Rea l Es ta te Inv es t or s ’ Ba nd it Si gns Ma nua l

A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

Why Marketing is the Lifeblood of Your Business

Marketing is the single most important aspect of your real estate investment business. At its most
basic level real estate investing is a business of matching together sellers with buyers. Whether
you wholesale, rehab, or buy properties to hold you will find that your success and the profitability
of your business depends on how well you market, how many leads you produce, how many of
those leads turn into deals, and eventually how quickly you can get those properties sold.

Well, the most critical element that determines your success at each one of these stages is your
marketing. Unfortunately, there is no one marketing strategy that will provide you an endless
supply of seller leads or buyers leads. All successful real estate investors know they must have
multiple marketing strategies on both sides of the transaction.

As a real estate coach I feel it is my duty to share with my clients the best marketing strategies I
and my students use in different markets around the country. I am always testing new marketing
strategies in my business and I always share with my students what works and what doesn’t work.
Likewise, after years of coaching different students in different markets I also know what works in
different areas of the country.

For years, bandit signs, has been one of my best marketing strategies to find both sellers and
buyers. However, as simple as the marketing strategy seems there is a lot to be learned if you
want to consistently bring in leads week after week while at the same time maximizing response
rates and minimizing the cost. Any real estate investor can put out bandit signs a time or two, but
it is only the smart marketer who has long term success with the strategy.

The “smart marketer” considers all factors and is constantly testing, tracking, and tweaking their
marketing campaigns in order to maximize their return on investment. The “smart marketer” tests
the message, the media, the frequency, and the method of delivery. Likewise, the “smart
marketer” does not just put out bandit signs, they design a system so that signs get distributed
each and every week without their involvement.

As we examine this simple yet effective campaign remember that your long term success is
completely dependent on the systems with which you implement. The reason we have had long
term success is because every area of our business is efficient

Let’s Start at the beginning…What are Bandit Signs?

Bandit signs, also known as street signs, are corrugated plastic signs with basic marketing
messages printed on them. They are usually 12x18 or 18x24 inches wide. They are also one of the
fastest ways to generate leads for real estate investors. You can literally generate a steady stream
of calls within days of putting them out and sometimes within hours. (Of course results vary
depending on whether your competition is following you in an unmarked van.)

These corrugated plastic signs are either hammered into the ground on stakes or grass, stapled
onto utility poles, or zip tied to metal poles. (Please do not hammer them into live wires...joking
sort of!) Real estate investors use these signs to display a brief, clear solicitation with a phone
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A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

number. The best part is…drumroll please…they are cheap. In fact, bandit signs are one of the least
expensive yet most effective forms of marketing that will fuel your real estate business.

Why are Bandit Signs so effective?

Bandit signs are like mini-billboards, a form of advertising allowing you to create 24/7 lead
generation in a highly targeted way. As real estate investors our business relies on locating
undervalued properties and/or properties owned by a seller who is in a distressed situation in your
local area. When you effectively target where your bandit signs will be posted you’ll by amazed by
the flood of new leads (motivated sellers) you’ll attract. This is why highly successful real estate
investors have been using bandit signs as one of their main marketing methods for years!

Think about it…your signs are strategically placed in areas trafficked by homeowners owning the
type of properties your looking for. The seller hasn’t put in a stitch of effort to find you, nor have
they been harshly solicited. They have a problem – a house in distress to sell, and you offer them a
service – “We Buy Houses” and a phone number where they can inquire about that service. It’s a
very non-invasive way of attracting qualified sellers, with very little cost or effort expensed on your
end. We’ve relied HEAVILY on bandits signs, and recommend ALL investors, both beginning and
season, implement a bandit sign campaign to get the phone ringing fast! The reason you see
bandit signs posted…BECAUSE THEY WORK! In fact, there is no faster way to literally generate
leads over night. I always tell investors if you want to get your phone ringing now then there is no
faster way. Likewise, I strongly believe this should be the #1 campaign all beginning investors start
with.

These results however, do not occur by merely posting a few scattered signs. Running a successful
bandit sign campaign is a science, which requires a very detailed system for consistent fulfillment.

Are Bandit Signs legal?

Street signs are referred to as “Bandit” signs because they are illegal. Why? Most cities prohibit
signs on “public right of way” (ROW). Meaning a person may not install a sign on a structure
located on or over public property….it’s land dedicated or reserved for streets, utilities or other
public facilities. Most cities site that land up to 10 feet back from the street on public property is
consider a public ROW.

