Ugly Yellow Signs


One method being used to generate real estate sales leads is the Ugly Yellow Sign program paired with a toll-free number.

Ugly Yellow Signs are just that: Big yellow signs, usually written in magic market. In a world with thousands of highly polished ad messages, these signs get noticed because they aren't polished. They are ugly, and hard to ignore.

The UYS system gets people interested through a simple headline such as "Buy a Home- NO MONEY DOWN. (888) 555-8767 ext. 500" or "Dozens of Condos For Sale: (888) 767-9999.".

Once people call the toll-free #, their lead information is captured either by caller-id or through asking for their info to be left as a voice mail message.

Some of those that use the caller-id method have a small message on the yellow sign with a disclaimer stating that those who call give permission for telemarketing calls. This may or may not work for the do-not-call list, but that's the general idea. Just do what you feel comfortable with. The UYS leads provide a list of people who were interested enough in your headline to call. If they called, odds are they are interested in purchasing. One of the tricks of these leads is to call quickly. When calling these leads, you'll see a marked difference between calling same day vs. even three days later. If you feel more comfortable, you might want to have a small script in mind for these calls. As with all lead follow-up calls, during the conversation, you want to ask questiosn to make sure this is someone who really does need your services. Once you have an idea about the kind of lead you're dealing with, you'll want to get some type of commitment. For me this was often simply scheduling a time when I could drop off a real estate buyer's guide.

Special Tip: Calls can only last as long as your signs do. I've noticed some signs put 10ft up - probably someone standing on top of a pickup bed. This simple trick could have doubled the time this sign lasted, and doubled the amount of leads it was good for.