The secrets of the PM Industry with Tim Wehner

Pete Neubig: [00:00:04] Welcome back, everybody. And as promised, I got my my good buddy and the future president or president elect Tim Weiner from Norman with me. Tim, thanks for being here.

Tim Wehner: [00:00:17] Thanks for having me. Pete, appreciate the time.

Pete Neubig: [00:00:20] Oh, you're welcome, man. All right.

Tim Wehner: [00:00:21] This is going to be it's going to be weird. We said so much time together, just like board meetings, all that sort of stuff. And now I'm going to pretend like you're just interviewing me. And it's not just a conversation, right?

Pete Neubig: [00:00:30] So you know what the funny thing is, man? Liz CLAMAN, I interviewed her earlier this year, and we've been friends for years. And when I interviewed her, I actually learned more about Liz than I did when we were just sitting in in meetings together. And so my guess is that you and I will probably learn something new about each other, even though we've been buddies for a few years serving on the board and everything.

Tim Wehner: [00:00:52] Yeah, yeah. I'm excited though.

Pete Neubig: [00:00:55] As of this recording you will you're are the from 2023 president elect right. We're in 2020. So how is NORTHAM impacted your business?

Tim Wehner: [00:01:07] Yeah, it's a great question from a business perspective, overall, not just a personal perspective. I think NORTHAM has had just, I mean, countless impacts from. From when we started our business to now. It's just almost immeasurable. But some things that really stick out. Just having an understanding of what property management really is and what it means to be a good property manager, you know, Duke and I think went to our first North event in Atlanta. It was like Eastern Regional back when we used to do regional conferences. I don't know if you remember that, but it might have been 2010 ish. And we sat down with some folks and we didn't really know what the heck we were doing, to be honest with you. Duke had been open for a couple of years and I'd been working for Duke for close to one year, and we were getting by day to day, scrambling, answering phone calls, but we didn't have any structure to it. And so, I mean, just really basic, simple answer and helped us structure our business from top to bottom. So we went through a million different iterations on how we do this thing, like we did departmental model, we did portfolio based model. We do kind of a hybrid. Now, NORTHAM has been there every step of the way to help us help our leadership grow and then also help our people grow. We've always made it a really big point back when we were Dodson to get our folks involved. You know, as leaders of a business, you only have so many hours in a day and obviously you want to devote as much as you can to to your people. But. You don't always have that extra hour or 2 hours a day to try to give to your people to develop them. And Nora has done a really good job of helping us there as well. So I know that was kind of a long winded answer, but I'm sure you felt some of the same things in your world too.

Pete Neubig: [00:02:58] So two things. One is I truly believe that your business only grows to the level of your competency as a leader. And so having Nahum hold your hand and give you those growth spurts of leadership allows you to grow your business. And then so I got, I got an interesting tidbit. You probably didn't maybe not know this. My first conference was Norco National in San Diego back and I think it was 2015 or 2016.

Tim Wehner: [00:03:24] And Oh yeah.

Pete Neubig: [00:03:25] Yeah. La Jolla. Yep. And one of the first people I, I sat down and listen to as a presenter was Duke Dodson. And I literally that, that whole conference, my, my head was completely blown. I wrote so many notes and then I.

Tim Wehner: [00:03:43] Hope you lost them all. If there were notes from him.

Pete Neubig: [00:03:48] So if you are a member listening and you have not been to a national conference, it's highly, highly recommended.

Tim Wehner: [00:03:54] Oh, yeah. I mean, I remember that conference very, very well. It's actually just personal tidbit, but I think that was we had been to maybe one other national conference and Duke and I had decided that we were going to go out there. We actually flew our dads out there and played golf one day before the conference. And then Duke's dad went to like all the sessions. It was great, but I remember taking a lot of notes in that one as well. Obviously, it was beautiful and so it's nice to be engaged in that. But yeah, it was a really great event that was, as you know, all the national conferences are.

Pete Neubig: [00:04:25] If you ever want to learn how to take the most advantage of a conference. I actually did a podcast with Deb Newell and I would highly recommend you. You go back and look and listen to that podcast. If you're listening now and Deb has some really great tidbits on on how to get the most out of out of a conference.

Tim Wehner: [00:04:40] Because well, that's an important that's an important piece of it because there's so much when you go to a conference, you really do have to have a strategy.

Pete Neubig: [00:04:48] Yeah. Or your team is going to hate you if you come back and write them out and you want to let everybody know.

