Category: General

How To Create A Custom Neutral Letter Template For Mailing

The two mail houses we recommend at this time are LPGletters.com or LPGmailer.com both of which are full service mailing services that print, fold, stuff, stamp and mail your letters out on your Company’s behalf. This article will focus primarily on the service provided by LPGletters.com  or ITI – Letterprinting.Net. In the event you have a need to create a new custom template for a mail merge this article provides step by step instructions on how to accomplish this task.

Overview

In order to create a custom Neutral Letter Template for mailing to either of the afore listed mail houses you must complete the following steps.

Step 1: Open Up A Blank ‘Word’ Document File

This blank ‘Word’ document file will be utilized to house the new version of the Neutral Letter Template for mailing.

Step 2: Access ‘Campaigns’ Function In Either Land Or House Deals Section

  • Log into your Investment Dominator Admin Console and navigate to either the ‘Land Deals‘ or ‘House Deals‘ section depending on the type of properties you are working with.
  • Click on the link in the upper right side of the page called ‘Campaigns‘.

Step 3: Access Template Icon For ‘Generate Prospect Neutral Letter Template’

  • Once you access the [?] icon the system will reveal the ‘Generate Prospect Neutral Letter Template‘ and ‘Generate Envelope Template‘ PDF downloads.
  • Select the ‘Generate Prospect Neutral Letter Template‘ for PDF download.

Step 4: Open And Recreate The Template In Word Document

  • Open the ‘Generate Prospect Neutral Letter Template‘ and down-load the built-in template onto your computer.
  • Copy each line of the ‘Generate Prospect Neutral Letter Template‘ into the blank ‘WORD’ file you opened in Step 1.
  • Copy the SIGNATURE into your ‘WORD’ file using Jing or some other ‘Snip-it’ tool available.

Note: This template must be recreated as a new version because it contains all of ITI placeholder information as highlighted in RED for a successful mail merge.

Step 5: Make Changes To Save In ‘WORD’ And ‘PDF’ Formats

  • Make any appropriate changes to the new version of the Prospect Neutral Letter Template in the ‘WORD’ file.
  • SAVE the new version of the Prospect Neutral Letter Template in ‘WORD’ file format on your computer.
  • SAVE the new version of the Prospect Neutral Letter Template in ‘PDF’ file format on your computer.

Note: The new version of the Prospect Neutral Letter Template in ‘PDF’ file format is sent to ITI, (Letterprinting.Net).

How To Calculate Acreage Size Of Property

In many instances you may not have the actual size of a parcel, (in acres) from either county data or county records from list service brokers. The GIS, (geographical information system) will supply a screen shot of the actual parcel and you will be able to pull cross streets near your subject property to determine its location. In our example, this article will illustrate how you can determine the actual acreage size of any parcel using Google Maps.

Step 1) – Acquire Cross Streets From GIS County Map

Record the appropriate cross streets from the GIS system in the county website. Example: Cross Streets from GIS in Harnett County

Edit the appropriate Land record in Investment Dominator to assist in determining the size of the subject parcel.

Cross Streets From GIS
Access Edit Function

Step 2) – Access The Cross Streets Location In Google Maps

In a new browser window, access googlemaps.com

In the “Search Google Maps” search box type in the appropriate cross streets from Step 1) above. (Example: S 3rd St & E McNeill St)

Note: Make sure you select the appropriate matching cross streets that pop-up based on your entry in the search box.

Google Maps will go directly to the selected cross streets based on your selection.

Step 3) Locate Your Parcel In Relation To Cross Streets

Use the GIS county map from Step 1) and locate your subject parcel on Google Maps in relation to cross streets.

Note: You may want to Zoom-In on your subject parcel prior to proceeding to Step 4)

Step 4) Measure Distance And Size Of Your Parcel

Find one corner of your subject parcel and <right-click> on that corner to display the appropriate menu.

Select Measure Distance from menu to start measuring the subject parcel.

To start measuring, <left-click> on each corner of the subject parcel until lines have been drawn completely around the image.

Acquire the Total area in sq ft of the entire parcel for Investment Dominator calculation.

Acquire Total Sq Ft Of Parcel

Step 5) Calculate Acreage Size Of Your Parcel

Copy the Total Area: field in sq ft into the edited record from Step 4)

Go to the Property Information section of the Investment Dominator record.

