Cash Flow Champs Real Estate Podcast

Jason is a speaker, author, entrepreneur, consultant, and digital marketing architect with a passion for helping real estate investors and entrepreneurs with their sales funnels. Jason prides himself on his ability to connect with people and speak to them in a language they understand. Jason can design successful marketing automation machines all while keeping a positive attitude and sense of humor along the way.

What You’re Going to Learn:

Traffic Sources and Success Stories of Capital Raisers with Marketing Automation
Traffic Generation with LinkedIn, Facebook, Events, and ActiveCampaign
Lead Magnet Strategies for Success with Backend Automation
Factors Affecting Success in Using Automation Tools for Capital Raising
5 Essential Tools for Setting Up a Marketing Automation System for Startups

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Show Highlights

Traffic Sources and Success Stories of Capital Raisers with Marketing Automation

Prashant Kumar- Tell us a little bit about your background.

Jason Wright- So let me share a little bit about my journey. Like many others, I was working in corporate America but feeling unfulfilled. I didn’t like having my time and income controlled by someone else. So I was determined to make money online and work for myself. However, my first attempt failed quickly, and I had to go back to corporate out of desperation. It took me about 18 more months to build my business before my wife noticed that I was making more money part-time than at my day job. That’s when she encouraged me to go full-time with my online business. I started with digital marketing and took on any clients who would pay me at first. I wasn’t very picky. Along the way, I began experimenting with funnels and realized the power of the sales funnel in helping all kinds of businesses. I’ve been doing this for about five and a half years now. A couple of years ago, I worked with my first Syndicator, although I didn’t fully understand what they did. However, I realized they had a customer journey with their investors and no automation in place. So I dipped my toes into it and in the last 17 months, I have worked with an additional 114 Active Capital Raisers. Being part of this community exposed me to different perspectives and strategies. I started as a marketer first, and last year I got into my first deals as a Limited Partner (LP). I also started my own private equity company at the end of last year. It’s been an interesting ride, but I’m really enjoying what I’m doing right now. I like the focus and direction I’m taking in my business.

Prashant Kumar- You said you have worked with 114 capital raisers to set up their marketing automation. Tell us more about that. How do they start? What are the problems that you have seen in their sales funnels, and how have you helped them?

Jason Wright- Yes, it’s a great question. Capital raisers, in general, struggle with various aspects of the sales funnel, and I simplify it into three key pieces. The first piece is traffic, which involves getting attention online or offline and directing it to a specific online destination. Examples of traffic sources include social media, podcasts, and face-to-face networking. The next piece of the funnel is what I refer to as the front end. These are the pages where people interact with websites, investor portals, and so on. However, the piece that we exclusively focus on is what I call the back end, which is what happens after people join your email list. I strongly believe that it’s the foundation of the entire sales funnel. I came to this conclusion after spending two and a half years solely focused on traffic. I still remember my wife coming into my office one day and asking, “Where’s the money? You’re spending all this time building this business, but where’s the money?” I realized that while I could get attention online, I didn’t know what to do with it. So I shifted my focus to sales, starting with the back end, then optimizing the pages and wording, and finally finding more people who resonated with my offer. It has been a journey filled with pain and failure, but it has given me great clarity. So, we specifically help people with the back end, particularly in ActiveCampaign, which is our platform of choice. I have been using it since the very beginning, and it aligns with the way my mind works. I have worked on about 500 accounts to date, so I am quite familiar with the software.

Prashant Kumar- Could you provide more details about the various sources of traffic? It would be helpful for our listeners to gain more value from your insights.

Jason Wright- Absolutely! You’re asking about the best sources of traffic for active capital raisers. LinkedIn is a phenomenal platform in this regard. Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn still allows for good organic reach with your posts. What really helps on LinkedIn is when people comment, not just like and share. If you comment on others’ posts, they are likely to do the same for you. Podcasting is another popular and powerful source of traffic. Additionally, meetups, whether in-person or virtual, are highly effective. Many of my friends and clients have used meetups to build their email lists, attract more passive investors, and make valuable connections with other partners in the industry. I haven’t heard anything negative about meetups. Some other strategies include hosting free events online with Eventbrite and inviting people to join. There are plenty of creative approaches out there. However, I believe that consistency is key to success with any traffic source. Content is important, but consistency is even more crucial. Some people may say they only send out a newsletter once a quarter for their marketing efforts. But I would ask them, if you went to the gym only four times a year, would you get stronger or see any significant changes in your body after a year? The same principle applies here. So, these are just a few examples of some really good traffic sources.

Traffic Generation with LinkedIn, Facebook, Events, and ActiveCampaign

Prashant Kumar- So basically, you suggest that we spend time on LinkedIn and Facebook, do meetups, in person or virtual, and events, and be consistent in our approach. That’s what you’re suggesting for our clients’ capital raisers. They do that, but where do you come into the picture? How do you help them with the traffic side?