City ordinances rarely allow for prosecution, so investors tend to decide that the risk (penalty) is
well worth the reward (lots of leads). Regulations vary from one place to another, punishments
vary greatly as well...you must always remember to check with your city or town officials before
you post signs. (That is of course if you want to be told “No” and don’t want any leads) Just to
note, if the City says “you must obtain a permit and pay a fee to be permitted to post on public
ROW”… keep in mind the City will NOT issue such a permit for Bandit Signs.

You may be wondering who is held responsible for illegally posted bandit signs. Each city will define
who’s responsible, but here is an example description used in one of our local city’s sign ordinance,
"the primary beneficiary of any sign installed in violation with this section of the code is presumed
to have authorized or caused the installation, use or maintenance of the sign, commits an offense."
In plain English (pig latin) that means YOU (the business owner) will be held accountable for
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A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

violating a city’s sign ordinance, not your sign worker who is actually posting the sign. You can
assume the city will remove and dispose of your illegally erected signs (without notice).

Punishment for violating a city’s sign ordinance can include fines up to $200 or more per violation.
Therefore, fines can get hefty if the city wants to come down hard and charge you a fine for each
sign you have posted. Some cities have begun filing misdemeanor charges against businesses and
individuals who knowingly violate the sign ordinance. Furthermore it’s important to mention that
many neighborhood residents see the signs as ugly street spam that litters their neighborhood.
When putting up signs you can expect to encounter not only city officials, but angry neighbors as
well. (Likewise, you may also encounter a competitor posing as the sign police who calls you in a
very muffled voice and threatens lashings.)

Often you’ll be asked (told) to remove your sign, and threatened that you’ll be report/fined if you
continue to violate the sign ordinance. You could also run into an obsessed “sign slasher” that
literally scours the neighborhood slashing signs…they may even get creative and go out and paint
over all or part of your sign, or cut out just enough of the phone number to make the sign useless.
Whether being pulled down by the city or slashed by the neighborhood watch, bandits signs
typically don’t last too long…which is why bandit signs need to be monitored and posted frequently
to assure consistent calls. (We install shock buzzers in our signs so that people know not to mess
with our stuff.)

W ha t Yo u Ne ed T o Kno w Bef or e Y ou Or der Yo ur Ba n di t S igns

You Must Have an Easy-to-Remember Phone Number

An easy-to-remember number can either be a local phone number or toll-free 800 number (known
as a vanity number). Establishing an effective easy-to-remember number is VITAL your bandit
signs being successful.

Through our experience, we’ve found that a local number always works better than a vanity
number. Typically, homeowners looking to sell their home (especially in a complicated situation)
prefer to work with an investor who does business in their area. Local numbers are more personal,
give a good impression of your local presence, build a feeling of trust and can often give you an
advantage over another investor who’s using an 800#. There are situations where a vanity number
works better for example 1-800-JOE-BUYS, so it’s wroth testing out which works better in your
market. It really depends on the number itself and how easy it is to remember.

How Do You Get An Easy-To-Remember Phone Number?

There are a variety of online services that offer to find and establish an easy-to-remember number.
Most of these companies offer this in conjunction with other telephone number management
services i.e. voicemail service, answering service, etc. If you’re simply looking to establish a new
local number or vanity number which you’ll be managing directly, the best thing to do is call your
preferred telephone service carrier.

Before calling your carrier you can write down a series of numbers you would prefer to have,
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A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

although in all honesty it’s very likely that the “easiest” are already taken. Don’t worry, that
doesn’t mean you’ve hit a dead end. Most phone companies will search the available database for
local numbers available with repetitious digits, for instance 777.1111 or 444-111. Some database
search services will charge you a fee (for instance our local telephone service charges $30 to do
such a search), which is well worth it. Try and get the first three digits repeating as well as the last
four. If you can get a number like this it is well worth it.

If you’ve contacted a carrier and don’t like the numbers they are offering you, your next step is to
go to another carrier. If you find a number that is carried by a carrier you would prefer not to use,
see if you can get it ported over to the carrier you want.

Your final solution is to flat out call numbers that are easy to remember and make offers. You
should expect to pay between $300 and $1000 for the inconvenience. This is well worth it if you
can get an easy to remember number you can write on the bathroom walls (I mean put on your
signs.) In all seriousness it is well worth the time to do this and I have had many students who
have had tremendous success doing this. After all we are used to making low offers as a real estate
investor aren’t we? (Mom…I will give you $5 dollars for your cell phone number)

Should You Include Your Company Website?

