 and 5. Number 3 is the why and the when. Number 4 is the property information; bed, bath, square footage, so on and so forth, where is it located at? Just the basic information about the property, okay? So that's number 4, number 5 is the condition; what type of house is it? Has it had any updates recently? Does it need any repairs? How much would those repairs cost if you could guess? What do you think they would cost to get this thing fixed up or to rehab it? Or even to get it occupancy ready for a tenant? All of these questions are valid questions. What is the condition? Number 6, the last thing you want to do before you determine if you qualify enough to set the appointment, is to figure out their asking price. But don't forget, after you say, what is the kind of price you're looking for? Or what's your asking price? No matter what they say, follow it up with, is that the best you can do? Or if I pay cash and close quick, are you willing to take less? If so, how much? Always want to ask those things.

Mike: One thing we forgot, at this point, Dave, we are on number 7 which is set the appointment.

David: That's the last thing.

Mike: Yeah, so guys you want--.

David: You might not even get to number 7 if they are not qualified. If they are not qualified, what do we do?

Mike: We say, let me look it up and I will see if I can do that. It doesn't seem like that's going to be the right number for me. We have already disqualified a couple of times. So at that point be like, can I follow up with you in a few months? Of do you care if I circle back in a few months, six to eight months? Something along those lines.

David: it's okay to tell a seller that you are not interested in purchasing their property. Or, just say I don't think-- a better way to do it would be to say, I don't think this is going to work, I am looking go buy properties in this part of town for this price, or this range, which might be 30, 40, 50% less than what they are asking. That's okay.

Mike: If you have listened to any of our past podcasts, I guarantee we have said it before every two to three episodes, very transparent. We try to be very transparent. Dave always says, I hear him on the phone all the time.

David: I'm an investor, I don't pay retail.

Mike: That's exactly what it is. I'm an investor, I don't pay retail. You can end the conversation with that. I'd love to come out and look at it, but I'm an investor and I can't pay retail.

David: It's not a bad thing to say that. It's okay to say, I'm an investor, I don't pay retail. You should in fact say that. You need to make sure that you are not setting appointments for people that are asking a hundred thousand on a property that has an ARV of a hundred thousand but it needs thirty grand in repairs.

Mike: Which is not gonna happen.

David: You are wasting both of your times. It is okay to tell people that you are an investor and that you don't pay retail. However, follow it up with this; however even though I just told you I'm not going to pay retail for your property, I do have a lot of value to provide. What is that? Well I'm a cash buyer, it's not always my cash, it's a private lender or a hard money lender, or even a bank's money. But it is my money, I get access to it. So I am a cash buyer, and so are you. You can find lenders out there, you just have to get off your butt and find them. So I am a cash buyer, number one. Number two, I will buy it as is. You don't have to do any repairs or cleaning at all. Number three, I can close quick, that's it. That is the entire pitch. Quick, cash, as is. It doesn't get any simpler than that.

Mike: We really like our new website, and we have only mentioned it about four times in this episode, but we should mention it one more time. So go to DPIPodcast.com/funding. So you can legitimately be a cash buyer if you check that one out.

David: Yeah.

Mike: I think there is even a webinar up now.

David: I think it's funding. It disappeared one me. Here it is. Yeah, funding.

Mike: So check that one out as well, guys. Go play on our website.

David: That's a great resource to get money in the door to use to purchase properties. It's a great resource.

Mike: Cool. Like I said, we are really pushing the website. It's new--.

David: We do love the website.

Mike: So check it out, guys. Thank you-- is there anything else you want to wrap up with?

David: Let's just wrap up, guys. Wholesale call scripts was the name of the episode. You don't really need one in my opinion, Mike agrees. He put a big X through it, okay? What you need is just a couple of bullet points, and you just need to be likable, right? Make a friend. That should be your number one goal, no matter if you're calling them or they are calling you. Find out if they have a problem, try to solve that problem and be their friend in the process, okay? It's not hard to listen to people when you ask them a question, or agree with them when they tell you something that's agreeable. That's how you make friends. It's not hard. So make a friend, alright? Keep it simple. Get the decision maker, get basic info about the person, find out their why, and their when. If you can't figure out the why or the when, well just ask them why they are calling you. If they don't know why they are selling or when they need to sell, why are they calling you? If you are calling them they may not have a why or a when, but ask them anyway. Number four, is get some information about the property. Number five goes in with number four, but what is the current condition? Does it need a bunch of repairs? If so, how much do you think it needs? Last but not least, what is your asking price? After they tell you, this is a two part; can you do better than that if I pay cash? At that point you should have qualified them, that is what qualifying a seller looks like right here. If there is motivation, set the appointment. If you are new, set the appointment. If you are not new, and there is not a lot of motivation, then tell them that this doesn't look like it's going to work for you, because you need to be at this price range. It is okay to tell somebody that they are asking too much. So like a perfect example, if you call somebody and they have a house that has a 100k ARV, and it needs twenty grand in repairs, we would multiply that hundred by seven, take off our repairs, that puts us at fifty. So MAO on this property in this scenario I am making up as I go is fifty. Let's say they are asking eighty. Well you can come back with and say I am usually looking to buy properties in this area that are very similar in size and condition to yours, but I am typically paying between forty and fifty grand. You are asking eighty, I just don't think this is going to work for me today. Do you mind if I call you back in a month or two, or even in a few months to see if I can either come up on my end, or if you are willing to come down a little on your end?

Mike: It's so funny because--.

David: It's so rare, let me just say one more thing; it's so rare that somebody says, no don't call me back. In the five years I have been doing this full time, I could probably count that on both hands. Five years of somebody saying, no don't call me back.

Mike: Great point.

David: They usually say, you know what? You're right, we are not in the same ball park. If you want to call me back in three to six months, I would love to talk to you. At the end of the day, they have a problem that you are trying to solve. They are not, not going to let you solve it.

Mike: It's funny, because Dave's example of 100k ARV needs 20k and they are asking 80, at least they are aware of the fact their property needs 20k and they are willing to accept closer to what they perceive everything to be worth. That's when-- I would almost be tempted to set the appointment even though Dave is right, we are probably need to be closer to 50k on it. Mainly because this person is aware of needing repairs etc etc.

David: Absolutely, man. So wholesale call scripts, guys, if you are looking for a wholesale call script, you can find them online. The CRM's that are out there, and the ones that we like to use, have them built in. Which is basically just field boxes for all of the questions that you should be asking. So if you don't have a CRM, go to DPIPodcast.com/CRM. Check out the one that we use. But at the end of the day, you don't need a script. You just need to know the six different things to ask people on the phone. Even if these are asked out of order, it doesn't matter.

Mike: There's no order.

David: The main thing--.

Mike: No wrong way to do it.

David: No wrong way to do it. The main thing is make a friend, qualify, qualify, qualify. If you're new, I am going to say this again, if you're new; set every appointment you can. You want to get out in the field and learn, meet sellers and try to start negotiating and determine repairs. You need to learn these things to--.

Mike: There is a lot of things you have to do on an appointment as well as-- building rapport, so you are making the friend a little bit stronger, make a better friendship, make a better impression. You got to be calculating repairs, sometimes in your head, taking pictures, chatting. There is a lot on the appointments to do as well, so definitely make sure you go out there and practice on not so motivated sellers.

David: Don't be scared of making calls if you are cold calling, or answering these inbound calls if you spending money on mail or bandit signs, or any type of marketing at all. Focus on the six things and you guys should be rocking and rolling.

Mike: Thanks for listening, guys.

David: Signing off.