Jason Wright- So, on the traffic side, we don’t offer services for clients anymore. I used to do it for my own businesses, but not anymore. Our role comes into play after someone joins the email list. Once you set up the marketing automation and connect it to the website, the last thing you should focus on is traffic. Traffic is about getting you and your company in front of a new audience as much as possible. That’s the never-ending piece. Successful businesses know their offer and avatar, and they’re constantly looking for more of those avatars to get their message and unique value proposition in front of.

Prashant Kumar- Do you also help design the front end for them or not?

Jason Wright- No, I don’t. I have a partner who has his own company, and I collaborate with other people who handle different components of the funnel. I used to do all of it, but now we only focus on the backend because that’s what I enjoy doing. Interestingly, when you handle the backend as I do, which involves email marketing automation, we tend to be the heroes. When things go wrong with paid ads or website design, clients can get upset. So over the years, I’ve stopped doing things that I didn’t want to do.

Prashant Kumar- Got it. So in the backend, what are the components you get involved in? Email, text, voice, what do you handle?

Jason Wright- Yes, that’s a great question. My favorite components are email and two-way text messaging. I also use some ringless voicemail in my business, but very subtly, just a few of them, after I’ve had a Zoom call with someone. I’ve had people respond to my texts saying, “Yeah, I got your call,” and I’m like, “What are you talking about? I didn’t call you.” But two-way text messaging is incredibly powerful because something happens in people’s minds when they receive a text from you. They tend to be more vulnerable and open in the text, even right away. People share things in the text that they won’t share in an email or an interesting call. I think it’s because people are used to texting with family and friends, so that’s where their mind goes. But it’s very conversational and highly effective. So I’m a big fan of it, for sure.

Prashant Kumar- What tools do you specialize in for the backend? I know you mentioned ActiveCampaign, is that what you primarily use? What else do you use?

Jason Wright- Yes, ActiveCampaign is the main tool I use for email marketing automation. I also use another program called Sales Message for two-way texting. It integrates with ActiveCampaign, so I send my text messages from ActiveCampaign automation, and when people reply, I can respond from my phone and it records all the information in ActiveCampaign. We also use Zapier as needed, and other tools like Calendly, but setting up the CRM and digital marketing backend is the foundation, the nucleus of everything you do, and it makes a significant difference.

Lead Magnet Strategies for Success with Backend Automation

Prashant Kumar: And in terms of traffic or the front end, what are the tools that you have seen or prefer someone to use to bring that data into the back-end system? Are there any?

Jason Wright: Yeah, you’ve got to have good lead magnets, right? There’s got to be a good value exchange just to get somebody’s email address. My lead magnets typically ask for their first name, email, and phone number. And I’ll even say, “I’m not going to call you. I want this for SMS.” So, is an ebook enough value to get all that information? Probably not. So you need to think about your lead magnets. What can I give people with a perceived value of $100 or more? Even as a complete stranger. Something that, if a potential investor sees it, they’ll think, “I’ve got to have that information.” If you put together attractive lead magnets, the people coming into your funnels are much more engaged, and it’s a completely different experience for them. So, there has to be a real quality exchange there. I think a lot of people forget about that.

Prashant Kumar: So what do you do? What do you suggest? What makes a lead magnet attractive? What are your thoughts?

Jason Wright: Yeah, so first, you really have to know who your avatar is. You really have to know who you’re targeting to save people money. You need to dial it in a little bit more than that. And sometimes it’s a process. You can’t just figure it out. I never set out to work with Active capital raisers. I pivoted over the years, and I found a nice niche. So you have to know who you’re targeting. And then, I like videos. Video is very powerful. I use video for everything I possibly can. Loom is a great tool. Zoom is as well, even though they’re different. But making a video lead magnet where there are videos that can, even if it’s three short videos that are a couple of minutes each, give people the information they’re seeking and specifically talk to one avatar, it should have enough polarity that it either strongly attracts or strongly repels people who come across it. So if you do that well and get it dialed in, the conversion rate goes way up and it becomes a much easier experience, for sure. It’s a process, though. It’s a process.

Prashant Kumar: So you think that a video as a lead magnet or video as a way to attract leads on Facebook, in general, we do live videos all the time, but they are not lead magnets per se. So would you create a video as a lead magnet, or what are your thoughts there?

Jason Wright- Yeah, it could be. One thing I really enjoy about marketing is that there are no rules, right? There are no boxes to stay in. I like using landing pages with explainer videos and headlines, where people can opt-in and receive more videos and content about what they’re interested in. It’s a good model, and it’s fairly easy to set up. You can use loom videos that have built-in calls to action, so viewers can click on a call to action button that pops up in the video and book a call or take another action. There are many different ways you can use video in your marketing strategy, such as setting up mini webinars. If you have a fund or a syndicated deal you’re raising for, you can even create a short pre-recorded mini webinar as a lead magnet. This can help you get people on the phone, obtain soft commitments, and move them further along in the sales funnel. So, in my opinion, video is a highly effective use of our time.

