What to look for when hiring an Acquisitions Manager

Mike DeHaan: [0:01] Welcome to the collecting keys Friday focus. What is going on, guys? On this episode of the collecting keys Friday focus, you have another episode with me, Mike DeHaan. I know usually Dan and I, we alternate Friday Focus episodes. But Dan was super sick this week to the point that he was like unable to function as a human being, which is crazy because Dan was an army ranger and, you know, he used to, like, go into combat. But now, he has a little bit of an upset stomach or something, and he is stuck in bed, which, you know, he's always like the first person to kinda make fun of people who have sick days when they have virtual jobs. But here he is running a virtual business and unable to do what he needs to do. But now I digress. It must have been if he's suffering, he must really be suffering because he's definitely not a complainer for how long I've known him, but I gotta give him shit for it anyways. But so anyways, that means that you have me again this week here with another Focus topic. And on these Friday Focus episodes, we typically talk about, you know, something that's on our mind, something that has been asked by other listeners or people in our instant investor community, and we just do a little bit of a deep dive on it. So over this episode today, I wanted to build off of some of the conversation that we had this past Wednesday on the Mike and Dan show, talking about hiring. And I wanna talk about hiring acquisition managers and what exactly to look for. Because this is one of the most common questions that I get from other investors. And also, you know, if people are interested in investor community, they're looking to scale.

Mike DeHaan: [1:44] And one of the first things you'd wanna hire out is a salesperson to talk to leads and to close deals. Because for being honest, that is where the vast majority of the work comes from, and it is something that takes up a huge amount of time as you start to scale. So first off, I will say that I don't think that everyone should be 100% focused on hiring an acquisitions manager. I think that what happens, and I've seen this plenty of times, is you will have people that are really good at closing deals themselves. They enjoy the acquisition process. They enjoy talking with and meeting with sellers. But they go and they try to hire an acquisitions manager because they have been told by other investors and other groups, by coaches, whatever, that that's what they're supposed to do. But I would say if you're kind of that person, the acquisition manager is probably one of the last persons you should hire. Instead, you should hire support staff around you, so to make your job as the acquisition manager better. So it's something that, you know, I've seen people go down that route. I have a really good friend of mine actually who went down this for a while, and he like hired and fired five or six different acquisition managers because they just weren't performing how he needed. And then ultimately, what happened is he found someone to come in and fill the support staff position in the back, and he kept running with his sales, and lo and behold, his business has skyrocketed because he kept working on his gift, and he instead hired out the parts of it that he did not enjoy, which is really what, you know, hiring staff is all about anyway. So a little little got you there to start. So when you are looking for this acquisitions manager, one of the biggest mistakes people make, and I hear this exact terminology all the time, is they go and they say, hey, I found this young, realtor, hear that exact phrasing all the time, who's going to come in and work my leads. So their thought is, I want someone who's vested experienced in real estate.

Mike DeHaan: [3:42] They're a realtor. They're young and hungry. They're gonna wanna work my deals. Here's the thing. And this is like the the fortunate truth. Most people, they get into real estate and get into being a realtor. They do it because they're not good at very many other things. And they do it because they like the glitz and the glamour and the view of being able to work on a boat or take afternoons off or do all these sort of things. And when you hear these young hungry realtors, right, when you hear of these people, most of them, they are all gonna be positioning. Right? They are going to be giving this presentation themselves, being eager. They are not actually going to be able to perform as you need them to. So a little bit of a stereotype there, but when investors joke that 99% of realtors suck, it's because we are inundated with these quote unquote young hungry realtors or these like, you know, older kind of gristled realtors, they can't actually perform. And so if you try to bring them into your business, they're not going to do what you need them to do. And that's just a very common thing that we've seen happen. I mean, sure you can find this one of these realtors that can do well for you. I would just make sure that you vet them appropriately and don't just go off of their energy that they put out or the way they present themselves and say like, cool, this person is going to fit very, very well. And then you'll, you know, be disappointed when they don't. So something to keep in mind there. Really, what you're looking for when you're hiring for this role is you need someone that has people skills and is likable significantly more than has real estate skills.

Mike DeHaan: [5:17] And I think a lot of people, a lot of business owners in this business, they think, I need someone that knows real estate to be able to analyze deals and recognize opportunities. Here's the thing. Right? Real estate is a teachable skill that you're already the expert on. You can teach these people. The people skills, the likability, and like the ability to close deals, is something that is a lot harder to teach, and some people just naturally have. Right? No one naturally has real estate skills. That's something that has to come through education. There are people out there who are naturally good at sales, just in the way that they carry themselves, the way they talk to people. And, you know, it's kinda just a gift that people have. Right? And those people should be who you're looking for to fill this position. The very first acquisition manager that Dan and I hired, who did very, very well for us for a while, she had zero real estate background. Her background was working as a bartender in selling kettle corn at a farmer's market. All she knew was sales and customer service. Lo and behold, she comes in like she was literally just building relationships with people. She had no idea what to offer on properties. We would just tell her, hey, it needs to be in this range. She would go, the sellers would love her, and she would get deals at even larger discounts than we were hoping because she was so good at building rapport and doing the sales process.

