Hiring Acquisition Managers That Will Actually Make You Money

Mike DeHaan: [0:00] What is going on collecting keys clan? Super excited to be back with this Friday Focus episode today. If this is your first time to the collecting keys real estate investing podcast, This is the show where we teach you to make massive income, not just passive income with your real estate investing business. I am your host, Mike DeHaan, and my main claim to fame that I tell on all the different podcasts that I guest on is that I quit my 6 figure w two job with no real plan back in 2018. I spent a couple of years traveling for Uber, working in a gym, doing all sorts of random stuff. And now I have grown a nationwide real estate investment business, and a collecting keys brand, a real estate brand that employs 25 people and does between one hundred and two hundred transactions per year, at least as we've done for the past couple of years. And we will definitely be doing that again, because we're, I think about to cross 50 here in the next week for the already. So we are off to a great start in 2024. On these Friday episodes, we like to do a deep dive on something that is currently on our mind. I say I because sometimes I do these, sometimes it's my co host, Dan Austin. And on this episode today, I'm going to be talking about hiring, specifically around hiring an acquisition manager for your real estate business. Now, hiring is one of the most common topics that I get asked about, both on Instagram and social media, and also in our scale coaching community that we have. It is probably one of the most like heavily discussed topics over in scale, in both the Slack channels as well as on our coaching calls. And since I'm currently seeking to hire another acquisition manager, I figured it would be really valid to talk about hiring specifically an acquisition manager in this case. Okay?

Mike DeHaan: [1:49] So topics seems super relevant and something you get asked about a lot. And so I just wanted to make a little Friday folks episode about this, so you guys can kind of see what my thought process is around this whole thing. Speaking of that too, like I said, I am currently hiring. If you're interested in the position or you know someone that is, hit me up on Instagram at Mike underscore invests email me at Mike@collectingkeys.com. And I will be happy to send you the application. Alright. So for the sake of this episode, I'm going to specifically talk on three topics around the acquisition manager. First off, I'm gonna be talking about what exactly an acquisition manager is, why it's important, little bit rudimentary, but I don't like to assume that people know exactly what I'm talking about. Second, I'm gonna talk about where exactly I go to find them. And third, I'm gonna talk about what makes a good acquisition manager. And spoiler, it's probably not what you think. Alright, so here we go. First off, what is an acquisition manager? And I'm gonna refer to them as an AM from now on, because that's a lot of syllables. I'm tired of saying it. So the AM is usually one of the first roles that people look to hire out in their business. Alright, it is a role that has been like when it's filled by the right person, it can completely change the course of your business. They're kind of like the lifeblood that goes out there and secures revenue for you. They're on the front lines out on that battlefield, facing that wave of motivated sellers that you no doubt have coming into your CRM every single week. Right?

Mike DeHaan: [3:18] And as a result, the AM is a critical part of your business and one do need to hire correctly. If you don't, you cannot only lose deals, but they can actually have a massive net negative impact, as you'll be repeatedly flushing opportunities on the toilet with no real revenue opportunities coming back. Okay? And now, the scope of that acquisition manager, what exactly they do is kind of up to you. Honestly, like, people always ask me specifically about what my AMs do. My answer isn't going to be the same as any other established operator. Some people want them to be fully versed on underwriting and understand all of the different factors around making offers and creative deal structure. Then they want their ams out there signing the contracts, and like making their own decisions around what the company says move forward with. I personally tend to not like that. Mainly because if you think about the incentive of that salesperson, right? They are incentivized to close deals, not get you the best deal. And not only that, but they're going out there and getting documents signed with your name and your company's name on them. And so do you want to give that to the hands of somebody whose primary motivator is to get deals just closed period so they can get paid? In my opinion, no. Other people would argue yes.

Mike DeHaan: [4:29] That's fully up to you and how much you trust people. I tend to not trust people that much when it comes to things like that, but that's just me. And so what I tend to do is I tend to want to underwrite my own deals, or have our local partners underwrite the deals. And then the acquisition manager, the AMs, their role is to build rapport, kind of be the messenger for the conditions, you know, sell them on the offer and what the company can do for the seller. But then I get to control the contracts and how they are being signed. That's my preference, like I said, but again, it's up to you. Alright, so now that you kind of understand what an AM is, let's talk about where to find them. There are a couple main avenues. Mainly, you can use your own network or you can go online. Okay? There's no like secret place where you can just go and find AMs. It's really a traditional job to be hiring for. Alright? So when it comes to your own network, it's pretty self explanatory. You can post on social media, you can talk to your friends, you can see directly who might be interested in coming and doing sales for your soon to be massively super successful real estate investing company. Depending on the current economic situation and what real estate looks like in the mainstream news, people will think that your investing company sounds like the most amazing thing that they've ever heard of, or they'll think you're an absolute idiot. And your response in your local circle will directly reflect the general opinions. Right? If you end up getting a ton of wildly unqualified people, then you know that real estate's ripping. If you get not really that many people that are interested or kind of just like, you know, suckers that are just looking for anything, then you probably know that real estate is not doing too hot right now, which is kinda where we're currently at.

