In today’s episode, Axel dives deep into strategies for securing better deals and building stronger pipelines. He shares tips on building rapport, establishing credibility, and using social proof to win over sellers and brokers. Whether through direct mail, email prospecting, or cold calling, Axel’s insider advice will help you stand out and close deals faster.

Here’s some of the topics we covered:

  • Questions To Get Answered Before Wasting Your Time
  • Building Your Social Proof In The Multifamily Space
  • Talking About Your Portfolio For Better Networking
  • Putting Together a Credibility Kit & What To Include
  • The Power of Following Up & What To Do
  • Resonating With Sellers’ Needs That You Reach Out To
  • Ninja Trick To Walking A Property For Due Diligence
  • Breaking Down The Barrier Between Yourself & A Seller

To find out more about partnering or investing in a multifamily deal: Text Partner to 72345 or email Partner@RodKhleif.com

Full Transcript Below:

01:20:15:12 – 01:20:40:18
Axel
What’s going on, everybody? Welcome to another episode of lifetime cash flow through real estate investing. As you can tell, this is not rod speaking. This is Axel Ragnarsson. Here again with another episode about how multifamily investors or commercial real estate investors can find more deals and better deals, specifically how investors can go out there and actually build their off markets, your pipeline, or going direct to seller and through building a brand in their marketplace.

01:20:40:18 – 01:20:59:12
Axel
The tips that I’m going to share in this episode are going to help you actually build a better rapport with the sellers and the owners that you’re speaking with, and specifically, are going to help establish your credibility and provide an element of social proof and trust to that seller around your ability to actually execute and close the deal more accurately.

01:20:59:12 – 01:21:20:10
Axel
Define that problem. The sellers who receive our direct mail outreach or our prospecting messaging, whether it’s through email, call, text, whatever the first thing they’re thinking of is, I don’t know who this person is, and I don’t know if they’re worth speaking to. Fundamentally. Like, I don’t know if they have the ability to buy the property. I don’t know if they’re local.

01:21:20:10 – 01:21:38:23
Axel
I don’t know if there’s someone who I should be engaging with. And if I do engage with them, am I going to waste my time having a conversation with them? And they want to make sure that those questions are answered before they’re even willing to engage in a dialog, even if they are a seller, even if they’re a motivated seller, even if they want to sell their property.

01:21:38:25 – 01:22:04:25
Axel
Those are oftentimes the biggest hurdles that we need to overcome in order to actually engage in a conversation in a really productive manner and actually earn the right to ask some questions around the property, their situation, etc.. So it’s fundamentally very important that we lead with communication that actually addresses those hurdles when we’re having those conversations. Now, obviously this is more primarily geared towards direct the seller.

01:22:04:28 – 01:22:29:06
Axel
However, this is also a critical step in the process when you’re engaging with a broker where you’re maybe talking with another investor who’s looking to refer a deal or sign a deal, maybe they’re a wholesaler, right? The first thing that we need to establish is some level of credibility. We need to establish an ability to close, and it’s going to be extremely hard to do that if we aren’t intentionally thinking about that throughout that process.

01:22:29:06 – 01:23:01:27
Axel
Right. We have to lead with information, testimonials, proof, some type of, you know, some supporting documents that tells you they’re a seller or a broker. Hey, this is what we’ve done. This is why we’re able to close. This is why we’re worth having a conversation with. And a lot of investors miss this step when they’re engaging with brokers or sellers, they just assume that because they’re out there having these conversations, that they’ve already established some level of credibility or enough credibility in order to have a conversation with that seller or broker.

01:23:02:00 – 01:23:42:04
Axel
So again, I want to gear this conversation a little bit more towards the direct seller side of the house. But even if you’re an investor out there who’s just not looking to do direct to social marketing, you’re still probably gonna get something out of this episode. So number one, if we are sending direct mail, if we are sending, you know, sending emails or prospecting over email or we’re communicating with sellers in some other manner from a marketing or prospecting standpoint, one of the easiest ways, you know, reason or, strategy number one tactic, number one, that I’ll share in terms of developing social proof is actually just including examples of deals or testimonials

01:23:42:04 – 01:24:07:18
Axel
from partners that you’ve worked with. So what this actually might look like on a direct mail piece, for example, is quotes from brokers that you’ve worked with, quotes from lenders that you’ve worked with, you know, example in terms of testimonials, it was a pleasure working with so-and-so. Insert your name, throughout the transaction process, insert the address that you bought, and I would love to work with them again.

