To have a thriving property management company, you'll need to focus on growth. What does that look like? How do you start? Understanding how to get properties to manage is an important step, but it's not the only one to consider.
Before you start advertising your services and hoping for clients, there's some behind-the-scenes work you'll want to do first. That gives you the opportunity to establish your business model and also prepare yourself and your company to meet client needs from the very first day.
When you're ready to scale, here's what to consider so you can get your property management business growing the right way.
Make Sure You Understand Your Target Market
A big part of how to grow a property management business is making sure you know who you're targeting. That means knowing your audience but also understanding your local market as a whole. Depending on the size of the market in your location, you might be targeting a big part of it or a much smaller segment.
It can seem like a good idea to target the entire local market, in the hope that you'll bring in a larger number of clients. Unfortunately, that can lead to an unfocused approach that doesn't attract as many people as you want. It's better to focus on a specific target audience that can increase your potential for landing new business, as you can continually expand your niche later.
Analyzing your competition is also vital for a good understanding of the market. Finding out who's already offering the services you want to provide is your starting point. After that, you also want to check out reviews of those companies to see what clients like and don't like. What can you do differently to set yourself apart?
You could even consider hiring a property management coach to help you think about your company in new and more unique ways. As you bring together information on the local market, which segment you're targeting, and what your competition is doing, you'll start to get a clearer picture of how to grow your business.
Provide a Superior Level of Customer Service
Customer service is one of the most important areas for any property management company that wants to grow. If you aren't providing clients with a good experience, or if they can't rely on you, they aren't going to come back. Making them feel welcome and valued matters.
The best way to provide your clients with good service is to hire a team that's both friendly and professional. It's important that your team gets the job done effectively and efficiently, but you also want them to be kind and cheerful. Having good team members is a big part of how to get properties to manage.
In addition, your staff should have regular training and support. Praise them for what they're doing right, and guide them toward changes in areas where they might be falling a little short of your expectations. In a service business, you want people willing to go that extra mile as long as they're not being taken advantage of by clients.
Customer feedback is another area you want to focus on when looking into how to grow a property management business. When customers tell you what they think about your management company, make sure you listen. Of course, it's not realistic to please everyone, but it's important to please most clients most of the time.
If there's an ongoing issue where multiple clients have the same negative feedback, that's definitely an area you want to address quickly. It could be an indication of a serious problem with the way your company is handling clients, and you don't want to lose business over something like that.
Streamline Your Operations With the Right Technology
Using technology can help make your property management company operate more easily and add to the efficiency of your team. Business owners and property managers must invest in good-quality property management software. Having the right technology helps you track everything in one place and streamline processes so things don't fall through the cracks.
Technology can also help you automate many of the repetitive tasks you need to do at your management company. Not only are these tasks probably taking up a lot of your time or a team member's time, but they're easily handled through technology. That will free up time for other tasks that can't be automated.
Another way that technology adds value to your company is by helping you implement digital communication with owners and tenants. Being able to send a text to all tenants with maintenance or other updates or send an email to owners with needed information makes everyone's life a little easier.
Keep Evaluating and Improving Your Company
As you consider how to get more doors to continue expanding your business, look for ways to improve what you can offer to your clients. When you set goals and actually measure and keep track of your progress through KPIs, you get a lot of knowledge you can use for the future.
Take time to look at your property management company's performance data on a regular basis, and see if there are specific areas where you're underperforming. You want to meet client expectations, but you also want to meet your expectations, as well.
When a property manager sees areas that aren't efficient or there are client complaints, they must make adjustments. The more efficient you can make your business, and the happier the majority of your clients are with your service, the more easily you can grow your property management company.
Work With a Property Management Coach to Grow Your Business
By working with a property management coach, you can learn more about growing a property management company that's strong and successful. Expert coaching helps you fine-tune areas of your business and create a company that will move you toward your goals. If you'd like to learn more about how Real-Time Consulting Services helps businesses grow, reach out to our team!
Get our deep-dive insights into staffing and structure for a successful property management business. Download our free white paper, "Property Management Business Insights: Staffing and Structure."
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