Expanding Into Multiple Markets with Aaron Gaunt

"Hello and welcome back to the Collective Clicks Podcast. Today, I'm gonna be interviewing Aaron Gaunt, who is a client of ours at Bateman Collective for probably three or four months at this point. Aaron shares a ton of great insights, including why and how he decided to expand into multiple markets instead of just staying in Southern California. He talks about his simplified sales script and how that's been working to help them perform in the top 10% of our clients from a lead conversion standpoint. We also talk about his journey of being a father and some of the things that he's passionate about.

This is the first podcast of the year, recording fresh on January 3rd. Are you excited for the new year?"

"Yeah, 2023 is gonna be... I'm excited as well," Aaron responds.

"Which year is this for you in wholesaling? I'm curious," the host asks.

"It's 2023. We've just ended our third full year. We literally started in 2020. So all that year, 2021, and 2022. That was our third year. We're going on to our fourth this year," Aaron shares.

"Exciting! Well, for everybody listening, not everyone knows you. Of course, I know several will from your podcast or the masterminds you're in and all that kind of stuff. That's how we know you. So, let's give a little bit of an intro. Tell me a little bit about your story. What exactly do you do and focus on in real estate?" the host inquires.

"Man, I have a fantastic story," Aaron begins. "And I say that with pride. What real estate has done for me and my family has not just given me financial freedom, but also fatherhood freedom, my marriage, a house, a life... you know, freedom from a nine-to-five."

Aaron continues, "So basically, what happened a little while back, I was in the fire department. I got a job in the fire department here in San Diego. I met a lady, and we got her pregnant very early on. I’m going to be fully transparent—I got her pregnant, and we were dating for probably about three months. She decided that she didn't want to be a mom. At that time, she was going to give her up for adoption. She tried, she said that I wasn't going to be in her life, etc. Now, I wasn't going to let that happen. So I actually opened up a court case before she was even born. I wasn't asking for much—I just wanted 50/50. I just wanted to be in my daughter's life. I didn't want anything else from her. I just wanted to be a father.

So, I did what I did, sucked it up, and became a father. And we'll get to the good part soon—I'm a happily involved father right now."

Aaron takes a deep breath and continues, "Anyways, if you've ever been in court, it costs a lot of money. I was making probably about $80-90K a year in the fire department—not really much. So, I ended up going into debt, fighting and going into this court case, paying for attorneys, paying for her, etc. I looked back and thought, ‘Okay, how can I pay for a good, decent attorney? I didn't want to do this on my own. I knew I needed legal help. We had a lot of emotions tied to it, especially when it comes to your kids.’ So, what happened was... I remember like it was yesterday, I sat down on my bed, looked at the ceiling, and thought, ‘How do I make money?’

Back in the Navy, where I served for eight years, we used to pass around books. One of those books was *Rich Dad Poor Dad*. Big surprise, right? But I didn’t take any action back then—I was still in my early twenties, partying, going to different ports, drinking, and not worrying about my financial future. But when the time came, I decided to pick up that book again. I remembered it from the Navy. So I re-read it and thought, ‘Okay, real estate is what's going to get me through this court case and help me pay these bills.’ But then I said, ‘I'm in debt. How the heck am I going to get into real estate while I'm in debt with no money?’

I asked myself, ‘How can I?’ instead of saying ‘I can't.’ That’s key—if you say you can’t, you stop your train of thought. So I did my research. I typed into Google, ‘How to get into real estate with no money.’ What came up was wholesaling."

Aaron continues his story: "At that point, I was still working at the fire department. I went down the YouTube University rabbit hole, trying to figure out what wholesaling was. After maybe a week or two of research, I found out there were coaching programs. These guys were talking about, 'Hey, we coach.' This was at the end of 2019. Then, I stumbled upon Wholesaling Inc. Tom Krol and Cody Hofhine were running it at the time—fantastic individuals. I even thought it might have been a scam. I remember I called them up, spoke with a sales rep, and we talked about the course. It was $5,000 at the time."

He pauses and then laughs, "I was still at the fire department, dating my wife (she was my girlfriend at the time). I went over to her job and said, ‘Hey, there’s this thing called Wholesaling Inc. They’re going to teach me how to do this wholesaling thing so I can get into real estate with no money.’ But of course, it was costing money to get into real estate."

