If you’re reading this article, you’re most likely thinking about taking your smaller-scale property management business to new heights. This is a huge, exciting step! But before you dive headfirst into expansion mode, let's talk about how to grow a property management business as smartly and simply as possible.
Optimize the basics
Growing your rental portfolio can stretch inefficient systems to breaking point. Before scaling, you’ll want to ensure you have optimized admin processes, including rent collection, maintenance requests and tenant screening. The smoother these systems run today, the easier it'll be to handle an influx of properties down the line.
This is where property management software comes in. An automated rental payment platform such as PayProp will help manage rent collection, reconciliation, and distribution, client communications, financial reporting, and more in an organized and efficient manner – saving you time, overhead, and energy to spend on actual revenue-generating tasks.
Focus on customer service
Did you know that it’s five times cheaper (and easier) to retain a client than it is to find a new one? Prioritizing investor and landlord satisfaction boosts client retention and leads to great word-of-mouth advertising.
Build long-term relationships by promptly addressing inquiries, concerns and maintenance issues; earn their trust by using PayProp’s secure, accurate and accessible platform to handle their rent payments; and sweeten the deal with a lease renewal incentive every once in a while.
Happy clients are your business’s best advocates, contributing to the organic growth of your company through positive referrals and repeat business.
Develop strong branding
Whether you use print or digital media, marketing is essential for growing your business and attracting new clients.
Pick colours, imagery, fonts and other visual elements that define your brand, and be consistent with them across all forms of advertisements – almost two-thirds of Canadians won’t buy from a company with a poorly designed website because it makes them feel like the company is untrustworthy. With PayProp, your automated invoices and statements will also carry your logo, reinforcing your brand to your clients every month.
Considering there are over 34 million social media users in Canada, chances are you’ll find potential clients on some of the most popular sites in the country, which are Facebook and YouTube, according to Statista.
Posting regularly, leveraging hashtags and SEO keywords, showcasing positive reviews and testimonials, and sharing insights on rental market news and trends will keep followers coming back to your accounts and may result in conversion.
Expand your network
You never know who someone else knows – it could be your next big landlord, or another smaller property manager looking to collaborate. The best way to find these opportunities is to network with other industry professionals.
Staying in touch via email or social media and rubbing elbows at in-person events creates reliable connections that can lead to referrals, partnerships or maybe acquisitions. You could even host events for local investors, sharing your rental expertise and market knowledge to build connections.
Go forth and grow
This short and sweet guide on how to grow a property management business is meant to make the task at hand less daunting and more exciting. Growth takes time and careful planning, but the rewards of reaching new heights more than outweigh the effort of getting there.