Enter the Total Area: field calculation from Google Maps into the What is the size of the property? field [SQ. FT.] box in the Investment Dominator.

Press the Enter key on your keyboard to process [SQ. FT.] box entry. Note: The system will jump back to the top of the current record.

Press the Update Record button in the upper right corner of the screen.

Scroll back down to the Property Information section of the record and view the size in Acres box.

Recommended Ring Central Setup

We recommend LPGphone.com (Ring Central) as our preferred phone system for the Land Profit Generator method.

The reasons we recommend them as a resource include:

  • They offer a full-featured virtual phone system (virtual PBX) that can be easily self-managed (doesn’t require expensive phone techs to configure) at a fraction of the cost of a traditional company phone system.

    NOTE: For a complete list of features and up-to-date pricing information please refer to: https://www.ringcentral.com/office/plansandpricing.html
  • They are a virtual system that is hosted in the cloud so you don’t need to install any software on a server that you need to manage or maintain.
  • They provide you with full-featured Desktop and Mobile Applications that allow you to easily make and receive calls from your company phone lines and much more. To download their Desktop or Mobile Apps visit: https://support.ringcentral.com/download.html

Recommended Setup:

We have two recommended setups:

  • A two-line setup
    This will cost you less money per month and is only recommended if the same person/team in your company that takes the offer request calls is also the same person/team that handles offer questions/ negotiations.
  • A three-line setup
    If you have a call center like LandCalls.com answering your offer request line and a separate person/team that answers questions about offers you have made, or is in charge of handling offer negotiations then you want to use this three-line setup to ensure you have a separate extra line for your offer negotiation person/team and you significantly reduce the chance that the seller will call your call center to negotiate an offer.

    NOTE: With Ring Central you can upgrade/downgrade as needed so you can start with two lines then increase to three in the future as your company grows.

The Two-Line Setup

Here’s how it works:

Here’s how you set this up:

In this setup you have two lines, one for your buying (acquisition) side of your business, and one for your selling (disposition) side of your business. At a minimum you want to keep these lines separate because there is a major difference between people that sell land to you and people that buy land from you and you don’t want to cross those two distinctly different markets together.

When someone calls your Buying Line they will hear a custom ‘Auto Receptionist’ message prompting them to either select 1 if they received a letter from you and are interested in selling their property, and #2 if they want to speak to someone regarding an offer you already sent them. This is set up under ‘Phone System> Auto Receptionist> IVR Menus> New IVR Menu‘

NOTE: The downside of using the two-line setup is it relies on the caller listening to the message and selecting the correct option. Whereas the three-line setup is a simpler process for the caller and eliminates most scenarios

Where To Save The Two Numbers In The Investment Dominator?

Save your Buying Line under both:

  • Customize> Company Information> Company Phone
    Here you are going to put the notation (Option 1) after the number.
  • Customize> Company Information> Offer Phone
    Here you are going to put the notation (Option 2) after the number.

Save Your Selling Line under:

  • Customize> Company Information> Selling Site Phone

The Three-Line Setup

Here’s how it works:

Here’s how you set this up:

Register two additional users with phone numbers (so that your account has a total of three lines).

How to add a User with a line:

Navigate to ‘Users> Add User‘:

Select the ‘Domestic‘ option then click ‘Next‘:

Click on the tab called ‘Add Users without Devices‘.

Then select ‘Yes‘ under the ‘With Numbers‘ field.

Select a local number from the options then click the ‘Add’ button.

Click the ‘Unassigned Extensions‘ option from the left sidebar, then click new extension line to configure it:

Fill out the form to set up the new user/line.

How To Route/ Forward Your RingCentral Lines

Under the User’s ‘Call Handling & Forwarding‘ settings you can set the forward number that will either go to your call center as in the case of line 1, the desktop app of the person that is going to handle your offer negotiation for line 2, as well as the person/team taking your sales calls for line 3.

Create an Unconditional Forward Custom Rule When Forwarding To Pat Live

The type of phone number that Pat Live assigns to you requires an extra step when configuring it as a forward. You must in addition to the regular ‘Call Handling & Forwarding’ options mentioned above create what’s called an Unconditional Forwarding Custom Rule. Below are the steps to set that up:

Click the ‘Custom Rules‘ tab.