Aaron chuckles, "So, I did my research, found out they weren't scams, and saw the good reviews. I called the sales rep back, and I put Wholesaling Inc. on my credit card. I got into the course, and they were teaching direct mail at the time. As we all know, direct mail is expensive. I put it all on my credit card. So much for getting into real estate with no money, right?"

Aaron explains how things progressed from there, "Two months later, I knew I had to make it work—I had already invested so much into it. Two months later, I closed on my first deal for $19,000. It was a huge win because I got to walk into my attorney's office and hand him a check that paid off most of the debt. But I kept going. That’s how I got my first deal and how I got into real estate."

"Mmm-hmm, that's great news! So, tell me a little bit more about your journey so far with digital marketing. Like, what have you experienced? Could you talk about the very beginning? You mentioned that you got a deal in the first week, but since then, what has happened? How do you see that fitting into your long-term plan with your company? How’s that going to grow through 2023 and beyond?"  

"No, a hundred percent. One thing I wanted to focus on, and there are debates, but this is how I see it right now. I used to think that going deeper and not wider was the key. Right? I wanted to go deeper. In Southern California, we were solely focused on Southern California. A lot of people were afraid; they’d run away from Southern California. But we were doing deals, and a good amount of sizable deals—good rippers. I mean, we have another 120k rip that we just did today, locked up in San Bernardino. Those are the kinds of deals you’re going to see in Southern California."  

"Right."  

"But anyways, instead of going deeper, when we saw the market correction, we saw that the West Coast just got annihilated with price cuts. Prices are going down like there’s no tomorrow. So that opened my eyes. I realized we needed to go wider because properties that are $200,000 and below are still flying off the shelf for our investors and cash buyers. So I decided, 'Hey, let’s go!' and we’ve kept morale high because that’s something we’re really going to focus on in the upcoming year—culture. I really want to keep the culture high."  

"Yeah, definitely."  

"I do want big rips, and we’re still going to get those. But I also want deals to come through consistently, to keep my team busy, keep them motivated, so we can ring that bell and celebrate. No matter if it’s a $2,000 deal or a $100,000 deal, I just want action and activity. That’s how I see it right now. We did 19 contracts last month. This month, we’re projecting 20 to 25 contracts, and we’re going to make that happen through PPC. I’ll be honest, that’s where we’re going to focus—inbound marketing—and also focusing on pre-foreclosures and MLS deals."  

"Right, and why MLS?"  

"The reason we hit MLS is because they’re already on the market; they’re already motivated. They’re raising their hands. Agents are going out of business. Agents are struggling right now, and sellers are going crazy. We’re getting some good rippers off the MLS just because they’re not selling. So that’s when we get to come in and say, ‘Hey, we’ll give you a low-ball offer and move this for you.’”  

"Mmm-hmm, yeah, absolutely. Understood."  

"I like how you talked about that difference between focus—like going deeper in a market versus going wider. A little context for everyone: as I remember it, we started out just advertising in Southern California, then we added one city in Texas, and then expanded to Southern California and many major cities in Texas. Now, we’re going even wider than that. What has been your experience with that? I’m curious to hear about the challenges you ran into with that shift and how you overcame them. Because some of our most successful clients tend to do this—spread across more markets. Mmm-hmm. You’ve probably noticed that you get more leads that way, and there are more opportunities to come in. But there are people who are scared to do it, and some who have tried and failed for various reasons."  

"No, a hundred percent. By taking that step of imperfect action, we figured out how to manage other markets because I believe we have the infrastructure now to handle deals anywhere. We have platforms to find buyers in all different markets. We pay a crap ton of money for those platforms. We started in Southern California, then went to Texas. The market was changing, so I wanted more leads. We started in San Antonio because I got a lead there. We made a good chunk, so I said, ‘Hey, let’s check out San Antonio.’ Then we expanded to all major areas in Texas."  

"Right."  

"Then I thought, ‘Screw it, let’s go nationwide!’ We were getting leads from all over. You could target an area, but sometimes you’ll get a lead from a different state. We were moving deals from different states, so it made sense to expand. Let’s bring down our cost per lead and get more lead flow into the database. The more leads, the more opportunities I have in front of me. And being all virtual now, we’ve learned how to put on the headphones and use techniques to lock up deals. We provide opportunities for other investors, and we get paid very well for it."  

"That’s great. Can you explain your process for locking up deals?"  