01:24:07:20 – 01:24:34:10
Axel
Right. That’s a quote that you can actually put either on a mail piece or in an email. When you’re prospecting to owners, you’re establishing credibility in the marketplace. You know, another example of this is including a picture of a deal that you recently bought and bonus points of. It’s similar to what that property or that’s similar to the property that the seller owns, who you’re prospecting to in terms of recently acquired, recently bought, you know, if you can, the more specific can get, the better in terms of a picture, maybe a date in which you bought it.

01:24:34:12 – 01:24:56:04
Axel
If you’re comfortable sharing the address, maybe you’re actually sharing the address there as well. And again, you’re breaking down that social barrier. The other thing that you can do, and this is really the highest level version of doing this. And this is what’s oftentimes included kind of as as more standard copy on these direct mail pieces or when you’re reaching out to owners, is talking about the specifics of the size of your portfolio.

01:24:56:07 – 01:25:26:15
Axel
We own 300 units in insert, the town of which you’re prospecting to or within, you know, Anytown, USA, blah blah blah, USA, blah blah blah state, right? We own this many properties in this specific area. Again, if you want to get more granular in your marketing in a very narrow area, maybe you include the actual properties. We own 28 units located, one two, three Main Street, 4 or 5 six Central Street, 79 Pine Street, whatever it is, and the actual unit counts associated with them.

01:25:26:18 – 01:25:49:25
Axel
By doing this, you remove all ambiguity in the seller’s mind regarding is this person able to close? Is this somebody who’s worth speaking with? Is this somebody who has the ability to buy the property or has local knowledge in terms of understanding what I own? And maybe, you know, again, if somebody who if I have a conversation with them, I’m probably not going to be wasting my time.

01:25:49:25 – 01:26:04:25
Axel
There’s somebody who’s probably going to, at minimum, give me good feedback on the building. Right? Even if we don’t arrive at a deal or even if we can’t agree on a price. And above and beyond that, a lot of sellers are going to see that level of familiarity and say, this is someone who I fundamentally just want to network with.

01:26:04:28 – 01:26:20:09
Axel
The amount of calls that we get in response to our direct mail pieces or our prospecting efforts where it’s like, hey, not looking to sell our property, but just wanted to chat, you know, we’re kind of doing similar things and we’re buying similar stuff as you are. Maybe if you’re looking to assign some stuff, put me on your buyer list.

01:26:20:12 – 01:26:45:03
Axel
You never know in which direction a lot of these conversations are going to go. And the more granular you can be about who you are and what you buy and what your business is, the better off that you’ll actually be. Long story short. So that’s number one is sharing some type of social proof specific language around the properties that you’ve bought, a specific language around the size of your business and where you own assets, specific language around the lenders.

01:26:45:03 – 01:27:16:03
Axel
You’ve worked with all of that in your actual outreach to sellers or in your communication with owners. As you’ve, started having a conversation with them. Number two, and I think this is a really valuable thing to do, especially if you’re speaking with brokers, is put together some type of credibility kit. You know, credibility kit being basically a way of describing how you communicate in a concise manner and in an easily digestible manner to a seller or a broker or some other type of service provider.

01:27:16:06 – 01:27:42:14
Axel
Who you are, what your business does, what your acquisition criteria is, the deals that you’ve bought. Maybe some of the folks that you’ve worked with, the vendors that you’ve worked with, etc.. Right. And let’s put ourselves in the shoes of a broker and the seller, if you get off a phone call with a broker and maybe you follow up and say, hey, thanks for your time, maybe send me some of the, you know, send me some deals that you find that are between 10 and 15 units in this area.

01:27:42:17 – 01:27:59:13
Axel
Yeah, that broker might share something with you, but they probably don’t have a real specific sense of exactly who you are and what you’re buying and your ability to actually close on on those properties. And maybe you got into it on your phone call like, hey, we own this building, we own that building, we on this building. But people are busy.

