Episode 570: The Google Search Trick That Finds Motivated Sellers with Seth Greene

Welcome to the Smart Real Estate Coach Podcast, your source for actionable, real-life, practical investing advice. Each week we help you make a quantum leap somewhere in your business, your finances, and/or your life. Subscribe, leave a rating and review, and learn more at smartrealestatecoachpodcast.com. All right guys, welcome back to the Smart Real Estate Coach Podcast. If you're new here, uh, following us as a smart listener, we focus on 3 paydays. We focus on cash now, monthly cash flow, and long-term wealth. Let's dive in here today. I get to hang out with a past friend. He actually has been working with us in the marketing world for a lot of years since I think I talked about on the show here about 2017, 2018. So we go back almost a decade. Seth Green is the founder and CEO of Market Domination and one of the nation's foremost authorities on growing your business in general through strategic affiliate relationships. So I'm going to dive into that a little bit and ask him what that means, because it's an eye-opener. I don't care if you're a solopreneur starting out or if you're struggling at some level that you just haven't been able to break through yet. And under his leadership, Market Domination earned a spot on the Inc. 5000 fastest growing companies like we did. He was back in 2023. He's the co-host. This is a writer downer, guys. Of the Sharkpreneur podcast with Shark Tank's own Kevin Harrington. If you remember, that was way back when. And Kevin Harrington was actually on our show during COVID when we talked about how people can thrive. We brought in some really cool people. Well, that's the connection. That's how I got Kevin to come on our show, which was with Seth's amazing help. That podcast has been recognized as one of the top business podcasts worldwide. Absolutely incredible. So again, write her down. The Sharkpreneur Podcast. He's also a 9-time bestselling author. He was featured on NBC News, CBS News, Forbes Inc., and CBS MoneyWatch. Got some really cool stuff here we're gonna dive into. All right, Seth, with that as a little intro, welcome back, man. Oh man, 6 years, my man.

What's going on? It has been a long time. Yes, we have been up to some really cool stuff in the last 6 years.

I mean, we talk a lot, and when I glanced down and saw that you haven't been on the show in 6, I'm like, okay, we gotta probably squeeze that a little tighter going forward.

Yes, it has been a while. I appreciate the opportunity to come back.

Yeah. Well, let's do this first then because that is for the listener to know, that is episode 163. I think we're like the 6s. So, go back and listen to that for the old intro if you want, but, and what Seth is up to because it's dramatically different now. Seth's doing some really cool things. Bring us up to date, Seth, first, and then I want to dive into some specific things.

Okay. So short version is we're a direct response marketing firm. We tend to be on the cutting edge of just about everything in terms of using technology to improve business owner marketing efforts. And the 2 latest things we've developed in the last 6 years, we've got a proprietary way to serve advertisements on other people's podcasts. That drive them back to your show and grow your listeners exponentially. Think of it like if you watch a YouTube video, there's a suggested video at the end. We kind of figured out how to do that with audio podcasts on Apple. And then the second thing is probably new is we've got a way to extract out Google searches. So I can give you a list of people in your city who in the last week searched for rent-to-own or sell my house, or I'm looking to invest in real estate and use that as an audience for social media advertising to get your message in front of that.

Yeah. So you just, that second piece you just said, you nailed every, I would think most listeners who are either Trying to be an investor or they're already in, they're looking, you know, they're following me for a myriad of reasons and trying to up their, up their game, right? So, well, let me ask you that. Who, who is the ideal person for that second nice project you have there? Because you probably will touch everyone.

Thank you. So obviously the first one, you gotta have a podcast and you gotta want to grow it and growing it has to be meaningful to your business. In terms of our innovation of invading your privacy for fun and profit, you are either looking for deal flow, right? An investor looking for properties, or you are looking, you own properties, you're looking to fill it with tenants or rent-to-own buyers, or you're looking to raise capital for your deal. So I would say those 3 categories in the real estate space. And then depending on what type of other businesses you might own, it could, it could work there as well, you know, for a professional practice, financial advisor, coach, consultant type of person.

