How a First-Time Mailer Closed Two Deals and Walked Away With $45K
Collin Coy runs Sell Today Light, a real estate investing business focused on buying off-market properties. He’s not someone with decades of experience or a massive operation behind him. He’s a doer. The kind of investor who learns something and immediately puts it into action.
Before sending his first direct mail campaign, Collin focused on building the right foundation. He:
- Built his motivated seller website
- Created a credibility packet
- Learned how to analyze deals and run appointments
- Set up a direct mail campaign
- Signed up with Call Porter so every inbound call would be answered live
Then he launched.
The Challenge: Starting Direct Mail From Scratch
Collin didn’t have a consistent, repeatable way to generate motivated seller leads. Like many newer investors, he knew opportunities were out there but without a reliable marketing channel, he wasn’t getting enough conversations with sellers.
He needed an outbound strategy that could consistently generate leads without blowing his budget.
The Execution: 3,200 Postcards and a Simple System
Instead of overcomplicating things, Collin focused on a proven list and a simple system he could execute consistently.
He pulled a list of absentee owners with equity (a classic motivated seller audience) and mailed 3,200 of our Americana postcards.
But the mail campaign was only part of the equation.
Collin made sure he was prepared to convert leads before the phone ever rang. He had his seller website ready to build credibility, live call answering in place so no lead went to voicemail, and a system for analyzing deals and running appointments confidently.
That preparation mattered once the calls started coming in.
The Results: Two Deals and $45,000 in Profit
Deal #1: The Wholetail - $30K Profit
Collin’s postcard landed at exactly the right time. The property was an inherited single-family home that had been sitting vacant, and the seller was ready to move on from it.
After the appointment, the seller revealed something surprising: Collin was not the highest offer.
Another investor had offered more money, but the seller still chose to work with him because of how he handled the conversation and built trust throughout the process.
As Collin explained:
“They said they would rather work with me because I was very honest and direct with them and did not try to low-ball them. They asked if I could come up $5,000 on my offer, and I agreed because the numbers still worked.”
The numbers on the deal:
- Purchase price: $110,000
- Listing price: $145,000
- Net profit: $30,000
- Exit strategy: Wholetail
Deal #2: The Wholesale - $15K Profit
The second deal from the same campaign was a straightforward wholesale deal that generated another $15,000 in profit.
Combined results:
- Total profit: $45,000
- Total marketing spend: ~$3,200
- Estimated ROI: 14x return on marketing spend
The Takeaway
Collin’s success wasn’t about having the highest offer or years of experience. It came from executing the fundamentals well: consistent marketing, fast lead handling, strong communication, and building trust with sellers.
