Case Study: How One Investor Turned a Single Mailing Into $45K

The Challenge:

Collin is a real estate investor with Sell Today Light, working in the Des Moines area.

After a few years in the industry, he found himself looking for a predictable source of off-marketing leads and a solid process to turn those leads into contracts, without needing years of reputation or paying top-dollar offers. 

In January 2023, he decided to take action and implement direct mail for the first time - partnering with us to make it happen.

 

The Plan: 

Collin decided to kick off his direct mail journey with a single, highly targeted campaign. He chose to target absentee owners with equity - proven list of motivated sellers!

He didn’t start small either… This was a list of over 3,000 property owners, giving him immediate scale and real opportunity to generate leads right when he hit the ground!

But what made the difference wasn’t just the list, it was how he prepared before the mail even hit mailboxes!

To hit the ground running, he focused on five key actions:

• Learned how to analyze deals and run appointments
  • Instead of guessing, Collin took the time to understand his numbers and sharpen his ability to confidently walk sellers through the process.

• Built credibility and conversion assets
  • He created a motivated seller website and a “credibility packet” to position himself as a professional, trustworthy buyer from the very first interaction.

• Outsourced call handling to Call Porter
  • This ensured every inbound lead was answered live - no missed opportunities, no delayed callbacks, and a strong first impression with every seller.

By combining the right list with the right preparation, Collin didn’t just try direct mail, he launched it like a pro.

The Result:

This approach paid off quickly! From that first mailing (using our Americana #1 postcard) Collin secured two deals and ultimately closed three off-market transactions.

The first win was an inherited, vacant single-family home that matched the absentee-owner list perfectly. Collin wholetailed the property: he purchased it for $110,000, listed it at $145,000, and netted about $30,000. 

A key moment in that deal came after the appointment: the seller revealed Collin’s offer was $10,000 lower than another verbal offer but chose to work with him because he was direct, honest, and respectful.

“The seller was very candid and told me they received an offer $10,000 higher after verbally accepting my offer. They said however 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 with $5,000 on my offer, I agreed to this as the numbers still worked. So the sellers ended up accepting my offer that was $5,000 less because they wanted to work with me instead.”

Collin agreed to increase his offer by $5,000 while keeping the numbers profitable, and the sellers accepted. The second closing was a wholesale that produced approximately $15,000 in profit. With the ~ $3,200 marketing spend, the initial mailing delivered roughly a 1,400% ROI.

Collin’s story shows that a focused plan, professional branding, consistent follow-through, and genuine rapport can win deals even when you aren’t the highest bidder. By pairing a targeted mail campaign with conversion assets and reliable call handling, he created a predictable pipeline and proved you don’t need decades of experience to close profitable off-market deals.