Mike DeHaan: [6:09] You can talk in general circles. Okay. When it comes to posting online, there are tons of options. There's like Google hiring, you're gonna see a bunch of websites to replace that you can look. But I personally have been having great luck with a website called wise hire, which I'm using for this round of hiring. It costs a couple $100 a month, but it does give you unlimited applications, which is different from a lot of other platforms like Indeed, which one basically charge you per application. And the thing that's really snazzy about WiseHire is that it requires people to submit a DISC assessment when they submit their application. Alright? So what that allows you to do is look beyond just their resume, but you can actually see if they have that high DI DISC assessment profile, so that you can know that they're gonna be a good sales fit. Right? If you don't know what this DISC assessment is, it's like a personality test that you use to kind of figure out people's strengths and weaknesses. Go Google it, DISC. There's tons of different pieces of content and media out there around it. But in general, if you're a salesperson, you want them to be a high D or a high DI profile, which means that they're going to be good at sales talking to people being kind of like a dominant and influential personality, which is what the DNI stands for cap. So either way, I'm not going to go into scope of that.

Mike DeHaan: [7:22] Go Google, you'll figure it out. My response though, on wise hire so far, has been absolutely insane. I've had over 350 applicants in the first week alone. Honestly, it's challenging to dig through. On that note, if you are currently a job seeker and wondering why employers aren't getting back to you, I promise you it's not our fault. The hiring market is like literally insane right now, and there's so much noise that like, even if you are a great candidate, numerically, I'm just probably not seeing your application, and this goes for other people as well, so we apologize. But if you're in that rear position, you're better off looking at reaching out directly than just, like, throwing things out there helping with sticks because it becomes a lottery game. But from the hiring standpoint, it's great to have so many options in using this tool like WiseHire, where I can literally filter people by the keywords that are in their resume as well as their disk profiles. It allows me to narrow that 350 applicants down to think I have 20 that I'm going over so far. It makes it a lot more efficient. So anyways, WiseHire, great place to be posting jobs and look for people I highly recommend to use it. It costs a couple $100 a month. You're a fucking business owner, everything costs money. Just pay for it. Deal with it.

Mike DeHaan: [8:29] It's worth it. I promise. Okay. So that's what I recommend for going online. Now, we kind of know where we're looking. So perfectly into the third question that we're gonna be diving into, which is who exactly are we looking for? Alright. Now, like I said earlier, it's probably not who you think. What you don't want traditionally is that quote, unquote, young hungry realtor. And I don't know why people say that. I've heard like random people say that throughout the years, some that they thought of, but they all think of the same thing, which I think is really odd. But you don't want that young hungry realtor who is super interested in real estate investing and is heavily study on investing tactics and strategies and really wants to go out and build their own portfolio and make money and they want to learn from you, because they want to have a business themselves, the business themselves one day. Okay. In theory, that person sounds like a great candidate. But here's the thing with real estate businesses. The barrier to entry is relatively low, and it is not that complicated of a business to build. It can feel that way when you're getting started. It's probably because you have an aversion to cost and hard work, but it's really not a difficult business. And so if that young hungry realtor is worth their weight in salt at all, first off, they probably wouldn't be working for you if they were worth anything and they realize that. And second, if they are in a position where they're sort of coming up, and there's eager to learn, they will very quickly realize that they don't need you.

Mike DeHaan: [9:52] And they will leave to go into their own thing. And you will be back to square one all over again. There's not gonna stick around very long. I see it happen time and time again. It's just part of the business. And in a position like the AM, that is a very heavily rolling business anyway, you wanna reduce that as much as possible. You also don't want people that have these like fancy corporate sales backgrounds. I can't tell you how many applicants I get that are like, was the senior VP of inside whatever sales at x y z massive company, and they're super excited about it. They talk about how they did a $100,000,000 worth of business, which really means they probably made $85.85 grand for the year because they, you know, had some kind of confusing payout structure. But you don't want these corporate b to c sales types because it is a completely different beast than working for your little real estate company that you're building. Not only is your company not going to be able to offer the same structure, or pay, or benefits, or realistically upside to those larger companies are for that individual, but also the sales process of selling widgets to corporate buyers that they're used to is very different from buying distressed homes from widowed old late widowed old ladies and crackheads with complex title issues. It's very different, different conversations, different sales process, different sales timeline, different numbers, all sorts of different things get in there, right? And they're just not really like one to one similar at all. And so regardless of that person's sales experience, they're probably not going to be a very good fit for your real estate business. Instead, what you want is someone that comes from a direct to consumer sales type of business.

