Ep #295 – Matt Easton – The King of Apartment Marketing
Here is some of what you will learn:
What is C.O.O.L.
Understanding the High Performance Leasing Process
Why Google is the Belle of the Ball
Tips on adwords campaigns
The importance of ILS
Understanding the inquiries to occupied ratio
How to properly greet and serve your prospects
How to build value before the walk through
The importance of selling with visuals
How to identify objections
The magic follow up sequence
How to build rapport without wasting time
The greatest amenity
What to look for in a leasing/property manager
Full Transcript Below:
Matt Easton – How to Market Your Apartment Building (Ep295)
Rod: Welcome to another edition of “How to Build Lifetime Cash Flow through Real Estate Investing”. I’m Rod Khleif and I’m absolutely thrilled that you’re here. And you are gonna get tremendous value from the guy that we’re interviewing today his name’s Matt Easton and he is the YouTube king of apartment marketing. Now he actually teaches people about marketing their buildings, their apartments, and he’s got a hell of a presence on YouTube and knows a ton about this industry and about this business. We’re really blessed to have him on the show. Matt, welcome my friend
Matt: Hey Rod. Thanks for having me on Lifetime Cash Flow through Real Estate Investing, honored to be here
Rod: oh thank you buddy thank you and we’re gonna have a great time and you know let’s just dig right in maybe you could actually give us a little background as to how you got in the business and why you love this business because you obviously must love it to be as successful as you are in it so maybe you can speak to that a little bit
Matt: Sure so I back in the day late 90s early 2000s I spent seven years in management consulting for a multi-family everything around cash flow optimization. So that was you know working with vendors improving a sales process. Then in 2007 I joined multifamily traffic as a lot of people know multifamily traffic is the Google company so we’re all about driving hot qualified leads to properties using Google. What I love about this industry Rod is probably some of this is by some of the same stuff like you got into it and why a lot of the listeners of the podcast I really feel like multifamily, you couldn’t pick a better platform for not only being successful in your career but being successful in life. And what I mean by that is you’re never gonna find a challenge or an obstacle in your life that you can’t replicate in multifamily as anybody has been in the business for more than a few years. It’s unlimited the amount of crazy stories that we all hear and I just feel like being in this industry makes us more effective it makes us ultra-high performers in life. no other industry will throw more active than multifamily
Rod: Yeah okay well couldn’t agree more and let’s let’s dig right into some strategy I know you just recently came up with an acronym before we started recording you mentioned an acronym called COOL. So let’s speak to that first what does that represent?
Matt: Yeah so a lot of times investors you know they get everything right, you get the right asset, they get everything in place but they kind of forget to be COOL. And what I mean by COOL is this the C in the COOL is Cash flow. And as we all know as an investor cash flow is king you know. If the property is not cash flowing, there’s no point in us owning that asset there’s no point in us taking the risk to be in that asset. And cash flow is driven by the two O’s which are Occupancy and Optimal rent. Now the end of that COOL chain is L which is Leads. And that’s where I think a lot of operators get it wrong as they set everything up right, they hire everybody and then they just miss it on the input of leads coming into the property. They underestimate the amount of calls that they need coming into the leasing office to lease those apartments and they underestimate the fact that they need to focus on a high performance leasing process. If you can get 10 times more calls coming in than you think you need and you’ve got a fantastic process everything else in that asset will fall into place. You can have the worst amenities in town you can be in a subpar location but if the phone is ringing off the hook all day every day and you know how to handle and manage those leads, you’re gonna be ok. You’re gonna be fully occupied and you’re gonna be able to raise those rents well when that opportunity arises
Rod: Now I know we’re gonna drill in on strategies for driving leads but at a high level what are what are some of the what are the bellwether platforms ideas strategies for making that phone ring off the hook
Matt: Great great question Rod and this is where I think a lot of owners kind of get that deer in the headlights look and they get overcome by a lot of information and coming at them and what I mean by that is they forget about the process and they start focusing on products you know they’ll go to conferences and they’ll go to seminars and they’ll hear all these things about you know social media or you know this new way of capturing leads and what they forget is they forget to take a moment, close their eyes, and think about what would I do if I needed an apartment. And it’s amazing how that just gets lost at these seminars at conferences. If you need an apartment right now, let’s say Rod let’s say I said I’m gonna pay you three million dollars a year and you gotta live in Orlando, Florida for the next year. You’re not gonna go to your Facebook and start scrolling through your Facebook feed to find an apartment. You’re gonna go to Google and you’re gonna say apartments in Orlando or two-bedroom luxury apartments in Orlando and it’s amazing to me and how they forget just how apartments get rented back in the day you know when I was in college 25 plus years ago we went to the grocery store, we opened up a little thing we bought the for rent magazine, where we drove around and we look for signs and balloons people don’t do that anymore, but at the same token they also don’t go to their social feeds to look for an apartment. So that would be the first thing that I would recommend to an owner is just sit back and think what is the process of renting an apartment and how can I get myself out of obscurity? how can I get my property in front of those renters in that precious present? as I like to call it that kind of opening when they’re looking for an apartment
Rod: So what you’re saying is Google AdWords are the belle of the ball. Can you dig in on that a little bit or they’re you know I mean I’d like to know if there any other strategies or if that is the is that is the strategy?