Prashant Kumar- Got it. Can you tell us more about your success in this business and the success of your clients? You’ve had 114 clients so far, or maybe even more. What has their experience been like working with you?

Jason Wright- I would say it’s been a positive experience because we keep getting referrals and building further friendships. So, to put it into context, we help with nurturing potential new investors. As people come into your list, we indoctrinate them, welcome them, and put them into a sequence that nurtures them towards booking a call. From there, we have different steps in the initial customer journey of an active capital raise. We use marketing automation to get people to webinars, then we nurture them with two-way text and video for soft commitments, signing paperwork, and wiring money. We also have other automation for special use cases, such as re-engagement and contact scoring. Our goal is to automate as much as we can, although not everything can be automated. From talking to hundreds of investors on Zoom calls every year, I’ve found that many people are not doing anything beyond the initial contact. For example, if someone joins their list, nothing happens next. If they talk to someone about investing who doesn’t commit immediately, nothing happens next. There are a lot of untapped opportunities there, and we help our clients set up this automation. We teach them how to use it with screen share videos and provide lifetime support for what we do. Overall, it’s a compelling offer, and our clients like it. It works great, and we continually strive to make it even better.

Factors Affecting Success in Using Automation Tools for Capital Raising

Prashant Kumar- So do you also create the content for the backend?

Jason Wright- We provide templates to help our clients understand what they’re trying to accomplish. We’re also offering a new tool – a 20-minute training video on how to use chat GTP to write email copy, which is pretty amazing. So if you don’t want to hire a copywriter, there’s an AI solution available. We provide the framework and guide our clients to put it in their own voice.

Prashant Kumar- Do you brand the templates as well?

Jason Wright- Yes. The templates are branded and include placeholder copy. Some parts may be kept as is, while some may need to be tweaked according to the client’s requirements.

Prashant Kumar- It seems like this is a one-time service, a one-time project for clients. What do you mean by lifetime support?

Jason Wright- Clients may have questions in the future, even after months or years, about active campaigns or how things flow. I find that after three months, the number of questions goes down, and after six months, it goes way down. So offering lifetime support doesn’t scare me at all.

Prashant Kumar- Got it. So you set up the backend, and then you tell your clients to handle it, but you provide ongoing support. Is it just you on your team, or do you have additional team members?

Jason Wright- I’m not alone. I don’t even handle the fulfillment anymore. So it’s not just me and my wife, there are five others as well. So, in total, there are eight of us right now.

Prashant Kumar- Okay, that’s a sizable team handling all of this. How many customers usually come to you, and how long does it take for you to set things up for them?

Jason Wright- Yeah, this year has been our best year ever, and we’re on track to double our revenue for the third year in a row. So, we have more customers coming in all the time. It’s hard to determine the exact number of customers each month, but our average is consistently increasing. Our typical turnaround time for setting things up is five weeks. However, we do have an expedited option for those who are willing to pay extra, which can speed up the process. But generally, it falls within the three to five-week range.

Prashant Kumar- I see. You mentioned two things earlier – normal back-end setup and setting things up for a raise. Are there specific tasks you do separately for raising funds? How does that process work?

Jason Wright- About 40% of the clients who hire me are in the middle of a fundraising campaign or are planning to start one soon. So, we start with the part of the project that helps them with the raise. This includes setting up the webinar and getting the sequences ready for soft nurturing, among other things. The webinar and soft nurture pieces need to be done first, but we can set them up quickly. While the clients are focused on their fundraising efforts, we can continue working on the rest of the project. So, it’s relatively simple for us to get those pieces set up.

Prashant Kumar- I’m trying to dig a little deeper into this. What is the typical cost of your services?

Jason Wright- We offer different packages, but the average cart value of what people spend with us is currently $5,700, and it’s likely to increase in the future.

Prashant Kumar- I understand. So, you mainly focus on setting up the back-end infrastructure on active demand and taking care of the funnels, while the content creation is still the responsibility of the clients, and they need to handle it as they go along.

Jason Wright- Yes, but with the new step-by-step video with Chat GPT that we provide, clients have no excuse to delay content creation, as they can easily complete it in just 30 minutes, which is unbelievable. They are paying us for strategy, architecture, training, and support.

Prashant Kumar- What kind of success have you seen with your clients? I understand you can set up the automation, but what do the customers achieve? Do they run Facebook ads to generate leads?

