Broker Outreach

and list fun

As I mentioned in this post on brokers, I compiled a list. This turned out to be more difficult than anticipated. As previously described, website scraping was not too bad after I figured out how to do it. On a side note, I am debating about adding an optional paid subscription to this blog, and may release a video of this scraping process on the paid side. Let me know in the comments if you think that is a bad idea?

Now, the problem was: I had 16,454 entries in my spreadsheet with an unknown number of duplicates. Only they weren’t perfect duplicates, as some could have different email addresses, or phone numbers, and some could be from different states, etc. I attempted several ways to figure out how to combine this data in an intelligent way. For example, I tried to use Apple Contacts, which took quite awhile and made a huge file, still filled with duplicates. The search proved fruitless in finding a spreadsheet function or database program that could do this, or any examples of others doing this work. Maybe I was searching for the wrong terms, or maybe I was asking too much. The issue with duplicates is that if I reach out via email 4, 5, 12 times I will be totally ignored as spam, so I don’t want duplicates if I can help it.

I stepped back and created a two part flow chart to visually see what I wanted the program to do.

Asking a spreadsheet to do this was darn near impossible. I made a mess of several spreadsheets, and started over a few times. At the end, which is version 8, I used many new-to-me functions, and probably got >95% of it done accurately. If there is interest, I may write an entire post on how I combined/merged the spreadsheet in gory details. Spot checking the data found all kinds of fun mistakes and fixes were implemented. The results are a nationwide list of now 12,617 brokers in a formatted list.

Back to the part the title promised. I am not conducting a nationwide search, so when I narrow down to states I am considering the list is 5,728 of which 2,873 have email addresses listed. My plan is to create a customized email similar to what I did in my Introduction post to send to these Brokers with a 1-page with a brief description of me, and what I am looking for in a business. I plan to ask to be put on their list when new businesses come up. This will enable me to get upstream of the postings on the internet and get “first” look opportunities.

Not wanting to get labeled as spam and not wanting to be overwhelmed, I plan to start a drip campaign, starting with states closest to my current location and send out 100-200 emails a day. How I accomplish the drip is still being investigated, and is making me re-evaluated the decision to not use a CRM. Then after that is flowing I will begin calling the brokers closet to me. Especially the ones with no email listed.