Bandit Sign Robber!

sooo funny!!! that's great that you talked to him... if he was indeed taking your signs down, I doubt that he will anymore...

yeah, could be worse... could be in the hands of a homeless; at least yours are getting some exposure!

that is why i use both sides, why waist the other side when you can put it where front and back can be seen at the same time ? 2 times the advertising for the price of 1 !!

My goodness Karen! I guess due to all the excitement I been carrying around about my new life as a REI it never dawned on me such a thing could happen. But you know, come to think of it I guess it can! In the late 80's I started my own lawn care business. This would be my 2nd start up business after my 1st and very successful Van Conversion business in the early 70's before Van Conversion was popular.

I remember walking the streets going door to door every day leaving business cards for my lawn care services. One day as I was placing cards on the other side of the street I saw another guy going door to door removing all my business cards and replacing them with his flyers for his gardening business. I could not believe what I was seeing. If that wasn't bad enough this clown cross the street and removed the card I had just left and slipped in his flyer...

I wish I knew you back then Karen to advise me that this act as you state "is against the law" because what followed I don't think would be classified as The Paris Peace Talks.

As for using both side of the BS I think it's a good idea.

Thats what we call "creative solutions" or even "win-win solutions", I dont go a long with stealing and thats what this guy was doing why else would he redo them and put them back out again, thats so funny, hes not even good at his lies but who is, great out come Karen ( what people wont do and they exspect us to believe them)

Bandit sign rehabber, Jim

I don't usually write on both sides because when the sun shines thru them it makes it harder to read. The writing on the opposite side shows through.

@ Sammy: I don't know if it is REALLY against the law or not. I just said that. It sounded more believable than, "I'm gonna beat your _____!"

Karen

and way to make it a win/win!

First, I have to commend Karen on your direct approach to dealing with an issue. Despite your smiling picture, sounds like you have some grit when you need it.
I do have to mention that it seems to me, naming them "bandit signs" kind of puts a roguish feel into them, and if one is a believer in the energy of a name, pretty much guarantees that some odd things will happen with them. If you do not wish for your "bandit" signs to stolen or taken by the police, perhaps we need to rename them--how about "Opp-signs," short for Opportunity?
Shifting my topic, I always try to find a way that I can add something of merit to every post, so please realize I'm not trying to shift the direction of this stream, just to add another idea that occurred to me. I may have mentioned this elsewhere in the forum, but I have had some great success finding both cash buyers and sellers through the use of bulletin board posts. It seems people are magnetically drawn to look at bulletin boards just as they are to read bandit signs.
My bulletin board posts are done in two parts.
First, I create "hot pockets" to tack on the bulletin board by purchasing 3" x 5" manilla envelopes, that have a flap at one end. I seal the envelope, then cut it in half to create two little squarish pockets.
Second, I create my inserts, which are designed to look like monopoly deeds. At the top, I create little blue boxes. My Boardwalk ad is for cash buyers, my Park Place ad is for sellers. I chose a font that is similar to Monopoly deeds, and my text is the same content we would use in a ghost ad, with my contact information at the bottom. I print them on card stock, with 9 ads on a standard computer paper page, three across the top, three across the middle, and three across the bottom--they fit well inside the hot pockets. I glue or tape one copy of the ad to the front of the hot pocket, and insert about 10 copies inside the pocket. I use thumb tacks (not push pins) to tack them to bulletin boards.
I maintain a list of the addresses of bulletin boards in my target area. I hire a pair of high school or college students to service these bulletin boards, give them a list of places to hit, a stack of the pockets and mini-ads, which they assemble, and I provide them with cokes and sweets (which is terrible because I'm involved with natural health, but when they have a caffeine/sugar buzz going, they get the job done quickly.) Then I send them out like Bonnie and Clyde, and one of them jumps out of the car and replenishes the hot pockets, one at each end of the bulletin board, while the other one sits outside revving the "getaway" car. They have fun, get paid, I spot check to make sure they aren't cheating me, and I get results.
When I receive or respond to calls, I ask how they found out about me. When the response comes from one of my "hot pocket ads" they always tell me that they took the ad and kept it because it was so "cute." As long as it's bringing me calls, I can do cute!
As a little bonus, I also take my Park Place ads through neighborhoods that I am targeting for properties. We go door to door and tape the mini-ads onto the doorknob (not on anything painted, we don't want to peel paint.) People literally have to close their hand around my ad to get into their home. I have found that they frequently peel off the tape, and tape the ad to their refrigerator with the tape I conveniently provided. No one calls to complain because of the "cuteness" factor.
Feel free to use my idea, it has worked well for me and for a few people that I have shared it with.

you tell him karen.

Dallin I love your idea as well. thanks very much.

WALT

I remember the first bandit signs when I was a kid driving with my family on long stretches of road through Wyoming and Nebraska. They advertised Burma Shave. I think these were the first bandit signs.

They were strategically placed close to fences about a mile apart. We could not wait to read the next one. Very successful and cheap to do.

Our signs should reflect that same type of success and intrigue. So are we putting out boring signs in unlikely places or are we just not doing them? They do what they are supposed to do and that is to invoke a response.

Placement is critical. Are we considering the long stretches of road or are we just following the normal pattern of Loews, Home Depot and Walmart? if those don't work move them...very simple.

If you leave them out for more that just a weekend the odds of them being taken down or destroyed goes up exponentially.

If you refer to Matt Larson, and you should, these signs are the best for getting buyers, but they need to be managed.

Every weekend and Friday and picked up on Sunday works the best. If you leave them out longer the risk of them being removed are destroyed goes up. If you are using this method do it right and you minimize the outcome to the negative.

Also are your signs written in a way that someone (a buyer) would want to call? If you are noticing a sign that says, We Buy Houses you should probably put one right next to it describing a property. Someone already figured jout it was a good place. Encroach on that turf.

Do these right and you will get calls!!

Randy always has such quality information to share, hope everyone gains from the post above. And thanks Walt for your comment as well, I always enjoy seeing your posts.
One of the best things about posting bandit signs is that the psychology of what makes them successful has already been thought out. It's okay to be creative, but don't mess up the basic formula. Potato salad can be made in a million ways, but if you leave out the potatoes, then it's just, well, "salad."
The color yellow subliminally communicates happiness and bargain--two messages we do want to communicate with our signs, so we use yellow bandit signs. They also stand out as being different and being noticed is critical.
Handwritten signs communicate personal and direct rather than professional and distant--also messages we want to subliminally send, so we use handwritten rather than professionally printed signs. It is actually better if the handwriting is a little shaky as long as it can be read, and has also been demonstrated that a misspelled word makes people think they are smarter than you are, and are therefore more lickly to respond (yes, I misspelled likely to demonstrate the effect.)
Finally, and most basic and necessary is that the sign that never gets posted never gets read, and never delivers responses. For a couple of dollars each and a little time invested, these signs bring people to you, which means that they already want what you can deliver--that's our target market, and if we can get the phone to ring using these signs, it will increase our closing percentage on deals.

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