If you have an assistant, give them this episode. If you don’t listen to part 1 (below) and go hire one. Trevor & Jen have been working together for 10 years, and together have grown a 9M+/yr business. We’re talking about the biggest challenges of working as a duo, how to improve workflow & communication, and how to transition from only doing tasks to being a strategic partner in the business.
Marketing is ever-evolving. And as entrepreneurs, we want to know where to get the best ROI on our marketing dollars (and our time). That’s where Mike comes in. Not only is he a veteran real estate investing entrepreneur that has rehabbed and wholesaled ~400 houses, and has built a rental portfolio consisting of single-family properties and an ownership stake in over $35M of
multi-family investments, he’s also one heck of a marketer. He’s currently a sought-after advisor to over 100 of America’s top real estate investors. He’s here to share with us how marketing is evolving and what’s working exceptionally well to get more motivated seller leads.
Catch Mike live on Carrot Summit 2022, March 30-31 at CarrotSummit.com
Would you pick up the phone for a lead at 10 pm and risk getting hunted down by the Hell’s Angels for a $20k net profit wholesale deal? Beau would — and he did.
On this equally hilarious and valuable Behind the Deal, we’re discussing what Beau learned about how to deal with estranged families, how to work with appraisers, negotiating with confidence, and how 64 oz jugs of juicy juice just might be the secret to success.
Plus, don’t miss the four juicy secrets at the end about using Google My Business to pick up more leads, and much more!
If you got value out of today’s episode (we know you did), consider sharing it with a friend. Catch more episodes of Behind the Deal & join us live every other Thursday at Carrot.com/deal!
Although there is no single most important trait, finding motivated seller leads can be one of the most critical skills in real estate investing.
If there’s one thing that separates a struggling investor from most successful real estate investors, they have systems for generating leads. They have processes that work like clockwork day-in and day-out.
These investors usually generate 20 or more high-quality motivated seller leads per month.
Does that sound too good to be true? It’s not.
In 2003, we built our first website to generate motivated seller leads. Since then, we’ve refined our marketing systems, website platforms, and overall strategy on what it takes to drive leads online.
We’ve brought in over 1,253,267 real estate-related leads alone in the past 5 years.
The lead generation options that we will teach you in this article have been proven. Although they can take a bit of upfront work, you can generate leads every month once the ball is rolling.
When You Get Motivated Leads You Need to Close Them!
Get the fool-proof strategies & step-by-step scripts used by real estate investing’s top closers.
What Are Motivated Sellers?
A motivated seller is a property owner who needs to get rid of their property quickly and meets at least one of the following conditions:
They are willing to sell at a 10-30% price below market value.
They are ready to sell under specific terms. Including no money down and no interest.
In an ideal situation, you’d want both conditions, but one advantage of working with motivated sellers is that they have reasons they need to sell fast. You’re there to help them solve it.
Many investors choose to buy lists of motivated seller leads. For example, you might have the option to purchase a probate list that is pulled from courthouse records. Or a list of pre-foreclosures who are likely to sell in the coming two to three months.
Although finding this information can be time-consuming, if you don’t have the time, you can use services such as DataTree and ListSource.
You must confirm the accuracy of the data. Some services may have data that is no longer relevant.
Drive for Dollars
Driving for dollars can be a great way to generate leads. You simply drive into your targeted neighborhoods looking for distressed or vacant properties.
While driving, you can create a list of properties to contact.
Another option is to use Google Maps Street View and apps such DealMachine. You can drive for dollars without leaving your house.
Find Motivated Seller Leads Online
SEO, PPC, and social media.
Let’s start with SEO. SEO for real estate is what we consider the secret sauce of a real estate investing marketing strategy.
Organic leads are where the majority of leads come from for our members.
It’s not theory, here’s a real peek behind the scenes…
We focus not only on SEO but also on how it builds into Evergreen marketing.
How Would You Like More Motivated Seller Leads (with no paid ads) Using 1 Proven, Simple Marketing Strategy?
Watch thisFree On-Demand Workshop. We Breakdown Exactly How Our Members Generated Over 450,000 House/Land Sellers & Buyers Last Year
The definition of Evergreen marketing is: “a: retaining freshness or interest: perennial. b: universally and continually relevant: not limited in applicability to a particular event or date.”
