No Paid Leads, 300 Homes: What an 11-Agent Team Knows About Owning Attention

Key takeaways

• Paid leads rent attention. Video content and a personal brand build attention you own.
• The Gillette Group films every listing and turns one shoot into two videos: one for the agent, one for the team.
• Zero paid leads is not zero dollars. The team spends close to $100,000 a month, mostly on brand building.
• You can start at any budget. Gillette began with no lead money and no followers.
• Realtors and loan officers can co-create educational video, as long as co-marketing stays fair and compliant.

Picture two agents at the same brokerage meeting. One just renewed her lead portal contract. The other just got a text from a stranger asking, “Are you taking on new clients right now?”

Same market. Same rates. Completely different phone.

That second text isn’t made up. It’s the kind of call Shannon Gillette says her team gets all the time. BAM’s Sarah Lentz broke down her recent interview with Luke Acree on the Stay Paid Podcast, and one detail stopped me cold. None of that business came from paid lead portals.

Not Zillow. Not Realtor.com. Not Homes.com. No revenue-share deals. No door knocking.

I read it twice. Then I started thinking about what it means for those of us who aren’t hiring a videographer next week.

How does a team sell 300 homes without paid leads?

The engine is video. The team has its own in-house media crew, with a videographer and editors who work only for them. By Gillette’s account, they had already closed more than $100 million in volume by July, and she describes the group as the top-producing team of its size at Real Brokerage.

Here’s the part I love. Every listing gets the same treatment, whether it belongs to Shannon or one of her agents. The listing gets scheduled for a shoot, and the team covers the cost. The agent pays nothing out of pocket.

And that one shoot produces two videos. One for the listing agent’s own channel. One for Shannon’s YouTube channel, where she opens the video and then hands it to the agent to give the tour.

Think about how smart that is. The agent builds her own name. The team builds its brand. One shoot. Two assets. Nobody fights for the spotlight.

Did it start with a big marketing budget?

No. And this is the part I want every newer agent and loan officer to hear.

Gillette didn’t start with a media team. She spent eight years selling new construction for a builder, then went out on her own with no money for leads and no Instagram following. She knew most new agents don’t survive their first couple of years. She built anyway, one video at a time, with social media, a personal brand, and listing videos on YouTube. Eventually sellers started calling to ask if she’d take their listing.

The team’s Instagram is past 100,000 followers now. But it started at zero. Every audience does.

What does a no-paid-leads strategy actually cost?

Let’s be honest about the money, because the headline can mislead you.

The team spends close to $100,000 a month. Most of it goes to building the brand: ads in the local movie theater, client appreciation events every month, and an office sitting on an acre of land. A few thousand a month goes to their own website, mostly to collect data instead of handing a percentage to a portal.

So this isn’t a story about free business. It’s a story about where the money goes. They moved it from renting attention to owning it.

That’s the deeper principle.

Rented attention vs. owned attention

When you buy a lead, you’re renting a moment. The portal owns the consumer relationship, and it will happily sell that same buyer to the agent down the street. The day you stop paying, the phone stops ringing.

When you build a brand, you’re planting something. A video you film today can still be answering questions and building trust two years from now. You own the audience. You own the data. You own the relationship.

I say it all the time: the company that owns the first click often owns the closing. Gillette’s team just proved it. They make sure the first click, the first video, the first “who should I call?” moment lands on them.

Under all of that is something even simpler. Trust is still the greatest competitive advantage. People don’t call strangers to help with the biggest purchase of their lives. They call someone they feel like they already know. Video lets people get to know you before they ever pick up the phone.

How can Realtors and loan officers apply this at any budget?

You don’t need $100,000 a month. You need a starting point and a habit.

