EP NNA 23 – Calling Banks For Note Deals

NNA 23 | Calling Banks

NNA 23 | Calling Banks

 

About a decade ago, a cartoon showed foreclosures as this huge wave hitting Wall Street and made a lot of bankers panic. What happened also is a lot of the note buyers vanished. They stopped buying because the paper wasn’t worth what they were used to paying. That’s what sprung up with non-performing stuff that we’ve seen over the last ten years. However, that wave is going to hit again, and you’ve got to be prepared to be buying direct from the source, and it all comes down to three basic principles – calling asset managers, e-mailing asset managers, and following up. On this episode of Note Night in America, Scott shares his six steps to making sure you don’t shoot yourself in the foot when calling banks and reaching out to asset managers to find note deals.

Listen to the podcast here:

Calling Banks For Note Deals

I’m just excited to be here. As always, it is always an honor to have you join me here on Note Night America. I have great content for you. We have had a goal for this year. We set that up at the beginning of the year to help us in the next five years, is to help educate over 10,000 note investors across the country. We are on our way to doing that, hitting our one-year goal relatively close. It’s hard to believe that this is going to be our 97th Note Night America. I know we’ve done more than that but it’s about 100 we’ve been keeping track of. On November 9 to 11, we have our final Fast Track Training. After that, we have our final Virtual Note Buying Workshop from November 30 to December 2. We will wrap up our year with our Note Mastermind taking place in Cape Coral, Florida on December 7, 8 and 9.

I know I focus a lot on notes, but every once in a while I like to share something that I was a part of. I was a part of this New Media Summit that took place in Austin. There were about 200 podcasters from all different societies. I was one of about a dozen real estate podcasters. I learned a lot about the great things they were doing. Out of that, I was actually invited as an icon. I’m way paid for. When I was in Austin, the hotel was paid for with a group of great individuals, and I’m very proud that I call them friends. We pushed the Note CAMP on November 15 to 18. We had some people that were not able to make it and a lot of speakers just have to reschedule some things.

Big Wave Foreclosures

Foreclosures are this huge wave hitting Wall Street and a lot of bankers are panicking. What happened also is a lot of the note buyers vanished. They stopped buying because the paper wasn’t worth what they were used to paying, and they vanished. That’s what sprung up what we’re doing. That’s what sprung up with non-performing note stuff that we’ve seen in the last ten years. It’s always been non-performing notes and there will always be non-performing stuff. A lot of it hit the market. It worked its way through it. I had a podcast with Bob Zachmeier talking about there’s not as much stuff. I had to argue with him, “No, Bob. There actually is. There’s still a lot of stuff out there. What you’re saying is not true. Yes, there are choker brokers out there, but it’s not the case. There are still plenty of nonperforming papers, and plenty more hitting the market. We’re going to see a repeat of this.”

NNA 23 | Calling Banks

Calling Banks: There’s still plenty of non-performing papers hitting the markets.

 

Many of you are struggling because you no longer have the low-hanging fruits. You’re tired of buying from the direct source or condo or any of those usual characters. The wave is going to hit again. There’s going to be another wave that hits again and you’ve got to be prepared to be buying and buying directly from the source. A lot of you, unfortunately, we treat this is a hobby. We don’t treat our business serious enough and you’re in the business; notes is a business. It’s not a job, it’s a business. You can buy a couple of notes here and there for a hobby and if that’s the case that you want to do, great. Expect to pay a premium.

If you want to capitalize on it, especially I see a lot of changes taking place, then you’re going to make some notes out there. I asked this about going back in the future. What would you do if you go back ten years? What would you do differently? What would you buy and invest in? What would you avoid? What opportunities would you take advantage of? Ten years ago, it was a totally different market. It’s a totally different timeframe. The amount of technology and the amount of stuff that’s available now versus ten years ago for the note industry, it’s mind-boggling. I was like a caveman ten years ago. The biggest thing I say is I buy more and I also market more. I know that’s funny coming from me where we probably leave the industry in marketing, but I buy more. I bought a lot of stuff. There’s a picture of me getting some collateral files in the mail. That was a good time buying some assets. I should have bought a whole lot more. There are a lot of opportunities available for those of you they’re willing to put the work in or do the things that you need to do to capitalize on things. If you’re not finding deals or no note deals it’s probably either because it’s a lack of marketing or lack of expertise. You don’t know where to go and that’s okay. Technology helps us so much more there are some great things out there that you can use. It’s easy to find deals than it was ten years ago.