Jason Wright- Success depends on many variables that are beyond our control. If clients effectively use the tool and see the value in it, have a good CRM, and get responses from their text messages, they can achieve significant results. For example, I had a client reach out to me recently who used our automation in a new fundraising campaign. They had a webinar and used soft nurturing for leads. The client shared that they received a soft commitment of $100,000, which was a first for them. It’s exciting to see these wins. We’ve also had clients raise millions of dollars within a few days, but many factors influence this, such as their existing investor list, traffic sources, and whether they are new to fundraising. However, it’s undeniable that increasing touch points with marketing leads to more success, more calls, more conversations, and ultimately, positive outcomes. There’s no way around it.

5 Essential Tools for Setting Up a Marketing Automation System for Startups

Prashant Kumar- Have you ever used a system called Kartra? Is that something?

Jason Wright- Kartra is going to be a competitor to ActiveCampaign, which is what we use. So it’s a different system. ActiveCampaign and HubSpot are the two competitors I hear about the most and maybe Go High Level. I haven’t used Go High Level, but I’ve heard there are some issues with email deliverability and other things. ActiveCampaign is less expensive than HubSpot. HubSpot is super powerful, but it can be overwhelming for the average person. We provide all the tools our clients need, and there’s more we can do, but it’s a good program.

Prashant Kumar- So besides ActiveCampaign, I know you mentioned Zapier and Calendly, but for a normal startup person, I’m into marketing by the way, that’s why I’m asking these questions. Can you give me five tools that would be enough for them to set up their system step by step?

Jason Wright- So for the full funnel or just the backend? For the full flow, I would say you have ActiveCampaign, a sales message, a calendar, an investment portal if you’re doing your deals and a website. That gives you the full funnel. Then the next piece is going to be traffic. How are you getting people in front of your forms, offers, and list? That’s basically it.

Prashant Kumar- This is super awesome. Jason, how do people connect with you? How do they come to you and what is the sales process that you have with them?

Jason Wright- Like I said, most people come to me by referral, but if people want to go through my process, we book a 20-minute Zoom call. I figure out who they are, what they’re doing, and their level of experience. Then I share my screen and show them what I do. It takes about 20 minutes, and then I give them a scope of work that outlines everything, and they can review it. After that, I drop them into my marketing automation, which closes all my deals for me. It’s a beautiful thing.

Prashant Kumar- You have set up your own marketing automation too.

Jason Wright- I do all the sales for our company, but my automation handles all the back-end marketing for us.

Prashant Kumar- Is it all text-based or voice-based, or what is your preference?

Jason Wright- Yeah, so it’s going to be email, two-way text, and a little bit of ringless voicemail. But email-to-text is mostly what it is. Email to text. Okay. And then obviously, I’m nurturing with my podcast, my Facebook group, my YouTube channel, everything. Once you get people in your world in more than one place, everything you’re doing is nurturing. And that’s really the key. It’s not finding that new investor one time, it’s building that relationship and maintaining it. That’s the piece people forget about.

Prashant Kumar- Yeah, building the relationship and maintaining it. I think that’s the point. And how can our folks reach out to you?

Jason Wright- Yeah, if I’ve said anything today that’s interesting, you can come to intentionallyinspirational.com or you can check out Capitalraisingautomations.com. We have a little video there for you, giving you some education and some things to think about that I think you’ll find interesting.

Prashant Kumar- Being on this podcast, do you have any deals for anybody that you would offer?

Jason Wright- Yeah, absolutely. So my other company is called Wind River Equity Partners, named after the Wind River Range in Wyoming. We are just in the final steps of setting up our first fund. It’s a short-term rental fund. We’re working with the great guys over at Techvester. We’ve got some amazing stuff going on over there. So if that’s of any interest to you, I’d love for you to come over and check out Wind River Equity Partners, and you can reach out to me there.

Prashant Kumar- And you mentioned Techvesters. What is Techvesters?

Jason Wright- So, Techvester, is a company that focuses on short-term rental funds in a way that nobody else is doing it. It’s generating a ton of revenue for the investors. They’re building a beautiful boutique portfolio of Airbnbs across the country, and they’re doing it all in-house. It’s all vertically integrated, but it’s a beautiful thing. It’s working really well, and I believe this is the second year they’re doing it. But I’m feeding that fund as a fund manager, so I couldn’t be more excited about it.

Prashant Kumar- So you are feeding that and basically, you’re sort of a partner in that in a way. So they are the fund owner, and they are building a portfolio of short-term rentals across the country.

Jason Wright- Yeah, and for a guy like me, it’s great because I just want to raise money and maintain those relationships with investors. I don’t want to fool with anything else. So that’s exactly what it is.

Prashant Kumar- Awesome. Jason, thank you so much for your time this afternoon. I appreciate it. This has been very helpful, and hopefully, our listeners are listening to it and they connect with you, and hopefully, it was worth your time.

Jason Wright- Absolutely, I appreciate it. Thank you.