Matt: Yeah Google in general is the belle of the ball. I mean when people end up on an ILS they’re still going to Google first nobody types in dub-dub-dub even Trulia, Zillow, Maybe if you’re single-family home real estate, you download the Zillow app because that’s a major purchase but nobody’s typing in you know apartments.com or whatever the ILS is they still search first and then they end up on those sites. So that’s what an owner should think about is you know how can I make sure that I’m in that first tier of search other than having to buy you know
Rod: What do you mean by first tier? what does first tier mean?
Matt: When somebody types in at keywords so for the Orlando example apartments in Orlando on Google, a lot of people don’t realize that Google pays Siri 3 billion dollars a year to power Siri. So even if you’re using your AI your Siri that is still being powered by a Google search. So what I mean by 1st tier is those major keywords that somebody’s looking for
Rod: Got you ok ok and you know I know you offer this service but let’s say somebody wants to try this on their own they set up a Google account they you know they pick their keywords that relate to that area and market that they’re in and they buy them and any I mean you know any other tips you can give on that front
Matt: Absolutely so if you’re gonna run your own campaign, Google is they make 98 billion dollars a year selling ads. So it’s very easy to spend all of your money some tips for somebody running their own campaign I like to call it my list method, you want to make sure that you’re showing that ad to somebody that’s local that they’re ideal for the property that it’s safe and you’re gonna get a high volume of traffic. So what I mean by that Rod is make sure you don’t run a national campaign, in leasing apartments your hottest prospect is gonna be right across the street and with Google you could find enough leads right there within a few zip codes of your community to get that property leased. The other thing you want to make sure that it’s not creeping into things like section A or felon friendly and for the listeners out there they can see this they can see that Effects of a poorly managed campaign all they have to do is pick their City and type felon friendly apartments in San Antonio, they’re gonna see ads for luxury communities it’s a lot of people don’t understand how to weed down and make sure that they’re not showing that ad is somebody that doesn’t qualify where some of its undesirable or worse in my opinion unsafe. You don’t really want felons living at you know your forty million dollar asset. And then you want to make sure that you have the right amount of traffic all of that will fall into place. Now well that’s only half of it because the other thing that an owner needs to realize is they need to make sure that their leasing process there is also set up because
Rod: Right right let’s hold, I want to sort we will definitely talk about the process but I just want to I just want to circle back just for one minute before we move on based on leads, so besides Google Ads are there any other options that you know are there any secondary, third tier options for developing leads?
Matt: Yeah the one above Google Ads, the king of all Kings would be to be ranked organically so you’re not having to pay those clicks. Now if you can’t get yourself ranked organically the place I would go would be the ILS, I would go to an ILS before I went
Rod: By the way excuse my ignorance, what does ILS stand for?