Three Basic Things

When I have to knock out 100 phone calls in a day and fall back up with more and more phone calls, that was the main way to find deals back then. If you’ve ever made phone calls for an extended period of time, I’m not talking making ten phone calls or twenty or 50, but making 1,000 phone calls in a month, that’s a lot. Many of you have never done that. DistressedPro is a great thing. You’ve got different contacts available. You’ve got LaneGuide.com. You’ve got some automation sites that you can use. Noteproz is a scrubber on some things out there to pull some lenses stuff like that. Websites like the Texas Savings and Mortgage Lending for you to pull some of that stuff, FDIC.gov. There are so much easier ways to finding assets and reach out to asset managers than there ever was before. It still all comes down to three basic principles. I don’t care how easy it is to find, it still comes down to three basic things. Calling asset managers, emailing asset managers and number three is on the follow-up. It’s so important in the follow-up on there because it’s just critical. You can still buy on a one-off basis if they’ll let you sell it. If you want a bank pool then you’re going to want to go out and raise some capital. It’s probably best especially if you’re only a onesie or twosie investor. If you’re not used to buying three or four and a twenty at a time, then you probably need to turn it off to somebody else or get somebody else involved with it.

We have a question, “Do we look for banks to write off loans, 90 plus day liens and write off loans?” That’s what I would look at, all three of those. I’m not going to go through the nuts and bolts of exactly what you look for because literally all you’ve got to do is jump on LinkedIn and type in special assets or secondary marketing manager and start contacting that one. All you’ve got to do is download a list of asset managers and start emailing on a regular basis, or you pick up the phone and call. Those three things aren’t anything different. There is no magic. I’m not going to wave you a magic wand or I won’t give you a magic pill to make that shit any easier.

I see several people actually looking at the list of that direction. People like you keep shooting yourselves at the foot. Asset managers aren’t going to send you a list because you are your biggest issue. I see so many investors scourged it up. This isn’t the note business, this is the debt business. This is buying debt. You’ve got to put your big girl panties on and your big boy panties on. You’ve got to pull them up. You can sit here and pussyfoot around if you want to, but you’re not going to have any success. You’re just going to get frustrated because you’re not going to be committed to it. Some of you aren’t committed. If you want to do what you think is best or you want to doubt what I say or others say, that’s fine. Who’s always been around longer? Who’s the one that has closed thousands of deals? I prove my point.

Many of you are out there messing things up for yourself. You’re not messing out for me. I guarantee nobody else is going to share this information with you. I will take the time to tell you how you’re screwing up your own business. There are three very basic rules that you’ve got to do a follow-up with those things. We all find asset managers, but the thing you have to keep in mind is what separates you from the other guy or gal? Just because you pull a list? Do you look cheap? This I guarantee is where a lot of you are shooting yourself in the foot. Your logo looks like crap. Your website looks like shit. Your email signature looks like it’s crappy. You don’t have proper grammar in the emails you send out.

Many investors are one and done Diaper Dandies. Many of you will make one round of phone calls and that’s all you do. Then these people that run the other side, “Making phone calls, that doesn’t work.” Maybe you’re sending one email to ask out asset managers, “That doesn’t work.” Yes, it didn’t work the one time you did it, you Diaper Dandy. Go home and piss in your panties. The thing is this is a business, you’ve got to build systems. You’ve got to follow up. Many of you are so scared you’re like, “I don’t want to do that.” Then don’t do it then. Get out of the way. Go do something else. Go back to a job. Are you buying for yourself? This is one big thing that just drives me bonkers when I see people out there brokering. Why are you brokering? You’re just wasting your time and you’re wasting your money. Buy for your own portfolio. Go raise the capital.