01:27:59:13 – 01:28:36:05
Axel
People forget, you know, it’s easy to just not remember the specific nature of a conversation. Even if that broker developed a sense that you were someone who knew what they were doing or knows what they’re doing, one of the best things that you can do is follow up to that conversation with some type of document, you know, usually sent over in a debt format that you keep up to date on a PowerPoint five, six, seven slides, your business, the people involved in your business, maybe you and your partners, your bios, a list of the, you know, your portfolio, addresses, size, date acquired, maybe some of the vendors that you work with in terms

01:28:36:05 – 01:28:59:06
Axel
of like your property management company, your construction company or whoever, any other language that you feel is relevant. Again, this is a great place to put in some testimonials from people that you’ve worked with. You know, whether it’s other brokers, whether it’s lenders, whether it’s, you know, investors that you’ve raised capital from, basically anything that you can include in there that further validates your ability to execute on the purchase of a property.

01:28:59:06 – 01:29:19:03
Axel
If you were to go into contract on, it is going to be very valuable here. And this is something that you should continually update over time. And frankly, this is something that’s a bit of a sidetrack that you can also just provide to folks who maybe aren’t in the deals business, but just the people who are, you know, unfamiliar with your company, an equity investor, right?

01:29:19:08 – 01:29:37:04
Axel
Maybe you’re somebody who’s going out there and raising capital to buy deals from passive investors, from LPs. Probably good to share, just like some high level info on your company, right? Executive summary this is what we are. This is what we buy. This is we work with, this is the team, this is etc. X, y and Z. It’s actually share that with them.

01:29:37:07 – 01:29:53:19
Axel
And maybe you’re not trying to source a deal from them. But again it’s providing credibility around your business. It’s important to establish credibility. Obviously that’s what we’re trying to get at here. And this is another opportunity in which to do so. Now another version in which you can use this is if you’re actually meeting a seller physically at a property, right?

01:29:53:19 – 01:30:07:07
Axel
You’re getting in front of them and you’re walking the building with them. You know, you connect with them through a mail piece or a cold call or whatever, and you say, hey, come and take a look at it. Let me know what you think. So you go up there, maybe you get a business card, you have a business card, something like that.

01:30:07:10 – 01:30:34:14
Axel
Again, really easy to just print this out, staple it and just leave it with them. Give them something physical to take home so that they can look at it right. And they can reference it. And again, it’s helping your case, even if you share a lot of that information and whatever your outreach was, or even if you share a lot of that information over the phone while you’re building rapport and having an initial conversation, a credibility could have something really easy to just go up and provide a seller when you’re meeting with them, put it in a folder with your logo on it, give it to them, say, hey, here’s a little bit more about

01:30:34:14 – 01:31:13:10
Axel
us and our business goal being to help you become more comfortable with our ability to actually close. If we do arrive at an offer on this, you know a little bit more about a company to kind of demystify who we are and all of that very easy to do that. Number three is, again, we want to consistently resonate with the needs of the sellers who are reaching out to now, this doesn’t necessarily establish more credibility, although it does help to feel or help to make the seller feel like they are being heard and that their needs are being understood, which in a way also helps to establish credibility, helps them to feel more comfortable with

01:31:13:10 – 01:31:37:19
Axel
you as a buyer. And there’s really a few big ones here that that we can work through. Right. And this is primarily in communication with an owner, either at the onset in your marketing or your prospecting messaging, or while you’re having a conversation around that deal itself and how, you know, you might actually paper and offer number one, and this is huge for the mom and pop owners out there who self-manage the folks who have owned the property for a long time.

01:31:37:19 – 01:32:01:29
Axel
And they are just they’re the ones who are taking all the calls. They’re doing all the leasing. They’re going to, you know, walk in with a maintenance guy when there’s a maintenance call. It is critical to stress in those early conversations or in your marketing materials that you are not going to overly disturb their tenants or overly disturb the folks who are living at the property right?

01:32:02:01 – 01:32:22:24
Axel
Sounds silly. You know, a lot of us out there and a lot of the people listening to this are experienced investors and they’re probably like, you know, when I’m trying to sell a property, that’s the last thing I’m worried about. I’m trying to get top dollar, I’m trying to get it listed, whatever. But again, slight sidetrack. Just because that’s how you approach the business doesn’t mean you can extrapolate that thought process into how other people approach the real estate business.