Okay. So let me flip the coin on that. What are some things you've been at this for a while, like me? What are some things you've seen real estate space specific that were just, you look in and you go, wow, this is ridiculous. Like a mistake they're making, for example. Like, or a whole bunch.

I don't know. Sure. So biggest one we see most often is being boring, right? Your marketing's got to get people's attention. It's got to stand out. It's got to be different. And if you say the same things as everybody else, nobody knows how to tell you apart. So I think the biggest mistake your folks probably are making when you're marketing is honestly, it looks like everybody else. If you could change the deal website. They just change out the pictures and the perms and everything else is pretty much the same. How are they supposed to tell you apart? Or if you're going to be the filler property or acquire them, right? They might get Zingdello letters going out. They might see social media ads. How do yours stand out? How do yours get their attention? I think the biggest mistake, the most common one is me-too marketing, boring, and it looks like everybody else.

Yeah, big time. And, and I I guess now in their brain, I'm trying to be them for a second. They're small fry or they own 40 properties. Who's ideal for you? Is it everyone? I was facetiously saying that earlier because I know you and you probably can serve everyone, but maybe you're going to fine-tune this a bit for me.

Sure. So no, we can't really serve anyone because they got to be able to afford us and it's got to meaningfully move the needle. So I would say, If this is your first restricted property, we're probably not a good fit because you're probably not making enough cash flow, at the very least, even to afford us, let alone do the marketing, you know, the marketing costs that come with like ad budget and stuff like that. So I would say on them to have a good number of doors. Let's say maybe a business in mid-6, 7 figures so that our fee is you know, such a big portion of their income that they can't afford it or that they're stretching. I want real estate investors who are already successful and are looking to scale. Nice.

So, okay, so you fine-tune that niche-wise. On the money front, my brain's going different directions. On the money front, you mentioned when we just opened up, you said something about this. There's kind of like 3 areas that real estate could be in. We don't teach private money, as you know, But there are a lot of people who listen to us that know they're probably walking by deals that we say put no money down, do it creatively, but they're walking by some deals that perhaps if they had someone teaching them or getting them in front of investors, they could capture a lot more deals. They say no. A lot of people say no to them because they think they can't afford them. And you and I both know they can if they had other people's money. So how could they better their position with that? Any thoughts on that marketing-wise as it relates to you?

Sure. So we're using our proprietary data that we kind of talked about. To go after, let's say, build me a list of accredited investors who are looking to invest in real estate syndication, and then get your offer in front of them. And if you're looking to raise capital, that could be a great way to help you raise money so you're not using any of your own money.

So how does the— I'm going to ask the one that I get all the time from people, because they're, they come to us and they go, well, I heard you say you don't need money and I'm afraid, or I don't know how to, or I don't have the confidence to, or I'm brand new to. Fill in the blank, but it's usually to go after and chat with investors. Do you have any thoughts for them?

Sure. So we market to investors in various verticals every single day on behalf of our clients. I don't think you need to be, I'll give you permission to not be scared. I would say just fail fast. Go have some really bad offer conversations where they say no. Know that that's going to happen. Get it out of the way. Get some reps under your belt with getting rejected so that you improve your technique and improve your pitch.

