How to Market to Real Estate Investors

My cold call pick-up rate is 22.2%. Here's what Jeff Bajorek and I are learning from daily cold calling: ✅ Optimize call times to maximize pick-up rates My best pick-up rate is 7:57am local time for the prospect. I catch them right before the workday starts. It's close enough to 8am that no prospect has mentioned anything. 8-9am local time for the prospect remains the highest pick-up rate window. ✅ Use multiple data sources We pull as many as 3-4 phone numbers across two data providers to get the right phone number. Then, we make sure to mark bad phone numbers so we don't call them again. Rarely is the first number the correct one. ✅ We call mobile numbers This one's obvious for many of you. But there's still reluctance, yes, in 2024—to call cell phones. You just have to do it. And deal with the OCCASIONAL angry prospect. ✅ Double & triple touches No "naked activities." We never call without emailing. We never send an email without calling. Salesloft data shows that this type of "combo prospecting" (a la Tony Hughes) increases contact rates by 3.1x. It works. My ideal workflow: → Call first. Things happen way faster on the phones. Feels like less work for me this way. → LinkedIn second. Send a blank connect request. → Email last. Send the email last. I do this all at once. Then give it two days to rest and hit with a double touch of phone + email. ✅ Prioritizing calling prospects who open emails For all the talk out there about innacurate open rating tracking—pick-up rates are much better when I prioritize prospects who open emails. We have an automated call task created after 3 email opens. ~~~ That's it. We follow fundamental sequencing best practices. How are you maximizing cold calling pick-up rates?

I’ve been cold calling for 9 years. Here’s everything I know about it: (this is a longer post so bear with me) 𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝟭𝟬 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴: People don’t hang up because it’s a cold call. They hang up because you sound unsure, scripted, or boring. - Be calm. - Be confident. - Be clear. 𝟮. 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸: Don’t ask “𝘏𝘰𝘸’𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨?” Don’t ask “𝘐𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦?” Just try: “𝘏𝘦𝘺 (𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦), 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧.” That opener alone will double your talk time. 𝟯. 𝗣𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁: No one cares that you’re the “𝘯𝘰.1 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘟.” Tell them what pain you solve, fast. 𝟰. 𝗢𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻’𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: “I’m not interested” just means they don’t understand you yet. Use the FFF method: Feel - Felt - Found. “𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦… 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 (𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘵).” 𝟱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: If they’re talking, you’re winning. If they’re curious, you’re in. If you book the meeting, that’s the win. 𝟲. 𝗩𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁: You could have the best pitch in the world… But if you don’t make the dials, you won’t get the meetings. Consistency > perfection. 𝟳. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲: Don’t waste time trying to convince people who don’t have the problem you solve. Laser focus on your ICP, the ones who feel the pain. 𝟴. 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆: Your tone > your script. People say yes to people who sound like they believe in what they’re saying. 𝟵. 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄-𝘂𝗽 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘁: Most meetings I book happen after the call. Send a short LinkedIn DM or a value-driven email right after. 𝟭𝟬. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁: They have a framework. They prep. They reflect after each call. And they improve daily. Cold calling still works if you do it right. Now let's book some meetings!!!! P.S. I've created a free cold calling cheat sheet where I share all of my do's & don'ts. You can access it for free here: https://lnkd.in/g9BrrDA6

𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐞. 𝐈𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞. After working with more than 250 professionals, I’ve noticed a pattern: trust doesn’t form when someone shares a polished idea. It forms when things are unclear, uncertain, or uncomfortable and you see how they respond. I once worked with a founder in real estate. Strong experience, good market understanding, active on LinkedIn. But their content felt inconsistent. One week confident, the next reactive to trends. Sometimes original, sometimes borrowed. No clear pattern. So I asked: If the market changes tomorrow, what would you still believe that others might disagree with? That question didn’t test knowledge. It revealed conviction. We shifted from posting more to thinking more clearly. From reacting to trends to defining beliefs rooted in experience, patterns in deals, negotiations, client behavior that most people overlook. Within weeks, engagement changed. Not just likes, but questions, challenges, discussions. And over time, people kept coming back. That’s when trust becomes visible. Because trust isn’t built when you sound right. It’s built when people understand how you arrive at what you say. Most professionals focus on conclusions. But people don’t trust conclusions. They trust reasoning. They want to see how you think when things aren’t obvious. How you handle uncertainty. Whether your perspective stays steady or shifts with every trend. That’s what makes someone reliable. My answer: 𝐈 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭. Because anyone can sound smart when things are easy. 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐞. #OneThingToKnow : Trust is built when you stand by your thinking even when it goes against the trend. LinkedIn News India LinkedIn Guide to Creating #PersonalBranding #Leadership #FutureOfWork