Some is selling that note to somebody else for $200,000, $300,000. Take down the deal yourself. Are you buying for yourself? Are you buying for your own portfolio? The minute you start buying for your own portfolio, there’s a mentality change. You’re going to be the guy or gal that takes us down. Are you saying the right thing? Some of you are shooting yourself in the foot because you’re not saying the right thing or you’re saying too much. Sometimes calling asset manager is all about not saying hardly anything. A lot of you are talking too much. You just need to say what you need to say and then learn to shut up. Some of you need to learn, “I need to say this and I need to be quiet until they respond.” If they don’t respond, just be quiet. Let them mull things over sometimes.

NNA 23 | Calling Banks

Calling Banks: Sometimes calling the asset manager is all about not saying hardly anything.

 

Six Basic Rules For Contacting Bankers

Another thing is saying no is a good thing. Can you say no? Let’s not say yes to everything. “They sent me a bone.” There’s no meat on that bone. That deal doesn’t make sense. Why are you wasting time saying yes to that when you should’ve said no to begin with and move on to the next person? I have put together six basic rules for contacting bankers that you want to follow through with. Some of the stuff, I’m sorry I might call some people out. You can’t call anybody else until you called yourself out first. We can all agree to that because otherwise, you’re a hypocrite. In this market versus 2008, it’s all about presence. It’s a different market now than it was ten years ago. Bankers were damn desperate ten years ago to move their shit, now they’re not quite as desperate. They still got to move it, but they don’t want to move it to just any Tom, Dick and Harry out there.

Complete LinkedIn Profile

It’s more about your presence and what you put out there versus things. Some of you, your presence is just horrible. I’m glad to be friends with you, but I don’t want to be in business with you. The thing is do you pass the Joker test? I’m not talking just Joker broker because they all know about this. Are you just a joker wasting their time? The first thing is do you have a complete LinkedIn profile? This is the first thing because what happens is you give them a phone call or reach on them via LinkedIn. The first place they’re going to go is your LinkedIn profile. What does that look like? Some of your honeyholes just tightened up, because a lot of your LinkedIn profiles look like crap. There’s nothing on there. You’re the bare minimum and bare minimum will never help you find success. Doing the bare minimum each day, you might as well go back to the job. You might as well just say, “Dreams, it’s been great knowing you, but the bare minimum is not going to get me there so I’m going to give up.” You look at your LinkedIn profile and it says a variety of things. Maybe you should have somebody who’s not your spouse or your friend with your LinkedIn profile to tell you, “What does my LinkedIn profile say? Does it scream joker broker or does it scream something else?”

You don’t all have to have a million deals. Just get a look at your profile and what you’re putting out there. This is something new. In the past, you could get away with not having a website or have your LinkedIn profile worked. In this market, you’ve got to have a website. You’ve got to have one that doesn’t look like crap. This is another thing you don’t want to go the bare minimum on. You want to actually put some work in. I laugh because I talked to so many real estate investors who say they’re going to be in this business for ten, fifteen, twenty years and they have a website that looks like they’re not even in business or they’re barely in it. We’re not talking dropping $20,000 on a website. I’ve done that in my past with different things. I’m a little bit different than most of you, but that’s okay. Do you have a website that doesn’t look like crap?

Every asset manager checks you out on LinkedIn first before they contact you. If you see them the number of people looking at my profile, bankers and phone call. Do you have experience or vendors? You can get away with not having a lot of note deals if you’ve got experience in REOs or you’ve got a strong vendor team. Vendor teams can help make up for you. Do you know what and where and what you’re looking for? What are your assets that you want on your portfolio? Can you close? Can you actually do what you say you’re going to do? Can you follow up?

LinkedIn profiles, you want to have 100% complete. You don’t need two profiles. I see people all the time, “I’m going to start a second profile.” Why? Nobody knows who you are. It’s only going to look shady when they find two different things. Just have one profile. I know some of you have higher paying jobs whether your managers can get upset about what you’re doing if you post it in your LinkedIn profile, then you know what you probably need to have a stronger website presence than just that. Make sure your company name isn’t the same name as you. Have it 100% complete on your LinkedIn profile. Have something that mentions real estate investing.