In marketing terms, it’s marketing you do once, and it works for years… not hours, days, or weeks. Content relevant for a long time serves your best prospects and gets in front of them where they’re searching online.
Results grow momentum over time = Freedom
We then amplify Evergreen with paid marketing and even hamster wheel marketing.
Hamster wheel marketing is defined as: “any situation that seems to be endless without goal or achievement.”
In marketing terms, any marketing that works for a short time after you do has a limited life span. Then you have to do it all over again to keep results coming in.
Cold calling, direct mail, posting on social, open houses, etc.
Results stop when you stop = Stress
Growing more and more into the Evergreen is where you create your consistency, freedom, and flexibility.
You can make a more significant impact with your business, but also, that’s where your most valuable and highest converting leads come from.
If you build a solid lead generation engine for your real estate business, you’ll have leads for life.
It’s a big goal, but don’t be intimated.
Here’s some proof…
Tyler Ford has been getting 2x more motivated seller leads with Carrot than he did with his old site. The Carrot tools and Evergreen marketing content has helped him stand out in my crowded market.
While paid advertising can bring in motivated seller leads immediately and can help your business in the short-term… SEO can build momentum and help grow your business over the long term.
But what is SEO?
It’s pretty simple.
When a motivated seller wants to sell their house fast for cash, many of them go to Google and type in the phrase “Sell my house fast in [MARKET CITY]”.
And when they do, Google shows them different websites that it thinks can help the searcher.
If I search for “Sell my house fast in Dallas”, for example, Google thinks that these websites can help me out.
Now here’s the thing: those websites are getting clicks and traffic from motivated sellers every time someone types that phrase into Google… which is more often than you’d think.
That traffic then turns into leads (so long as the investor’s website is optimized for conversion) and the investor generates deals every month through SEO.
You can also pay to get in those search results…
And that is a good idea when you’re starting. But it shouldn’t replace your SEO strategy.
More than 90% of people click on organic results before clicking on PPC results.
So here’s the question: how do you get Google to rank your website for a high-value keyword phrase.
Well, it can take time and some patience.
To start, you’ll need to put the correct title on your page, have a website that loads quickly, and do a few other things. Reference this SEO guide for help.
And at Carrot, we have TONS of tools to help you.
We give you monthly SEO-optimized blog post content. Our websites have an SEO-friendly tech-stack. We also allow you to track your progress on target keyword phrases and alert you to optimizations that are missing on any given page.
SEO for real estate investors couldn’t be any easier than with a Carrot site. :)
PPC is another valuable asset to generate motivated leads.
Google Ads can work so long as you have a solid strategy. Year after year, it’s one of our Carrot members’ top lead generation methods (behind organic leads).
Our real estate investor members consistently get feedback that their Google Ads leads are closing between 1 in 10 to 1 in 15 leads per deal.
Learn more about Google Ads for real estate investors in this ultimate guide.
Direct Mail
Real estate direct mail is one of the most tried and true methods for real estate investors to generate leads.
Although, a portion of mail ends up in the trash without a second look.
The average mailbox is packed with junk mail, bills, and other correspondence from various sources telling you about deals or offering their services. It can be easy for an envelope containing information on real estate opportunities to land within the other noise.
Direct mail still works and offers different opportunities if done correctly.
It’s interactive.
It’s memorable.
It can have an extensive reach.
It offers a lot of ways to get creative.
You can pair social media and content marketing (websites) with direct mail for an enhanced customer journey.
FSBO sites can be a great place to find motivated sellers for free. Sites such as Loopnet and Trulia are good sites to use and you can also find motivated sellers on Craigslist.
On Craigslist look for deals that have been listed for a long time. This might be a sign of a motivated seller.
Narrow your search by property type, price, location, and whether a broker or the owner is selling the home. You can also search for apartments, condos, and multi-family homes if it fits your niche.
Bandit Signs
Bandit signs are “old school” and not many new investors use them.
They can still be a great way to find motivated sellers and cash buyers.
