., like a more sophisticated driving for dollars 

These are typically sophisticated investors, if they’re in a place to sell, they’ll call.

So do i really have to learn the hard & expensive way of testing and tweaking or is there a more sophisticated way of doing this ?

Our underwriting folks go on Google to find the contact info for your HR/payroll department, they don't necessarily call the number/name you give to your loan originator. 

Thanks @Carl Fordyce for starting the thread...I have been hell bent focused on just trying to figure out what the formula is to "buying my freedom" from my less than exciting job in academia (I'm a marketing professor) and at 6 units I know that I am not quite there yet...so I have agonized about how to scale up from 6 to ~30 units and what steps/focus will get me there to finally be able to say "take this job and ...it" and eventually be sophisticated enough of an investor to play in the commercial space...I would guess it is not unusual to hit this fork in the road but thinking about it in terms of return rather than strictly cash flow per door has been really eye opening!

If you are a more educated, successful and sophisticated investor, he will likely not get your respect and will fit right into the used car salesman type personality.