Why is a bank going to send a list of assets to somebody who’s a surfboard operator or a cell phone provider? People that call me, “I’ve got the tape,” the first thing I do is I go to LinkedIn to see who they are. They say, “I work at a kiosk in the mall selling cell phones for Verizon Wireless.” You’re joker broker. You might be a joker broker if you’ve been an investor no longer than ten minutes. When it says ask for investors stuff like that and you just got into real estate investing, here’s a little thing I’m going to tell you. If you bought any house, your primary residence is often most people’s largest investment. That makes you a real estate investor. If you bought any house, put the date down that you bought that house. “Scott, that’s not exactly telling the truth,” but if you put out that you’ve been a real estate investor for a month, it’s going to shoot you in the foot. I’d rather help you versus you hinder yourself.

They say something, “Ten years back, we bought our first house,” they’re not going to ask. “I bought my first house. I’ve dabbled in fix and flips for a while.” That’s fine. Just put something longer than ten minutes ago. Put it on there the first time you bought a house. LinkedIn also has an amazing amount of sections you can add in for projects if you did fix and flip, if you’ve done some short sales. You can post something in there in the projects are about the deals you’ve done. Post some case studies, put some videos of walkthrough videos, some blogs. Put some content on there. It’s important. They can see what you’re doing. Are you talking about business? Do they like your deals? They’re looking over your stuff to see if you pass the muster? You passed the stink test. Trust me on this. Somebody here will say, “What if I come from this part to this part?” If you’re doing something different, it’s okay because we all start somewhere.

Post something about notes. Post something, a case study, a deal you’ve taken down. Case studies and past projects in real estate will overrule you doing something different. You have hobbies. We all start somewhere, but just post something to LinkedIn about what you’re doing in real estate. Post a deal that you’re making an offer on. Post some photos. I don’t care if you’ve been a realtor or a mortgage broker or you’ve done fix and flips. Take a map and map back, “Here’s a list of the assets that we’ve done. We’ve closed 100 properties in the last ten years.” Great, that’s still doing something. This still shows you more credible than the Verizon Wireless agent or the Cricket agent. I’m not bashing cell phones because that was my first job out of college. I was working for Verizon Wireless in a kiosk. I made a lot of money doing that, but I didn’t have the time to do anything else.

The reason we harp so much on LinkedIn is the easiest way for you to find asset managers and you don’t need a paid account, just use the free account. You can do this in your spare time, the off hours, the 7 to 2, the lunch breaks. While you’re sitting there waiting for your hubby or waiting for your spouse, you could do it from your phone and connect with people. I have added 200 people when I was sitting in Orlando at least on my profile. I’m almost at 14,000 connections, all from my phones for the most part.

Due Diligence

Back to the website, do you have a website? Yes, you need one in this market. This is going to help me both for the banks do its due diligence and also investors checking you out to help you raise capital. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but you don’t want to go cheap. You need to spend a little bit time on this. Put good photos. You don’t want to put any crappy stuff on it and you need some basic pages. Create the homepage with your logo, a good logo. Spend some money on a logo. You’ll be using it for the rest of your life as a real estate investor. It goes in with your business card, it goes into Facebook profiles so spend some time. Use 99designs or Fiverr to find something good, but make it good.

NNA 23 | Calling Banks

Calling Banks: Spend some money on a logo you’ll be using for the rest of your life as a real estate investor.

 

You want to put your focus. We focus on buying distressed notes in most of the major metroplexes across the country. The third page, the closed deals or case studies, the deals that you’re making offers on. Never put an address on a case that you haven’t closed. Another page, maybe your trusted vendors, your attorney, your server service, your attorneys in different states. Your special asset managers, your realtors, put them down. ProTitleUSA, put those down on a page. Another page is Contact US and put your social. Your Facebook and your LinkedIn profiles, put your information down there. Please put your photos on there. It would be helpful if we have a good photo of you put on your website that you have that is your profile photo for LinkedIn. When the asset managers and the investors find you on LinkedIn, they go, “This is his or her company.”

