Your Questions About Direct Marketing Solutions

Jere answers:

Demand still wouldnt be elastic because there are no direct substitutes. A monopoly controls the majority of the market so it is not a competitive market anymore. Think of it like OPEC or any of the gas compaines. There really are still no good substitutes, since gas is still the cheapest way of powering cars (aside from subsidized stuff) and it is an inelastic good because people will still pay for it no matter the price.

Jere answers:

What keeps most people in debt is the fact that they keep spending more money than they make. They look at the “monthly payments” instead of the total debt loan that they are carrying. People need to stop spending now and concentrate on becoming debt free. Please do not consolidate or use a debt reduction company . It is not free, they will lower your payments by increasing the length of time until you are debt free, and you will take a hit on your credit score. Or they negotiate your debt down after telling you not to pay for awhile adding another hit to your credit score. Student loans are the only debt that can garnish your wages for non payment without taking you to court first. Just list them out on a piece of paper or a spreadsheet and follow the plan. If you work the plan, the plan will work for you.

A. Have a garage sale and sell anything that you no longer need or want.

B.Get a temporary part time job, if you have one, get another.

Here is a plan that can help you. If you work the plan, the plan will work for you:
1. Make a budget. Make the budget a week before you get paid. A budget is not a punishment! It is a tool which will free you from ever having to worry about money again. Put everything in your budget. Especially those annual, biannual, or quarterly bills like car registration, insurance, etc. Give every dollar you are going to bring home the name of where it is going. Add an “emergency fund” category to your budget for 25 dollars and save up until you have 1000-1250 dollars. Your emergency fund will help keep you from getting into new debt because of an emergency. If you can, set up a direct transfer to a savings account for your emergency fund. That way it moves automatically and you don’t even have to worry about it. You must cut your spending and live on less than you make.

2.First get current on all of you debts and make no more late payments. Stop using your credit cards immediately. Do not take on any more debt. Credit cards are like quicksand only the death is much slower. Make a list of all of your debts in order of highest interest rate to lowest interest. Use cash only for your spending from now on.

3.Pay the minimum due on all of your debts and then put your extra money towards paying off the highest interest one first. After you get that one paid off, you put the money you were paying on debt #1 (the minimum payment and the extra payment) towards debt #2. That will pay debt #2 off faster. When that is paid off, you put all three payments towards card #3 and that one will be paid off pretty quickly. As an example:

To start :
Debt #1 (highest interest): minimum payment+ extra payment
Debt #2 (middle interest): minimum payment
Debt #3(lowest interest): minimum payment

Debt #1: paid off
Debt #2: minimum payment from Debt #1+ Minimum payment from Debt #2 +extra payment
Debt #3: minimum payment

Debt #1: paid off
Debt #2: paid off
Debt #3:Minimum payment from card #1+ minimum payment from Debt #2+ minimum payment from Debt #3+ extra payment.

That way, you will get them all paid off, on time, and pay the least interest. It will also help towards rebuilding your credit since you will no longer have any late payments. This works no matter how many different debts you may have.

4. After you get all of your debts paid off, add to your emergency fund until you have 6-12 months of income saved up. Put that emergency fund money into a liquid money market fund or into a Bank of America no-risk CD so that if you need the money you can take it out without penalty.

5a. When you have your emergency fund in place, add a category for “fun” to your budget. Save for a holiday, a vacation, a big screen, or dinners out, whatever goal you want. Remember to enjoy your life.

5b. When you have your emergency fund in place, start saving for your retirement. Join the 401(k) plan at work and contribute the maximum. Your employer probably matches at least part of your contribution so why give up free money? Open a Roth IRA and contribute the maximum on a monthly basis. If you start saving for your retirement now, you will probably retire a millionaire.

5c. When you have your emergency fund in place, start saving for your next car. Only buy cars, or other things that depreciate, with cash. Save up for a nicer car. That way you get the interest instead of paying the interest.

You can do it and it isn’t as hard as you think. Just follow the plan

Jere answers:

Well, he has already said that he will revoke our right to bear “Small Arms” and will try to get a 400% tax put on Ammunition…

So now I will have my hobby, target shooting, taken away from me like he will take away my small company by taxing us to death…

What’s the point of working when my money will be stolen from me?

I guess I’ll suckle Uncle Sam’s Teat along with the lazy… I might as well take advantage of living in a Welfare State.

You people have lost your minds thinking this empty suit will do our country good…

WOW… “Like Clinton”? It was Clinton that signed the act in 1995 that PUT US in the Credit Crisis!!

They even admitted that on 60 Minutes!