The answer to this question is debatable. While on one hand, your website is a great place for
prospects to get additional details about your company and your services. However, adding your
website could distract from the message and give people two things to remember (phone number
and website) instead of one, making it less likely they will remember EITHER. This also depends on
how good your website is at capturing leads. The only way to truly know is to test and see. We do
not put our website on our signs; we keep it as simple as possible and make the phone number as
big as possible. I want someone to see my phone number from space so this is why I do this.

Choosing the Size of Your Signs

Bandit signs come in variety of sizes 6" x 18", 6" x 24", 12" x 18", 24" x 36" with the most
common size being 18" x 24”. Our experience has been that 18” x 24” signs general last between
3 to 10 days. 18” x 24” signs are well-read when passed at 40mph and we’ve had the best results
with this size. However, 12” x 18” signs do tend to be out for a little longer and don’t bend when it
get’s windy.

Choosing the Color Scheme of Your Signs

Signs are available in a large variety of background colors, the most popular being either white or a
bright florescent color. When choosing your color scheme keep in mind the purpose of Bandit Signs
is first and foremost to draw attention. Secondly, if you have a common color scheme that you use
in all of your marketing you should keep things consistent. The purpose here is to GET YOUR
SIGNS READ, not to look pretty. We’ve tested every color combination there is, and have found the
most effective in our area to yellow with black text and white signs with blue text. Results are
going to vary so see what your competition is doing and differentiate yourself.

Choosing Your Message

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A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

Along with an easy-to-remember phone number, your message is the most important thing you will
put on your bandits signs. When choosing your message (or several messages if you are ordering
multiple signs) make it blunt and keep it SHORT. MAKE SURE THE FONT YOU USE IS AS BIG AND
BOLD AS POSSIBLE…unused background space is NOT your friend! An average person driving by
your sign will have 3 to 5 seconds to read the sign. Here’s our rule of thumb…no more than 2 lines
of text plus the phone number, that’s it. Here are the messages we find most effective:

WE BUY HOUSES
CASH FAST
203.555.5555

WE BUY HOUSES
Any Condition, Any Location
203.555.5555

SELL YOUR HOUSE

IN 9 DAYS
203.555.5555

JOE BUYS HOUSES

CASH FAST
203.555.5555

(Note – using a name like “Joe Buys or Bob Buys” is very catchy and easy for people to remember
so if it works for you, do it)

(Not a Good Sign Below)

WHAT’S UP SIGN POLICE?
CALL MY UNREGISTERED CELL PHONE
800.555.5555

Placing Your Bandit Sign Order

When you are getting ready to run your first campaign you should order between 200-500 signs.
Obviously, you get better pricing when you order in bulk. It is imperative to test the effectiveness
in your area before ordering more. We have ordered signs from many places and our preferred
vendor is Super Cheap Signs. We have set up a great relationship with this company and actually
have signs already pre-designed for you to order from. All you have to do is click on this link and it
will take you right to the page: http://www.supercheapsigns.com/priceit.php?category_id=55

We have set up template signs for you to choose from or you can create your own signs. If you
create your own it will cost you a little more money and take a little longer to ship as the template
will have to be set up. An example of what the webpage looks like is below:
 Rea l Es ta te Inv es t or s ’ Ba nd it Si gns Ma nua l
A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign
 Rea l Es ta te Inv es t or s ’ Ba nd it Si gns Ma nua l
A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

If you decide to order from a different company here are the specs you should use.

• Custom 18 x 24 Bandit Signs

• Coroplast Color (background color): White or Yellow
• Sign Material: Coroplast
• Sides: Single-Sided
• Flute Direction: Vertical (Up/Down)
• Color of Main Text: Blue or Black

Making Sure No One Can Get To Your Signs Except Shaq

The higher your sign is placed the longer it stays up. Simple logic, but not so simple to execute
unless your really, really, tall. Enter…the solution. Hire a basketball player or get a sign stapler
which is a tool that you can use to staple your signs an extra 3-4 feet in the air. Most white men
can’t jump that high so you should be safe. We use the sign stapler at www.SignStapler.com/than

This sign stapler is about 4ft long and can put up signs over 10 feet in a matter of seconds.