Matt: Great question internet listing service. So that’s gonna be your apartments.com, for rent your apartment guide, the host star, which is the parent company of nowrent and apartment.com he’s rapidly kind of gobbling up all of those companies but you know it is a good solution. It’s expensive. The other problem with it is it is very noisy marketplace and that every other property in town is gonna be in there that’s why a lot of times when that phone rings, that prospect one of the first questions we ask you is, hey Rod you have any specials? you know what how many months free can you give me? It’s because they came from that environment that being said it is a good environment for generating
Rod: Okay okay all right fair enough. So let’s now talk about systems I know you’ve got a six step profit leasing process. Can you give us the highlights on that and chat about you know the back end obviously the leads is one thing you get them in the door if you don’t know how to handle them when they’re in the door, you’re gonna lose them anyway.
Matt: Absolutely absolutely and this is so important to you know owners and investors out there just if you have a basic understanding and I would encourage them to you know write these steps out of their notes. The first step is you’ve got to have the traffic and we talked about that I would say whatever you think in terms of calls that you need to the leasing office to keep your asset occupied I look just to be safe I would times that number by ten. So if in your head Rod you’re thinking okay I’ve got 150 units, I feel like two or three calls a day I’m gonna be good. I would rather have twenty to thirty calls coming into the leasing office. That’s gonna solve a lot. Now let’s get into the next five because this is the meat and potatoes as you’re interviewing property managers and as you’re coaching your people and as you’re auditing your properties. Number one, you’ve got to make sure that they’re greeting the prospect. And what I mean by that is they need to be answering that phone in the leasing office, I would like it within three rings and you can test any property out there my guess is you’re going to call a hundred properties, maybe three of them are going to answer the phone most of them let it go to voicemail. Unfortunately today, it keeps even worse right now because of the lawyers at these Reed’s it will go as a thank you for calling two below departments in case of the life-threatening emergency hang up and dial 911. So immediately you’ve got a freaked-out renter, they’re not being handled, they’re not being answered and you’re making them think about fires, floods, felonies, life-threatening emergencies, it’s not good. You’ve got to greet that prospect. So that’s on the phone you also need to greet the prospect when they walk in. I can’t tell you how many times I see wheezing agents that do not get out of their chair, they don’t make eye contact, they don’t smile, they don’t walk up to the prospect. So number one greet the prospect. Number two you’ve got to determine their wants and needs and as a guy you know I know you, my hometown of Denver you’ve done a lot of you bought a lot of houses here in Denver you could probably testify this, somebody doesn’t need a two-bedroom apartment that’s not a need. They need to live closer to their work or need more space we’re tired of sharing a bathroom with their teenage daughter. I have one of those. I know what it’s like to see her bathroom. Those are needs. Your process needs to determine what are the wants and needs of that renter. So that’s phase two. Phase three is they need to select a unit and build value in that unit. This is where your smaller investors can completely run circles around the large reads, the large reads you’re gonna show up they’re gonna show you what they want to show you whether you want to see it or not they’re gonna show you five or six different units, we’re getting to the point where it’s almost like hey just go take a tour on your own, give me your driver’s license and you go look around that’s not sales that’s not gonna get it done. A good qualified property manager will select that unit, they’ll build value in that unit
Rod: Build value by selling the features and benefits
Matt: Absolutely Rod. You told me that you work from home and that you’re a view guy. We’re gonna walk up to 406 as we walk in we’re gonna turn to the left and the first thing that you’re gonna see is this bedroom that you can set up as your office and what I love about it Rod is it doesn’t overlook the parking lot it overlooks the lake behind the property. So you can sit there you can get your work done there’s even a small balcony that you can walk out on that’s selecting a unit and building value in that unit. Before I’ve even walked in there he’s already got this vision though this is the ideal home for me that’s what I mean by selecting a unit and building value
Rod: Okay
Matt: The last two pieces are fairly easy. Now the first one I’m gonna mentioned they never do and that’s why it makes the last one which is closing hard. They never make a proposal. I call this my sword in my shield. A property manager should always have notepad in their hand I go through about 15 of these a week and a pen in their hand. If they don’t have this they shouldn’t show up to work. And by making a proposal as they’re walking with that renter they need to be writing down the things that that renter wants and then literally showing that if the is 1,500 they need to write 1500 and this is as simple as, Rod, I can get you in this unit. It’s available right now 1500, and you’re pointing you’re showing it in writing you’re making that proposal. What a lot of times a property manager