And “Create Jobs”? That won’t happen because of the punitive taxes he has already spoken of…

We are screwed… Well, no I’ll amend that…. Those of us that WORK are screwed…
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Economic Reality always follows Economic Policy by 8-12 years. What we’re seeing now is the failure of the Subprime Mortgage Market (AKA Subprime Mortgage Crisis), which was a direct result of the Community Reinvestment Act of 1995 (CRA1995) that was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.

CRA1995 forced banks to use a point based system to determine the eligibility of applicants for home loans, with the three biggest points values coming from their area of residence, their race, and their income.
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Jere answers:

I dollar terms, fossil fuel companies have received, and continue to receive far more direct government subsidies than renewable energy companies. The cost for a incremental barrel of oil from renewable sources is $60 and the incremental cost of a barrel of fossil oil is more than $100 now. Indirect costs for a natural gas pipeline in Afghanistan, oil contracts in Iraq or oil contracts in Libya for the benefit of senior politicians and their friends have had a huge and unnecessary cost to the ordinary citizens in blood and treasure. The tax system favors fossil fuels over renewables because fossil fuels are capital intensive and renewables are labor intensive. Income taxes are higher than corporate taxes, so tax is a larger part of the cost for renewables. The tax rate on fossil fuel production should be raised to equalize the tax per unit of energy produced. Just end the direct and indirect subsidies. New investment will flow to the lower cost renewables.

Jere answers:

I would like to inform you what, possibly, NOT to do. THEN what you should do. THEN you should be able to make your decisions and proceed from there.

DON’T fax every person in every office the same fax about your listings or services. Its not necessary. Many offices have a bulletin board or the agents can go on-line to the brokerage web site OR YOUR web site OR YOUR broker‘s site.

DON’T text message for the same reasons.

DON’T use direct mail to promote your listings and services.

Some time ago, I read a statistic which may or may not be true today:
FOR EVERY piece of direct mail a company or an individual sends, ONLY 1 in 100 will respond to that direct-mail promotion.

At today’s postal rates – 1st class – that’s $41 you could use for other purposes. THAT’S the cost JUST for the reponse! This DOES NOT include the cost of buying the stationery and envelopes, toner etc.

JUST to get the appointment is 1 in about 250-500. Your costs are accelerating, aren’t they? AND you STILL DON’T have a sale!

It takes about 1,500 to 2,000 direct mail pieces to get JUST one appointment ALL the way to the closing/settlement/escrow.
That’s about $600 to $800+ before you see one dollar – not to mentin your time – “spinning your wheels”, wasting your time.

((((You haven’t made the sale – yet.)))))

DON’T lease or spend [notice I didn’t say “invest”] your hard-earned money for a piece of equipment with automatic phone dialing and recording/speaking features, telling agents about your listings and services.
Do you like getting those telemarketing calls?
Do you like or mind getting any telemarketing calls?

If I haven’t discouraged you, we’ll move on to the “grey area”: “cold canvassing”.
Its a terrific way to meet people face-to-face, one-on-one! It requires going to the same houses about once every two weeks – or even more frequently.

Know your market AND your product. Know how to solve various situations [“problems”] which arise on a regular basis.

When you DON’T know how to solve those problems, you KNOW what hoops and hurdles you have jump over, under, around and through to speak with the right person to get the answers and solutions to get your deals to the settlemnt table/to closing/to escrow.

The above are the DON’Ts, here are a couple DOs:

AND what about the cost of your business cards? Do you think you can “cut corners” and make a good impression with those thin, flat, lifeless, computer-generated cards?

PLEASE DO yourself a HUGE favor: Invest your time to sit down and properly design your business cards. If you aren’t sure, please go to a professional printer or graphic arts store and ask for help and guidance. Those folks should amaze you with ideas and concepts. In the long run, good, professionally printed business cards with raised lettering and features, go a long way to show others you care – about yourself, about your business and about your clients.

When you leave, your contacts and clients have two things:
1] Good, bad or indifferent – the impression you left.
2] Your business card.

Don’t you think it makes good sense to invest your money in a good, quality business card? Have your cards professionally printed.

Find an investment group – or two – or more with professional real estate investors. JOIN it/them &&&&&&&&&&&&& BE ACTIVE!!!! Get on committees, get to be known as a “can do” type of person. You should have fun [and Yes, some aggravation, too]. You should make some friends and begin building your client base. You should get leads! AND look how much time, money and aggravation you’ll save! LOTS!

As the saying goes, “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.”

What the saying doesn’t tell anyone or even mention is: YOU MUST get out there and let “the world” know about that better mousetrap!

Thanks for asking your Q! I enjoyed answering it!

VTY,
Ron Berue
Yes, that is my real last name!