5 Questions You Should Be Asking Your Private Money Prospects

February 2, 2009 | By | 2 Replies More

Financing really seems to be a sticking point for many investors. We get tons of questions through the blog about financing strategies, but most of the questions center around getting private money.

Recently, I wrote an article about the 3 types of people most likely to invest with you and become your private lenders. Now that you know who you’re best private money prospects are, let’s go over exactly what you should be asking them.

The best way to turn a private money prospect into a client is by asking the right questions. Questions that elicit motivation, questions that uncover goals, and questions that make the prospect imagine themselves enjoying and benefiting from your investment program.

5 Questions You Should Be Asking Your Private Money Prospects

Here’s a quick tip: Make sure to write down everything an investor tells you when you’re going through these questions. This is valuable info!

1) What experience do you have investing?

Find out if they’ve invested in CDs, mutual funds, bonds, stocks, real estate . . . whatever. This will help you get a good picture of the type of investor you’re dealing with, their expectations, how knowledgeable they are with investments, etc.

If they have any experience investing in real estate, you want to know the details. What did they like? What did they dislike?

The prospect’s answer will indicate whether they primarily move away from pain (losing money or earning meager returns) or towards pleasure (making more money/better returns/financial freedom). Note whether they move away from pain or towards pleasure. You will present your investment opportunity to them based on this information.

2) Are you happy with the performance of your investments (investment portfolio)?

Whether they are happy with it or not, you ask the same question next . . . “What average rate of return have you been getting from your investments?”

At this point, if they tell you a 20% annualized return, you can let them know it was nice talking with them and move onto the next prospect. You just saved yourself some time.

Let’s say the prospect said he or she was earning a 6% return on x-investment. At the end of your presentation, you could say something like, “Well, I’m not sure if we can do this or not but . . . what if we could offer you a 8% annualized return backed by real estate . . . would that be something that might work for you?”

3) Whether or not our program is a fit, is it important that you find the right investment opportunity soon?

If they say “no,” this may be a good person to add to your follow up list. You could also say something like this to them, “Sooooo if the money stayed in x-investment earning x% for say another 6 to 12 months, you would be fine with that?” Or, “If your money just sits there earning you nothing for x-time, you’re ok with that?”

If they say that it is important to find an investment soon, you have a green light to continue moving forward towards turning them into a private lender.

4) Are you more interested in making a quick buck or building wealth?

This is another way of asking if the prospect is interested in a short or long term investment. We would prefer that the person invest long term. So by saying “quick buck,” we’re already putting a negative connotation around that idea. The longer term you can negotiate, the better.

If you find out that the prospect just wants to make a quick buck, it may be best to move on.

5) What would the right investment provide for you?

This question is key to get the prospect visualizing a positive experience with your investment opportunity. And we’re not even referencing our investment. They will imagine being able to retire one day, going on that family vacation, feeling safe and secure and will associate it with your investment program.

Remember, no one will invest with you until they can imagine themselves getting the benefits from it.

Free Private Money Resources

The above questions all came out of the free “How to Recruit Private Money Millions” eBook and PowerPoint presentation. These resources walk you through exactly what to say when meeting with private money prospects and gives you a customizable presentation that you can use immediately. There’s a lot more too it than just these 5 questions . . .

Click Here to Get Your Free Private Money eBook and PowerPoint Presentation

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Category: Negotiating, Real Estate Investment Financing Strategies, Tips and Tricks

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  1. Lance Puig says:

    Great post you have here! I particularly appreciate the effectiveness and sheer simplicity of question number 5. We all should remember that while numbers and graphs and all manner of quantitative data offer prove compelling, it remains very important to involve the emotional aspect too! Thanks for the nice read!

  2. Patrick Riddle says:

    Thanks Lance!

    Getting people involved emotionally with what you’re selling is key. And you do that with benefits. Features don’t sell, benefits do . . . benefits like retirement, that dream vacation, financial freedom, security, etc.