In this boot‑camp style Q&A, Chris Prefontaine moderates a discussion with real‑estate investors Steve and David about their experiences in the QLS (Quick Lead System) program. Steve, operating in Mississippi (and some Alabama), balances a full‑time estate‑tax planning job with real‑estate investing. He emphasizes the importance of consistency, hiring a virtual assistant (VA) to make 40‑45 calls daily, and leveraging REI BlackBook workflows, especially form‑letter snail‑mail follow‑ups that generate callbacks. He also details a simple text‑message drip campaign that treats contacts as opted‑in until they opt out. Both Steve and David describe overcoming phone anxiety by building confidence through role‑playing, scripts, and recognizing that they already know more than prospects. They share concrete deal examples: Steve’s sub‑2 rescue transaction (a $47,000 payoff) and David’s first two takings—a $26,000 upfront profit from a realtor letter and a subsequent AO sale. The conversation also covers schedule optimization (shifting calls to afternoons) and progression through QLS levels (Apprentice → Starter → High‑6). Throughout, the participants stress consistency, systematic follow‑up, and confidence‑building as key lessons for busy investors.
Chapters
So you came to this boot camp what month?
I forget, March or October last year.
What would you say without us telling you we're going to ask you this first? Uh, you want to know like 3 or 4 lessons, you're saying?
Yeah, everything has been a learning process with Naturally.
You've worked with these guys, so—
I've been working with Steve and Chuck all along.
Okay.
Um, now that they had their first taken, um, and they've got a bunch of them in the pipeline, The learning process is like, now I need to learn about the buyers and how that process has been learning all of that stuff.
Okay. So first, real quick, Steve, tell these guys what market you're in and what you do aside because you're not full-time, what else you do. And then that'll be a good— and then why, why you came here. Then we can go to lessons. Yeah, that's good.
Yeah, sure. I'm in the— I'm in Mississippi and we're pretty much working the whole state because the whole state only has 3 million people in it anyway. So You guys got that many within driving distance of you guys. We work the whole state of Mississippi, plus we've been working a little bit in Birmingham, Alabama through some connections. As, as they said, I came in, came in October. I actually came as an apprentice and we upgraded while we were at boot camp to starter. And so we've been working with Rick since then. And, you know, the thing we learned from boot camp right off the bat was be consistent. And so almost as soon as I got back, I hired a VA because my W-2 job is with an estate and tax planning company. And I'm on— I'm in front of the computer all day doing software plans. And so it's really hard for me to get on the phones during the day. So we made the decision to invest in a VA and she is consistent. She works about 10 hours a week. And she consistently calls 40 to 45 people a day in those 2 hours. And we generated almost all of our leads through her. The other thing, we use REI BlackBook and we really have taken advantage of the workflows that are in there. We follow them. You know, we, of course, we've updated the language on some of the messaging and things like that. to be more local, but we really follow those workflows and sending out letters, especially after first contact. I've been amazed how many callbacks we get on those.
So, okay, so Steve's talking about the form letters, you guys, the form letters.
Yeah, maybe particularly fresh ones that have realtors, ones that are under agreement. We've had 3 or 4 of those fall through and they call us back. We haven't, we haven't gotten many of them because they tend to list with a realtor really quickly when that happens. But, and then also the ones that just say not now, we'll drip on them once a month.
So in the, in your QLS Home Study, there's 11, right? 12, 10 letters that over the years that we used to use because we were just tired of doing the same thing over and over again. So this is called form letters. You put your logo on them and And you're free, a logo for your certification, and send them out.
Yep.
After your calls, depending on what category they fit in. And yes, that's snail mail, not emails.
Yes.
And Steve and Chuck have been totally plugged into everything. And Steve does nightly accountability with me. Yeah. And they are very coachable.
Yeah. And you— so that buyer, they had a buyer signing last Friday and then it extended till the 19th of June.
Yeah, we've closed with the seller as of yesterday, so that we got that right.
And that was a sub-2, right?
It was a sub-2. Yeah. No owner financing. It was a rescue case. They were— it was a young couple that had gotten upside down in their house. They were moving away. They were ready to walk away from it. So we were able to pick up the house for the balance of the equity in the house.
So that first— that's their first deal, you guys. And the all-3-paydays was like 47?
47. Right, right.
And that closes the 19th.
So, well, congrats.
But that's— these guys are here, the journey, especially while you're busy with your J-O-B. Yeah. Do you guys have any questions for him since we did that? And then Dave's— we took Dave away from his family in Hawaii, so we'll ask him a question or two. Any questions for Steve, you guys? Yeah.
Quickly, Steve, you talked about kind of the drip process on the not nows on a monthly basis that you're following up.
Is your VA doing that too, or?
You know, I've got it set up in a workflow, and until they opt out, I consider them opted in for text messages. And I haven't— I've had one pushback in the whole time I've been doing this dripping with text messages, because it's a simple text message. Hey, have you sold your house? Hey, you guys didn't buy a new house? And so I'm not pressing them with a bunch of words. They can give me a yes/no answer, and a lot of them do. They just give me a yes/no answer. And I thank them for responding and continue to move on. So, you know, thank you. But I also find out a lot of times when they have sold their property and I can quit dripping on them, I'll ask them if they've sold it and they'll say yes. And then they're out of my— they're out of my queue at that point. And it's that fewer that I have to deal with.
Do you— I got one that's always A good one for anyone to hear. Is, is there maybe one thing you can think of that when you first started— I'm sure there's a bunch, but what, what comes to mind when I say what was super hard that now is easier?