Along with the sign stapler we send our sign workers out with a box of Arrow T50 ½’’ staples to
reload the staple gun. Each sign should be stapled about 5 -7 times for a secure posting.

To use the sign stapler, secure the Bandit Sign to the metal clip on the sign stapler and raise the
sign to the desired height, shown below in Figure A. Proceed to strike the pole with the sign stapler
along the center of the sign from top to bottom, shown below in Figure B
 Rea l Es ta te Inv es t or s ’ Ba nd it Si gns Ma nua l
A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

Figure A - Raising sign to desired height. Figure B – Securing sign to pole.

(Model Not Included with E-book)

Ordering Sign Stakes

Obviously signs will be more clearly visible posted on a utility pole with a sign stapler; PLUS signs
put into the ground are VERY likely to be taken down VERY quickly. However, stakes have their
uses as well. Stakes serve as a great tool when there simply are not poles to hang signs on. So
it’s a good idea to have them on hand in such situations. We purchase our stakes from
banditsigns.com, along with our signs. Start out with 100-250 stakes and then re-order as
necessary. Super cheap signs has the stakes ready to go for you.

Pr ep a r in g Yo ur Ba n di t S ign Pla cem e nt Sys tem

What Area's of Town to Target

You want to post your signs in the target areas of your city where there are distressed properties
and likely sellers in distressed situations. Your response rates will definitely be higher in areas of
town that have houses that need work. Focus on putting the signs out in areas that are median
price range and below, where properties and sellers are much more likely to be motivated. If you
aren’t marketing in areas with sellers who are anxious to sell, you’re wasting your time. Sellers
ONLY sell their properties significantly under market value when selling it that cheap is LESS painful
than continuing to own the home.
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A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

The majority of leads you receive from bandit signs will be on residential properties. You will
occasionally get commercial leads as well just not as frequently.

When it comes to pinpointing your target areas, it’s really going to require you to have a strong
knowledge of the area. You’ll often find that certain parts of town are shunned, and others are
sought after. Make sure and familiarize yourself with the hot-areas. Furthermore, when you do get
a hot lead and begin to evaluate the deal, you’ll need this knowledge of your marketplace to make
the right analysis.

Streets/Sections Of Town To Target

The best place to hang signs is at major intersections where traffic stops. Heavily trafficked zones
will obviously get the most eyes on your sign. In addition to major intersections, other prime areas
to target are highway on/off ramps and main roads. The best way to not piss the sign police off is
to stagger the signs so they are not directly across the street from one another. Try keeping your
signs a quarter to half mile apart. You can flood an area with signs, but you are more likely to get
calls from the sign police. (Policia in Mexico)

Quantity Of Signs To Put Up

Be reasonable with the amount of signs you put up. If you litter neighborhoods by putting signs at
every corner, you’re asking for trouble with the city and to deal with angry neighbors. I recommend
you put out about 15 to 25 signs per area you are marketing to. Don’t over saturate an area…it is
more important to be able to have your signs up long term.

Frequency
Once the signs are posted, most will need to be reposted in as early as 1 day or up to 2 weeks due
to removal by the town, nearby residents, the weather, and sometimes other investors. Once you
become familiar with each town’s response rate, you can plan future weeks accordingly. A good
rule of thumb is to rotate the areas you post so you only hit an area once every four to six weeks.
Clearly it is best to focus on the towns with the largest number of calls and maintain a consistent
number of signs in those towns, which may require covering them twice in one week. Tracking the
number of signs that are taken down becomes very important at this stage in the process since you
will be looking at the current coverage in each town and it’s response rate to plan out your next
week.

Typical Response Rates

Bandit signs have proven to be one of the most effective lead generator in our marketing arsenal,
producing 2-3 leads on a daily basis. Currently, bandit signs account for nearly 25% of our
incoming leads. For this reason alone, this tool is an absolute must for every serious investor.

Why response rates vary:

1. Strictness of specific town
2. Level of competition
3. Location of sign placement
4. Size of sign
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A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

5. Effectiveness of message
6. Ease of remembering phone number

Creating Your Mapping System

If you want to execute a successful bandit sign campaign, you MUST follow a thorough plan. I can’t
tell you how many investors I see buy bandit signs only to haphazardly post them around town.
Not only will such efforts (or lack there of) lead to poor lead generation, you also asking for trouble
with the City, Department of Transportation, and neighbors...once you burn that bridge there is no
going back. So start out with systems, and maintain your systems…you will thank me later.

