Question #
What approach should be taken to understand and address the investment needs of potential partners in self-storage deals?
Answer #
I also had to learn how to research each person before I presented a potential deal and ask the right questions as I met them to learn what they were looking for in a deal (more specifically, what problem they were trying to solve).
Once I began to develop the skill of getting into someone else’s world and focusing less on me and the deal, I could tell if my opportunity really solved a problem they had.
If it did, I would show them how.
If it didn’t, I would tell them that.
Most of the people I presented to in my first ten years of real growth were people who had either started a business or inherited a business, then sold it to a national company.
They had a lot of money to invest.
The problem these people had was (1) they didn’t want to lose the money and (2) they wanted better than the “market” (i.e., better than, let’s say, a mutual index fund or the S&P 500 and/or the Dow Jones Industrial Average).
What is better than self-storage for that?
Once they really got what self-storage is and that, for the most part, the real risk is during the value-add play and/or lease-up, a high percentage of them were willing to invest in the deals.
Once a couple did, the rest of their sphere often did so they would not “miss out.”
The disciplined acquisition approach I previously discussed helped.
It took time, but I was committed to developing this skill.
It really paid off, and often I had more money than I needed for a deal and had to tell them they were first in line for the next one.
Source: Five Decisions I Made That Created My First Million Dollars of Wealth