The Wall Street Journal storytelling piece is making the rounds. Most real estate operators will call it “interesting” and move on. Then they’ll wonder why investors are replying to their cold outreach: Google has a Cloud storytelling team. USAA hired four storytellers in one year. Notion merged comms, social, and influencers into one storytelling function. These aren't one-off trends: they're how businesses are being built. At Thesis Driven, we followed this blueprint: • Share a point of view • Use stories to get attention • Build and own your audience • Listen to the problems they share • Create products that solve those Our most-read content isn't about us. It's profiles of interesting real estate operators: how they underwrite, the bets they're making, why they see opportunities others miss. These build trust before we mention products. Personal founder stories grow audiences. I share what I'm researching: data center underwriting, farm hospitality and surf parks becoming institutional and behind-the-scenes of building Thesis Driven. Not old school thought leadership, just transparency about what I'm learning in real-time. That grew our audience. By telling stories and engaging with that audience, they told us the problems they were running into. That made product ideation easy: identify the most common problem, create a solution. Our products came from listening to the audience we built through storytelling. When we launched our Real Estate Finance course, we didn't lead with curriculum. We shared student outcomes: founders who closed deals after understanding capital structures, operators who decoded what LPs actually want, people who stopped nodding along when someone said "waterfall." Transformation sold the product. Features validated it. If you’re still waiting for the “right” time to do this, this is your signal. If you're selling to real estate owners: developers buy outcomes, not features. If you're raising capital: investors back people and theses they believe in. If you're building in real estate: trust compounds faster through storytelling than any other channel. Content-first built trust before we asked for anything. Operator stories worked because they were useful. Personal transparency grew our audience. Transformation stories sold better than features. LinkedIn doubled storyteller job postings because companies understand that people don’t get excited about products anymore. Instead, they buy the story of who they’ll become if you’re able to articulate it. Real estate is no different.

After working with 1,000s of investors over the last 22 years, here are 5 things that work for building trust as a property advisor. It’s a competitive market. Projects are everywhere. Brokers are everywhere. Buyers are more informed, more connected, and more spoiled for choice than ever before. In a competitive market, the rules change. It’s no longer enough to be the first to pick up the phone. Investors are done looking for brokers. They’re looking for a partner who has their best interest at heart. So how do you win that trust? Here are 5 ways I’ve seen work time and again: 1- Do your homework before the pitch. Don’t push the first property you see. Research your investor’s profile, priorities, and financial strategy so your advice is precise. 2- Advise, don’t sell. Be the broker who says, “Don’t buy this one” if the deal doesn’t suit them. That kind of honesty pays back 10x. 3- Stay top-of-mind with value. Show your clients you listen to them. Remember the small stuff. Build a personal bridge. 4- Invest in relationships offline. Attend networking events, industry panels, and community gatherings to plant seeds that grow into trust. 5- Build a visible personal brand. Consistently share insights, market updates, and smart content on relevant digital platforms. Investors trust people they see as thought leaders. When a client realizes you care more about them more than about closing the fastest deal, that client will never forget you. They’ll come back again. They’ll refer their friends. They’ll trust you for life. What’s the one thing you do to win long-term trust in a competitive market?

