$200K in 6 weeks from 250 prospects on a $500 budget
250 stacked prospects beat months of shotgun lists: 13 contracts and about $200K in six weeks on a $500 monthly budget.
About
Josh Newman wholesales houses in Birmingham, Alabama. He lost his remodeling business in 2016, spent 2018 in trucking, and learned wholesaling in June 2019 with no savings. Six months of grinding later, a data reset turned 250 stacked prospects into 13 contracts and about $200,000 in six weeks.
Operating market
Birmingham, AL
Favorite features
The Challenge
Josh learned what wholesaling was in June 2019 and started with almost nothing. He wrote down addresses while driving for dollars, looked up numbers on free people-search sites, and dialed from his cell phone. He tried Mojo as his first dialer and did not like it. His first paid deal came four weeks in: $13,000 from two contracts, found on the first call through a 15-name cash buyers list.
Then the grind set in. From July to December he closed around $40,000, spread so thin he stayed behind on bills. Five contracts in a row fell through. Some were priced too high, one seller sold behind his back, and one sat in a zip code where the buyers had already left. He was loading every list he could find and calling all of it. "It literally comes down to I can buy groceries or I can pay for my REI budget," he says of those months. The budget was $500. It still is.
What They Built
Breaking liens into their own lists
At the end of 2019 Josh rebuilt his whole data approach. Instead of one blanket liens list from PropStream, he pulled HOA liens, mechanics liens, judgments, and income tax judgments separately, plus failed MLS listings. Jefferson County splits its records across municipalities, so he went town by town for code violation lists most investors never touch. On some of those lists, in his words, "I'm the only one that's going out and getting them."
I would pull HOA liens, mechanics liens, judgments, I'll break everything down so to where my data is really like individualized.
Stacking down to 250 prospects
With everything loaded into DataSift, he cut the bad zip codes and built two campaigns. Two-stack matches in the top three turnover zip codes made one list of 200. Three-stack matches everywhere else made a second list of 50. His question was simple: "How can I get so much great data and lay it all out here so I can just laser focus on stacks only?" Equity and absentee lists stayed in rotation for daily volume, but the stacks got the real attention.
Mastering one channel: cold calling
Josh runs a 400-dial day on a triple-line dialer. Prospecting fills the first half of the morning, lead follow-up the second, and he drives to appointments only when needed.
I never have even tried to do any RVMs, texts, direct mail. I haven't done anything except learn how to master cold calling. Learn how to systematize it. Learn how to do it properly.
Marketing to bigger houses on purpose
Most wholesalers cap their list values low. Josh set his filters at $50,000 to $650,000 because his remodeling background taught him rapport with affluent owners. "I'm going to set a goal. I want to do the biggest wholesale deal ever in Birmingham," he says. The rest was rapport: "It starts with genuinely caring about the people."
Before and After
Before DataSift
- No Deep Understanding Of His Own Data
- Gave Up Bulk Dialing And Texting Years Ago
- Relying On Inbound Leads And Bought Deals
- A Contract Per 12-13 Qualified Leads
- 10,000-record Niche Lists, Filtered Monthly In Sift
- Focused Down To Indiana And Ohio
- Owns The Operation Now, 50-50 Split
- $300K In Spreads In His First 90 Days
- Almost $600K In Contracts Ghosted Or Backed Out
- Five States At Once, Spread Too Thin
- All The Profit Going To Someone Else
- Running An Agency For 14-16 US Investors
- Homegrown Closer Converts Over 20% Of Offers
- Text Blasts First, Smaller Call Lists After
- Whole Philadelphia Metro Recycled Through Rehash Campaigns
- Sequences And Lists Fully Dialed In
- Over 50 Deals A Year Across Two Companies
- New Construction Plans Stalled By Rates And Costs
- Deep Prospecting Alone, Before Any System
- Two Cheap College Duplexes, Bought With A Partner
- Everything Done By 6pm
- $1,500-1,800 A Month Total Marketing Spend
- 150 Dials A Day, First To Market
- 200 Probates A Month From Weekly Courthouse Runs
- $800K A Year Running Solo
- No Online County Data In His Market
- Long Hours Getting The Business Started
- Years Of Flips And Contractor Headaches
- Tuesday At 2 Hunts Generate His Own Deals
- 4 Deals And $330K Equity In 30 Days
- Sales Leader Owns Leads, Casey Tunes Systems
- 325,000 County Records, Scrubbed Nightly By VAs
- Full Operation: Acquisitions Agents, Sales Leader, VA Data Team
- Team Waiting On Leads To Come In
- Doing Well, But Knew He Could Do More
- Watching Every Lead Himself, Day To Day
- Callers Grinding Through Manual Data
- Two-man Team: Casey Plus One Acquisitions Guy
- Cutting edge 1-1 sales and marketing integration
- Improved accuracy when making offers and estimating rehab costs
- Leak proof communication between clients, buyers and contractors
- Thorough marketing and acquisitions from anywhere in the world
- Real estate companies that want documented communications with contractors, clients and buyers
- Wholesalers who want to enter into new markets
- Investors looking to have leak proof marketing and acquisitions
- Anyone looking to wholesale virtually
- A significant boost in confidence to create a great life for you and your family.