One of the most significant issues with bandit signs is legality. Cities can have strict ordinances about putting them out. As a general rule, it’s a good idea to check with your city before.
Here are some tips if you find it’s legal:
Don’t put your personal number on the bandit sign – rather use a Call Rail Tracking Number, A Google Voice Number, or any number that will not lead back to you if someone were to Google the number.
Take your sign down immediately if someone has issues with it.
Don’t post signs on private property.
The Difference Between Inbound & Outbound Lead Generation
We’ve shared a lot of different strategies on this blog for real estate lead generation: Traffic plus Conversions, and we’ve shown you a bunch of great strategies for building traffic. If you haven’t read those posts, click those links to check ’em out… I’ll try not to duplicate much here.
Real estate investors can generate motivated leads using outbound and inbound (paid and organic) sources. Both are good ways to generate leads.
Confused?
Let me make it more simple.
“Outbound” marketing are strategies such as direct mail, cold calling, and driving for dollars.
“Inbound” marketingare Google Ads, Microsoft ads, and Facebook strategies. Also, with good content through organic search rankings or SEO.
The Simple Motivated Seller Lead Generation Formula
To generate more motivated seller leads for your business, you first have to understand the simple formula for lead generation.
That is, how is a lead generated in the first place?
Different investors will answer that question differently. Some will say that cold calling is how you generate leads, others will say direct mail, and still, others will say by personally connecting with people in the community.
And none of those answers are wrong.
We know most successful investors also use direct mail and/or cold calling to generate consistent leads for their businesses.
But they also do something that very few investors don’t do.
They systematically generate leads by using the below formula…
TRAFFIC + CONVERSION = LEADS
Let’s break that down.
Traffic is when people visit your website. They might come through paid advertisements you’re running (like Facebook Ads or Google Ads) or they might come organically through a search engine (Google) or a social media site (Facebook).
Wherever they come from, one thing is for sure… you can’t generate leads on autopilot through your website if you’re not generating traffic.
Paid ads effectively drive immediate traffic to your website while building your organic traffic takes a little more time (but the payoff is massive) — more on organic traffic or “SEO” here shortly.
What about conversions?
A conversion is when, after visiting your website, the person takes the action you want them to take. Usually, that’s filling out a form that provides you with their contact information or calling your business directly.
And voila! You have a lead.
Those are the two vital elements to generating motivated seller leads.
You have to drive traffic to your website consistently and consistently convert that traffic into leads for your business.
And Carrot websites have the highest conversion rate in the industry (usually between 10% and 20%).
A conversion rate on one Carrot member’s website.
That’s why we believe in our product so much.
We know that if someone takes their organic traffic seriously and uses Carrot to create their website, they’ll have everything they need to build a winning business.
The Magic of Conversion Optimization
Remember the formula we talked about?
Traffic + Conversion = Leads
Well… you need both traffic and conversions.
It’s not uncommon for us to see a real estate investor succeed at driving traffic to their website through paid ads or SEO… but to convert almost none of that traffic into leads.
Why?
Because their site isn’t set up to convert.
Actually, there’s a big difference between a website that’s built to convert visitors and one that… isn’t.
Let me show you what I mean.
Imagine that you search in Google for the phrase “Sell my house fast in Dallas”.
You’re probably pretty motivated — you want to sell fast for cash and you’re wondering how that’s possible.
So you click on some results in Google.
The first website you go to looks like this…
That’s not too bad, but there’s a lot of text to read on the first page… and you’re looking for a quick solution, so you leave the tab open but go to a different Google result.
The next website you visit looks like this…
Now we’re talking!
This site seems to be able to give you exactly what you want… and by just entering a few details, you can get your fair cash offer today — that’s perfect!
See the difference?
The first site doesn’t solve your problem immediately, but the second site does.
Well… that’s because the second site is a Carrot site… and we’ve run hundreds of tests to determine what converts website visitors the best in the real estate industry. We’ve then taken what we’ve learned and baked conversion optimization into every one of our member’s sites.
That way, as a Carrot member, you start out with a high-converting site.
Most people who switch to Carrot are seeing a measly 2% or 3% conversion rate on their old site… and then get up to a 20% conversion rate on their Carrot site!