Tim Wehner: [00:04:52] Yeah, that's a good point.

Pete Neubig: [00:04:53] So, Tim, you have two two young children and being on the board at Naropa, especially at the national level, requires a lot of time and travel. So why do you give back so much to Nahum?

Tim Wehner: [00:05:08] Well, I suppose I can answer that question in a similar way to answering your first question. But yeah, I mean, I've got two little boys, six and four. See him back there right behind me if you're on video. And it is a sacrifice to not be with them a lot of the time when we're traveling quite a bit and and it's tough. But I think it's important know the the maybe the martyr answer is, oh, I just love giving back. And it it inspires me to to see people's smile on their faces when I'm able to help them learn something new or create an organization that helps somebody, you know, selfishly, I think Norburn NORTHAM has given so much to me personally. The first question was about the business, but to me personally, you know, leadership skills, understanding new perspectives, dealing with Scott Abernathy is a lesson that I'll take with me from from now until my my deathbed. Learning to deal with personalities like that, it's given it's given me so much. It's worth the sacrifice to try to get back to that organization. I was I was view NORTHAM as a as a person like, thank you so much for your friendship over the years because it's just given me so much.

Tim Wehner: [00:06:21] But, you know, the other side of it, too, is the relationships. They're really important to me. I mean, Scott, all the time, he teased me right back, but that's somebody that I can rely on. Every day of my life. If I have a personal issue, business issue, whatever it may be, and furthering those relationships with people who are in the trenches with you on a daily basis is really important. And when you're around. The leaders in Davos. You've experienced this. It's it's the best of the best of the Naropa folks. And so developing those relationships is really important to me, not only from a business perspective, but from a personal perspective. I was one of my one of my go to people when I'm having issues with my kids. Is Melissa Sharon, Right? She's got young kids, too. She sacrifices and it's like, hey, why do why do we do this? And it's because you don't always get those relationships just from just from being, you know, being in the industry on your own. It's a lot different than having people that you can that you can serve with and develop those big relationships with. Does that answer your question?

Pete Neubig: [00:07:28] It does. Look, when I was when I was the regional vice president, man, I get to I got to meet the cream of the crop of property managers all from all over the country. Now, it's really great to see all the different perspectives and learn from so many great people.

Tim Wehner: [00:07:42] Yeah, I mean, I think that's a that's a really. Valuable life lesson.

Pete Neubig: [00:07:48] Yeah. Not just that, Norman, but like, where, you know, wherever you're. Whatever you're doing, Where can you meet those? Those people to bring you. To bring you to the next level. Where. Where can you meet the people that they're there, where you want to be. How do you get there.

Tim Wehner: [00:08:03] Yeah. And they push your limits. They stretch you. You know, they stretch your thought process, how hard you're willing to work and your understanding of property management, you know, it's always changing. And so if you're if you're not paying attention, it can pass you by pretty quick. And the people that are paying attention are the people that are involved. And I think that's really that's really, really important and and furthering the way we take this industry and the way we shape the organization, which I think I think. Northam Back to your original question, What's given to your business? It's helped us stay on the forefront of what's happening in the industry. And I think it's our duty as leaders to make sure that that that NORTHAM stays on the forefront of the industry. And that's that's another reason why I like to give back.

Pete Neubig: [00:08:46] So you've been involved in property management for many years now. So how did you get in the business, and more importantly, what keeps you in it?

Tim Wehner: [00:08:54] I got kind of a long story on how it's kind of a funny story. So maybe I'll I'll share it. You know, like everybody who's in the business now. I just grew up dreaming of being a property manager. And that's so when I was when I was six.

Pete Neubig: [00:09:08] Now I'm astronaut property manager.

Tim Wehner: [00:09:11] Exactly. Exactly. No. So, no, it's funny, You know, I graduated college in 2008. Not the best time to graduate college. If we all remember during the during the Great Recession, subprime.

Pete Neubig: [00:09:24] The subprime deal hit us in.

