So, you have a list of prospective development sites, sourced off market, and earmarked for contacting the landowner. Exciting news! Now what’s next? 

Mail merges are widely accepted as the best way to reach out by letter for a “Direct To Vendor” or DTV approach. By linking all your data with a specialised mailmerge toolkit, you can produce hundreds of letters, with contact details embedded, and fast. 

Letter sending is one of the most important parts of the site sourcing process. That said, there are right and wrong ways of going about this, which can make the difference between a pipeline full with new leads, and starting from scratch. Read on for our tips on how to write mailmerge letters that are guaranteed to convert to landowner interest.

How to write a great DTV mailmerge letter

Generally, a letter is organised into three parts, to give structure and flow; think of a beginning, middle and ending, as follows:

• Who you are and why you are reaching out
• What are you offering the landowner 
• A call to action (eg “get in touch” by email or telephone)

This type of content converts well to a standardised mailshot; however, the key is ensuring your letter content will appeal to the individual recipient. 

Personalisation is paramount; basic first principles are to include the landowner’s actual name and address, and the details of the land, all attainable from the Land Registry. Ideally, for full clarity, include a site plan of the land area in question.

Remember, with a cold contact (which this is), a landowner does not know who you are or how you found them, and as such, may be reluctant to give you their time unless you can capture their attention. Depending on circumstances, it may also take several letters to elicit a reaction. 

The simple introduction letter

The first letter acts as a simple introduction. Here, less is more, however, some key points to remember:

Have you clearly explained why you’re writing to the landowner? 

Ensure your intention is clear. For example, is it your interest to buy their land, or are you proposing a joint submission? 

Do you come across as reputable? Include a direct line phone number, so that landowners can easily reach and speak to you. 

Also include a link to your website. As well as being an additional point of contact, your website showcases who you are and what you represent (hint – make sure it is up to date!).

Remember to clarify what you would like to happen next - a call or meeting? This type of letter can also be followed up again after, say, four weeks, and (if needed) with a third, by way of a gentle reminder, between 6 to 12 months later. 

Letters triggered by events

For a letter triggered by a specific event, the “why me-why now-why you” approach also works well. That is to say:

Why their land is specifically of interest to you or your company.

Why now? Have they just achieved planning permission on their land? Is there an upcoming local plan review? This is a great way to create a sense of urgency.

How would your knowledge and experience add more value than any other competitor.

Buying land off market can mean reaching out to landowners who may not even be “in the market” to sell. For more tips on sourcing sites for your mailing list (including writing letters) read our recent blog on Buying Land Off Market. 

Bad habits to avoid

To date we have sent out more than 11,000 mailmerged letters from our platform. Here are our tips and tricks of mistakes we’ve seen, and which are best avoided:

Messy and unstructured content

Earlier we mentioned having a beginning, middle and an end to your letter. The end is the most important part, as it should include the call to action, however, if you don’t have flow to your letter, you will lose the reader’s interest and they won’t even make it that far.

Self-evidently, spelling and grammar also needs to be on point - we recommend using Grammarly to check your copy. Conversely, try to avoid using overly technical property jargon that might not be understood by the reader. 

It is also a good idea to get a colleague (or ideally, an impartial friend) to go over your letter - a fresh pair of eyes can pick up on ambiguities and even unlock new ideas.

Too much information

We see a lot of developers (understandably) wanting to give as much information as possible on a single page (and sometimes more). This can lead to two, less desirable outcomes.

1. Recipients lose interest, and don’t read the key points of your letter.
2. Based on the content, they dismiss your offer as being unappealing. I.e., you’ve played all your cards upfront.

Remember, “less is more”. Letters should be on no more than one page, and ideally between 250-400 words - the aim is to generate enough interest to get in front of the landowner.

Great, so how do I start a mailmerge?

Ever tried this using standard mailmerge software? The reality likely means having to collate, filter and double check ownership names, addresses and locations for hundreds (if not thousands) of sites, then, write a letter from scratch, including adding in lots of finicky data codes. And only then, merge the two together (with bated breath). All before you begin to print, sign, stuff envelopes and post your letters. Phew!

Anyone who has done this before knows that this is both time consuming and fraught with potential error (ever found that your names and addresses don't match – yes us too!). 

‍Wouldn’t it be nice if this could all be done for you?

Did we mention Searchland has an inbuilt direct to vendor (DTV) letter sending facility? Check it out here. 

We do all the work for you, so you can complete the process up to 10 x faster. As well as customising letters with your branding, you can pull in key Land Registry information, including landowner details, the site address, and title number. You can even include a personalised site plan of the land or property.

Get started on your next DTV mailmerge

Searchland is the ONLY land sourcing platform that fully automates your land sourcing mailmerges from start to finish. If you'd like to know more about how DTV letters work (or any of our other features or tools), simply reach out to the Searchland team for more information.

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