Mike DeHaan: [11:29] Alright? Especially one that has a high rate of rejection, as well as like a heavy direct to customer sort of interaction happens on a regular basis. You know, honestly, the best kind of people are like car salesman, insurance agents, anybody with like a door to door experience, go find some Mormon missionaries, honestly, kick ass salespeople. If you can get them, there's a reason that all the pest control companies hire the the old Mormon missionaries to go around and knock doors. And there's during their summer off from being a missionary in Honduras, or they got sent, right? These people are comfortable being told to f off. They know that's just part of the job. And they like are not going to let it ruin their day. When that does ultimately happen, which it will happen a lot working for you in your real estate business, they will just move on and go on to the next one and not be bothered by that, which is super, super important. And now bonus points, if you can find one of these people that also has experience in a customer service type of industry, right? Because honestly, a huge part of our business is not only being able to navigate the sales process, but being able to provide a good customer experience to that seller, and make them trust you, like you, and wanna work with you. My first AM had a previous job selling kettle corn at a farmer's market. That was like later her her her main previous job. On top of that, she had a bartending gig that she worked. Right?

Mike DeHaan: [12:48] You know, where you meet a lot of colorful characters, selling kettle corn, probably one of the most unhealthy things you can eat at a freaking farmer's market, and also at a bar in a random small town, which is where she came from. This person knows how to connect to her from all walks of life. And if they can master the sales part of it, they will crush. And lo and behold, she did extremely well with us for about six months until she realized that she had a lot of upside and other stuff and decided to go somewhere else. But point being, you put all this together, right? You want to find that high contact sort of sales experience with that customer service experience, blend those two together if you can, and you're going to have a kick ass acquisition manager. Even if they have no real estate experience, that doesn't matter, because you can go and you can teach that to them, you can teach that to them yourself, you can plug them into podcasts, like collecting keys, right, or bigger pockets, you can send them YouTube videos, there's so many other dorks like me out there that are producing real estate content, teach people that are completely free. You can plug these people that have the hard talents and experience that you actually need. Plug them in there to learn about the real estate stuff, then they'll be good to go. And then honestly, it is a significantly easier process than you think.

Mike DeHaan: [13:58] Last thing sort of like little, I would say, like gut feeling when you're going through this process is as you're meeting with this person, you're having the interview, and you're, know, having the conversation, small talk, whatever, just think about how the conversation is going and how it feels talking to this person in what is honestly kind of like a high pressure sales type of environment, like they're trying to sell you on them to be an employee for you, right? And think about it, that vibe that you're currently having, if they were talking to a recent divorcee whose meth head kid just lit fire to their old house, and they're sober disappointed because they're letting them live there for free, and they couldn't even not burn the freaking house down. Okay? When they're talking to that person, do you think that this vibe that you currently have would be acceptable? If not, then it's pretty easy pass. The rest of the stuff I said doesn't matter because they're not gonna pass the vibe check with their sellers, and you could probably should have bought it. Now, one important note about everything that I've just said, if you are somebody who is trying to build this business, and you are crushing your sales, you're getting deals, you're making money, you know, you're closing things, get them across the finish line, you can probably go a very long time without hiring an acquisition manager. It's common for new investors that I work with both in scale and that I've just met in general, to want to go and hire an AM early, because they want to work less, they're tired of the grind. They've been told by other people that should be your first hire. But here's the thing, if you are good at sales, and I would say you're grossing less than like a million dollars a year, then you don't like go and sabotage your business by trying to bring in somebody to do the role that you're already good at.

Mike DeHaan: [15:36] Okay, you don't get to try and work less yet. Your focus should be exclusively on boosting your revenue, closing deals and hire the people around you right to do more of the admin stuff, the marketing, everything else, so that you can focus on the part of the business that you're doing well at. And you can just do that more frequently. You want to hire people around you to support your sales skills. And then if you suck at sales, you want to hire someone to do the sales part and you support them. So be very, very honest about your position, what you're good at, and what you like doing. And don't just like think that you should hire an AM right off the bat just because you're lazy or because somebody else said that you should do it. Alright. So there you have it. Again, if you're interested in applying for my AM role to come and work for Backyard Homebuyers, which is my home buying company, go ahead and shoot me a DM on Instagram at Mike underscore invests, and I will see the application. I would also, if you know anybody else that would be interested, maybe not you, I would love to talk to them too. Send it over my way. And I always appreciate connections like that. I really do appreciate you all listening kind of a long episode here with my random ramblings on this. Was it Wednesday night?

Mike DeHaan: [16:41] It's 8PM where I'm at. My wife is downstairs watching Teen Wolf, which I thought was like a twenty year old show, but I don't know she's been on it recently. So that's what you do when you're in your 30s. Don't have kids, I guess. But I appreciate you guys all listening. Like seriously, you're the best. And I'll talk to you guys next week. Thanks so much, everybody.