I can’t say how many times somebody sends me an email and I’m like, “Who is this? I have no idea who this is.” There is no photo of them. There is no person. There’s nothing. It’s just a blank website. It looks shady. Put a photo of yourself on it, put your spouse on there. Even if they’re not in business with you, they’re part of your family. This is an important thing when you’re marketing out, get rid of the info@ or the contact this at or the contact@. Get rid of those emails, just kill those emails. They are the first spam traps. They get attracted by spam traps all the time and your shit is not going to get delivered. Nobody wants an info@, they want Scott@ or Levi@ or Cody@ or TheWolfman@. Do that, but please make sure your website’s up-to-date.

I had a couple of Mastermind students who had websites and we’re all excited about it. I got on it and I’m like, “There are some issues here. What it says on your website here and you have a title for a different company. It’s not even associated with where it’s at. Your pictures are not optimized and your links aren’t working. Your videos don’t work. You have to take the time to look at. You need to update the dates. I know my website, I had to update all the time. Having somebody to help you with your web is relatively cheap. JD Bates who does Noteproz does a pretty good job. It’s pretty relatively cheap. For $500 to $600, he’ll do a true WordPress website. He does a pretty good job. The guy is pretty fancy. He charges cheap because he lives down in Costa Rica.

Have at least those four parts. The home page with some nice photos, your focus, your About You, your mission, some close deals or past deals you’ve done. It doesn’t have to be note deals. Some case studies, some fix and flips, videos. Your Contact Us page, your vendors and the Contact Us page. Connect with us. Get on our email list or deal list. Those are some simple things. Have a link where investors that come to your website from your LinkedIn profile, if you have other social media, they can opt into your database. It’s very important to do. Smile in your photo. Some of you look like you were at a funeral. I’m like, “Who wants to deal with a Mr. Downer over there?” Nobody wants to deal with those people. They want to deal with someone who is smiling, happy and enjoys what they’re doing, “Yes, I’ll buy your distressed debt.”

I’m not bashing but I’m trying to help people out. You’ve got to realize when I say something, it comes from the place of love because I want you to succeed. I know that you’re capable of succeeding. Another thing, make your company’s name easy to understand. Let’s not try to do twelve different things. One of the things I see from investors out there, “I’m an investor in small apartment deals and notes.” No, you’re not. Be focused. You might as well say, “We focus on distressed debts.” Everybody’s running around chasing their tails and buying apartments. There’s nothing that separates you from the rest because you said small apartments.

Your Experience

Be proud of your website. Don’t have it all tumble jumped up with everything that pops up but keep it simple, try to keep it clean and go from there. A lot of people use a Wix website, fine. If you’re not a website designer, pay somebody $500, $600 to go do it. Most of your kids could put a website better than you can. Number three, do you have experience? Bankers don’t want to screw up. They don’t want to screw up by giving a deal to somebody who’s not going to fall through with it. Don’t be the $25-million-man, “I’ve got $25 million to invest.” Then why are you answering your own phone? Don’t overlie about the experience, “I’ve got $20 million.” No, you don’t, just be honest. “I have $250,000.” You’re not going to be chasing REOs and foreclosures, but if you’ve done that in your past, put that down on your profile, “I’m active with short sales or REOs or foreclosures or fix and flips or rentals for the last five years.” Great. You’ve got some real estate experience. You’ve got to rub two sticks together.

Case study, photos or videos are good on your LinkedIn profile and on your website. You may want to put it on a one-page flyer like an executive summary that when you talk to a banker, you can email that into them. I’ve sent in thousands of executive summaries to banks, “This person knows what he’s talking about.” You send some information about your company. What do you need to send? Your website, your LinkedIn profile, and executive summary. That’s all you need. If you got fewer deals, then rely on your vendors to build you up. We had a guest on the podcast who provided a nice commercial pitch deck that you can use as a guide to put a deck together. You may want to use that, “Here’s what we do, here’s what we’re focused on.”

If you’ve got $250,000 to invest, be honest. It’s okay. All of us should have at least $250,000. All of you can throw a stone and probably raise $250,000 for the right number of deals for the right type of deal. Don’t tell us you’ve got $5 million to invest when you’ve got $250,000. Don’t do that. That’s a lie. Do as you say you will. I work with a bunch of private investors and the amount that I have available changes depending on what we close on. If they ask you proof of funds, “I can send you some commitment letters.” “If you want to $1 million proof of funds, you have to give me a couple of days to pull it from my investors. I don’t want to send you one from a couple months ago.” They’re going to like that. What they don’t like you to do is send some proof of funds letter from a hard money lender. It’s not worth the paper it’s written on. Just be honest and say, “We buy. We closed a deal or two. It brings more money to the table from our investors.”