It’s pretty demoralizing to call 40 people and have 0 conversations. Leaving voicemails for an hour straight isn't effective or fun. Here's 4 ways to maximize your cold call connect rate:  𝟏. 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬: These numbers have a higher connect rate and allow you to skip gatekeepers and phone trees. For every one prospect who gets upset you called their cell, you’ll have twenty others that 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 answered because you called their cell. ___ 𝟐. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬: Your first set of dials through a new list of numbers should be the last time you sit through a long phone tree or call a screeching fax machine. As you dial, mark the quality of each number R/Y/G so you remember which ones are good or bad: 🟢 Rings multiple times and VM greeting confirms it’s them.  - 🟡 Smells fishy. Ex: Busy lines or one-ring-straight-to-voicemail. If it happens again on the next dial, move it to 🛑 - 🛑 Repeated busy lines, fax lines, wrong numbers. Once you’ve marked a number as red, never waste a dial on it again. From there, mark down "obstacles" you encounter when calling so you can more easily navigate them on the next dial blitz: Phone tree paths, gatekeepers (so you can be prepared for them), dead-end corporate lines, etc. ___ 𝟑. 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬: 5 dials in 4 weeks: When you’ve literally called someone every week for a month straight, give 'em a rest for a month and try other prospects for now. Stop after 2 voicemails: 2 VMs is enough to reap the benefits of increasing your email replies. Don’t waste time leaving a 3rd. Avoid impassable gatekeepers: If they keep shutting you down, avoid them by calling your prospect’s cell, contacting them on other channels, or dialing at off-hours. ___ 𝟒. 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐦-𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐝: Rotate your phone numbers: Wireless carriers monitor unusual spikes in call volumes, so many SEPs and VOIP providers let you buy and rotate additional lines to call from so that you don’t tarnish your number. Test your number regularly: Many purchased numbers are recycled, so call your personal line from any new number first to confirm that it’s not already marked as spam. Call during business hours: FTC considers business hours between 8 AM - 9 PM. Don’t repeatedly call bad numbers: Carriers will flag you if you repeatedly call bad numbers (yet another reason to mark your tracks). ___ Contrary to popular belief, prospects DO still pick up the phone. In writing "Cold Calling Sucks (And That's Why It Works), we analyzed over 300M cold calls with Gong: Average rep's connect rate = 5.4% Top Quartile rep's connect rate = 13.3%

This method closed me million-dollar real estate deals — without working harder. And I didn’t figure it out on YouTube. I figured it out in the middle of a deal drought. Let me explain. years ago, I started testing a different approach. Instead of cold-calling every owner in sight or chasing brokers for scraps, I shifted my focus to marketing like an owner — not a salesperson. It started small: → Weekly emails that actually told real stories behind the deals → Direct texts — not spam blasts, but thought-provoking, investor-first messages → And more recently, consistent content on platforms like LinkedIn But here’s the catch: I never sold anything in those messages. I educated. I shared the deal math. I shared what I passed on — and why. I shared mistakes I made early on, and what I’d do differently now. I stopped pushing. And started pulling. And then it happened… 📞 A seller texted me back from an old email campaign: “I’ve been getting your stuff. Want to look at a center I’m thinking of selling?” That turned into a $2.7M off-market deal. No broker. No noise. Clean terms. 📩 An investor who’d never responded to me in 6 months replied to a simple insight I texted about cap rates and inflation: “I like how you think. Loop me in on the next one.” He wrote a $1M check 10 days later. 💬 Then LinkedIn started compounding. I’d get DMs from owners, brokers, equity — all saying the same thing: “I don’t see anyone else breaking it down like this.” — Here’s the real play: ➡️ The right kind of marketing is just education with a backbone. ➡️ And the right audience isn’t looking for perfection — they’re looking for clarity. ➡️ When people trust your lens, they trust your deals. I still do outreach. But now… Deals come to me. Equity comes to me. Partnerships come to me. That’s leverage. And it didn’t cost more hustle — just better communication. — Adam Shapiro #RealEstateInvesting #OffMarketDeals #CapitalRaising #EmailMarketing #TextCampaigns #SocialSelling #CommercialRealEstate #LinkedInStrategy