Creating route maps, to be used in a rotation schedule, is a key component to successfully

outsourcing this marketing method. Your first step is to divide your area up into regions. The
number of regions you will want to target will depend on how large an area you want to cover and
invest in.

We’ve tweaked our system to the point where we now have it running like a well-oiled machine.
Setting up this system in for you area will require investing time and energy upfront, but will
financially pay off ten-fold!

Step One: Purchase Microsoft Streets and Trips

We rely heavily on a software called “Microsoft Streets and Trips.” It will cost you about $75 if you
buy it directly from Microsoft at www.StreetsandTrips.com, but you can definitely find it for half
that price on other websites like Amazon.com or Ebay. Whether you spend $40 or $75 it is
absolutely worth the investment (so get up and go order it). It’s remarkably easy to use, very
similar to other Microsoft programs. Streets and trips is a mapping software you can use to create
route maps and is perfect for anyone who is trying to create fulfillment routes, delivery routes, and
the fastest route out of town when your mother in law comes to town.

Step Two: Create 4-8 target regions

Divide your area up into regions you plan to target. You may assign a region to cover as much as a
town, or you may separate two or three neighborhoods out within a town into separate regions.
Because these maps will be used in a rotation schedule I recommend having 4 to 8 regions. The
best thing to do is then hit each one of those regions each week which will put you on a 4 or 8
week rotating schedule.

Step Three: Using Microsoft Streets and Trips pull up a map for each region
Let’s walk through an example. You now have a list of regions you’ll be targeting, and we will start
with Region 1. Open Streets and Trips, pull up a map of Region 1 (with the software’s easy-to-use
search engine). Then, zoom in so that you’re close enough to see major street names (when you
outsource your map, it’s only effective with the street names), see below:
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A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

Step Four: Drive Region 1 and Mark Where Your Signs Should Go
Following tips we’ve discussed earlier take your map and drive Region 1. You want to mark the
streets/intersections/hot spots where you will have signs posted. When you notice a street that is
heavily trafficked, make sure and note which direction the traffic is flowing (northbound,
southbound, etc). When creating your final Route Map later, you WILL be specific about which
direction you want the sign facing, so this is an important step. Make sure you write down every
address of where you want the signs to go to create “Stops” inside Streets and Trips. You will enter
these “Stops” to create the ideal route for your driver.

Step Five: Enter all addresses into Streets and Trips and Create “Stops”
Now that you’ve detailed on your map where and in what directions you want Bandit Signs put up,
you’ll enter all the addresses into Microsoft Streets and Trips for Region 1 Map. Create a new “stop”
in the location you want a sign installed.
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A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

Step Six: Once all your “stops” are added, generate the route
Review your stops on your Route Planner (left panel on above example), if ok click on “Optimize
Stops” and the software will automatically generate the quickest route (which will be highlighted in
green) and directions are also provided for you.

Step 6: Assign the direction you want the sign posted

Streets and Trips has now mapped out the quickest route for your sign worker to take when putting
up signs and gives them a location for every spot you want a sign posted. Now, you need to take
the instructions one step further and indicate which direction of oncoming traffic you want the sign
facing. Thankfully, you’ve already gathered this information when you drove your region with your
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A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

original map print-out. Now, you just have to print out the final version with the route layout and
transfer that data to your map.

For those of you who are ultra tech-savvy there are a variety of ways to create the final version on
your computer using a combination of other programs. Here, however, we will go through how to
do it manually (physically writing on it). So print out your map, get out a fine-point red or black
Sharpie, and mark each of your sign “stop” points appropriately. See example:

Now, every detail is laid out for your sign worker. They have a route, with the exactly location of
the sign labeled as well as what direction each sign should be facing. You’ll also go into Streets and
Trips and print out the detailed directions for their route.

Milestone 3: Create Your Timetable & Pay Schedule

Microsoft Streets and Trips calculates the estimated time it will take to complete the route. You’ll
want to add in approximately 10 mins per sign for the worker to stop and park the car, get the sign
and sign stapler out, position the sign, staple the sign, and return to the car. The average person in
a non-rural area can put out about 10 signs an hour, but to be conservative we will say 6 signs an
hour in our calculations. In the example region we’ve used Streets and Trips calculated the route
itself will take 41 mins. We have 17 total signs to be posted, so 17 signs x 10 mins each is 170
minutes. If you add the 41 mins of driving time to the 170 mins of posting time, you are looking at
a total route time of about 3.5 hours MAXIMUM.