Rod: To those of you listening while he was saying these, he’s holding up this legal pad with 1500 written on it circled he’s pointing to it and so what you’re doing is just like when I’m training in my live events I’m I’ve got a visual. So they’re not just hearing it they’re also seeing it. You’re utilizing more of their senses and very very important whenever you’re trying to make a sale. That’s why a lot of salespeople will have flipped charts. So they’ll have a PowerPoint presentation or whatever. So you just use a legal pad you write the number down okay fantastic
Matt: Absolutely you hit it right on the head rock is there’s a psychological solenoid in your brain that kind of switches over when you see something in writing, you compartmentalize that information differently than if I just tell it. And what I mean by making a proposal it could be as simple as, Rod have you seen enough? where do we go from here? you know what are your thoughts I can get this unit for X, now a lot of times probably as well so we have variable rent and we do you know LRO and I don’t know what the rent is it could change every day well you know you should be doing your homework before that appointment and you should at least know the range. But I would like to see them in writing point to that piece of paper, five six seven times to try and shut that deal down what a lot of times
Rod: Let me interject something the more complex what you’re proposing is, the less likely you’re ever gonna sell that that client. So you know the description you just gave about a variable rent and all that other crap
Matt: Yes
Rod: Forget it. I mean you’re gonna lose them. It’s got to be simple
Matt: I agree a hundred percent and that goes back to if you’re not determining their wants and needs. So many property managers are right there we’ll take let’s say I was 450 pounds and diabetic and needed an elevator versus the stairs they’re still going to show me the fitness center. It just blows my mind. Rod you said the thing that’s most important to you is that home on let’s walk into the home office before you even show them the bathrooms, the bedrooms, the living room, the kitchen, you should be making your first proposal right
Rod: And let me stop you for one second. So guys, the key here is you’ve got to be asking them questions to determine exactly what it is they want you know you get these used car salesmen that’ll see somebody walk on a lot and they’ll try to sell them within five minutes on it on a car they’ll try to push them somewhere. But if you know exactly what they’re looking for, you’re gonna know their hot buttons, you’re gonna know how to position your property in the best light that satisfies the needs that they’ve expressed. So you’ve got to take the time. In fact you should even show them a property till you’ve sat down and talked to them about what they need and what their wants are you. Correct?
Matt: I can’t agree with you more. You said it beautifully. I would even add one step beyond that, if you want to go super-ninja on it, when they call, so you’ve got the calls figured out you’ve got a ton of calls coming in at least an office, when they call you’ve got your sword in your shield and your notepad in your pen, you’re using a separate sheet of paper for every call you can be as sloppy as you want with the notes, you’re writing down the three or four things that are important to them. Now when they show up this is critical with this is something that’s different about property management than any other business, you need to recap with them and say does that match what you had in mind? did I miss anything? you’ll be amazed at how about all of sudden I see yeah but what I didn’t tell you is, I really want the second bedroom to be larger and here’s why. Then the other piece going super-ninja
Rod: I want to stop you just because it’s so important that I draw attention to what you just did. So what that’s called guys is identifying the objection and the way that he just did that was by saying. So you know you told me you want this this and this does this satisfy what you were looking for and that’s when the objections come out and that’s when you know how to reposition what you’re offering. So please continue from there.
Matt: Yeah so they’ve got that. Now this one little piece of the podcast is going if they can push this to their property managers, this is gonna make your listeners millions in leases. When somebody showed that they need to ask them, has anything changed since we last spoke? Here’s the thing with apartments, people don’t know anything about the industry, nobody shots apartments for fun. So I may tell you on the phone Rod that my budget is $1,800 well guess what’s changed, I went and looked at three properties since we last spoke, they were all $1,800 and I wouldn’t want to live in them to save my life. So now you may not want to show me that lower end unit I’m now telling you 2500 you know whatever it is, what’s changed. Here’s another thing that could change. Rod, when we spoke on the phone I told you I needed to be in a place by January what’s changed is I got more serious with my search and I talked to my current property manager, I need to be out of my lease by December 15, that unit that you were planning on showing me isn’t available until January 1st you now need to pivot and find something else in your inventory that you can show them
Rod: So when you ask that question you know has anything changed since we last spoke, would you recap the items that they gave you?