Here’s a Carrot member with a 9% conversion rate (693 leads divided by the 7,661 visitors).
Ultimately, you need traffic and conversions to generate consistently motivated seller leads.
How to Negotiate with Motivated Sellers
When it comes to negotiating with motivated sellers, there are some commonalities.
We all know that price is not something that’s set in stone. And neither is a seller’s immediate inclination to work with or to not work with you.
They could call you ready to sell but a few days later lose interest. Or they could call skeptical and leave the call ready to sign.
Part of what determines these outcomes is how you negotiate. What you say, what questions you ask, and even how you talk could impact.
So we spoke with some experienced real estate investors and asked them how they negotiate with sellers to close more deals.
You now know what motivated sellers are and some common methods to find them.
The process of finding motivated seller leads and negotiating with them looks doesn’t need to be complicated. Pick one or two quicker lead generation methods and start working on your Evergreen SEO.
Be persistent with follow-up as you never know what will happen after the third, fourth, or sixtieth time around.
Succeeding in the real estate investing industry is a matter of patience and persistence. Finding motivated seller leads and knowing how to contact them can take plenty of practice.
Be consistent and you’ll be on your way to fulfilling your real estate investment career.
How does a guy go from grinding 60 hours a week to 15 hours a week? How do you go from losing over $100k in 2019 to acquiring 49 rentals in 2021?
Marco Padilla, investor/agent from South Beach, will tell you. He built a wholesaling business that resulted in his “money on fire” as he describes it.
Fast forward to today, he runs his business with all VA’s, is a travel junkie, and most importantly, has found a way to focus on what gives him the most energy.
Don’t defer your life, it may not be there when you get up from your desk.
– Brady Grohne
My 10-Year Retirement from Real Estate Investing & What I Learned w/ Brady Grohne
Read the Full Show Notes Below…
So many people get caught up in the income, that they forget what it’s all about. When Brady Grohne realized he was working himself to the bone, in the hopes of an escape, he took a break. That break turned into a decade of epic adventures all over the world. Today we’re going to see what he learned from 10 years off and exactly how he was able to do it.
How He Did It
Right out of college, Brady dove into the real estate game. He hustled hard and found success, but he wondered what was next. The things he enjoyed doing required him to be young, healthy, and in good shape. He didn’t want to have to wait until he was 60 to ski the Alps.
So after taking a good look at his portfolio, he rethought his strategy, hired a property manager, and moved from NC to a little town just outside of Jackson Hole. He put the real estate business on auto-pilot while he worked nights in a restaurant and spent his days on the slopes.
Brady’s zest for life, the way he sets his priorities, and the way he lives in the moment is something we can all take notes from.
What Brady Learned From 10 Years Off
The goal is the path. I believe that you can’t get fit by working all the time, you can’t improve relationships with family and friends by working all the time, and you can’t get close to your dream life by working all the time. You have to build these other muscles, bonds, habits, passions, and ways of life along the way.
Otherwise, you’re at serious risk of finding yourself old, unhealthy, worn out, bored, and trying to remember what it was you were hoping to do when you finally got to quit working. Don’t defer your life, it may not be there when you finally get up from your desk.
b)I don’t strive for retirement. I like work, particularly in the context of entrepreneurship, and the learning, excitement, and growth it provokes. Quite frankly, retirement seems boring and usually precipitates a rapid decline in quality of life as far as I can tell. Maybe if we didn’t work ourselves to death, we wouldn’t resent it so much and be in such a hurry to get it over with.
Beware of getting too caught up in the game. Having passions and goals that you actively pursue can help to keep career and financial goals in perspective. I love James Patterson’s quote “Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends, and integrity. And you’re keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.
The other four balls…are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.” And yet work is where most of us put our best energy and justify its impact on our other shattered balls with thinly veiled martyrdom. No offense, but that’s not the life I’m striving for, personally.
This ability to tailor your career around your life is one of the things I love most about the real estate game. Our own little island of misfit toys.