Mike DeHaan: [6:34] You know, and that relationship went sideways for other reasons, but point being, that is the kind of person that you want to come in and fill this role. If you're looking at professionals, some of the best people that make acquisitions managers are like insurance salesman, car salesman, people that kind of have these hard closing tactics, but also are the kind of people that they have to be able to build trust and build rapport very quickly, just like we do in this business. So, you know, looking for like a realtor, which honestly is a lot more about connections and relationships to be successful, that that's what you're looking for. And I mean, if we're being honest to someone like a bartender, they're very used to dealing with the kind of sellers that we are that we deal with on a regular basis, because they're probably their regulars. So big thing to keep in mind in terms of skill set and personality. When it comes to the ideal candidate for this role as like an individual, even outside of their skill set, you kinda need to look at your business and how it operates. Because you're gonna be looking for a slightly different person if you are like an in person business, like you're working on your own backyard, or you're trying to build a virtual real estate investing business. So, you know, main things you're looking for there are regarding presentation, and how they kind of carry themselves, and how your first gut feeling is when you interact with them, you know, you talk to them. For example, when we first started hiring for our first role, we had this guy came in that was super qualified, was obviously very good at sales. But man, he showed up to the interview, and he was like super sweaty, and he stunk, and it was just like, I don't care how good at sales this guy is.

Mike DeHaan: [8:13] He's not gonna be great standing in someone's house, standing in a seller's house if he's gonna be present himself like this. You know, and I don't know what he'd been doing early in the day, but he was not a good fit. That being said, at that point in time, if we had had a virtual business like we do now, this guy would have been freaking awesome. Like, don't care if he stinks up his own house. Right? As long as he's good at closing deals over the phone, that's what we need. Versus kind of the opposite with the initial acquisition manager that we had, who was, know, bartender working in the farmers market. She did very, very well in person because that was what she knew. And she carried herself well, she dressed well, you know, she had a good general aura. You put her on the phones, it's gonna be a little bit of wasted talent, and she's not gonna perform as well as the guy that's a hard closer. So you need to analyze your business and see what type of person is really going to fit best for the type of business that you do. And, you know, that's another thing is, a lot of people, they think that those are kinda like interchangeable. They're not, like they are different skill sets, and you need to recognize that. On top of that, I mean, don't be afraid to give people chances. Sometimes people will surprise you.

Mike DeHaan: [9:24] I think the biggest thing when it comes to acquisition managers is a lot of it, a lot of their success is going to be determined by how they handle the first time that they get chewed out, or they get really just kind of abused by like a nasty seller who calls in, and it's just mean spirited. You can have great salespeople, or people that are really fit for the role, and they just get yelled at their first time, and they instantly realize it's not for them. So that's always like a good sort of litmus test that you can go off of. Also to something else, if you're working in person, some people, they will walk into their first big hoarder house, and they will realize, man, this kind of business is not for me. This is not what I wanna do. I am not comfortable in these situations. And you need to understand that that is going to be something that happens. So I will say a good way that you can test people out is get them on the phone a little bit, talking to people, see how they do calling different kinds of sellers. And then if you are in in person kind of business, go and walk properties with them, and ideally, you know, find some some leads that have just nasty properties that are going to break them in a little bit and, you know, show them kind of the worst case scenario, because then they are going to get a gist of if this is something that they actually wanna do. But anyways, alright, guys.

Mike DeHaan: [10:40] So that's my take on hiring an acquisition manager. It's a, you know, it's definitely kind of an art. It's not a science. You gotta, you know, take your time with it. But also, you know, don't be afraid to give people a shot either. You're never gonna find a 100% perfect candidate for any role. And really, what it comes down to is you need to find people that have that sales skill set and are willing to work and are interested in working for you more so than finding someone that is just like a real estate person because more often than not, they're not gonna be your best guy. Trust me, we've had some real estate folks people come into our business and fail extremely quickly. But anyways, there's my take. If you guys enjoy that show, please share this with anyone in your network who is interested in hiring, or, you know, learning how to find salespeople or just real estate, or, you know, you just like our show in general, you should introduce some you introduce the people. Besides that, you should go to store.collectingkeyspodcast.com. We got some collecting keys merch up there. That is pretty sweet. We got some nice shirts. I am super stoked on the quality of our shirts, and we've been getting some out, and it's actually been super cool to see people on their social media wearing our stuff.

Mike DeHaan: [11:44] So you should go and check out those shirts at store.collectingkeyspodcast.com. Outside that, you guys, appreciate you all listening and hit me up on Instagram at Mike underscore invest. I love chatting with new investors or any investors. I'm always happy to exchange some some info with you if you have any questions. So hit me up on Instagram at Mike underscore invest. And thanks so much for listening, everybody. Talk to you all next week. Thanks for listening to this collecting keys Friday focus. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.