Know What Values You’re Looking For

Number four is probably the most important thing outside of having your profile looking good. You need to know what you’re looking for. We’re looking to look for something like that where you can hear the wind whistling through the windows, tell them that. Know your pitch. Here’s my pitch, “Hi, Mr. Asset Manager. My name is Scott Carson with a company called Inverse Asset Fund. We are an Austin-based distressed debt investment firm that focuses on buying non-performing first liens on residential commercial properties in most of the major metroplexes across the country. We like to try to get the borrower to stay in the house by rehabbing the borrower and working on assets on loan modification or a trial payment plan instead of going straight to foreclosure. Do you have any notes that might fit in those categories on your desk? We like looking at anything basically with a value of about $25,000 up to $500,000. Anything above that is not what we’re looking for but we like to stay in our bread and butter, $500,000 to $250,000 or below depending where it’s at.” It’s straight to the point.

Know your pitch. It’s one of the most important things I learned. Even though I’ve been giving a pitch for years, I may not focus on it so much. Be less than two minutes. You don’t want to drag on. Asset managers are busy. They don’t want to hear you chew on their ear on the phone asking all these stupid questions or saying this ungodly stuff. Just be focused. I’m trying to avoid REOs because you’re not in the REO business. You’re in the note business. If you’re in the REO business, you’re on the wrong webinar. You have to know your states or market. If you don’t like New York or New Jersey, say that, “I don’t like California,” say it. “I like states east of the Mississippi.” “I like the big ten Southeast Conference states.”

Know what values you are looking for, “We don’t do anything below $50,000. We don’t want anything above $250,000.” Whatever that number is, know what values you’re looking for. If they’re going to ask for pricing, tell them, “It all depends on foreclosure timeframes and the true value of the asset or what condition it’s in.” In some cases, we’ve paid up to $0.65 on a dollar. They want PAR, don’t waste your time. If you’re looking for PAR, I apologize that’s not what we’re looking to pay, we’re looking for a discount. We’re looking for something with some hair on it. If that’s the case you’re still wanting PAR, then I’ll let you go. I’ll just fall back up from time-to-time.”

Know When To Void The Deal

Avoid the weird deals. I have gotten five phone calls from people who send emails to ask me when I got the same weird cross-collateralized note with the first and second or the first is not a property in Chicago and the second is on a property in Florida. It’s cross-collateralized. I’m like, “Just kill it. It’s way too weird.” Don’t call me, “I’ve got a 70-acre equestrian farm.” That doesn’t make any sense. “I’ve got a tape of these assets. Let’s work through those assets so we can find a buyer for that and we can put ourselves in.” Don’t call with weird deals. If you start saying yes to a weird deal, that’s going to raise a red flag in the asset managers’ minds, “This person obviously does not know what they’re talking about.”

It’s okay to say, “No, that’s not what I’m looking for.” I’ll give an example. I was at a conference talking to a hedge fund and said, “Do you have it?” We’re talking about the Colorado market. The asset manager, he stopped me. He’s like, “No offense. I’m not going to send you in Colorado deals.” I’m like, “Why?” “I have this girl who reached out to me, I’m sending her every Colorado deal.” I’m like, “What?” He is like, “She’s fine. I’m going to send her every deal.” I’m like, “That’s fine. That’s not a problem.” “I send all my Florida deals to this guy.” I have a lot of asset managers to tell me that, “It’s not a problem. I’ll reach out to them directly.” You have to know that, just ask. Know what you’re looking for. If they don’t have what you’re looking for, ask if there’s somebody else at the bank or the fund that manages other portfolios. Banks and hedge funds out there have multiple people working their portfolios. Keep that in mind as well.