Tim Wehner: [00:09:26] The subprime deal hit us. The Great Recession hit us. I think I was one of like 20% of my graduating class to have a job leaving college, which is a very usually that percentage is inverse. It's 80% versus I think it's even more than that now. But so went off, went up to DC, had a job for a year, got laid off, unfortunately, moved back to Richmond, Virginia, which is kind of where my college that I went to is just outside of that and was just working like retail jobs, anything I could pick up and decided that I was going to go to a networking event at 730 in the morning for which to a 23 year old is pretty early for the college that I went to and I. Woke up at like 630. My friend had come into town. We had gone out the night before. I was like, Oh, I'm going to skip it. And then I was like, No, you know what? You got to get your butt up and go. And I went, and I actually met Duke Dodson, who owned the company at the time. It was him and one other person and. Madam kind of developed a little bit of a relationship. He needed some help. Two weeks later, he called me and said, Hey, can you come in for for a couple of days while I hire somebody else? So I was working for Duke in the morning and then working at Dick's Sporting Goods in the afternoon. And after about a month, Duke said, Hey, I can't really find anybody else that I like. So do you just want to stay on for a while? And I said, All right, sounds good. And that was in 2009, June, June of 2009. So I've stuck around ever since, I guess.

Pete Neubig: [00:10:57] So that's interesting because most people come in from either the investor side or from the realty side. So you're that small percentage that came in a different way.

Tim Wehner: [00:11:06] I just just just got into it literally, and I did every single job under the sun for DOD. So at the time we were part of a different brokerage. And so I split time. I was basically a secretary slash. Property manager assistant. So I did like contracts and stuff for the the brokerage side of the business. And then I answered phones and set appointments for a leasing agent on the on the Dot's and property management side. So. Fortunately, that gave me a really awesome ground level view of what this whole thing is. And so moving up through Property Manager and then eventually to CEO of Dodson, I've served in all those different jobs, so I've got a pretty good perspective on it.

Pete Neubig: [00:11:50] So would you say that the growth of of the company allowing you to serve in all those different jobs is kind of why you maintained and stayed in the industry? Or did you just have a love affair with the industry or why stay so long?

Tim Wehner: [00:12:03] Like, yeah, to be to be frank and I hope he doesn't download this, but I mean, my relationship with Duke was a big part of it. My involvement with him has been a big part of it, obviously. I'd love to say it's all about other people, but there's a really great part about being involved and volunteering your time and giving back that keeps you. It keeps you attached to the industry. I do love the industry, I think. You have an opportunity to deal with human beings every day. And I think that is a strength of mine and that's what gives me some energy and keeps me going throughout the day, is leading and coaching people and then also providing good experiences for people on the on the customer service side. So I think that's really where I've fallen in love with. It is just the human aspect. I know that's that might be the easy answer is, Oh, I love the people, but for me it's really true and it's self. It's selfish because I get energy from that. That's what inspires me every day and gets me out of bed in the morning, is trying to trying to help folks get better and have positive experiences.

Pete Neubig: [00:13:02] So the big news before we got before we schedule this was that Dodson and Evans merged.

Tim Wehner: [00:13:09] Yes.

Pete Neubig: [00:13:10] All right. So can you tell us a little bit about the decision to merge with with Evans, or are you not inclined to say anything or how much can you tell us about what the reason you know, what the behind it or and or how's the due diligence process. So if somebody is actually looking to merge or sell or buy, what are some of the pitfalls that they should be looking at when they when they go through this process?

Tim Wehner: [00:13:34] Yeah. So obviously to two distinct parts and I'll try to remember the second part if I forget to it, please remind me of it at the end. But the, the first part. Yeah, it's a good question. So I mean I think it dates back. We did a podcast about this on the Upper West Side. So there's, there's.

Pete Neubig: [00:13:50] Has got the scoop on this one, folks, but.

Tim Wehner: [00:13:53] It.

Pete Neubig: [00:13:53] Came in pretty quick.

Tim Wehner: [00:13:54] There's another podcast that was after Business Hours. So I was I was drinking some white cloth, so I was a little more loose lipped during that one. But yeah, so I mean, I think, you know, the the iterations of this are we've been pals with Matthew and his squad for a long time, about ten years. I mean, we kind of. We met, I think, at, you know, eight, nine, ten years ago at a at an open conference, went to dinner, picked each other's brains.

Pete Neubig: [00:14:23] And I know you guys are in a kind of a mastermind together.

Tim Wehner: [00:14:26] You started a mastermind together with with some other groups and just really kind of. Grew up in this industry together. We had always kind of chit chatted about, Hey, maybe we'll do this and maybe. Maybe, maybe we'll team up one day. Because we had been so aligned in vision and the way we grew our companies and what our end goals were that we had always kind of chit chatted about it and we've gone through a little bit of turmoil at Dodds and some turnover and some leadership positions, and suddenly it just made sense to to to make to make the call. I mean, I think it was probably something I guess what I'm trying to get at is that it was maybe always inevitable. Both companies were growth mindset, but also really focused on our employees and the customer experience. And so it just made sense.