- Tips and tools to maintain a steady flow of income, regardless of external circumstances.
- Knowledge of how to succeed in any market condition.
- An understanding of how to achieve long-term success with solid marketing processes.
- A big boost in confidence to make a great life for you and your family.
- Tips and tools you can use to get a steady flow of money coming in, no matter what's happening out there.
- Learned how to succeed in any market condition.
- Understanding of how to achieve long-term success with solid marketing processes.
- Anyone, regardless of budget, looking for a strong start to avoid common mistakes.
- Business owners who want to have simple processes for their VA's to follow.
- Investors willing to create a steady monthly income to secure the future of their family.
- Those who tried many ways to succeed but still aren't seeing good results.
- Efficient KPI Tracking
- Enhanced Follow Up Process
- Data Driven Decisions
- Fully Integrated With REISift
- Streamlined Sales & Marketing Flow
- Enhanced lead management
- Unorganized Data
- Expensive/Ineffective Tech Stack
- Basic Marketing Approach
- Poor Data Management
- Unorganized Processes
- Refined Direct Mail Strategy
- Clarity In All Business Operations
- Enhanced Team Management
- Strong Lead Management Flow
- Advanced Data Tracking
- Effective Marketing Flow
- Limited Marketing
- Targeting Constraints
- Poor Lead Management
- Difficult Team Management
- Reactive Marketing
- Ineffective Marketing Flow
- Empowered Data Management
- First to Market Strategy
- Automated Processes
- Strategic Focus
- Improved Lead Prioritization
- Enhanced Data Tracking
- Low Level CRM
- Successful But Hitting a Wall
- Missed Opportunities
- Poor Data Management
- Data Driven Decisions
- Full Data Clarity
- Consistent Deal Flow
- Strong Marketing Flow
- Lacked Marketing Clarity
- Difficult Marketing Flow
- Inconsistent Deal Flow
- Strong Lead Management Flow
- Strong Marketing Flow
After DataSift
- No Deep Understanding Of His Own Data
- Gave Up Bulk Dialing And Texting Years Ago
- Relying On Inbound Leads And Bought Deals
- A Contract Per 12-13 Qualified Leads
- 10,000-record Niche Lists, Filtered Monthly In Sift
- Focused Down To Indiana And Ohio
- Owns The Operation Now, 50-50 Split
- $300K In Spreads In His First 90 Days
- Almost $600K In Contracts Ghosted Or Backed Out
- Five States At Once, Spread Too Thin
- All The Profit Going To Someone Else
- Running An Agency For 14-16 US Investors
- Homegrown Closer Converts Over 20% Of Offers
- Text Blasts First, Smaller Call Lists After
- Whole Philadelphia Metro Recycled Through Rehash Campaigns
- Sequences And Lists Fully Dialed In
- Over 50 Deals A Year Across Two Companies
- New Construction Plans Stalled By Rates And Costs
- Deep Prospecting Alone, Before Any System
- Two Cheap College Duplexes, Bought With A Partner
- Everything Done By 6pm
- $1,500-1,800 A Month Total Marketing Spend
- 150 Dials A Day, First To Market
- 200 Probates A Month From Weekly Courthouse Runs
- $800K A Year Running Solo
- No Online County Data In His Market
- Long Hours Getting The Business Started
- Years Of Flips And Contractor Headaches
- Tuesday At 2 Hunts Generate His Own Deals
- 4 Deals And $330K Equity In 30 Days
- Sales Leader Owns Leads, Casey Tunes Systems
- 325,000 County Records, Scrubbed Nightly By VAs
- Full Operation: Acquisitions Agents, Sales Leader, VA Data Team
- Team Waiting On Leads To Come In
- Doing Well, But Knew He Could Do More
- Watching Every Lead Himself, Day To Day
- Callers Grinding Through Manual Data
- Two-man Team: Casey Plus One Acquisitions Guy
- Cutting edge 1-1 sales and marketing integration
- Improved accuracy when making offers and estimating rehab costs
- Leak proof communication between clients, buyers and contractors
- Thorough marketing and acquisitions from anywhere in the world
- Real estate companies that want documented communications with contractors, clients and buyers
- Wholesalers who want to enter into new markets
- Investors looking to have leak proof marketing and acquisitions
- Anyone looking to wholesale virtually
- A significant boost in confidence to create a great life for you and your family.