It’s important to note the word MAXIMUM there as it’s safe to assume that your sign worker WON’T
regularly need to post a new sign at ALL 17 stops. Depending on the number of signs still standing
from the previous time the route was done the worker may only need to put up 3 signs (if 14 were
left up) meaning the route would only take 1 hour and 10 mins. This is why it’s important for your
sign worker the return the map to you each week, and report the number of signs that were still
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A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

standing and the number he or she needed to post “new.” You’ll want to keep tabs on these figures
and also check those numbers against the sign workers time schedule. Keep in mind we find that
on average 85% - 95% have been taken down or destroyed and need to be replaced.

Let’s do a little analysis. With our example route, you know each week your sign worker is going to
need to travel the entire route (41 mins) just verify signs are in all 17 locations. Hence, if zero
signs need to be posted, you sign worker will still have worked about an hour. The sign workers
time sheet should then be based on the number of signs that needed to be re-posted. For each
sign put up new, the workers time-clocked will increase:

Region Wallingfor
ID: dI

# New Mins Spent Driving

Signs Mins per Posting Time
Posted Sign Signs (in mins) Total Hrs
17 10 170 41 3.52
16 10 160 41 3.35
15 10 150 41 3.18
14 10 140 41 3.02
13 10 130 41 2.85
12 10 120 41 2.68
11 10 110 41 2.52
10 10 100 41 2.35
9 10 90 41 2.18
8 10 80 41 2.02
7 10 70 41 1.85
6 10 60 41 1.68
5 10 50 41 1.52
4 10 40 41 1.35
3 10 30 41 1.18
2 10 20 41 1.02
1 10 10 41 0.85

As you can see, when driving the same route depending on the number of new signs that put it, a
sign worker’s hours can range from under 1 hour to 3.5 hours. When your sign worker submits his
map and time schedule, the two must coincide. When posting signs in our example route, if your
signs worker wrote they put up 7 new signs...the chart indicates that should have taken under two
hours. If your sign worker reported it took them 3.5 hours, something isn’t right. Before you pay
your sign worker for the hours they submit, always verify their timesheet aligns with your time
charts.

That is not to say the route DIDN’T take 3.5 hours because it may have. If your worker has a valid
reason why the route took an unusually long amount of time that day, that’s understandable, and
they should of course be paid for their time. However, it’s also possible they are trying to pull the
wool over your eyes. It’s your job to figure out which, by evaluating the numbers.
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A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

Milestone 4: Placing Your Ad to Hire

As you may have realized, bandit signs require constant maintenance and will require very reliable
people. It is recommended to post ads and always have at least two people working for you on a
sub-contract basis due to the high turnover rate for this position. We’ve had good results posting
ad’s on Craigslist.com. “KISS” rules apply...Keep It Short and Sweet. Don’t try and make the
position look more glamorous than it is and don’t go into great detail. You can explain the position
to potential applicants when they come in to interview. Here’s a sample ad that you can place on
Craigslist.

DRIVER WANTED

Real Estate Company needs someone to work 5 to 10 hours a week posting signs. Looking for
someone reliable and who feels comfortable driving around and getting out of car to put signs
on poles and in the ground.

- Flexible Hours
- $10/hr + gas expenses covered
- MUST have a car and valid driver’s license
- If you own a digital camera it is a bonus
- Great part time job
- Start immediately

If interested email (Your Name Here) at (Your Email Address Here)

• Location: (Your Area Here)
• Compensation: $10/hr + gas money
• Principals only. Recruiters please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial
interests.

Once an applicant emails you then feel free to email them a driver application like the one posted
below for them to fill out and email back to you. This is their first test. If they can’t complete this
test in a timely manner then there is no need to interview them because they are going to be a
waste of your time. You don’t need a highly skilled person to fill this job, but you do need someone
who is responsible and not afraid to get their hands dirty. So look for someone who you feel is
going to at least last for at least 6 months.
 Rea l Es ta te Inv es t or s ’ Ba nd it Si gns Ma nua l
A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

Driver Application

Personal Information
Name: _________________________   Email: __________________________ 
Date:______________________
Address: ______________________________________, City: ___________________ State:____ 
Zip:________
Home Phone #: ________________ 
Cell#:________________________Fax#:____________________________
Social Security # __ __ __ ­ __ __ ­ __ __ __ __ Date of Birth:__ / __ / __  Drivers License 
#_________________
Permission to Run Background Check?  Yes (   )  No (   )                            Drivers License Exp 
Date:__________