Pete Neubig: [00:15:14] To ask is the is the mind and the peers of the world, did they kind of spark some of this?

Tim Wehner: [00:15:20] I mean, I think you have to be paying attention to the industry, right? I mean, you know, I think we we don't necessarily all know what's going to be what it's going to be like in five years. And so, yeah, I mean, I'm not saying we looked at mind and pure and all those folks and said, well, we better do this now or we're in a lot of trouble, because I think there would have been space for ever Nest and Dodds and Property management to play. You know, we were both on really great trajectories. Dodson had expanded into HOA management, small multifamily management build to rent, multifamily commercial, short term rental. So we had a bunch of different business lines that we were that we were using as verticals to grow. So I think there was still going to be space for us. But yeah, I mean, I think. I think you look around the industry and you say, well, here's a trend. Is this is this a trend we want to follow? Can we do it as well? Can we do it better? Are there pitfalls that we've seen that we can try to avoid and maybe even elevate quicker and faster? So, yeah, I mean, I think. Again, I'm not going to say it's a direct result of that stuff happening. But yeah, I mean, I think you've got to pay attention to what's going on in the industry and and make strategic decisions to help you get to your goals.

Pete Neubig: [00:16:36] So tell me a little bit about, okay, you guys made a decision. One of the big thing is how do you let your team know? Was there a small, finite group of people that knew from the beginning? And then did we let the team know after it happened? And and how did team react and kind of give us through that? Okay. Now we told everybody, like, give us that little piece of it.

Tim Wehner: [00:16:57] Yeah. So another funny story I got. I got a bunch of funny stories for you today, Pete. Sorry.

Pete Neubig: [00:17:01] I know you do, man. I mean, that's the only reason why I served on the board with you is for your funny stories. Yeah.

Tim Wehner: [00:17:07] It was funny as heck. There we go. We can repeat that one, but. Yeah, So. Yes. We let a small group of people know on our leadership team at Dodson what was going on. It seemed the appropriate way to do things to get buy in because I think any time there's a change, especially a massive change like that, you're going to you're going to have an emotional response to it. Right. And people there's only so much information you can get out when you sit in front of an entire company to fill in the blanks with folks. And so people are going to naturally fill in the blanks with the worst case scenario. So for us, a little bit of a strategy was one the people on our leadership team have been around here for a long time, so out of respect, we're going to let them know what's happening and to that'll help us with buy in. Down, down the line is like, Hey, if these folks are in the know as to what's going on, they'll be able to answer questions with people that they have more direct relationships with. So I think there were about eight or nine people at Dodson that knew. And then you get to the day of right where you get to, where you got to announce it to everybody. I'll tell you, that's a little bit of a nerve wracking day.

Pete Neubig: [00:18:19] It is. I've been there, so.

Tim Wehner: [00:18:21] You know, I thought I was going to be one of the people in the audience having my response come from that perspective. Well, unfortunately, Duke ended up in the hospital that day. Oh, yeah. So he had he had a little he had a little issue. And so about 45 minutes before we were slated to tell everyone at an all staff meeting, Duke texted me and said, Hey, by the way, you have to tell everyone this news. So without much. Without much.

Pete Neubig: [00:18:51] How many how many team members does do did Dotson have at the time?

Tim Wehner: [00:18:55] So overall, we had about 165 and about 100 about 100 went over to Evans. So, yeah, so we had a lot of people on Zoom. We had about probably 80 people in person in our office. And without much notice, I had to get up in front of everyone and let them know what was going on. I will say, you know, for those people who are thinking about going through it, don't expect it to be an easy experience, but it's an extremely rewarding experience, especially if you're if you're close with your staff like I was. I mean, I've got we've we've got people on our staff that come to my kids birthday parties. I go to their kids birthday parties. We've gone on double dates with people, you know, like people you're really, really tight with and no intimate details about your your life. And you've spent a lot of time growing up together and and. So it's an emotional experience, but it's a really positive one. You know, when you're talking about the opportunities that you're working on developing for those folks and you're just able to get that message out to them and say, hey, you know, one, thank you for your time for with Dodson, we're not going anywhere. It's just, you know, it's just the next chapter in the Dodson story and we're called Evans. That's kind of how it's kind of how I look at it. And so it was a really rewarding experience to actually get to tell people. I end up being really happy that Duke was in the hospital because I got to be on that side of it instead of sitting in the audience.