"When a lead comes in, my script is the shortest we’ve ever had because the leads are motivated. I go straight to, ‘Hey, it looks like a great property. Why are you even considering selling this property?’ I try to get their 'why,' which is usually on my dashboard because they filled out the form, but I want to dig deeper. Then I tell them, ‘At Seller’s New Day, we have a few options. Is it okay if I explain them to you?’ We offer a cash option, a retail buyer option (our novation), and a listing option where we partner with listing agents in the area. Then I ask them, ‘What do you think would be the best fit for you?’ Most of the time, they say they want a cash offer."  

"Really?"  

"Yes, seven out of ten times they pick the cash option. I explain the pros and cons of each option, but the cash offer is always the most convenient and fastest way to solve their problem. So, we send the agreement, connect them with our fulfillment side, and it’s off my plate. I’m off to the next lead."  

"That’s so important. Too many people try to push acquisitions managers into a transaction coordination role, which is a nightmare waiting to happen. You can’t do volume that way."  

"Exactly! You can’t. And the difference in price between the retail and cash options is huge. But surprisingly, a lot of clients still pick the cash option."  

"That’s interesting because you’d think they’d go for retail every time since it’s more money."  

"Right? You’d think that way because if we were selling our own house, we’d probably pick retail. But the thing is, they’re looking for a cash offer. That’s why they came to us. We’ve set up our marketing to attract that specific audience."  

"Mmm-hmm."  

"And don’t be afraid to offer all options. I even have a listing appointment today, and I encourage everyone in my office to be a real estate agent, even if they don’t use it. It helps them understand the basics of real estate and gives them another way to assist."  

"Got it. I’d love to dig deeper into your process for each of those three options."  

"For sure. The cash offer option is straightforward. But when expanding to new markets, the concern is usually around dispositions. They might not have a buyer’s list in that area or experience with selling in that market."  

"Absolutely. Dispositions are key to dominating in this downturn. I put all my VAs on dispo. They call buyers in the areas we need to sell properties. We’ve struggled a bit with dispo, but we’re getting back into a rhythm. We use platforms like InvestorLift on cartel mode, which costs a lot, but it’s worth it. We also use PropStream to pull cash buyers in the area. If we can’t move a deal, we JV with someone in that market who has a solid cash buyer list. My VAs, like Jim, are rockstars at finding JV partners on Facebook."  

"That’s smart."  

"Right? I tell my team not to give up because it's not just about taking orders. We have to think, ‘How are we going to sell this deal?’ The days of sending out an email and getting offers are over."

