August 16, 2021
Last Updated
Every Wednesday at 10 AM EST we do a live segment on our Facebook page called “Ask A Property Manager.”
Our latest show (episode #39) is about how to grow a property management business. The content was so good that we decided to splice it into episode #205 of our podcast.
Click The Big Green Button To Listen to #205
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How to Scale a Property Management Business with…
Andrew Schultz who is an associate broke in the WNY area and manages over 120 doors with Realty Edge.
Brad Larsen is the owner of RentWerx.com which has over 850 doors in their portfolio. He’s also the host of the Property Management Mastermind Podcast.
Andrew is looking to grow his property management business and has a bunch of questions lined up for Brad.
We learn how Brad gets his leads, how he creates additional streams of revenue and his advice on what to have in place to scale.
Show notes on Growing a Property Management Company
0:00 – Introductions for Brad and Andrew
4:30 – Andrew explaining that his company is looking to scale. He wants to build his business from 120 doors to about 300 doors in the next year.
5:00 – [Andrew] What are the most important pieces to have in place before scaling your property management business?
5:10 – [Brad] Set concrete goals for this year and next year quarterly. You can factor in a 15% loss rate which is the industry standard due to sales of property many times.
7:00 – [Brad] Generating more leads is extremely important. [Andrew] Do you target in-market or out of market leads?
7:49 – [Eric] I noticed you have really great reviews on your website on Google. Is this something you place a focus on?
8:00 – [Brad] Explains how to get a base of reviews going and encourage your team to get great reviews. He also explains how to work on negative reviews.
10:00 – [Eric] Explains search results with Google and how this is an important aspect of gaining free leads for your PM business.
11:00 – [Brad] Explains the layout of the search results and how Google Adwords is an option. Brad also explains the different places to look to garner reviews.
13:30 – [Eric] Do you have a system for figuring out what your average lead cost is? Brad explains how he factors in client acquisition cost. Figure out your employee costs, lead costs, and do the Math. Try and keep your client acquisition cost at 1/4th or 1/5th of the actual acquisition cost of a large company which can cost $2,000 a door.
15:00 [Brad] Hiring a business development person is extremely important. The business owner’s job is to get leads and find the right people to close them. You can use tools like Lead Simple to organize your leads. If Brad could go back he’d hire a Business Development person earlier when he was at around 120 doors.
16:30 [Brad] You can figure out a way to have realtors be your business partners. You provide them the leads and if they close them you can pay them a flat commission of $300 – $400 per sign up or whatever works in your market. Figure out a commission on your end as well if they end up selling the person’s home. They’ll be happy to have the leads.
18:00 – [Brad] Biggest mistake was the way Brad structured the business development deal with his first sales guy. He gave him an aggressive commission ladder that got out of control.
19:00 – [Caitlyn] Says she will be that guy 🙂
19:30 – [Brad] Best leads for a property management business are All Property Management, Facebook, and Google.
21:00 – [Brad] Be the first person to respond to your leads. The Simple Lead service helps you send an automated text message but being the first person to respond will help you to increase your close percentage.
22:00 – [Brad] You can look for owners on Facebook Marketplace, Military by Owner, Craigslist for rent by owners. You can reach out to these listings to see if they have interest in your services.
23:00 – [Andrew] Asks if you try and sign them on to a leasing only program or is this for a full management contract?
23:45 – [Brad] One of the things that have helped tremendously is creating a multiple property program. In Brad’s case, they offer discounts to owners who have four or more units. The reason being is that these are the clients that will expand their portfolio down the line. If you have something simple on our site that explains your fees it will make it simple for them to reach out.
25:00 – [Andrew] How do you break down your pricing tiers for your services?
28:00 – [Eric] KK Wallace asked some of the things you should have in place before you scale?
28:30 – [Brad] He recommends to start with business development and address growing pains as they arrive. There will be things to work out but it’s better to have an abundance problem compared to a leads problems. Do your best to be prepared for scale though. At RentWerx the staff is incentivized to appreciate new customers. They’re excited when they get more business in the door through this.
30:00 – [Brad] He’s a big fan of Survey Monkey’s NPS surveys. This is a way to identify potential issues and address them quickly. Brad uses these to keep an eye on his contractors.
34:00 – [Brad] Explains the initial meeting with the owner and how to address some of the questions they ask. Having a presentation slick and the questions you want to ask. You should be able to address every question easily and have a list of questions you’ll ask printed out a piece of paper. Also, make sure you’re writing notes.
37:00 – [Brad] He shares how his website got “torpedo” all of the sudden on Google.
40:50 – [Eric] Let’s break down some actionable advice on how Andrew can create a sales army using some of this advice. Create a Facebook post that explains the opportunity to local real estate agents.
42:30 – [Brad] Introduces Daisy!
43:00 – [Brad] Go to https://www.propertymanagementmastermind.com/ to check out the podcast and resources available there.