Meet Than Merrill From Flip This House TV Show

One day seminar at San Antonio Investor Association

Hey everyone, Yesterday Than Merrill from Flip This House TV Show came to San Antonio Investor Association (SAREIA) to give a one day seminar. In all honesty At first, i did not want to go because I did not care much for Flip This House’s cast since Trademark Properties left the show.

Both Sam and Armando turned out to be piece of art. With Sam faking deals to be on the show, and Armando being sued and facing jail time for not making payments (anyone knows what happen with that case? Can’t find anymore news on it). 

Anyway, I decided to attend the seminar because it was a $35 deal and I figured what the heck… It is a good networking opportunity. After all, I am a firm believer in networking and strong advocate of such events. I’ll talk more about Network Marketing in another article, but for now I like to summarize what I thought of Than Merrill. Than Merrill actually impressed me a great deal. I was surprised to find out we both subscribe to Dan Kennedy’s and Michael Gerber’s teaching. He actually WOWed me and made me listen to everything he had to say. Unlike anyone else I have seen, Than put the teachings and techniques of Dan Kennedy into his business, and for those who don’t know Dan Kennedy, you’ve missed a lot. Here is a breakdown of Than’s systems.

Than has three primary parts to his course (he mentioned business system but he did not cover it so not sure what that one is about), each selling for about $1,100 on his website, although he offered all three plus a 5 days bootcamp for less than the cost of two. HUH? that made no sense to me and made me little sceptic… either the math was wrong, or the message was not communicated well. In any case, here are his three systems:

Marketing System

If I’m not mistaken, his network marketing technique is included here. This alone was tempting enough for me to buy the system, but I feel great many of other investors will miss the point of it.

Than advocated creating sequential follow up emails to everyone you get in touch with to build trust and keep your name (and face by including your pretty face picture in the email) infront of them. If you bought the course, please please please! at minimum, implement this part of his system! This will do wonders for your Investing career. Follow up is a proven system to market yourself. I cannot say much about the content of the emails however, since I have not reviewed them as of yet. But from what I have seen, I believe they will contribute a lot to your business.

The other marketing techniques he implements are series of letters and post cards various lists of potential buyers. By the way, without a good list you are truely throwing away money at marketing that does not work. His system contains series of follow up letters and post cards. He uses both professional, handwritten and post cards. Again, I can’t say much about the content of these letters but from what I have seen, I would definitely tweak the letters to make them pull better response.

By the way, he does not advocate buying through the MLS (multiple listing service). Big part of it because, unlike popular belief, he is big on wholesaling. Yes this does mean you do need spend money on postage… sorry about that

Buying System

His buying system was less atractive to me, and understandingly so. After all the heavy lifting is done in the marketing phase and I am a marketer at heart. But if you are starting out getting calls alone, won’t do it. Believe me, I’ve done that! I’ve averaged at some point 20 calls a day from sellers and had no clue what to do with the calls.

From what I could tell from his presentation, this system is focused on scripts and checklists to get you over the hump and make sure you don’t miss costly items. The system includes call in script (its long! I did not like that part), inspection, repairs, and other similar items. If not mistaken, he also covered some negotiation techniques.

The one he presented during the seminar was very basic, but common objection from subject-to sellers. He had us practicing how to handle the famous "How do I know you will make my payments?" question. His reply was nice, I would have liked it to hear better response from him but his response was simple enough for the group attending. I honestly believe michael Quarles is the best Real Estate Investor when it comes to negotiations. I’ve taped a roll-play call with him once where he handled all my objections and till today I still listen to it. But to be fair, Than was trying to offer simple answers for the group to follow and his answer was better than the ones heard in Ron Legrand’s courses

I am not sure what else is offered in this system, he did not have time to go through it. Most of the time was spent on the Marketing system. He did however hand out as a participation prize a CD containing legal forms. Please run the forms by your lawyer before using them! you should never use generic or out of state forms without running them by your lawyer first. Trust me, this could save you some jail time or at least fines.

Selling System

Than’s selling system consisted of selling through various ways. For wholesaling, he relies on his network marketing to produce an investor buyer. After all, if you have hundreds in your system and constantly following up with them, they will constantly be interested in any deal you send their way specially if you establish yourself as someone who is trusted and knows what he is doing.

He also teaches (or at least uses if he doesn’t teach it) some of copywriting techniques to motivate and give buyers a little nodge to act quicker. This too is an extremely important step in selling. Afterall, selling is a marketing technique as well! I hope you realize now the importance of his network marketing techniques.

Another interesting technique was his constant buyers list building and referring them to get their credit repaired then sell them the houses. This won’t mean much to you if you are an investor with very few deals each year, but it is a concept you must consider and put into work if you want your business to grow. The benefits of such system is having buyers before you even find sellers.

Third method he advocated is selling through a real estate agent, and of course this should always be part of your plan just in case the other methods do not work.

Other Stuff

Like any speaker, Than was selling his system and bootcamp during the cheap one day seminar. I think his plug for his product was not good (sorry Than, you need to work on your selling and closing skills!). Yes he had great closing rate and if not mistaken, at least 25% of the people have purchased his course and bootcamp… But heck, who wouldn’t for under $2000? I was so tempted based on the price alone. Having the same mentors, I think I know why though and I won’t tell you

He also kept pushing subscription website to manage your leads. I honestly think you should save your money on that one. The price is outragous for the service. If you do 4+ deals a month, then sure consider it. Otherwise, stick with cheaper products such as Act!, or heck… outlook.

So… what do I think of Than Merrill?

I really like Than Merrill and he will be on my radar from now on. This guy is going places above and beyond his current house flipping.

The guy seems genuine and does connect with people. He knows their needs and, although did not perfect the system, he sure comes close to it.

Overall I think his system is more advanced than the average Joe Investor can handle, but I would definitely recommend it. If you are a serious investor, this should be a fixture in your library.

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