Pete Neubig: [00:20:18] Now, you said 100 out of 165 went over to Evans. They did the other 65. What happened to those folks?

Tim Wehner: [00:20:26] So Dodson property management still exists. So there's the development group there. Short term rentals and commercial property management stayed as Dodson Property management. And then we actually at the same time.

Pete Neubig: [00:20:41] So did Evans buy all the single family contracts?

Tim Wehner: [00:20:44] I'm sorry.

Pete Neubig: [00:20:45] Evans merged with the single family division. Is that.

Tim Wehner: [00:20:48] Evans? Yeah. Evans merged Single family homeowners association management and small multifamily.

Pete Neubig: [00:20:54] Okay.

Tim Wehner: [00:20:54] And then Atrium management. Who's Michael Kraus and Adam Wellness out of Orlando, right? Yeah, they bought our multifamily division. So, yeah, it's kind of a kind of a all at once sort of thing.

Pete Neubig: [00:21:11] Now, if Duke is Duke on some beach now retired, or is does he take did he take a position with Atrium or with or is he still running the little piece of Dotson? What is he doing?

Tim Wehner: [00:21:21] Yeah, so he's running the little piece of Dodson. And then he's also helping on the upper side on the acquisition side. So he's working his team is working on finding targets and companies to partner with. And and those those folks who are ready to either exit the industry or partner or merge with with Evans. His team works on that side of it. So he's he's probably about half half time with Evans, half time with with Dodson and his development projects.

Pete Neubig: [00:21:49] It's funny, it's like when you talk when we talk growth back back a few years ago, growth was like how many contracts and get how many PM contracts can I get Now? Growth is acquisitions, How many PM companies can I merge with or purchase or anything like that.

Tim Wehner: [00:22:02] So, well, and that's certainly an important part of it. But you know, I wouldn't discredit the organic growth. It's still out there, especially with the economy the way it's going. You've got to be set up over the next year and a half to.

Pete Neubig: [00:22:15] So when you say the way the economy is going, what do you mean by that?

Tim Wehner: [00:22:19] A lot.

Pete Neubig: [00:22:19] More a lot more of the reluctant landlords.

Tim Wehner: [00:22:23] Coming on. Accidental landlords. Yeah, it's starting to feel that way, isn't it? I mean, interest rates are going up and, you know, we're not slowing.

Pete Neubig: [00:22:31] It's still it's still a it's still a hot market, but it's definitely not white hot.

Tim Wehner: [00:22:37] Doesn't feel like it felt for even four months ago, does it? No, definitely not. And so, you know, I was just speaking of Norman. We just had our board meeting in Atlanta. We got together and we were talking about trends. One of the big things we were talking about, you know, it's great to hear when you have a group of people from all over the country what's going on in each one of their markets. Right. And so I actually heard the word foreclosures twice. Wow. So that's not necessarily that's not necessarily happened in Richmond where we are. And I haven't heard that that much, but I've heard that they're up there. There's there's trends that they may be happening again. So it's certainly not like 2010 or so. But, you know, the economy is probably headed towards recession light. And so in in circumstances like that, typically that's the time for growth in property management. So and the other side of it.

Pete Neubig: [00:23:32] Is let's pivot that way. So let's pivot that way. So I actually called you numerous times and just picked your brain because you personally and Dodson as a company did an amazing job on getting those contracts on a high on on, on finding new business, your sales process, your marketing and sales process, I felt were just amazing. And, you know, we picked your brain numerous times. So if someone's listening to this and they, you know, they're having some struggles, maybe getting some new clients, what are some of the things that Dotson did that maybe or that you did personally that maybe you can give a couple of a couple of tidbits or nuggets to some of the folks listening so that they can increase their business? Yeah, well, I think.

Tim Wehner: [00:24:17] It's a great question and thank you for your compliment. One, thank you for calling us and asking about it and then thank you for broadcasting it on your podcast that we did a good job at it. But no, I mean, I think what we did really well at Dodson and now at Evans is. We matched our sales process to who we are. I've taught a few classes and I think when I was a little bit younger and we first had this idea, I was a little bit pompous about, Oh, you need to do this, you need to do that. But I think in retrospect, what we did really well is just match our process to who we are as a as an organization, Right. When you're selling somebody. There's only so much difference between services and pricing. And obviously, you can you can hey, I'm going to I'm going to be bottom barrel pricing and I'm going to try to get on Google ads and try to do some campaigns. And then I'm going to get a bunch of leads. Well, that'll work for a time. But at the end of the day, you've really got to match who you are. So our philosophy was we got to tell our story. And I think people out there listening, you should tell your story. Somebody's going to buy your story more than your services now. They might be intertwined, but they're going to buy your story. And if your story, your story and your services and how you're presenting those things all match up, it's going to feel natural, like some natural, and that somebody can easily get lost in that.