Matt: Yeah
Rod: They may not told you. They may not remember if they’ve talked to other people right
Matt: Correct that goes after so when they show up your recap is when we spoke on the phone the thing that was most important to you was a home office, your budget is $1,800, and you would like a balcony, does that still match what you had in mind did I miss anything? You hit it spot-on has anything changed since we last spoke?
Rod: That’s the sequence okay good love it love it love it love it okay well so talk about closing. How do you close them?
Matt: Yeah the great thing here is if you follow in exactly what you said Rod, and they should go back and go through your trains but you’ve got it spot-on with me all of that process in the front end, it’s so funny that whenever I put a youtube video up closing, if there’s such anything around closing, it gets ten times more views. If you follow all of these non-sexy steps in the middle, the close is very very simple because the close is, I’ve made that proposal in writing maybe on the fifth time you say, you know what let’s do it, we walk down to the office that’s what I’m just gonna go through the basic you know blocking and tackling of completing a leasing process. If you follow these other five steps, you’re going to maybe get maybe get one outlying objection that’s gonna pop back and then you’re gonna be able to easily say, here Rod what you told me was important was that that that and a great thing that the listeners can write down is if that outlier comes up all of the sudden
Rod: Outlier objection right
Matt: Yeah something you’ve never heard of like you know, now that I think about it the rest just too much money and the place down the street is three hundred dollars a month less here’s what they need to write down, all things being equal, where would you rather live? that renter’s gonna say oh well I you know you’re too much money or three other months too much. I understand rod all things being well where would you rather live. Well I’d rather live here now this is where they need to resist the temptation of walking through their notes and saying well you told me the offers was it for you because if you tell them it means something. If they say it themselves it means everything so all things being equal weird rather I’d rather live here why I love that officer showed you why else? you’re close to my work why else? well I didn’t tell you Matt but my best friend Brian also lives in this community that’s how I found out about great why else? I love that view of the lake that you should why else? well that’s pretty much it okay. So all things being equal you’d rather live here there 300 bucks less and then just let them make the conclusion. They then realize wait a minute, I’m giving up the office, I’m giving up hanging out with Brian at the pool, I’m giving up being close to work, it works.
Rod: Yeah guys when you when you position it like that and you allow them to make the determinations using that to that question process you know why else? why else? they’re selling themselves so yeah and that and and and utilizing questions to steer the conversation exterior the sale is the absolute best and most successful way tosell anything but you know and do you ever speak to by the way building rapport and treating each of these interactions as creating a friendship?
Matt: Yes but I’m not sure if you’re gonna like my answer. I’d love to get your thoughts on it let me just tell you what my answer is when I get a question. Me personally my style is I believe that if you are so focused on building rapport, you’re missing the point, and especially and we’re getting close to 2019 here especially in 2019. The only thing that’s more important to people than their money these days is their time. And I believe that if that rapport is ingenuine, and inauthentic, for example when you answer the phone I train my people to answer the phone within three rings when somebody calls my company, and the first thing that they ask is what can I get you information on? not how can I help you how’s it going how’s your day sick to business I feel that if you’re respectful of that person’s time, you go down to write down to Rod what can I get you information I’m looking for a two bedroom. Great, my name is Matt what’s your name? my name is Rod. Rod, what’s most important you in a two bedroom the rapport will naturally happen along the way but I feel like too many especially leasing offices are trained to just have this whole friendly rapport building session, ten minutes goes by and you’ve got me nowhere getting the client is like I gotta go, you know you’re a single mom, you work in a leasing office, and you come home at the end of the day you’re tired, your kids don’t ask you hey mom did you make any friends today? you know they ask you hey mom did you get some leases today did you get promoted on you regional manager yet? I believe saved people’s time make it as fast making a process as streamlined as fast as possible and rapport will come