About Brady
Brady lives in a little town in SE Idaho called Victor, right at the base of the Tetons, with his wife Monica and their dog Lox where they spend a slightly gluttonous amount of time playing in the mountains. He started his real estate investment career in Asheville, NC in 2003 armed with the print Iwanna classified ads, a flip phone, some Carleton Sheet’s Professional Education Institute contract forms, and the bravado of a 22-year-old.
Things went really well. But then he decided to take an “early semi-retirement” while his body could still handle the abuse he enjoyed putting it through. That ended up lasting a little over a decade and led to countless outdoor adventures all over the world.
He has since reentered full-time real estate investment with a combination of wholesaling, flipping, Airbnb, and agency and a goal to set up his second “semi-retirement” when he and his wife plan a sailing circumnavigation in 2028.
SEO is like owning a house. Paid ads on Facebook is like renting.
– Bryan Driscoll
All About Conversion – How to Optimize Your Digital Marketing for Maximum Conversions w/ Bryan Driscoll
When it comes to generating leads that convert, Bryan Driscoll is crushing it. Using just the standard Carrot site, a few highly-targeted pages, and some PPC, Bryan is bringing in more qualified leads than he knows what to do with.
In fact, he gives the majority of his leads away, focusing only on one zip code. Today we are going to discover how he got here, what he’s doing that works, and why he’d choose Carrot time and time again vs. any other platform for his website.
Read the Full Show Notes Below…
First, you should know that Bryan isn’t in the real estate business. He owns a digital marketing agency and stumbled into real estate after using a wholesaler to buy a home of his own. He learned about the process and thought, “why don’t I just go get the leads and do it myself?”
Today, Bryan is generating leads for himself, other investors in his area, and now leads for buyers all over the country. It means a lot to me that someone who truly understands conversion rate optimization and the dynamics of digital marketing would choose us as their lead-gen platform.
I found Bryan through an ad on Instagram. I was scrolling through my feed and his ads kept grabbing my attention. I checked him out and sure enough, he was a Carrot client.
I found out who he was, discovered he was using just a standard Carrot site, yet somehow he was generating more leads than 90% of our other Carrot members. In fact, he pulled in almost 200 leads in the last 30 days alone.
So how’s he doing it? We’re about to tell you…
Less Can Be More
The first thing that struck me was how simple Bryan’s website really is. His homepage features our standard content, the design hasn’t been altered, and he has even kept the stock photo that we supply.
What he has done is create a good amount of city-specific landing pages that generate highly targeted and motivated leads. Bryan isn’t reinventing the wheel, but he is amplifying more than many others in his market.
SEO Like a Pro
Bryan started his real estate SEO journey back in 2005. He created one website for a friend, saw results, and realized he could do this for other people too. SEO used to be easier. You could even add your keywords at the bottom of the page, change the text to white, and make it so search engines could see your text, but your readers were none the wiser.
Today, Google and the algorithms have evolved. You can no longer manipulate search engines. The content you create needs to be informative and highly targeted. But as stated above, it doesn’t have to be complex.
Some of Bryan’s landing pages are barely over 300 words. He makes sure his content is spot on, his meta description, title tags, and alt attributes all checkout, and he gives the search engines exactly what they want: great content.
The Importance of Pre-Framing
Pre-framing will walk your potential leads through the entire experience. It will answer questions and blast objections You should have a solid FAQ page letting people know that YOU have the ability to solve their problem.
Show them that you have the solution, how you will do it, that you are trustworthy, and how they can take action – in that order.
Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads
Bryan works in the Pittsburg market and for him, both Google Ads leads and Facebook Ads leads cost about the same. You’d think Google would convert better as the leads are searching you out vs.
Facebook where your ad will interrupt the homeowner’s scrolling. However, Bryan sees higher conversion rates from the leads that visit his website from Facebook.
His theory is that this is because, on Google, your top two competitors will likely have ads right up top there with yours. It can be more difficult to stand out vs. when you advertise on Facebook. Your Facebook ad should be bold and direct. Letting people know that you buy houses plain and simple.
Testing it All Out
At Carrot, we tend to through things out there, then continue to test and modify as needed and we encourage our clients to do the same. For Bryan, he tested out the use of 5,000 incredible-looking postcards, only to be left without a single lead. Now, with his focus on the digital realm, he tests out everything he does modify as needed.