Tim Wehner: [00:25:34] Not lost, but they can buy into it. Excuse me. So one of the things that we did first just to tell our story a little bit is we built a pitch deck that was very engaging, was very out there, was very super branded our way, super. Like I said, engaging with somebody, something we could just leave behind. It wasn't a piece of paper and it wasn't, Hey, we're going to come into your living room and we're going to sit down and we're going to show you our contract and we're going to tell you our pricing and we're going to sit in your kitchen and tell you, you know, this flooring needs to get pulled up. Our our story was, hey, we're a tech first company. We're going to be efficient with your time. We're going to be efficient with our time. And we're going to we're going to understand your wants and needs and where you are. So we actually, I think, were some of the first folks to do Zoom sales pitches. So our salespeople were very busy between 1130 and one during people's lunch hours. We were not sending people to people's houses at 730 at night saying, Hey, here's our contract, here's our leave behind. We were putting.

Pete Neubig: [00:26:39] Pitching. Amazing that people still do that, right? They still go into these houses. So so if you didn't go to a house, just got to ask, did you do what did you make what did you do to make sure like, okay, we can manage this house. It's it's something that we would manage.

Tim Wehner: [00:26:55] Yeah. So it's not I'm not certain that that you have to go to somebody's house to understand that. Right. There's some tools out there the the naughty word Zillow you know you can get on Zillow.

Pete Neubig: [00:27:09] Is a Google Earth. Another one of our friends, right, Google Earth.

Tim Wehner: [00:27:13] And then we we had something in our contract that said our salespeople are not experts in property management. They understand property management. They may have done property management.

Pete Neubig: [00:27:24] So you had separate bedrooms selling services, and then they would hand over to the property manager.

Tim Wehner: [00:27:29] Hand it over to property management. Yep. And our senior property managers are experts in this had an ability to go assess the property and have an out. Essentially. It didn't happen that often, quite frankly, because you have.

Pete Neubig: [00:27:42] The PMS actually go to the property and do like an assessment. Or did you have to have like a field techs go.

Tim Wehner: [00:27:47] Yeah, so after, after we it varied a little bit. So here's how the process was supposed to work. Sales research, understand rents, understand what part of town it's in, understand if those are areas that we service. Right. You can tell a lot from the area and the rent.

Pete Neubig: [00:28:03] Zip code tells you a lot.

Tim Wehner: [00:28:05] The code tells you a lot, the rent tells you a lot. Right. And so if you're they were responsible for doing a bunch of a bunch of work ahead of time, they're. Once the contract signed, goes over to operations and our senior property manager is supposed to onboard that that client. And so they they were supposed to go check out the property. Now, is that how it always happened? No. You try to develop people, you give them opportunities to go to the.

Pete Neubig: [00:28:29] Properties right there. Real quick, who actually. Okay, so the salesperson sold it, but who put all the who got who gathered all the information and put it in the system? Was that the property manager, after they got the contract from the salespeople and they did their due diligence or did the salespeople go get the get the keys if they got the keys, leases and things of that nature.

Tim Wehner: [00:28:48] You're you're asking some really deep, detailed questions and I'll go.

Pete Neubig: [00:28:52] This is a Narconon podcast. We want to know that.

Tim Wehner: [00:28:55] I love it. Put me on the hot seat. So again, the way it was supposed to go, RBD, RBD, MBS did a ton of work up front, right? We had a, we had a property information sheet. They were supposed to fill it out as much as they possibly could in a discovery call. So, you know, all the details, the rents, all that sort of stuff. Where the water shut off is, what type of heating it is, what type of cooling does it have? Central air does all that stuff.

Pete Neubig: [00:29:22] Which is great. It's obviously the reluctant landlord gives you all that information. The investor California gives you about 2% of it.