Rod: And I agree with what you just said and with a caveat, and that is as you’re working through their answers to your questions, what’s most important to you, you can you can be saying things, oh I agree man I’d want to have that as well and build commonality just by agreeing with some of their answers which will in turn build rapport but you know I do firmly believe that you have a much better shot of, you want them to a point where they feel guilty if they don’t say yes. And that comes from rapport that comes from being genuine, and friendly, and having a smile on your face, and listening actively when they’re answering their questions and all of that but I believe you could I I completely agree with you. You don’t need to take ten minutes at the start of a conversation to talk about your kids, their kids, their dogs, their football team, but you can absolutely build it in. And so we’re in agreement, we’re in agreement
Matt: So here’s one of the easiest tricks and this is goes back to a property manager or leasing agent needing to rewire their brain. The greatest way that you can build rapport is also the greatest way that you can close that lease and that is by being an agreement with the prospect. And here’s what I mean. Far too often somebody will come in and say your rents too high, you don’t have a dog park, I don’t like the circle drive, and they’ll immediately start treating that as an objection, and they’ll start to overcome. What a property manager should have in the back of their head you should treat everything like let’s say it’s Phoenix and somebody’s complaining about the weather. If somebody comes into the leasing offices for this hot out you don’t say oh my gosh no it’s actually cooler here was it it’s hotter at the other properties how can I make that right with you and start arguing with them, you just say Phoenix right. You’re telling me, so many property managers as soon as that first objection what they think is an objection happens they start to grind they want to win. Do you want to be right or do you want to get the least? Mind when I tell people is handle everything that you think is an objection, as a complaint, what I mean by that is just agree with them. Your rents high. It is. It’s Orlando, rents expensive here you know just agree yes, though that window is very small I get it you don’t have a dog park, I’m with you just be in agreement with them don’t start a conflict with them if it is an actual valid show-stopping objection it’s gonna come back later in the lease. Hey I loved everything else Rod but I just my mind just keeps going back to that dog park. That’s where you can say hey we don’t have a dog park but if we did where would you rather live oh I love I live here why that did that what happened is
Rod: Circled right back to that same strategy great
Matt: Yeah it kills rapport when you come in and tell me hey the rents too high and I immediately start arguing with you about no it’s not and here’s why we’re not friends at that point
Rod: No rapport absolutely no you’re absolutely right. I’m really glad you brought that up that is a very very important point I hope you guys are really paying attention here this is good stuff. All right let’s shift gears now talk about the your opinion of social media as it relates to this this marketing your units
Matt: Yeah so first of all social media is a hot topic. It’s big, it’s growing by leaps and bounds, here’s what I’m not a huge fan of it for multi-family. Number one, social media is a better suited tool for building a personal brand like yourself and the podcast, social media is fantastic because I feel like I’m one person connecting with another person. As brands start to enter social media it begins to feel a little bit artificial. The one brand that does a really great job of that is Red Bull so Red Bulls almost like a person like you know what you’re going to get with Red Bull. Here’s the thing an apartment it’s not sexy, it’s not newsworthy, it’s not fashion worthy, spending your time and money putting ads in there, nobody’s going to, Wow I just want to follow this apartment but more importantly you put all that to side this is why I asked owners and investors close your eyes and think about how you would rent an apartment, you’re never going to go to Instagram and start scrolling through your feeds. Now you may see an ad for an apartment community, my hope is that when you see that ad it’s somebody else’s, why they had to pay for that ad and all that ad did was trigger that person to remember oh my goodness, December 15th my lease is up I better start looking for an apartment in it, now put that person into the market nobody’s going to see an ad on social media, click through that ad, and lease an apartment without doing their homework. They’re gonna they may click on it but they’re still gonna go in search 2-bedroom apartments near me or whatever the search term is and do their homework. There was a study completed Rod and this one blew my mind. Out of the most stressful things in life you’ve got a divorce. I know how bad a divorce can be it’s terrible. You’ve got getting fired from your job moving was above both of those as far as stress, yeah it basically trumps everything and you’re telling me that you’re gonna see an ad on your facebook and click through that without you know doing your homework it just doesn’t work so
Rod: Is there any use for social media at all? what’s your position on social media globally then?