"Do you think you would go down?"  
"And then they'll tell me, cuz now I've just given it everything from A to Z. I've given you all the options. You can't, there's nowhere else you could go to get a better. I'm sorry, but that's how it is. That script I just told you, there's no better option out there."  
"Besides what?"  
"Unless I lost some kind of rapport, there's no other option. You're gonna get all the prices from me. It's a one-stop shop, and that's how we get all the contracts that we do."  
"Yeah, that's awesome. Uh, I think there's also, just knowing you, I'm sure there are some other things here that are a little bit less obvious or a little bit more hidden, you could say, right?"  
"Right."  
"Because let's just say I'm a robot, and I bring 'em on. I say, 'You have three options. Here's what you could do,' right? That's it. If there's not that trust there, if there's not that rapport, then 100%, we're not in a good position."  
"Um, do you have any tips? And I know a lot of this book that you're referencing, which I've read personally, 'How to Win Friends and Influence People,' a lot of this stuff would be very applicable to this. But in terms of the actual script for negotiation, the offer presentation, and stuff like that, I feel like I understand that. Do you have any advice on getting to that point in the call?"  
"Right."  
"Things like making sure that you actually get ahold of them. What does that typically look like for you guys? And how do you, uh, how do you make yourself stand apart from the other several people probably calling them right at the beginning after they filled out multiple forms online? Just getting to the point where they even trust you enough that you're that deep into the conversation, that you're talking about offers?"  
"Man, that's a great question. So as you probably already know, it's speed to lead when it comes to PPC. Talking about me being a father, I'm probably the worst father when it’s at the dinner table. When I'm at the dinner table, and until again, I had acquisition guys. We're actually going to be hiring some more acquisition guys coming in this month. But currently, as the only acquisition guy dealing with the PPC leads, I'll literally be at the dinner table, and we'll get a lead that comes in through Brandon Bateman. And I'll say, 'Oh, gotta go,' and run into the office to hop on the phone and get 'em, you know? So basically, my opening is just saying, 'Hey, this is Aaron. I saw that you filled out a form here at Seller's New Day. Did I catch you at a bad time?'"  
"And if they say, 'No, this is a good time,' perfect. I just go right into it: 'Hey, I mean, it looks like a great property. Why are you looking to sell?' And then boom, you go right into it."  
"Right."  
"Our follow-up process, let's say they didn't answer their phone, I like to call. We do a double tap—text, email. We call it a footprint, right? Making sure you're always in front of them, making sure you have a CRM. We use Left Main Core."  
"Uh-huh."  
"So from there, every day, I'm just calling, texting, and emailing them every single day to get them on the phone. I also have pre-recorded text messages, so I like to get through my leads quick. I have a dialer set within our CRM, so it's literally like, click and go. I have a voicemail drop where it just drops a voicemail, so they get a voicemail, text, email, and call. Like I said, we call it footprints because they know everything."  
"Right."  
"So if they decided not to call back, then we did everything in our power to do it. Now, again, this is virtual. I can't just drive to their house, but yeah, we're on it pretty hard."  
"Okay, yeah, that's awesome. I appreciate all that feedback and everything. Is there anything else that you'd give as advice? So, for context, Aaron, the people listening to this podcast are often our clients or people considering working with us. Do you have any advice for either of those groups?"  
"Oh man, I'm always giving you guys a shoutout, Brandon. We've tried out one or two others, people who are doing PPC now. What happened was, I think it was the Red Beards that really got me drawn to... no, I'm just kidding."  
"(Laughs)"  
"No, you guys have been fantastic. You built rapport with myself, always being on it. When we email you about an issue or if there is any, for example, let's say a lead gave me a false lead, and I say, 'Hey, can you guys fix this?' You guys are on it."  
"Right."  
"And again, I feel like there's a connection between me and your team. I had a chance to hang out with a couple of guys from your team at the last CG meeting. You guys were fantastic. We were hanging on the rooftop, throwing back drinks, so that was really cool."  
"That's great."  
"But other than that, like I said, and we talked about that earlier too, I want to make sure this is done right. I want to see my return, so I'm going to have a team that does this systematically. Too many people, I think, just kind of throw stuff at the wall and hope it sticks. You're going to know more than I do. My last return from the other program, the leads just weren’t coming in. They didn't have the structure or infrastructure that they needed. But you guys definitely have the infrastructure."  
"Thank you."  
"You also seem like a good leader with your team. A lot of people look up to you, and you can see that. And I want my marketing to be led by a good person, someone who definitely knows what they're doing."  
"Yeah, thank you, Aaron. (Laughs) My fish for compliments worked perfectly."  
(Laughs) "I appreciate you, and everybody, take notes. You've been incredible to work with. So, any vendors listening to this, go call up Aaron and try to get him to buy your stuff because he's a great guy."  
"No, not anymore."  
(Laughs) "Well, it has been awesome to have you on here. I think you've added tons of value. Is there a way someone can reach you if they want to get in touch?"  
"Yep, just hit me up on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. Also, check out my podcast, 'The Real Estate Block Podcast,' where we have guys just like myself who are doing consistent deals. But that's about it."  
"Very cool. Tell me, is there some way we can support you in that? I imagine with that podcast, you're doing some coaching or something like that?"  
"No, not yet. We're just giving out value. The reason I started our podcast was... well, just like the reason why I started it... when I saw the market correction, we felt it pretty hard those first two months, right? And I thought, 'We were the only ones feeling it.' Then we realized, oh crap, everybody's feeling it. It doesn't matter how big or small your business is—everybody felt it."  
"Right."  
"And I had some buddies tell me that they went out of business, all kinds of stuff. And I said, 'Heck no. I want to make sure we're adding value and helping people who are still doing deals. Let's get a platform for them to share, so people can reach out to those I bring onto the podcast for help.' So it really started with wanting to help people during this downturn."  
"Okay, understood. Well, that's awesome. I didn't know that was just a value add to help people, but that's great, Aaron. I encourage everyone to listen to the podcast. I have no doubt what Aaron puts out there is solid, and I think that's a really interesting premise too. Any last words before we close things up today?"  
"No, I just appreciate you and thank you so much for having me on your show, brother."  
"Yeah, likewise. Aaron, thank you for coming. For everybody listening, that's it for today's show, and I'll see you on the next episode."

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