01:32:22:24 – 01:32:44:06
Axel
So it’s really important, again, that we put ourselves in the shoes of the avatar of the person that we are speaking with, and this is a really easy way to do so. Calling this language out in a direct mail piece in your prospecting, etc. we won’t overly disturb your tenants. And again, precision matters. The more, the more precise you can be, the better this message will resonate.

01:32:44:08 – 01:33:05:06
Axel
We are only going to disturb your tenants twice, once for a property inspection or during a diligence period, and another time for the appraisal to satisfy the lending or to satisfy our lender’s requirements. That’s it. And again, again, go above and beyond that. You can feel free to communicate who we are to the tenants in whatever way makes you feel comfortable.

01:33:05:09 – 01:33:38:27
Axel
We can be a lender. We can be your business partner. We can be, a representative of the insurance company, whoever. Right. You want to start breaking down the barriers outside of the kind of the more nuts and bolts deal points of price and terms and all of that as quickly as you can. And again, this sounds so silly to some folks, but it’s but like most of the deals that we do direct to seller, that are owned by mom and pop owners like this is like a constant topic of discussion.

01:33:39:00 – 01:33:56:22
Axel
Sellers are petrified that the folks living in the building are going to find out they’re selling it. And there actually is some reasoning around that where it’s like, they might move out, they might, you know, stop paying rent. If they find out that the property is going to be sold, they might start calling the owner with a bunch of questions and freaking out.

01:33:56:22 – 01:34:21:00
Axel
And, and they just want to avoid all of that. Right. And there is also some tangible element to where a seller is sometimes concerned that if the property, you know, if they go into a contract, they communicate that the property is being sold and a bunch of people move out or whatever, because they’re oftentimes is turned over when selling a building, whether it’s intentional or not, that if the deal falls through, well, now we got some vacancy and now I have to go.

01:34:21:00 – 01:34:38:19
Axel
And, you know, it’s now now the property isn’t as desirable to own if the deal falls through. So again, it’s really important to outline that and to speak to that concern. Now the other piece of this, and this is maybe a little bit more specific to the market of what you’re buying in. Or maybe you’re asset class, right?

01:34:38:22 – 01:35:00:06
Axel
The owners of a self-storage property or a mobile home park or an industrial building are going to have very specific needs to them or specific deal points to, to their particular situations relative to the asset class in which they own property. That may be the owner of a multifamily property, wouldn’t care about, or just isn’t applicable to multifamily.

01:35:00:08 – 01:35:21:20
Axel
So basically, the message is what I’m trying to get across here is if you are an owner or excuse me if you are marketing to the owners of an asset class outside of multifamily, be sure to put yourself in that seller’s shoes and really think about what you care about from a transaction standpoint, what’s going on and for you as part of that transaction.

01:35:21:22 – 01:35:46:22
Axel
What are you afraid of by signing a purchase and sale contract? You know, who are the other parties that you might have to speak with, whether it’s wife, business partners, etc. and to address as much of that as you can upfront to further break down the barrier and to break down that initial hurdle, which is just getting on the phone and having a productive conversation and giving yourself an opportunity to even discuss the property.

01:35:46:23 – 01:36:11:18
Axel
Because oftentimes it’s a collection of a lot of these little things around the edges that prevent us from having that productive conversation. Initially. So to recap the three tips that I’ve shared in this episode one. Share social proof and specifics around the deals that you’ve done in your marketing and in your prospecting. Number two, build out a credibility kit and consistently rifle that out to the marketplace.

01:36:11:18 – 01:36:41:24
Axel
Whether it’s the brokers, whether it’s the lenders, whether it’s to whoever. And also make sure you print that out and bring it on your appointments when you’re speaking with sellers. Number three, be sure to include language in your prospecting, in your marketing. That, while may seem silly to you, is not going to be silly or trivial to the seller and give yourself an opportunity to address a lot of those more minor concerns upfront so that, again, you mitigate the challenges of getting somebody on the phone.

01:36:41:26 – 01:36:55:22
Axel
Hopefully you all found this episode interesting, insightful, valuable, and helpful. And again, if you want to connect with me at Multifamily Wealth is my Instagram account, go follow me, message me on there. But thanks again for listening and I’ll catch you guys.