Oh, that 500th time really picking up the phone.
Yeah. Yeah.
I'm an extrovert and I still like— when I pick up the phone that first time, it's like they're going to know I'm a fraud. And then I realize, you know, 99% more Than they know. That's if I could just tell you guys that, you know, not going through QLF, you'll know 99% more because obviously you're having to educate every time somebody answers. For the most part, you're having to educate on what owner financing or lease purchase or sub-to is. And so you already have all this knowledge. And so just think about that before you pick up the phone. Like, I know this. And even if I don't know their answers, I know more than they know.
Oh, Steve, I appreciate it again. If you guys don't have any other questions, I'll have Dave introduce himself so you get a little different area, different take, and then we'll let him go back to his vacation. Is that good?
Yeah, man.
Yeah. Steve, thanks, buddy. You can hang out, of course, but thank you so much.
Yeah, take care.
Good news. Rick Morano texted me. He is out of the hospital. His daughter did well. He's going to be on the sit-down, but he won't be here. David, how are you, buddy? On vacation?
I'm doing good.
Sit down today?
Yes, sit down today.
Cool.
Yep, yep.
David, could you do the same? You were at the beginning, but just real briefly, what you do, what market you're in, and when you started.
Yeah, I do On my W-2 job, I'm a full-time accountant, 40 hours a week, 4 days in the office, 1 day at home now. When we started, it was a little bit different, but I'm in the central Missouri area, Columbia, Missouri, halfway between Kansas City and St. Louis. So I've worked all the mid-Missouri area at this moment. I haven't expanded out to St. Louis or Kansas City yet. I was thinking about that, but I haven't done it yet. Yeah, I started QLS 2023. So how long is that? Almost 2 years now?
Yeah.
It's a year and a half, I guess? This fall will be 2 years.
And you came in here what month? I know you came in here, I just don't know. What month did you come in from boot camp?
I came in December '24. Last year, last December.
Okay. You might have been— were you in 90 Day Jumpstart before Apprentice even started? What were you in first?
No, I went— I jumped right to Starter and did that until March of '24. So, and then I jumped to High 6 in March '24.
Got it.
Okay. I thought you predated Apprentice.
Okay, I'll ask you the same question unless these guys have one. What was hard when you first started that now looking back is really easy? I chose a bunch, but one thing.
One thing for me was the confidence on the phone. You know, just like everybody else, at the very beginning, you don't want to, you know, so nervous to pick up the phone and just talk to somebody because you don't feel like you— I didn't feel like I knew what I was talking about, but I really did. I just didn't have the confidence in it. And then after about, once I went to high 6s, that really changed for me. I rearranged my schedule. You know, my schedule at the time was 8 to 5. So I rearranged that, went in earlier so I could make phone calls in the afternoon. That made me feel more comfortable and less tired than having to do it at night, every night. So once I did, made those small tweaks, I feel, you know, I'm still getting nervous on the phone, but I know that I got to go forward and keep working through that hurdle every day. But now, like, even when I'm on vacation, I kind of miss not making the dials sometimes, you know?
Yeah.
He's in Hawaii.
I mean, I mean, it's not killing me that much over here right now, but I mean, yeah, at the end of the day, I'm like, hey, I didn't make any dials today. And I feel bummed out a little bit.
I remember critiquing your calls and maybe Rick knows why, but so how did you get good fairly quickly relative to a lot of people? So tell me what you did. Did you just roleplay? Did you just listen? Because this is important. I remember listening to your calls. I'm like, this is good. He's good already. Not sure where to get started? Go to smartrealestatecoach.com/getgoing for free books, strategy calls, and a whole bunch more. We're going to help you get going the wicked smart way. We've been after this for over a decade doing exactly that.
Yeah, the script part. I mean, my, my, my background, like, As aircraft mechanics. So when we hit that description, you go 1, 2, 3, 4. That was fine. I didn't have a problem with that because I knew exactly, ask this question, go to the next question. My question, my problem was when they converted to off that question and went totally random. I had a little, I didn't have any confidence going through that part of it. It's still taking me a long time to get to there, but I'm working on it.
That's awesome. And you have how many takings? And you have a SOL, right?
Right. I do have a sold. Yeah, I had 2 takings. The first one was from a letter, was a, I think a realtor letter if I remember right. And then it took a while because they were on a, had just re-signed for 6 months and it had an exclusive clause, so they had to pay a lot of money. So we waited for that to expire and then we did that. And then we did 4 months on that one, but it just, we couldn't find a buyer for that one. It was in a— I feel it's like it was in a tougher market than I realized it was. And then at the same time, just 3 weeks after that take-in, I got another take-in, which was at the AO, and we have sold that one since then.
And that was— I know it's only one payday, but it was all upfront or you have still some of that dripping in? Does that make sense?
$20,000 on the first one, and then next year will be $4,000 more. Sorry, dude.
So most of it was upfront, $26,000. Cool, right?
$26,000 now and then $4,000 next year.
Not a bad A/O, especially for the first one. Awesome. Do you guys have any questions for Dave? I just want you to hear different— other than me blabbing all day. Helpful? Okay. David, again, you can hang out with Steve, but I think I'm pretty certain you'd rather be in Hawaii, so I appreciate you jumping on for this.
No problem. I appreciate it. Yeah, it's a little overcast right now, but I'm sure the sun will be fine. We feel bad for you.