Current Job 
Current Employer:____________________________________ 
Position:________________________________
Supervisor Name:____________________________________  Work 
Phone:_____________________________
Cell #:___________________________________ 
Email:_____________________________________________
Permission to Call Supervisor: Yes (   )   No (   )
Current Job Description: 
_______________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
_________
Salary or Hourly 
Rate:_________________________________________________________________________

Prior Work History
Former Employer:____________________________________ 
 Rea l Es ta te Inv es t or s ’ Ba nd it Si gns Ma nua l
A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

Position:________________________________
Supervisor Name:____________________________________  Work 
Phone:_____________________________
Cell #:___________________________________ 
Email:_____________________________________________
Permission to Call Supervisor: Yes (   )   No (   )     Dates of Employment:______________to 
________________
Job 
Responsibilities:_____________________________________________________________________
_____
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________
Reason For 
Leaving?__________________________________________________________________________
Salary or Hourly 
Rate:_________________________________________________________________________ 

Former Employer:____________________________________ 
Position:________________________________
Supervisor Name:____________________________________  Work 
Phone:_____________________________
Cell #:___________________________________ 
Email:_____________________________________________
Permission to Call Supervisor: Yes (   )   No (   )    Dates of 
Employment:_______________to________________
Job Responsibilities: 
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
_________
__________________________________________________________________________________
_________
Reason for 
Leaving?__________________________________________________________________________
Salary or Hourly 
Rate:_________________________________________________________________________

Former Employer:____________________________________ 
Position:________________________________
 Rea l Es ta te Inv es t or s ’ Ba nd it Si gns Ma nua l
A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

Supervisor Name:____________________________________  Work 
Phone:_____________________________
Cell #:___________________________________ 
Email:_____________________________________________
Permission to Call Supervisor: Yes (   )   No (   )    Dates of 
Employment:_______________to________________
Job Responsibilities: 
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
_________
Reason for 
Leaving?__________________________________________________________________________
Salary or Hourly 
Rate:_________________________________________________________________________

Education
Schools / College Attended: # Years       Year Grad. 
Degree
________________________________________________________    __________  __________ 
___________
________________________________________________________    __________  __________ 
___________
________________________________________________________    __________  __________ 
___________

Special Qualifications or Job Skills
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

Are you a vereran of the U.S. Military service?  (    ) Yes   (   ) No

I CERTIFY that answers given herein are true and complete to the best of my knowledge. I authorize 
 Rea l Es ta te Inv es t or s ’ Ba nd it Si gns Ma nua l
A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

investigations of all statements contained in this application for employment as may be necessary in arriving at 
an employment decision. I understand that this is not intended to be a contract of employment. In the event of 
employment, I understand that false or misleading information given on my application or interview may result 
in termination.

Signature:_____________________________________________________________ 
Date:_________________________   

Applications are considered for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, 
age, marital or veteran status, or in the presence of a non­related medical condition or handicap.

Employer Notes
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________

Review Applications
Once the applications have come in your next job is to review all of the applications and pick out
three to four qualified candidates. The next step is to interview these candidates over the phone
and narrow it down to one to two people you will meet in person at your office.

During the interview your main goal is to get a feel for the applicant’s stability and trustworthiness.
Be direct about what the job entails (and yes, mention that it is not legal). Here’s a sample of how
we conduct an interview:

Investor: Are you comfortable driving a route I give you, pulling over, posting a sign with a sign
stapler, getting back in the car, and driving to the next location to post a sign?

Applicant: Yes.

Investor: When revisiting one of your routes, If signs are left standing from your last time
through, you’ll leave those sign up and record which signs were left up on your route map and
which locations you needed to repost. At the end of the week you’ll turn the route maps into me
with your time sheet to get paid I will be regularly monitoring the signs in order to review and
verify the route maps you turn in with your time sheets and gas expenses. Are you able to keep
these records accurately?
 Rea l Es ta te Inv es t or s ’ Ba nd it Si gns Ma nua l
A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

Applicant: Yes.

Investor: Most cities have ordinances against posting street signs on utility poles. You may
encounter city officials or angry neighbors. I will provide you with training on how to handle these
situations. It’s extremely important that you never reveal the name or location of our business, are
you comfortable with that?

Applicant: Yes.

