Property management can be a great way to develop a quality business that helps people and generates reliable income. Unfortunately, it can also be stressful and frustrating at times. There are plenty of pain points for property managers, and finding the right ways to drive growth for property owners can be challenging.
In short, understanding how to grow a property management business takes time, effort, and a bit of luck around the edges. It's also a good idea to have help and support along the way and to delve into the value of expert guidance as you assess your business and look for opportunities to create valuable change for the long term.
To drive growth for property owners, a property management company needs to understand the market, advertise correctly and consistently, keep up with vendors and maintenance requests, handle rent collection, and provide a full-service experience for the owners of the properties they're managing.
Hiring a consultant can help management companies with this process and make it easier for them to grow and thrive over time. When you seek expert guidance from consultants like our team here at Real-Time Consulting Services, you're opening yourself up to new ways of doing things. Couple that with additional opportunities, and it becomes a recipe for success. Here are a few insights for growing your company!
Assess Your Property Management Business to Determine Its Current State
Thoroughly assessing the strengths and weaknesses of your property management company is a significant first step. Doing this makes it easier for you to see what you're doing right and the areas where you could improve. If you conduct a SWOT analysis, you'll also be able to consider opportunities and threats along with strengths and weaknesses.
These insights can provide a more comprehensive picture for you to consider. If you're not sure how to conduct an analysis like this, professional property management consulting services can help with these kinds of analyses and much more. Having the proper guidance can take your company further down the road to success than you might travel alone, especially when identifying opportunities you might have otherwise overlooked.
One of the most important things a consultant can do for your property management company is to provide you with a fresh, unique perspective. They won't see your business the same way you do because they're looking at it from the outside. Because of that, they can be objective in a way that's not always easy for someone right in the middle of everything.
Focus on Key Areas to Revitalize
If you've been operating your property management business for a while now, you probably have a routine you follow for everything. That can make handling properties a lot easier in many ways. However, if you haven't changed or updated that routine in a while, it could be holding you back instead of helping you succeed.
One key area that can often be updated is how you relate to and work with tenants. While you're working for the property owners, those owners won't see the return they want on their properties if tenants aren't happy. Unhappy tenants leave at the end of their lease term, and word gets around that the properties aren't well-managed or have other issues.
That may keep other potential tenants from renting the properties you're managing, causing them to sit empty and the property owners to lose revenue. If that happens very often, you may lose clients to other management companies, and you want to avoid that. The goal is to bring in more property owners and grow your business, not lose clients you already have.
The financial performance of your business can be a big challenge because you need to please tenants to keep them renting from you and property owners by generating revenue without charging them too much. You also need to ensure your management company is making a profit too. It's a delicate balance that can be difficult to achieve without the right focus as the financial climate and rental market change.
Technology Can Help With Innovation and Efficiency
Among the ways to improve what your property management business offers is the use of technology. Applying the right tech stack is an excellent way to increase efficiency and put the focus on innovation. When you use the right technological options, you get additional support and free up your employees to work on other areas while technology handles automated tasks in the background.
Using technology to make things more efficient isn't just for your employees, though. You can also use property management and rental software options that enhance experiences for your tenant. For example, you can make it easy for tenants to pay their rent online and put in maintenance requests.
Move-in and move-out appointments can also be scheduled online, and it's even possible to renew leases that way. With more and more options for online support, there's no reason to put the burden of doing all these things in person on your tenants or employees. Technology makes it more convenient and more efficient for everyone involved.
Take Action and Implement Changes to Your Strategy
When focusing on how to grow a property management business, you need to plan and then execute strategies for revitalization. After all, it's tough to make changes without a plan — but a plan by itself doesn't create the change you need.
Start where you are, and carefully review all your processes to find areas needing adjustments.
Two of the most important areas to focus on are the goals you want to reach and the timeline for implementing your changes. It's essential to be realistic with any goals you want to achieve, but it's equally vital to make your plan and then take action. If you wait, you won't see the benefits you're looking for because change requires action.
Use the Power of Data to Drive Decision Making
To make informed business decisions, be sure you're collecting and analyzing the right data. Too much data can overwhelm you with irrelevant information, but if you're not collecting enough data, key pieces of the puzzle will be missing. That's why you need to understand what you're looking for so you can focus your data-collection efforts around that.
You'll want to use the collected data to optimize your current and future performance and anticipate upcoming trends so you can be prepared for them and get ahead of your competition. Spotting something and being ready for it before a competitor could change the game for your management company's level of success.
Consultants Can be Great for Collaboration
When you work with experienced professionals providing property management consulting services, you can benefit from their expertise, and the collaborative effort will potentially take you a long way.
Don't be afraid to ask for help. That's a strength, not a weakness.
A consultant can come in with a new perspective on your company because they're on the outside looking in. They'll be able to see areas you may have overlooked and provide suggestions you may not have considered. They're also very good at advising you whether your ideas will likely work or whether those ideas should be changed or discarded.
Cultivate a Positive Experience for Your Tenants
What does your business reputation say about you? Are your tenants happy with the properties they're renting, and how does your property management company treat them? Tenant satisfaction plays a big part in the success of your business and your reputation in the community, so be sure you're giving those tenants a good experience.
Fortunately, some great ways exist to improve customer service and foster strong relationships with tenants. When tenants feel heard and appreciated, they'll be much more likely to keep renting from your company and come to you if they have questions or concerns instead of just not renewing their leases.
Measure Your Revitalization Efforts to Help Make Them Sustainable
If you're not measuring your efforts at revitalizing your property management company, sustaining those efforts for the long term becomes very difficult. In short, you need to know what's working and what isn't so you can encourage positive change and see long-term growth.
To see that change, you can work with your tenants, property owners, vendors, maintenance personnel, and employees to get their input and feedback. Ask them how you're doing, and take the information they give you to heart. That will provide you with a better idea of what's working and what still needs improvement.
Revitalize Your Property Management Business With the Right Help
The revitalization of your management company isn't something to take lightly. Take proactive steps toward revitalization today by using the power of property management consulting experts to gain additional, important insight into the changes you can make to grow your management company.
Understanding how to grow a property management business takes time and effort, but it's easier when you have help like Deb Newell and Real-Time Consulting Services! Schedule a free consultation with us, and get the supportive consulting services and important growth strategies your management company needs for future success.
We will review your business plan and make sure you are on track.