I got a birthday message from someone in 2017. Then 2018. Then silence. Tuesday night, they slid into my DMs asking for a “partnership opportunity.” This is not how you do it. If you want to connect with someone you want to learn from, partner with, or raise capital from — here’s the playbook that actually works: Do the homework. Know their business. Know their strategy. Know their pain points. If you can’t articulate what they’re building and why, you’re not ready to reach out. Show up before you show up. Engage with their content for weeks. Leave comments that add genuine insight — not “great post.” Become a familiar, credible voice in their world before you ask for anything. Lead with your value, not your want. Don’t tell me you’re “keen to catch up.” Tell me exactly what you bring — capital, deal flow, market access, execution capability. Be specific. Be concrete. Make it a two-way street. The best partnerships are built on mutual value. Show me your lane. Show me why 1+1 = 3. If you can’t articulate that, keep doing your homework. Cold outreach isn’t dead. Lazy outreach is. Earn the conversation first.

In 2022, I tried cold calling like it was 2010. Result? 0 meetings booked. Why? Buyers are smarter, busier, and less patient. But here’s the thing: Cold calling works—if you adapt. Here’s how I turned it around and booked 60 meetings in 20 days becoming a Top Sales Performer in a Startup Unicorn: 1️⃣ Do Your Homework No more blind dialing. Research your prospect: → Recent news about their company → Their pain points based on their industry → Key decision-makers (know their names!) My mistake: I used to pitch without knowing their challenges. My fix: I spent 5 minutes researching before every call. 2️⃣ Open Strong Don’t waste 15 seconds introducing yourself. Hook them right away: “Hi [Name], I noticed [specific insight about their company], and I think we might be able to help you solve [key challenge]. Do you have 2 minutes?” My mistake: I started with, “Hi, I’m Carlos from Sales Titans.” My fix: I led with value and got their attention in 10 seconds. 3️⃣ Focus on THEM, Not You Cold calls flop when you start with “We do this…” Instead, ask questions: → “What’s your biggest challenge with [their area of interest]?” → “How are you currently solving [specific problem]?” My mistake: I talked about my services before understanding their needs. My fix: I flipped the script and made it about them. 4️⃣ Have an Objection-Handling Plan 90% of first objections are smokescreens. When you hear “I’m not interested,” ask: “Totally understand. Before I go, let me ask: are you seeing [specific industry trend]? That’s something we help companies navigate.” My mistake: I took objections at face value. My fix: I used objections as opportunities to educate. 5️⃣ Book, Don’t Sell Your goal isn’t to close the deal—it’s to schedule the next meeting. “Why don’t we hop on a quick call next week to dive into this further? How’s Tuesday at 10?” My mistake: I tried to close on the first call. My fix: I focused on booking the next step. 🎯 The Cold Calling Rules for 2025 → Be prepared. → Focus on adding value, not pitching. → Always aim to move the conversation forward. Cold calling is still a skill, and those who master it are thriving.

95% of cold emails to LPs never get a response. The other 5% do because of one thing: relevance. I analyzed 1,400+ cold emails sent to family offices and LPs over 6 months. Here's what actually got replies: 👉 Personalized reference to recent investment (6-8% response rate) 👉 Mutual connection mention (5-6% response rate) 👉 Industry-specific insight shared (4-5% response rate) 👉 Direct, no-fluff ask (2-3% response rate) 👉 Generic pitch deck intro (under 1% response rate) The winning pattern? Value before ask. The ones that actually converted followed this structure: 1️⃣ Subject line referenced something specific to them 2️⃣ First line acknowledged their time and made it relevant 3️⃣ Body shared value before making any ask 4️⃣ CTA was soft: "Would this be useful?" not "Can we meet?" 5️⃣ Follow-up added new information, not just "circling back" The best-performing approach in the entire dataset? Reference their portfolio company's recent earnings or expansion, then share a relevant sector insight. This combination drove response rates to 6-8%, beating generic outreach by 8-10x. LPs don't care about your deck in the first email. They care about relevance. Reference a specific portfolio company milestone. Share hard-to-find market intelligence. Mention a mutual connection who matters to them. When you lead with value and context, you get replies. What's worked for you when reaching out cold to investors?