Those are the simple basics you need to cover; otherwise you really just want to get a feel for each
candidate.

Monitoring Signs
As discussed earlier your response rates are going to very for a variety of reasons. Also know that
a specific regions response rate will have a degree of variation from week to week, month to
month, etc. You must monitor your regions to verify your sign worker is putting signs up when and
where they are supposed to, and are accurately reporting how many signs are left up and which
ones needed to be replaced. This is the only way you can control your costs and assure you are
generating as many leads as possible (all other factors aside).

I recommend not only randomly spot checking locations, but I also recommend periodically driving
a sign workers entire route before they post their signs (to record for yourself what signs were left
standing) and after they posted (to verify the signs are actually getting posted). You should rotate
which regions you monitor to make sure they are attending appropriate to EVERY region. Do not
tell your sign worker when or where you will be monitoring, you want to be sure they are
unprepared for your inspection. When tracking your leads if you find a vast drop, spot check those
regions in the upcoming week to make sure the reason for the drop isn’t your sign worker failing to
put up the signs.

Another great way to monitor your sign workers is to have them take a digital camera with them
when they go on their route and take a picture of every sign they post. So if they are doing a route
with 17 signs they can come back and show you 17 pictures before they get paid. This is one of the
most efficient ways to monitor what you sign workers are doing without ever leaving the office. Of
course this would require people to have a digital camera. Most young people have a camera or a
phone.

Payment Schedule & Quality Control

Sign Workers will be paid each Friday after submitting their route maps and time sheet and
reviewing the amount of leads each region the prior week. Along with getting paid, they will given
a new timesheet and Route Maps for the upcoming week. Here is an example time-sheet you’d give
your sign worker:

Employee: John Smith

 Rea l Es ta te Inv es t or s ’ Ba nd it Si gns Ma nua l
A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

Date 18-Apr-08 19-Apr-08

Town Region 1 Region 2 Region 3 Region 4 Region 5 Total
Hours
Gas Expense

# Signs Remaining
# Signs Posted New
# Total Region Signs

Payment Amount $ -

Each day as your sign worker completes a region, he or she will fill in the required information for
each day including Hours, Gas Expense, # Signs Remaining (that did not need to be re-posted), #
Signs Posted New, # Total Region Signs (this number is listed on each of your route maps). You’ll
calculate the Payment Due using the Sign Worker Expense Excel Spreadsheet when they come in
and turn in their time sheet and route maps. Example:

Employee: John Smith

Date 15-Apr-08 16-Apr-08 17-Apr-08 18-Apr-08 19-Apr-08

Town Region 1 Region 2 Region 3 Region 4 Region 5 Total
Hours 3.5 2 3 2.5 3
$ $ $ $
Gas Expense $ 15.00 5.00 10.00 5.00 10.00

# Signs Remaining 3 1 4 4 3
# Signs Posted New 20 11 14 12 18
# Total Region Signs 23 12 18 16 21

Payment Amount $ -

The bandit sign manager will review the sign workers time sheet and route maps, and compare the
two with the lead tracker. These figures will then be input into an accounting spreadsheet to
calculate the payment amount due. Here is an example of a completed spreadsheet:
 Rea l Es ta te Inv es t or s ’ Ba nd it Si gns Ma nua l
A Guide to Implementing and Managing your Bandit Sign Campaign

Employee: John Smith

Date 15-Apr-08 16-Apr-08 17-Apr-08 18-Apr-08 19-Apr-08

Town Region 1 Region 2 Region 3 Region 4 Region 5 Total
Hours 3.5 2 3 2.5 3 14
Gas Expense $ 15.00 $ 5.00 $ 10.00 $ 5.00 $ 10.00 $ 45.00
0
# Signs Remaining 3 1 4 4 3 15
# Signs Posted New 20 11 14 12 18 75
# Total Region Signs 23 12 18 16 21 90
0

Payment Amount $ 50.00 $ 25.00 $ 40.00 $ 30.00 $ 40.00 $ 185.00

In Conclusion
Overall, bandit signs can produce a significant number of leads for your business. The calls will
many times start to come in literally overnight so you have to be prepared to handle all of the calls.
What are you waiting for…start getting those signs out there and you can buy me a beer after your
first deal.

Than Merrill

P.S. To Learn More About Our Kick Butt, Take No Prisoners, Marketing Systems You Have to Get Our
Marketing Home Study System at http://www.fortunebuilders.com/marketing-for-deals/