You know, it doesn't matter if you're brand new to real estate or if you've been doing this for several years or a whole bunch of years. I learned the hard way back during the crash that doing creative deals is much better. It's a much better path in real estate in general than let's call it the old way, getting paid once, using banks, signing personally, 3 paydays, getting paid 3 times on a deal. It's better 3 ways, not one. Money now, money over time, and money long term. And I don't care if you're in an up, down, sideways market, it doesn't matter. You can and should operate with the utmost confidence. There's literally nothing I love more than helping people create systems and simple systems and processes to become massively successful with our 3 Payday System, and doing so in literally any market, and doing it geographically literally anywhere. So if you've been learning and learning and listening and studying and not taking action, I'm telling you, after going through it myself, it's costing you tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, by not taking action on the 3 paydays the way you should be getting paid. Many of the people that were brand new, just like you, that joined our community have fast-tracked their startup. Now, I mean, wouldn't that be ideal if you said, okay, should I go fast or slow? Should I take action now or later? It's costing you too much money to wait. Each one of you are at a point in your life, I'm sure, where you want things to be easier. You want things to be better for you and your family. You probably realize that you not only want more, but you deserve more in this life. So, to be able to give your family everything they want, build a legacy for you personally too, and to have time freedom to start enjoying life, frankly, whatever else you're seeking. And for some of you, now's the time, for example, to just focus on security. Maybe it's building a big solid bank account for retirement. We take these things super, super seriously, and it's my life's biggest reward to help you achieve them. I want to give you a free discovery session with our team. It's free. It's 15 or 20 minutes. You have zero to lose and everything to gain. And to understand how you might fit into the 3 Payday System that we've done now in over 80 markets as of this filming, go to smartrealestatecoachpodcast.com. Smartrealestatecoachpodcast.com/discovery for a free call with our team. Smartrealestatecoachpodcast.com/discovery. Because it's not whether or not you can do it or whether or not you fit. You can do it. It's whether or not you'll take action and do what it takes. And we can guide you through that process. Smartrealestatecoachpodcast.com/discovery. We'll see you soon. Okay. And does that same rule apply with you as far as their size? Because I'm just going to throw a curveball at you on that. Say, you know, you know our program. So say someone comes into our ecosphere with Smart Real Estate Coach and they go, look, I was going to buy a franchise or I was going to buy this big multi. Instead, I decided to come in with you all in and I got X budget to spend on marketing. Would that not be an okay fit for you? And if so, what— I know this is broad, but what could they think about budgeting? They're brand new. They want to ramp things up.

So it depends on what that budget amount is. In an ideal world, I don't want their first dollar and I don't want their last dollar. I want them already successful and then we can help them become more successful and scale that business. So I would say, I mean, we have coaching programs on the marketing side. I've written, you know, a dozen, almost a dozen bestselling books. So we've got resources for them to consume at a lower price point and learn how to do it themselves. We've got a monthly mastermind where, you know, for months here we teach them the latest of what's working. But if you're looking at done-for-you services, I'd say our minimum is probably $1,000 a month going all the way up to $10,000 a month when we become their entire marketing department and do all the work.

Yeah, no, I thought that. That's awesome. That's helpful. And then you mentioned, so I don't forget, because I'll get blabbing and forget, you mentioned all these, you know, sub-levels you have. And thanks for mentioning the free stuff. Tell them how to reach you, Seth, because I, I mean, marketing is everything, right? If they're not generating leads, they're cooked. So they might as well get in touch with you for, can I say, like an exploratory call? Is that okay?

Yeah, we would happily do that for members of your community. You know, you and I have been working together forever. Um, we love your program. Um, I've been working, I've gone through the course myself and I'm looking to start hitting my doors. Um, so I would tell them if they wanted to set up a time to talk to us, go to bookwithchris.com, grab a time, and then just let us know they came from Smart Real Estate Coach. There won't be any sales pressure on that call. It'll just be a conversation to try and figure out what's going on with their business and if there's something we can do to help.

I love it. bookwithseth.com. And I'll put a date to that, Seth. If I recall, you and I go back to like 2000, it's '17 or '18. It's a lot of years. So just so they know, and they know that I don't just bring people on on purpose and we're going to like little to no guests, but Seth has and will continue to serve us and clients. And that's why he's here and we'll be back. And that's saying a lot because we're not, we literally in August on are doing a lot of solo and a lot of community stuff. So I appreciate you. Um, let's see. So they got, is there any other way they can get ahold of you though? Is that just, you just want to book a—

Um, bookwithseth.com is the calendar link. If they can't find a time, email works, seth@marketdominationprogram.com. And our main company website is marketdominationllc.com. The social network I'm most active on is LinkedIn.