- Tips and tools to maintain a steady flow of income, regardless of external circumstances.
- Knowledge of how to succeed in any market condition.
- An understanding of how to achieve long-term success with solid marketing processes.
- A big boost in confidence to make a great life for you and your family.
- Tips and tools you can use to get a steady flow of money coming in, no matter what's happening out there.
- Learned how to succeed in any market condition.
- Understanding of how to achieve long-term success with solid marketing processes.
- Anyone, regardless of budget, looking for a strong start to avoid common mistakes.
- Business owners who want to have simple processes for their VA's to follow.
- Investors willing to create a steady monthly income to secure the future of their family.
- Those who tried many ways to succeed but still aren't seeing good results.
- Efficient KPI Tracking
- Enhanced Follow Up Process
- Data Driven Decisions
- Fully Integrated With REISift
- Streamlined Sales & Marketing Flow
- Enhanced lead management
- Unorganized Data
- Expensive/Ineffective Tech Stack
- Basic Marketing Approach
- Poor Data Management
- Unorganized Processes
- Refined Direct Mail Strategy
- Clarity In All Business Operations
- Enhanced Team Management
- Strong Lead Management Flow
- Advanced Data Tracking
- Effective Marketing Flow
- Limited Marketing
- Targeting Constraints
- Poor Lead Management
- Difficult Team Management
- Reactive Marketing
- Ineffective Marketing Flow
- Empowered Data Management
- First to Market Strategy
- Automated Processes
- Strategic Focus
- Improved Lead Prioritization
- Enhanced Data Tracking
- Low Level CRM
- Successful But Hitting a Wall
- Missed Opportunities
- Poor Data Management
- Data Driven Decisions
- Full Data Clarity
- Consistent Deal Flow
- Strong Marketing Flow
- Lacked Marketing Clarity
- Difficult Marketing Flow
- Inconsistent Deal Flow
- Strong Lead Management Flow
- Strong Marketing Flow
What changed
The reset came at the end of December 2019. His trucking partner had gone back on the road because the deals were too thin to live on. Josh stayed, spent nights going through his records, and asked himself why he was failing. "It was plain and simple because I was way too shotgun. I was way too all over the place," he says. So he redid the whole way he approached data and campaigns: separate lien types, filtered zip codes, stacked lists only. The first call through the new 200-name list produced a contract the same day.
The Results
The 50-name list produced two deals worth about $105,000. The big one came off a municipal code violation list. A retired couple in Destin owned a $650,000 Birmingham house their tenant had wrecked, with $500,000 still owed on it. Josh contracted it at $225,000, sold it to a buyer at $310,000, and the sellers brought over $277,000 to closing to be done with it. That was an $85,000 deal. Their second house added a projected spread of about $20,000.
The 200-name list opened with a bankruptcy contract locked the same day as the first call, a projected $17,000 spread. Then came the week of this recording: 11 contracts, including a 10-property rental portfolio locked at $520,000 against a $1.1 million ARV.
Add it up: 13 contracts from 250 prospects, about one for every 19 people on the lists. Roughly $200,000 closed and projected in six weeks, against $40,000 across his whole first six months. About $25,000 had hit his pocket by the recording, with the budget still $500 a month. His KPIs stay rough, tracked by hand in free Podio, and he says so.
You can't give up. Cuz you only fail if you quit.
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