Name the rule “Forward To Pat Live”.

Select all the numbers you would like to forward to Pat Live by clicking the Check Box options to the left of the number.

Click ‘Done‘.

Select the ‘Unconditional Forwarding‘ option to the left of the screen:

Enter in the Pat Live forward line under the ‘Forward Calls‘ input.

Click the blue ‘Save‘ button.

Test Your Changes

You will want to call each of your phone numbers after you configure them to test and ensure they are routed to the proper end points.

NOTE: Ring Central is a 3rd party company so they can change their pricing, features, interface at any time and we do not have control over that. This article should merely serve as a reference to help you get set up the way we have structured our business.

HTML Editor Options

In various areas of the Investment Dominator you will find an HTML editor that will allow you to insert images, create bullet-point lists, format text, align text, add hyperlinks, create data tables, paste text from an external source, and much much more!

Below are just some of the options available to you in our HTML Editor.

Hover over the icons in the HTML Editor itself to get a definition of what each option is used for, but to help define some for you here please reference the image below:

How To Add Public/Private Links On Listings

On land records and listings generated in the Investment Dominator you may have the need to provide additional information for yourself; as well as, potential buyers of property. We use both Public and Private links to accomplish this task as they can provide additional pertinent information for anyone accessing land records or customers perusing your Selling Site to purchase vacant land. Links also serve to keep listings clean and uncluttered with the information being provided.

Execute the following to add both Public/Privates links to any land records:

Step 1) To Create A Public/Private Link “Edit” A Land Record

Note: To create a Private Link a land record can be in any status, while in most instances to create a Public link the land record is in “Complete/Ready to Sell” status. Public links will appear on active listings.

Step 2) Access the [Links] section to add the new link

Once inside the land record scroll down to the [Links] section and press the “Add Link” button.

Step 3) Add either a Public/Private link with associated parameters

Note: Public links will display on any property listings below the property descriptions, while Private links are for personal use and will NOT display.

Enter the Title, Description, URL and Post Vars fields as needed for the new link.

Public Link Example: The following is a simple Public [Google Search] link and will produce an internet google search for entities in the state of “Arizona”.

Private Link Example: The following is a Private [County GIS Site Map] link and will access a GIS County Map for a specific parcel. This link provides information regarding the size, shape and location of the specific parcel as needed.

Step 4) Add Either Public or Private Link For Access

Once all appropriate link information has been added for either a Public or Private link press the blue Add button to generate the link.

Notice both types of links will be added and are active links which can be accessed from within the land record.

How To Select A Sub-Set of Prospect Records For Printing

First off, it is advisable to import only the specific records you plan to process into the Investment Dominator. However, you may have already imported several thousands of records into the Investment Dominator; but, only want to select/process a sub-set of the prospect records imported.

How do you manage a large number of prospect records imported going forward on a weekly basis?

Step 1) – Select all Prospect Land records and put them in the “ON HOLD” status

Note: Check for any other Land Records in the “HOLD” Status prior to executing this step and update/move those records into a different status.

Use the ‘Search By‘ function and select the “Prospect” status as shown below.

Press the blue ‘Search‘ button next to the field to bring up all the prospect records in your system.

Click the ‘Select All‘ checkbox above the records to select all the records in the search query.

Select the ‘Change Status‘ option above the records.

Change the status field to the ‘ON HOLD‘ option.

And press the blue ‘Confirm Move‘ button to move these selected records from the ‘Prospect’ status to the ‘On Hold’ status.

Press the blue ‘Clear Search‘ option above the record table to display all records under the ‘Land‘ page.

Step 2) – Select only the Prospect records by Property ID Range to be processed

NOTE: The following is only a simulation, you may select any number of records to be processed by Property ID Range as necessary.

Select/display all records “ON HOLD” status by pressing the ‘On Hold‘ Stage filter at the top of the record table as shown:

Select the ‘Search by>Property Id Range‘ option and enter the record range of records that you want to process.

Click the blue ‘Search‘ button.

NOTE: The ‘Property Id Range’ can equal 250 records, 500 records or any range of records you want to process. In this example 11 records display.

Click the ‘Select All‘ checkbox to select all the records in the search query.

Click the ‘Change Status‘ option.