Okay. Awesome. Let's stay in the marketing for a minute. Um, what, because people ask me this every time I'm on this show, like I'm some, like I have a crystal ball. So I'm going to throw the same at you. What do you see with AI especially? What do you see up-and-coming changes, not just for real estate, just in your world of marketing, but I'm sure it affects them too, the way you answer. So we love AI.

It's making us better. It's making us more profitable, more productive. It's a great first draft partner for a lot of things. We've built our customer AI programs that do a whole lot of cool things. So I think It's a mistake to rely entirely on AI. We have a human check every single thing before it goes out the door because AI makes mistakes and AI can be wrong. However, what we're finding is it's making, it's making us faster at our job and more effective. And from a marketing standpoint, it's never been easier to start a business. Like we have a team of agentic agents. They talk to each other. Literally the other day, I built a new business from scratch in a couple hours. Everything from branding, colors, to website, to logo, to blog posts, to literally everything. To, it's going and finding leads, it's marketing to them. You know, I'm watching, it's super fun to watch these talk to each other, go back to the person, literally the entire team doing the work.

That's awesome. Um, let me say this. You know our course, right? You've seen our stuff. You've helped us with a lot of our marketing. If you were gonna step into the issues tomorrow, become an associate, gimme like the top 3 things you'd do, including the nitty-gritty, like, well, I, I do this on social, I do this on a website. Like, what comes to mind when I say that? 'Cause you do know our stuff well.

Excuse me. Yes, I do. So, The first thing you need is I need enough, I need an online presence because if you are approaching someone to buy their property, they're going to Google you. So at the very least, I need a basic website. So if they Google me, they can find me or they can go to my website. I need a lead magnet and maybe there's a report or a video on Mistakes sellers make when trying to, you know, sell their house quicker or something like that. I need an automated follow-up sequence to drip on them and turn them into like an actual appointment for me to make the case for why I should buy their house and why they should do it, you know, each option or on terms. So I think they need an online presence. I think they need a lead magnet and then they need traffic.

Okay. So we got website. Check. We got that in our system. Lead magnet, that's you. Follow-up system. And they're, they're like any other business. If you got, you and I were going to open a restaurant tomorrow, it's the same setup, right?

Yeah, obviously. And I need a target market and I need one form of media, one marketing message delivered to one target market, get it to work and then start printing money.

Love it. I actually was talking to a guy, I'm trying to think, you may know him. He's on my show recently. But he said, yeah, I had these attorneys hire me. They were all looking to target, I think it was the assisted living facilities and that type of thing. He said, but I think I got it figured out where all real estate investors, similar to conversation with you, we're all real estate investors. And he was so excited. He said, so I think I'm going to go to the terms like you guys. Like, I think I got this figured out, but I'm sure you're way ahead of him. But it's a case in point of how you just outlined all that. Seth, the other thing I wrote down I was going to ask you about, because I know in different forms we've talked about in our business, Is to talk about sort of building that network of dream partners or dream JV partners, however you want to explain it, go into that a little bit deeper. Sure.

So someone else already has your ideal list of customers, clients, prospects, whatever. And we have a whole proprietary process to get them to fall in love with you and start promoting your business, your deal to their audience. So I wrote a whole book about it. It's called The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your Business with a Podcast: How to Turn Warm Fuzzy Feelings into Hard Cash. They can get 30% off the Amazon price of the physical book at ultimatenotguestbook.com. Special offer for your folks. And we've literally gone across this from getting those people, those centers of influence, right? Maybe it's accountants, maybe it's financial advisors, maybe it's mortgage brokers, whoever, to be on your podcast. And then we've got a 12-step direct mail campaign that converts them from a podcast guest into someone who is actively sending referrals to your business.

Love it.

Love it. All right.

So here's back to, back to you. I'm going to throw this on your shoulders. What we have short time together, then we're going to jump on your show too today, which is nice. And, uh, mention your show again for them to subscribe.

First of all, our show is Shark from the Work and it's me and Kevin Harrington, the original nice Kevin from Shark Tank.