For Realtors

• Treat every listing as two pieces of content. The tour video markets the home. A short “here’s what I noticed about this neighborhood” clip markets you. Same afternoon, twice the value.
• Answer the questions you already hear. What does it cost to sell? How long does closing take? What’s happening with inventory in your zip code? Film the answer once and let it work for years.
• Invest in owned data. A simple website with a real reason to sign up, like a local market report or a relocation guide, beats renting someone else’s list.
• Keep relationships warm. Gillette hosts client events every month. You can start with one a year. A pie giveaway at Thanksgiving still works.

For loan officers

• Be the explainer. A 60-second video on how the VA funding fee works or what a rate buydown really costs is exactly what a buyer is searching for at 11 p.m.
• Film with your agent partners, the right way. Co-created education helps both of you. Keep co-marketing fair and compliant: each side pays its proportional share, and the content genuinely serves the consumer. Run it past your compliance team before it goes out.
• Show up consistently. Consistency beats polish. One honest video a week does more than one perfect video a year.

Want more ideas like these? Browse more lead generation strategies for Realtors and loan officers here on The Deal Doctor.

The bottom line

Technology changes. Lead platforms come and go. Algorithms shift. People don’t.

People still want to work with someone they trust. The Gillette Group found a way to earn that trust at scale, before the first phone call ever happens.

So here’s my challenge for this week. Film one video. Just one. Answer a question a client asked you recently. Don’t wait for the perfect camera or the perfect script.

Knowledge is power. Share yours, and let the right people find you.

Source: “How an 11-Agent Team Is Selling 300+ Homes With Zero Paid Leads” by Sarah Lentz, BAM, September 17, 2026.

About the author

Kate Deiboldt is a Senior Mortgage Advisor at VanDyk Mortgage Corporation serving Clarksville, TN and Fort Campbell, KY. With 26 years of local mortgage experience, she specializes in VA, FHA, THDA down payment assistance, reverse mortgages, self-employed borrowers, and complex files. As The Deal Doctor, she helps Realtors and loan officers keep deals healthy from contract to closing.

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Kate Deiboldt, Senior Mortgage Advisor, NMLS #18487. VanDyk Mortgage Corporation, NMLS #3035. Licensed in TN, KY, AL, FL, GA, TX, IL. Equal Housing Lender.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. Who is the Gillette Group?

The Gillette Group is an 11-agent real estate team in Arizona led by Shannon Gillette. The team is on pace to sell more than 300 homes this year and had closed over $100 million in volume by July.

2. Does the Gillette Group really use zero paid leads?

According to Gillette, yes. The team doesn’t buy leads from portals like Zillow, Realtor.com, or Homes.com, has no revenue-share deals with lead platforms, and doesn’t door knock.

3. Where does a team with no paid leads get its business?

Mostly inbound calls from people who found the team through its video content and brand. Many callers simply ask whether the team has room for new clients.

4. How can one listing shoot create two videos?

The team’s media crew films the listing once and produces two versions: one for the listing agent’s channel and one for the team leader’s YouTube channel, where she introduces the agent, who then gives the tour.

5. Who pays for the listing videos?

The team covers the cost. Agents don’t pay out of pocket for the shoot.

6. How much does a brand-first marketing approach cost?

For this team, close to $100,000 a month in total expenses, mostly for brand building like theater ads, monthly client events, and their office. Only a few thousand a month goes to their website for data collection.

7. Can a solo agent or loan officer build a brand without a big budget?

Yes, at a smaller scale. Gillette started with no lead budget and no following. Consistent, helpful video content built her audience over time, long before the team existed.

8. What is the difference between rented and owned attention?

Paid leads rent a moment: the platform owns the relationship, and it ends when you stop paying. Content and a personal brand build owned attention: an audience, data, and trust that keep working for you.

9. Can Realtors and loan officers create video content together?

Yes, and it can be powerful. Co-marketing should be fair and compliant, with each partner paying a proportional share and the content focused on educating consumers. Check with your compliance team first.

10. What is the easiest first step toward a video-first brand?

Film one short video answering a question a client asked you this month. Post it, then do it again next week. Consistency matters more than production quality.