Tim Wehner: [00:29:28] Exactly. Now, they they they don't even the reluctant landlord. You'd be surprised how many people don't know what type of heat they have. And they don't know. They don't know they're paying the bill. They just don't even know. But so obviously there's upfront work there. And then it would go to to operations and operations would confirm that information and go out to the property and visit and confirm all that information. So if you can do as much of the upfront work as you can, you save operations a little bit. At what point we even had somebody who is in between who was a and I would love to get them.

Pete Neubig: [00:30:04] Back like an onboarding specialist and.

Tim Wehner: [00:30:06] Onboarding specialists that would bridge that gap. So hey, I'm making sure.

Pete Neubig: [00:30:10] Va Or is that somebody in house?

Tim Wehner: [00:30:12] It was somebody in house. We hired this young kid and he was a super go getter and it was before we really started using Vas. Connor I wish he was still here, but he was too smart. He left as he grew up. He left and is in the sales world.

Pete Neubig: [00:30:26] Good for Connor.

Tim Wehner: [00:30:27] Yeah, good for Connor, but no. All right, so.

Pete Neubig: [00:30:29] Now the PM gets it and they actually So in what it's supposed to be, they're supposed to go to the property. Is that right?

Tim Wehner: [00:30:36] The day. Yeah. This was supposed to go to the property, grab keys and then we do have VA is kind of following up a little bit, trying to grab leases and that sort of thing. Got it.

Pete Neubig: [00:30:46] But even if they didn't, like, let's say it was it was a property kind of slipped through the cracks. It's not really one you you can manage or want to manage. What What is that. What did that look like? Did they just kind of push it back to the salesperson or did they let the owner know like, Hey, man, we're going to use our clause that you put in your Pima and we're out of this deal?

Tim Wehner: [00:31:05] Yeah. So, I mean, I think you always want to it's a tough message to deliver sometimes, but. You always want to just be up front and direct and say, Hey, listen, this isn't in our wheelhouse or This property needs way too much work. Here's our suggestion. If you do all these things, we'd be happy to manage it. Honestly, once you have that conversation, more often than not, they say, Wow, thank you for the honesty. Let's get this stuff going and I'll get this in shape and we can rent it out. And so it ends up.

Pete Neubig: [00:31:36] In the off chance that you didn't take the door. I'm assuming the salespeople got paid on a base salary plus commission, or was it all commission? And then would that would that would that would get lost, Right. That commission would you wouldn't pay out on that commission.

Tim Wehner: [00:31:50] Yeah, correct. Base salary plus plus commission on a per door basis.

Pete Neubig: [00:31:57] So now.

Tim Wehner: [00:31:58] We would not I'll be honest with you, it happened very rarely happened Very.

Pete Neubig: [00:32:02] Rarely. Because you had guidelines. Did you have guidelines in place? This is what we will take. This is what we won't take. And then what happens if you found that gray area? So you have black, white and you have gray. How'd that work?

Tim Wehner: [00:32:11] You know, we that would have been smart to have that. But we didn't. But we incentivize our property managers to take on more property. So they have they have an incentive per property that they take on. And so therefore, they always were trying to make it work. And so our strategy for those listening also might be a little bit different than your strategy. We've always wanted to get to a certain door count, and we were we were we're always in growth mode at ever. Least 250 doors is kind of our goal moving forward. 280,000 doors is our is our vision moving forward. So that might not be somebody somebody who wants 250 doors. They might do things a lot differently. Not to say that our sales process couldn't work, but you would need to be a lot more stringent with your guidelines. Put in very strict, Hey, here's where I am. Here's the here's the rent that I want per property. Here's the areas that I want to work in, and I don't want to go out here. And you can be more selective and you should write those guidelines in there. If something falls in a gray area, I think you just make it. You just make a call. You say, Hey, this is something I want or I don't want. I would say the one thing you really need to do is be prepared. If you don't want it to have somebody that you know will take it and you can refer it. So you still are a resource to that owner that signed up.

Pete Neubig: [00:33:26] With you and maybe and maybe even get a commission on that side of things.

Tim Wehner: [00:33:29] Exactly. And it's still a good experience for the person that you signed up.

Pete Neubig: [00:33:33] All right, Tim, we're up against it. We're going to take a quick break and then the lightning round. Are you nervous?

Tim Wehner: [00:33:37] I'm ready. I'm ready.

Pete Neubig: [00:33:39] All right. We'll be right back.

Tim Wehner: [00:33:40] Thanks.

Pete Neubig: [00:33:42] All right, everybody. Welcome back. We got my buddy Tim. Tim, thank you so much for being here again. And are you ready for the Lightning round?