We do the same thing with our websites. For example, we have tested our CTA forms using 1-9 fields. We have discovered that 3 really is the magic number. Your form should ask for the address, a phone number, and an email.
And more importantly – it needs to be in that order. You want to start with the least resistant ask first. Giving up the property address is subconsciously easier than giving up your phone or email. Once they have that first field filled out, they are much more likely to fill out those other two. Of course, it’s essential to have the email addresses collected and run a Google Sheets email verification. Thus you will have a valid list of valid people.
Getting a high-conversion rate doesn’t have to be complicated. Don’t over-complicate the process or the design of your website. Start with a logo and stack things on as you go. Start building using SEO and high-quality content, using Facebook and Google Ads to fill the gap in the meantime.
When you follow the process, you too will be able to generate the leads and close the deals you have only dreamed about in the past.
Workshop: Learn How to Attract More of Your Favorite Clients by Flipping Your Marketing To “Evergreen” at Carrot.com/evergreen
You need a baseline of education and more repetition. I can give you training, but nothing takes the place of the actual doing of it.
– Cris Chico
How to Take Your Wholesaling Operation National (and virtual!) w/ Cris Chico
Read the Full Show Notes Below…
Cris is an OG. He’s the godfather of virtual wholesaling and has been doing deals in outside markets for almost 20 years. Without the luxuries of Google Street View, specialty mailing lists, or even a CRM, Cris has been able to innovate, teach, and change the way deals get done.
Here’s how Cris has used a nationwide strategy to create the most opportunity.
Why Take Wholesaling National?
There are many reasons why wholesales should take their business to a national market. Today, deals can be done anywhere. You don’t necessarily have to live in the same market as the house you are wholesaling. Expanding to a nationwide market will also help you expand the volume of leads you are bringing in the door.
Your cost per lead will go down, and you will have more opportunities to see deals, connect with people, and learn the business. When you are only getting a lead every few days, you’ll feel a lot of pressure to perform. But when several leads are coming in per day, you have more freedom to test sales tactics and gain valuable experience.
Tactics of National Wholesaling
Throughout his career, Cris has been a master of innovation in this industry. He was using public data to insert people’s names and property addresses onto direct mail before anyone else.
He had a system of taking messages before CRMs were a thing. As digital marketing evolved, Cris dove into the world of Facebook advertising. First targeting people by zip code, and then expanding his reach to be nationwide.
When utilizing digital marketing to reach a national audience, here are a few tips Cris recommends…
Aim to get $10k on average per assignment.As you get better, aim for $15k. Of course this will vary by market.
Utilize a detailed form to ensure the respondent is legitimately interested in selling.
Always make a loose offer on the first call. This will help you gauge the sellers flexibility on the price.
When a lead comes in, quickly look on Zillow to ensure it is viable.
Offer additional benefits that aid in relieving pain points – ie allow them to stay in the house for two weeks after the closing.
Use professional paperwork and contracts.
Request pictures of the property with the agreement and be specific as to how the pics should be taken.
Utilize Propelio or similar program to find buyers in the property’s market
Start with Facebook ads, then move on to Google
The creative is the most important part of your ad
Don’t get too personal, insinuating that Facebook or your company knows too much about a person. For example, don’t say, “Are you in foreclosure?” Instead mention that you buy houses in foreclosure.
Don’t yell at people.
Our Affiliate Program
Did you know that we are cutting upwards of $70k in affiliate checks each month? Cris Chico is typically at the top of this list. You can sign up to become an affiliate — it’s EASY + FREE!
Start earning by sharing your affiliate link with your customers, prospects, and on your website. Once you’ve made $50 in sales and we’ve received your W-9, we’ll cut you a check each month! Learn more at Carrot.com/affiliate
Cris Chico
Chico’s virtual wholesaling method is the engine that powers the FlipAnywhere Academy training program, a revolutionary system being used by students to create countless millions in markets all across the USA.
When he’s not helping people create the financial freedom they’ve always wanted, Chico spends his free time with his family in Florida.
