How to get more PM customers

Question

Hey guys and gals, we have been growing our fully integrated real estate company over the past few years. I’m focusing a lot of effort on growing our property management business this year. So far I have been developing units for us to manage and taking on clients through our real estate sales to investor clients.

For those in the biz. What have you found is the best bang for your buck or the most effective strategy to get more properties to manage?

We specialize in turning around small to mid multifamily properties but also have a lot of SF. The goal is to get to the point where we only manage our own. But I am no where near the point my investments can float the business.

TIA!

Nathan Gesner · Answer

I would start with Corey's advice: differentiate yourself from the crowd by providing quality services. There may be a lot of property managers in your market, but very few that are actually good at it.

The best bang for your buck? Marketing to real estate agents. Most agents know nothing about property management and won't touch it with a 10-foot pole. Create a referral program and then regularly market yourself to other agents. Mine rewards agents three ways:

1. I pay them a referral fee (up to $500 per property)

2. I promise to provide their client with quality management services, which will reflect well on the agent that referred them

3. If the owner decides to sell, I will refer them back to the original agent for that sale, so there's no threat of me "stealing clients" from the referring agent. If the seller chooses to stay with me and sell, then I'll pay the agent a strong referral fee.

It's a win-win-win for the referring agent, which gets me a lot of business. I am developing a better marketing strategy to get this in front of agents more often, hopefully encouraging them to find me more owners. I'm also going to create a drip campaign that regularly updates the agent and the client, reminding them how much I appreciate the referral and reminding them of my guarantees.

Michael Smythe · Answer

Sign up for the BP Property Management lead system:)

Adam Bartomeo · Answer

The best bang for your buck is bringing on an experienced partner that can help expand the business through their knowledge. They have already tested what works and doesn't work. In the long run you will save a lot of money while at the same time earning way more money.

Sean O'Keefe · Answer

In contrast, maybe a great piece from @Bob Beach on how to avoid customer churn.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/899/topics/1175358-prop...

Customer acquisition is only 1/2 the battle. Keeping the happy is the 2nd.

Corey Conklin · Answer

I would focus on creating a business that provides the best service for your clients. The end game is for you to be the only client. That being said, this would ensure that you have a great service in place to manage your assets once you have hit that milestone.

I would use low pricing as an opportunity to try and get clients in the door. All while striving to provide better service than any other PM in your area. If you do that you'll have plenty of leads hit your door step and it will give you a great opportunity to dial in your PM business operations.

Don't necessarily worry about the profit of the PM company, remember your end game isn't to be a profitable PM company, but a profitable real estate developer/investor who has built a great PM company to maximize returns on your own investments. If you sacrifice short term profitability on your PM company for the long term benefit of building the PM company that will manage your future portfolio it should pay off.

Corey Conklin · Answer

I didn't say go after the crappy, class D properties. I said offer great service at a low price to entice people to use his company as the PM. Class A and B property owners are just as concerned about the management costs as class D property owners. If he does that he will have more than enough leads coming his way.

It's also important to understand that he doesn't plan to manage for 3rd party clients long term. He just needs the clients today to get his operations dialed in for his own portfolio. The sacrifice in profits of the PM company today will help him in the long run.

Peter Tverdov · Answer

How have you gotten most of your clients this year and last? This year has been very interesting for us as it's been almost entirely Google. We started doing free REI seminars this year, postcards are always consistent and SEO a little referral as well but its hit or miss and people forget about you after a week or two unless they follow our socials to stay top of mind.

Peter Tverdov · Answer

No offense but do not follow this advice. Low pricing and don''t worry about profit? That's not the right strategy.

The truth of it is finding GOOD PM client is hard. The low price clients who have roach motels never want to fix anything...you don't want that. They will suck up so much time and resources and burn you out and/or your staff.

Focus on quality. That's what we are constantly striving for. Good clients who trust us and treat us right, good properties. I did a NARPM podcast earlier this year about that actually. We grade our entire portfolio each year A,B,C and F. Grade the owners, the property and how much time they take.

I have to say we have less and less Fs each year and this year we actually shrunk 20% in door count but revenue is the same. So we brought in more QUALITY and either got fired or fired the crap clients and we feel very efficient.

How to get more PM customers

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