Focus helps, your clarity helps and helps bankers remember you too versus being the guy who buys everything. If you segment it down, when they hear something, Colorado, Florida, luxury homes, mobile home parks, you want your face, your name, your logo and your colors to pop into their brain. I’ve had hedge fund guys call me up six months like, “We’re tired of seeing your green emails, your green logo. It’s burnt into our brain.” Branded into the brain is more like it. “What have you got? Let’s talk.” “Five, can you close?” This is very important, “Can you?” The big question is, “Can you close?” Whether you say yes or no, you’re correct.

NNA 23 | Calling Banks

Calling Banks: Focus helps your clarity.

 

It’s the Henry Ford way of saying, “Can you close?” You’ve got to have investors really to roll. That’s why it’s important to have your LinkedIn profile working. This is why it’s important to be out networking, to be marketing, and sharing content because you want your investors ready to roll. You want your investors to be reaching out to you as well. You want to be the one that they call or email, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks after events to say, “I’ve got some money. I’m ready to roll. I enjoyed meeting you. Enjoyed talking with you. Let’s get to the rock and roll.” That’s important. That means you’ve got a market for it. A lot of times the marketing aspect of asset managers, we talk about the phone calls and emails. You’ve got to use that same thing with investor, emails, your database, talking about the deals you working on.

Does that mean just posting to Facebook, “Somebody fund these blips on a map?” That has no passion there, there’s no bang there. I see that. I love the fact that people are like, “Here’s a tape of assets that I’m working on.” They show the map. When they say, “Do you want to fund these?” There’s nothing there, it’s a dot. There are no numbers from the assets. Quit asking for funding on a map. It’s like going to rent a tuxedo and standing in front of the girl’s gymnasium saying, “Marry me.” That doesn’t make any sense. You’ve got to go out and market. You’ve got to do the same things you’ve got to do. The same tools will help with raising capitals. This is why it’s important to have good websites. It’s important for people to opt-in so they start seeing and start building that trust with you. They can search for you on LinkedIn too to find out more about what you focus on. Good deals find money.

The beautiful thing is if banks are buying directly from asset managers, they will often give you longer to close in three days or seven days. Usually two weeks or 30 days or before the end of the year. Banks will often give you longer to close if you communicate. If you’re funding a borrower, “I’ve got a backup funder,” they rather give the 48 to 72 hours extra versus to go out and try to find a new buyer for that asset. Knowing what your product is, knowing what you’re focused on is also going to help you sell to your investors more. Why? If they like that asset class, they’re going to invest with you. I don’t think it’s a good idea to be invested in everything. I just don’t think that’s focused. I’ve seen some people like, “In this market, I want to be ready. This makes sense.” That’s fine. If that’s working for you, great. I just don’t believe that works. I still believe being focused and being expert at one thing allows for you to systematize that and build a business so that you don’t create another job.

I love the movie Wolf of Wall Street. The scene at the beginning of the movie where Jordan Belfort is going up there. He is talking to an asset manager. He is wet behind the ears, a brand new broker’s first day on Wall Street and he had a seasoned investor there. The bankers are the seasoned investors. You are the wet behind the ear guys in the brand-new suit from JCPenney. There’s nothing wrong with that because at some point, they were that wet behind the ear broker who was on his first day at his job with a $40 JCP suit. It’s okay. Just communicate. Talk to them. Carry on a conversation. If you say, “I’ll call you back on Monday at 3:00,” call them back on Monday at 3:00. Don’t waste your time if you’re not going to call them. If you don’t have the time to call them, set it another time. Drop them an email.

Follow Up

This leads us to number six here. Can you follow up? Following up is the most important to deal with asset managers. 80% of sales are made at the fifth contact. I’ve said that until I’m blue in the face. I still get people every week that email me. Every week they’ve been, “I’m not going to do it because it doesn’t work.” Let me delete my number from your phone because I don’t want you in my tribe. Follow-up is the most important part of what you do. Follow up with another email. For those of you out there that are emailing on regular basis, you’re starting to have success. You’ve been doing it for a while. If you make a phone call, always leave a message. If you make a phone call and don’t leave a message, you just wasted your time. Don’t be frustrated. Be smart. If you’re having a bad day, hang up the phone or go do something else.