Matt: If you if you have the budget and you’re a big enough company and you want to get involved in social media just because you have money to put, I say go for it. But also you need to realize the caveat once you jump in, you can’t half way put your toe in the water. You better be responding to people when they comment on your post. You now just open the door to win you know that crazy person that’s it’s all emotion it’s not fact says that you’re the worst place to live in town. You better have a strategy to deal with that you know if you’re willing to do all of those things go for it but I would say put all of your marketing dollars in a place that’s gonna bring you hot qualified people that you can close
Rod: Okay okay fair enough. So what is last big question about this, what is your greatest amenity when you own a property?
Matt: It’s gonna be your people and that’s where I think a lot of portfolios get it wrong. A lot of investors miss this. You know they look at buying the right asset, making sure that it’s competitive, but then they will just you know hire a property manager because you know she has 20 years of experience. Sometimes those individuals with 20 years of experience or exactly what you don’t want working at your property. They’re not getting out of their chair they’re used to you know 15-20 years ago there was far less competition in multifamily and as long as you had somebody in that office that could fog a mirror,, and you had a balloon out in front of your property, you were gonna get traffic and leasing units. It’s cutthroat, its competitive now, you need to set yourself apart by your people. You know hey they don’t have math down the street I care about you I understand what their needs are I learned that the most thing that is important to you is your 15 year old daughter and you don’t want to walk through a cosmetics cloud every time you go to the bathroom. So we’re gonna get you your own bathroom. If you have a property manager that is a people person and understands that they’re in the people business first and the property business second, you’re gonna crush all of the dog washes, the bike storage, the you know rooftop saltwater pools all day long because you understand how to determine what that renters one or two most important needs are and how to service them
Rod: So let’s say you’re a property owner and you’re self managing and you need to hire this leasing slash property management person for your you know forty to eighty unit property, what are you looking for in this person? what are the traits that you’re looking for in this person?
Matt: And this is easier said than done Rod because
Rod: I know I believe I’ve hired hundreds of people. So I’m just curious you know
Matt: The gem that I’m looking for like where would you you know that that old expression you had me at hello where they would have me at hello, would be if they came in right there you can ask me what my goals were? and what was important to me? and they spent the time in that interview talking about me and my current situation, the capabilities that I need in a property manager, and the next steps and them giving me those needs. I would not focus as much on resume, I wouldn’t focus on experience, I want to know does this person care about me and are they a problem solver, and will they think you know out of the box. Everything else can be totally trained like that attitude. I always tell people the number one thing that takes somebody from property manager all the way to CEO is curiosity. I want to hire somebody that is curious. Rod, why is that important to you? Tell me more about that how is that and it seems like the more veteran somebody gets in property management, the more they become that doctor that just walks into the room and tells the patient you’re sick. Here’s what’s wrong with you take these three pills and call me next week in the patient’s going, oh my god this is horrible. I want somebody this curious,, tell me why that hurts? what when does it hurt? why does it? do that is there anything else that you’re feeling? if you can find a curious property manager and you can keep that curiosity, you can put them on a system like we just talked about and you can feed on the leads, everything’s gonna be great
Rod: Fantastic. Well listen you have added tremendous value today and you know multifamilytraffic.com is your website. I know you offer Google AdWords services and systemization training for this industry and but you’ve added a tremendous amount of value. I’m actually gonna listen to this episode again myself and I know I’ve got you coming to my multi-family boardroom mastermind here in short order and we’re pushing somewhere between two and a half and three billion in assets being represented there. So if that’s not a vote confidence for those you guys listening from my opinion of Matt here, I don’t know what is
Matt: Rod I really appreciate you invite me to the event it’s amazing and it’s an honor to be there and I really look forward to it
Rod: All right my friend well we’ll see you soon and I appreciate you being on the show buddy
Matt: Thanks for having me
Rod: All right take care
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Thank you for listening to the Lifetime Cash Flow Through Real Estate Investing Podcast.
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