Yeah. And you were nice enough to get him on our show years ago. I think that was during COVID So, thank you.

Yes.

Yes. All right. So, tell me what I didn't ask you, Seth, that you want them to make sure they leave with. Nugget, thought, prediction, anything.

The most important thing I've learned recently is who you are being affects how well what you do work. So, spend more time working on yourself. Our business goes up another geometric level when I have a personal breakthrough, personal, spiritual, parenting, whatever it is. So it's not just the latest whiz-bang new marketing AI thing. It's when you work on yourself as a person who are putting out to the universe, magically your business is the container and you're the vessel. And if you make yourself a bigger vessel, your business will grow to fill it.

Uh, the reason I love it, it's that's more along, and I didn't plan that. I just, I'm just kind of flowing with you organically. That's more along the lines of. Uh, I don't want to say generic, but mindset too, right?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's the most important thing.

No question.

Do you have a, this won't work, I'm scared, you know, the best marketing we do in the world, it'll fail because of the energy you put out. How much your spiritual beliefs are, what we've experienced.

All right, then I know I said I was going to wrap with that, but then I got to walk deeper into this one. So if that's them, because I'm telling you it's 80-something percent of people's challenges that I see too, Right here at Deal Lab or in a workshop, uh, maybe one more level on this. Give them someone, something, a book, anything that they can and should tap into to stop. I know so much, but what comes to mind for you on that to help them improve mindset-wise?

Uh, mindset. I'll give you a book. It's called The $4 Sandwich. It is by my brother-in-law, Dr. Corey Melnickoff, who literally was so broke, his credit card, his debit card got declined for a $4 sandwich. And now has about 28 different chiropractic offices, one of the biggest teams in the country, and his story of how he went from broke than broke to very successful.

That's a writer down there, guys. The $4. You can't forget that name either. I'm 99% sure that I read that. How long ago did that come out?

Because you probably— I sent it to you a while ago.

Yeah, I read it. Yeah, it's awesome, guys. That's an eye-opener. That's a good, um, drop the mic, Seth. I really appreciate you being on, buddy. I can't wait to jump on your show with you. And as always, I know you're going to get flooded with peeps that are looking to kind of keep themselves in that innovation improvement, which is what we always push.

Thanks a bunch. Thanks so much for having me. So much for having me.

All right, guys, listen, if this helped you at all in any shape, form, or fashion, make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss any episodes. And if you're serious about doing deals the right way, head over to smartrealestatecoach.com. We're going to help you take the next step. Hey, guys, are you simply sick of juggling a dozen different software tools for your real estate business? I know I was, and I know I'm not a tech person, so it was frustrating. A subscription for this, you get a subscription for that, and they don't even work together out of the box. That's very frustrating, especially in the real estate world where your best time spent is going to be out in the field or on the phone with sellers. And now you're stuck hiring a tech guru just to make all that sync up. So let's ditch the chaos and let REI BlackBook handle everything. Automate your lead follow-up, track every deal, analyze things quickly for you, make offers all in one platform. In fact, with the Wicked Smart platform, we now have access, if you're in the Wicked Smart community, to all the other associates' properties. Can you imagine that? So you're brand new in the business perhaps, and your seller looks on your website and sees 20, 30, 40 properties, instant credibility. So you're going to get everything on REI Black Book from our custom workflows for lead generation all the way to closing. It has it covered. Try it today for just a buck. $1, guys. Visit smartrealestatecoach.com/reibb-dd. smartrealestatecoach.com/reibb-dd. All right. Thanks for tuning in to the Smart Real Estate Coach Podcast. If you got value from today's episode, guys, be sure to subscribe so you never miss a future episode. It literally takes one nugget to access some of the things we're doing. And when you're talking the amount of the size rather of the paydays, it's an opportunity cost that you can't let go. So don't miss an episode. And for goodness sake, share it with someone who needs to hear it. If you're ready to find your best path for getting started on your real estate investing journey in general, head over to smartrealestatecoach.com. We're going to help you take the guesswork out of your next steps. See you in the next episode.