When I used to make phone calls, I used to put a little sticky note right on my computer that said, “Smile.” A funny story is when I was making phone calls as a mortgage banker and the mortgage boy pops and he was laughing one day. I was in my office, slow near that thing. I was making 50 phone calls. He walked in before I was making phone calls he’s like, “Who are you talking to?” I’m like, “I’m practicing.” He started laughing. I want to make sure and get my wording right. I want to make sure if I leave a message, I leave it right. I want to have my script right there that I can rattle through it. I want to read it and read it verbatim word for word. I want to be able to communicate. I want to practice it so that I practice it 30, 40 times so that when I get on the phone with somebody, it’s not my first time doing it, it’s my 51st time. Practice in the mirror.

Asset managers are busy, get directly to the point. If you screw up, just hang up and call back, fall back up. Then call back the next day say, “My apologies. My phone acted differently and my cat went crazy or something happened.” Most of the time, they’re not going to remember so it does not matter. I’ll tell you this, you are in a busy zone. Banks are literally starting to look to get rid of stuff. It’s why we’ve done a big push with some of our training and some of our content for classes and our membership stuff about commercial notes, subprime notes or stuff like that. The final four months are the busiest of the year and you’re going to want to be taking action so that you’re ready to rock and roll.

NNA 23 | Calling Banks

Calling Banks: The important thing about having your email and having a website is that you can stand out if your stuff was put together.

 

Another important aspect of things is following back with sellers in your bids. If you have an offer three months ago or a month ago or you made a bid this month, reach back out to those asset managers. If they haven’t sold it, I bet they’d be able to take it on a bigger discount or they may have stuff that has fallen out from other people that have not passed the joker test. They may be in some need of having to close. My best deals come from that aspect of following back with other people and being referred by somebody else. These people talk back and forth quite a bit. It’s a smart market. I’ve had asset managers say, “Such and such is over this bank. This attorney told me to give you a phone call.” Don’t be afraid to follow back up because you’ll find some of the best deals. Bonuses for bankers are made in this 90-day stretch. Asset managers on banks, they get a bonus by keeping their portfolio clean. We’re moving so much stuff off their books especially in the last 90 days. Keep that mind. If you made an offer in October and you don’t like it, push back. Follow back up 30 days later. If it doesn’t make sense, push back.

Gordon Gekko out there is a shark. They’re going to try to make a deal, but they’re also going to come to a point where they need to cut bait and get stuff sold and move it off their books. Bonuses are made. Follow up, always leave a voicemail. If you screwed, just hang up and call them back. The important thing about having your email and having a website is that you can stand out, if you get your stuff put together, it’s going to be so much easier to leave a solid foundation on the front end with your LinkedIn and your websites, and your CRM. Lay that foundation so it’s easier in the long run. For those of you that try to nickel and dime this business, you pay for in the long run by taking longer to close deals or closing deals. You pay for it one way or another. Either you can pay on their frontend and making shit look good or you pay for it by not closing enough deals and be penalized in the backend.

If you enjoy Note Night in America, my webinars, my podcasts, go to iTunes and please leave me a review. I’m trying to hit 100 positive reviews on the Note Closers Show and Note Night in America. Out of our tree podcasts, Note Night in America is always our slowest and lowest download because so many of you catch it here live. I would love it if you could leave a positive review on Apple Podcast for me on the Note Closers Show and Note Night in America. If you have already done it, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. If you have not, please help me out. We would love to have you do that. Thank so you so much. It helps us out with different things we have going on too.

Most banks are going to ask for proof of funds. If you have an asset manager and somebody asks for proof of funds in a letter of intent, they’re a joker-broker. Don’t waste your time on them. We have a question, “Doesn’t putting your picture on your website make you look like a one-man band?” No. Put your spouse on there. Put your vendors on there. You’re the general manager managing stuff. If you’ve got an assistant, put them on there. We all start somewhere. Thanks again for joining us on Note Night in America. Go out and make something happen. Take some action and we’ll see you at the top.

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One Comment on “EP NNA 23 – Calling Banks For Note Deals”

  1. Great podcast. I’ve been doing this for 11 years and I always learn something new or a new way to approach things on Scott’s podcasts.

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