The “Prospect” status should already be selected, so simply press the blue ‘Confirm Move‘ button so that these selected records move from the “ON HOLD” status to the “Prospect” status:

Step 3) – Generate your direct mail letter campaign

Click the ‘Campaigns‘ option above the record table:

Click the green icon on the first line to save the .CSV Excel mailing list file, (containing all Prospect records included in that mailing) to your computer and send the .CSV file and two accompanying template files, (Neutral Letter and Envelope template) files to LPGLetters.com for them to process.

Step 4) – Use the ‘Bulk Update Records’ option to change the status of processed records for tracking

Click the ‘Bulk Update Records‘ function to change status of the records mailed from ‘Prospect’ to the ‘Mailed Letter-1’ status:

NOTE: The following week in order to process the next set of 250 or 500 records simply repeat the process above starting at Step 2) .

How To Manipulate The Order of Property Listings On Your Selling Site

On your current Investment Dominator Selling Site, you may not be satisfied with the default order of listings displayed and may have a need to feature other listings appearing further down the list.

To change the order of how listings appear on your Selling site follow the steps below.

Step 1) Under ‘Customize> Website Settings – Selling’

Navigate to the ‘Customize>Website Settings – Selling‘ section:

Step 2) Scroll Down To The ‘Property Listings’ Section

Scroll down to the ‘Property Listings‘ section:

Step 3) Arrange The Listing Order

Select the specific listings you want to move either up or down in order based on the listings display.

Under the ‘Display Order‘ column select either the ‘Move Up‘ or ‘Move Down‘ options for the specific listing you want to either move up or move down, (one position at a time).

NOTE: As soon as you select either the ‘Move Up‘ arrow or ‘Move Down‘ arrow associated with a specific listing, the system immediately causes that listing to be re-positioned in the order display.

Step 4) Save the changes

NOTE: Simply pressing the ‘Move Up‘ arrow or ‘Move Down‘ arrow and seeing the listing change position in the Admin Console will NOT be sufficient to update the listing order on your Selling site. You must first save the changes.

To save the new listing order scroll to the bottom of the page and press the blue ‘Update Site‘ button.

Step 5) View The Changes On Your Selling Site

In order to see any Listing Order changes, select the ‘Websites>Selling Site‘ option from the menu as shown:

How To Send Out 2nd Offer 30 Days Apart

Once an initial batch of offers have already been sent, Investment Dominator allows you to Tag the associated records. At some date in the future, you can search for and select those specific records based on a Tag and send out 2nd Offers as needed.

Step 1) – Create A Tag For Each Record

From the ‘Customize‘ menu select the ‘Tags‘ section as shown:

Select the ‘Add Tag‘ button to create a new tag.

Give your tag a name by entering a value under the ‘Tag Name‘ field.

For example, you can name the tag to be the date you want to send out the 2nd offers.

When you’re ready, click the ‘Add ‘ button to create and save the tag in the system.

Step 2) – Select Records And Add Newly Created Tag

To select the records in the ‘Offers Sent‘ status simply select the ‘Search By…> Status‘ option from the Quick Search dropdown located just above the record table on the left side of the page.

Click the ‘Search‘ button to load these records indexed under the ‘Offer Sent‘ status.

Click the ‘Select All‘ function from the top of the record table. This will select all the records under the ‘Offer Sent’ status.

Then click the ‘Tag’ option to apply your newly created tag to the recordset.

Type in the name of the newly created tag that you created in Step 1 above and click the name when it appears in the list. Click the ‘Confirm Tag‘ button and then the ‘Ok, Close‘ button to complete tag assignment.

NOTE: To remind yourself to run the list 30 days later, create a Task in the system and assign it to your user account.

Step 3) – 30 Days Later Search For Tag’d Records

To retrieve these records at some point in the future you’ll want to run an ‘Advanced Search‘ to identify the records that are both in the ‘Offer Sent’ status still (meaning they have not yet accepted your offer) and that also have your custom tag applied to their record.

To do this go to ‘Land> Advanced Search‘ and add two rules to your search:

  1. ‘Status‘ equals ‘Offer Sent‘.
  2. AND ‘Tag‘ equals the name of your custom tag you created in Step 1.

NOTE: You will want to create a Custom Status called “2nd Offer Sent” so that you can move these records into this custom Status once you have sent out the 2nd offers that way you will be able to identify who you sent 2nd offers out to in the future.