Tim Wehner: [00:33:48] I was born ready for a lightning round.

Pete Neubig: [00:33:50] Oh, man. All right. That's a series of questions. First thing that comes to your mind, just say it. They're supposed to be pretty quick. Short answers. If you want to expand on anything, go for it.

Tim Wehner: [00:34:01] I can't. You know me enough. I can't do short, so come on.

Pete Neubig: [00:34:05] I know we were all right. What PM software do you use?

Tim Wehner: [00:34:10] A folio.

Pete Neubig: [00:34:11] Folio. What is one piece of advice you'd give somebody just starting out in the PM business.

Tim Wehner: [00:34:18] Other than get your Naropa membership going? Find a mentor, find a single mentor or two mentors that you can rely on.

Pete Neubig: [00:34:26] That's a great advice. Does Pineapple belong on pizza?

Tim Wehner: [00:34:32] Heck no. That's gross.

Pete Neubig: [00:34:36] What book are you currently reading or what is one that has impacted your business or life? Oh.

Tim Wehner: [00:34:44] Currently I'm reading the hard things. The hard thing about hard things, and that's pretty good. It's the second time I've read it. Look over here. I've got a bunch of books right here who is a great book? Who is a great book for hiring? Love it. It's awesome. Yeah. So if you're if you're struggling with hiring, it's a difficult labor market out here. Who is a good one?

Pete Neubig: [00:35:06] Thanks. Which Marvel character do you most associate with?

Tim Wehner: [00:35:10] Which Marvel character do I most associate with?

Pete Neubig: [00:35:14] You dumps a lot of people.

Tim Wehner: [00:35:17] Ant-man, because I don't know what the hell I'm doing most of the time, but somehow I work hard and it seems to work out most of the time for me, I guess. I don't.

Pete Neubig: [00:35:26] Know. What was your first job? Dick's Sporting Goods. I'm sure you started sooner than that.

Tim Wehner: [00:35:33] Yeah. I mean, like, first. First job when I was a little kid was a paper route. Okay. Yeah, I did. I did landscape. But really, other than the paper route thing I did, my buddy in high school had, like, a little landscaping company, started, I think, eighth grade or ninth grade year. And I worked with him and we ended up kind of expanding it a little bit. It was.

Pete Neubig: [00:35:52] Nice. That's awesome. What is your ideal vacation or what is the best vacation you've ever taken either one?

Tim Wehner: [00:35:58] Well, I just took one a couple weeks ago down to Sarasota, Florida, and went to the beach. I like I'm not a big, huge beach guy. I like something with a little bit of city. I think typically beach towns have crappy food and I'm kind of a food nut, so I think, yeah, a couple of days at the beach, a couple of days inland where you get a little bit of the mix of both.

Pete Neubig: [00:36:18] Nice. Other than the Norman podcast, do you have a podcast that you like and that you would recommend?

Tim Wehner: [00:36:25] Matthew will kill me if I don't mention the Ever Nest podcast, but I'm not a huge podcast guy.

Pete Neubig: [00:36:30] I don't love Guy, huh?

Tim Wehner: [00:36:32] Yeah, I don't love audio books either. We moved out to the suburbs, I guess a year ago, really just a year ago, and so I've had to start doing the audio book thing as I'm driving to work. Went from a five minute commute to a 27 minute commute. So I'm I'm learning there, but I still it's not my favorite thing.

Pete Neubig: [00:36:50] Do you prefer dogs or cats?

Tim Wehner: [00:36:52] Dogs 100%. Yeah. Cats are mean.

Pete Neubig: [00:36:55] Damn, if somebody was wanted to get in touch with you, what's the best way they get in touch with you?

Tim Wehner: [00:36:59] Text me. Seriously? Yeah, absolutely. 804 4261660. Text me, text me. Let me know what's going on. Happy to help any way I can or. Or reach out through the website. President elect at Navarre Morgue.

Pete Neubig: [00:37:18] There you.

Tim Wehner: [00:37:18] Go. Yeah.

Pete Neubig: [00:37:19] If you want to join Napalm, go to npr.org. Nah wpm dot org. Or call the good folks out there at 800 7823452. If you are interested in virtual team members, virtual assistants, go to VPN solutions dot com. You can learn all about my company or you can email me at Pete at BPM solutions dot com. Thanks Tim, for being here. I appreciate you.

Tim Wehner: [00:37:46] Thanks Pete.