Alex Vasquez is the owner of Rhino Realty Property Management and Rhino Realty B&B, entrepreneur, investor, advisor, author and speaker.
Property management is a competitive industry, and finding space to get a share of the market isn’t easy. But with a strategic plan, consistency and hard work, you can grow your property management company to be a dominant player in your market.
Before you start your expansion plan, find a specialty.
There isn’t one right way to build a property management business, but carving out a space for yourself in this competitive market can attract more and higher-caliber clients. People like to work with experts in their field, so build expert knowledge in one area of property management and leverage your expertise to grow your client base. You may have started out taking any clients that came your way—we all do. But, as you start to make the strategic decisions you need to grow, it might be time to focus your energy on a single market. This will allow you to target your marketing efforts, know where to look for referrals and find expert professionals to hire as you grow.
Improve efficiency.
Step back and take a look at your systems and processes with a critical eye. Things that are working for you now may not work with ten times the clients in your portfolio or with properties all over your region. Look for places where too much time is being spent on basic tasks or where you could eliminate steps to streamline procedures. This can be challenging because you’ve developed these processes for a reason, so they feel necessary. If evaluating them yourself feels daunting, ask your employees or have a savvy friend or colleague come observe operations for a day. And remember to be open to their feedback.
Upgrade your technology.
Investing in the right technology and using the features to their fullest will help ease the burden of scaling your business up. Managing your contacts through good property management software and using a CRM for client relations makes it easy to manage more and more contacts without adding significantly more work. If you don’t currently offer an online platform for renters, strongly consider it. Allowing renters to pay their rent, submit a maintenance request and receive updates all within an app will reduce the staffing needed to handle rent checks, phone calls and printing paper flyers. Make sure that you let all of your tenants know when you implement the software (or remind them if you already have it and they aren’t using it!). Because there are so many benefits to your business if they use the software, you could offer an incentive for paying rent on the portal or submitting maintenance requests online.
Start expanding your client base with a marketing strategy.
Marketing your business can be daunting, but starting with a professional and user-friendly website will give legitimacy to your company while encouraging prospective clients to reach out. Using social media posting and advertising to drive traffic to your new website is a low-cost way to start building the audience needed to expand. You want people to think of you when they think of property management. As you grow your online presence, consider using content creation platforms to build your reach and reputation. You could have a helpful blog or start a YouTube channel that helps your ideal client with a common problem they experience. Choose an avenue that plays to your strengths and a place where you know your prospective clients are scrolling.
Increase referrals.
Current clients are the best source of referrals, and property owners know property owners. Continually provide outstanding service, and they will talk about you with their friends, colleagues and family. Forming relationships with real estate agents and their local offices is another route for forming industry relationships that can lead to referrals.
Buy smaller companies.
Acquisition can play a pivotal role in increasing the number of doors you manage. As long as you do your due diligence with the purchase and you have the capital to invest, this method can really jump-start your growth.
Keep your clients (and their tenants) happy.
Acquiring clients is hard work—it takes marketing dollars, negotiations, sales pitches and a lot of time and energy. (The same can be true for acquiring tenants!) That said, once you have a client, you want to keep them. Investing thought and energy into keeping your current clients happy will pay off. Responsiveness and communication are the easiest ways to keep your clients happy and make sure that they feel heard. Consider a monthly or quarterly personalized update email to let your owners know how things are going with their property. There are myriad ways to communicate with your clients, so choose the one that works best for you and be consistent.
Treat your tenants well.
Fostering good relationships with tenants leads to longer tenancies, lower turnover and fewer vacancies. These statistics are invaluable for a property manager because they give your prospective owners confidence and lead to good reviews and referrals that keep your properties full.
Keep it going.
Once you get momentum on your growth strategy, continue to use the data available to you to make educated decisions on your next steps. Evaluate regularly and don’t be afraid to make changes to your plan if the data and your experience tell you that it’s the right decision for your business.
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