We studied active DealMachine members who are building high-performing deal-finding teams. One of the best examples comes from Krystal and Dedic Polites, real investors who built a system that turns everyday effort into daily leads.
Their system is not just about tools. It is about process, compliance, and consistency. After reviewing their approach and current market data, we mapped it into a step-by-step playbook you can copy.
Before your team sends a postcard or makes a cold call, start with compliance.
Each state, and sometimes each city, has rules for cold calling, texting, and direct mail. Understanding these up front can help you avoid fines, spam flags, and angry complaints.
Here is a simple compliance checklist to start:
This step turns your marketing into a strategic advantage instead of a risk. Many wholesale real estate investors skip it. Strong teams do not.
When deals feel harder to come by, volume and consistency matter more. Industry reporting shows existing home sales totaled 4.09 million in 2023. That is a reminder that your pipeline matters, especially when the market is not handing you easy wins.
A deal-finding real estate team helps because:
Even a small team can create real momentum if each person owns a clear role.
The Polites built their success around one simple rule: never waste a lead.
Many investors do this:
The Polites did something smarter. They turned every list into a long-term lead asset inside DealMachine.
Cold calling gives fast feedback. You learn what types of owners pick up. You also learn which neighborhoods are worth spending more time in.
Krystal’s team pulled lists and called through them first. That is normal. The difference is what they did next.
Instead of throwing away lists after scrubbing, they added those properties to DealMachine.
“What I’ve done is created a system around DealMachine,” “We have the team pull lists, do cold calls, and, instead of throwing away those lists after scrubbing them, I decided to add them to DealMachine.”
That approach matters because a “dead” list is not dead. Even if a phone number is wrong, an address can still become a lead through direct mail and repeat follow-up.
Krystal said they started seeing a “high hit rate” once they did this. That is what you want from your follow-up system: more replies from work you already did.
They also widened their buy box and what they tracked.
“So, now we add all types of properties to DealMachine...including commercial, occupied properties, wholesale units, and others.”
This is an important lesson for any real estate team. Motivated sellers are not limited to vacant houses. A property can be occupied and still be a deal if the owner has a problem you can solve.
The Polites used “DealFinders” to keep new leads flowing.
A DealFinder is simple to explain:
Then your team can handle the rest: skip tracing (if needed), calling, and direct mail follow-up.
Here is how the DealFinder method compares to two other common lead-gen strategies: PPC and MLS scraping.
|
Strategy |
Typical Cost |
Lead Quality |
Scalability |
Best Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DealFinder (Driving for Dollars) |
Lower ongoing cost |
High, property-specific, and local |
Medium to high |
Off-market and distressed leads |
|
PPC (Pay-Per-Click Ads) |
Higher ongoing cost |
Medium, often competitive |
High ifthe budget is strong |
Motivated sellers who search online |
|
MLS Scraping |
Lower cost |
Lower for true off-market deals |
High automation |
Research, comps, and listed opportunities |
Why DealFinder wins for many investors:
It creates leads you control, often before other investors see them. It also builds local market knowledge fast, which helps with offers and negotiations.
Krystal and Dedic were direct about recruiting. They treated it like marketing.
“I would definitely say advertise and market to find good DealFinders,” the couple says. “If you’re on social media, every time one of your DealFinders gets paid, market that. Show people that it can actually be done.”
That strategy does two things:
Simple places to recruit DealFinders:
If you want quality leads, give DealFinders a short checklist. Keep it easy. If it takes too long, they will skip it.
DealFinder checklist:
DealMachine is built for this type of field work. A driver can add a property while they are out, and your team can see it right away.
If you want to structure permissions by role, DealMachine supports team roles and permissions so you can control who can add leads, who can send mail, and who can manage settings.
The Polites did not just add properties. They followed up until the owners responded.
“We’re getting a lot of calls back,” Dedic says before Krystal adds that they get about ten to twelve calls a day now from using the DealMachine app to procure new leads.
A real estate team needs simple numbers to rally around. Calls per day are good. It is easy to track, and it shows if your marketing is actually hitting.
They also stressed volume. They shared a clear target to push activity:
“The more properties you can put into DealMachine, the better. Get 200 entered into the DealMachine app as soon as possible.” Then send mail to those property owners at least 3 times each. That’s about what it takes to get 1 deal.
Mail still reaches a huge number of homes. Postal reporting shows total mail and package volume was nearly 112.5 billion pieces delivered to more than 168 million addresses in fiscal year 2024.
That does not mean every postcard works. It means the channel is alive. Your job is to:
Simple follow-up plan you can copy:
When your team does this weekly, your results stop depending on luck.
If you want your team to run smoothly, track a few numbers each week. Do not overthink it.
Weekly scorecard metrics:
This helps you spot problems early. If mail went out but calls dropped, your message may need work. If the number of properties added drops, your DealFinders may need motivation or more recruiting.
When you have more than one person touching leads, you need one source of truth. DealMachine helps teams:
Some teams also use Alma, DealMachine’s real estate AI assistant, to think through next steps faster while reviewing leads. For example, if your acquisitions manager is looking at a lead, they can use Alma to brainstorm questions to ask the owner or ways to follow up based on the situation.
Your team should know what “good” looks like. Set a weekly goal for properties added, mail sent, and follow-up calls.
Untrained drivers miss obvious signs. Show examples, do a ride-along, and give them a checklist they can follow.
Most deals do not happen after one touch. Build follow-up into your process so it happens automatically.
Celebrate the activity that creates future deals. Paying DealFinders on time and sharing wins helps you recruit and keep good people.
A DealFinder is often the easiest first hire because the job is simple and measurable. If they add quality addresses daily, your pipeline grows fast. Then your admin or acquisitions person can handle follow-up.
Many investors aim to add a few hundred properties quickly, then keep adding every week. What matters most is steady volume and steady follow-up. If you stop adding leads, your future months get harder.
Cold calling and direct mail work better together than alone. Mail can warm up a lead so your call feels less random. It also gives sellers a way to respond when they are ready.
Use a simple scorecard and clear standards for what a good lead looks like. Track properties added, basic notes, and consistency. If someone hits the targets, keep them paid on time and let them work.