President’s Message July 2017: Maximizing Growth

Four Ways to Maximizing Your Firm’s Growth Without Spending More Money

So how do you maximize your firm’s growth without spending more money?

It’s simple. Out of all the new client leads you currently generate, you have to close more of those leads. So if you are currently generating 30 leads per month and closing six of them, wouldn’t you agree that if you learned how to close 10 of them per month you would grow faster without spending more money? That’s what I’m going to focus on here.

This information is reduced from a 90-minute workshop that I teach which goes into much more detail, but let me try to give you the highlights.

1. At a minimum, track your leads, meetings, closed leads, and closed units on a monthly basis. Let me give you my definition of each of these terms:

• A “lead” is absolutely anyone who calls our office interested in property management services, even if it’s a service we don’t provide. For example, if someone calls looking for help with a furnished rental, we don’t do furnished rentals, but it’s still a lead, so I count that. This keeps the numbers very simple to track and I don’t get caught up in whether it was a “lead,” an “opportunity,” a “suspect,” a “prospect,” or any other sales terms that you may have heard.

• A “meeting” is defined as an in-person or phone meeting.

• A “closed lead” is a person.

• A “closed unit” is a door managed. For example, a single-family home would be one unit, a duplex would be two units, etc. I differentiate between a closed lead and closed unit because your statistics can really be skewed if you don’t. You may happen to close one lead that had ten houses and think you did a great job, but really, you just got lucky. It also allows you to calculate your cost per closed lead versus your cost per closed unit.

I meet many people that don’t track their numbers. I know who these people are when I ask them, “What’s your close ratio?” and they answer with, “I close almost all of the prospective clients with whom I meet.”

I say, “Really, how do you track that?,” and then the stuttering begins. If you are not tracking it through some sort of methodical system, you do not know. It’s that simple.

So in order to improve, you need to begin tracking your numbers. You can’t improve what you don’t measure.

2. Research your market and develop a unique service offering.

In our industry, the most common marketing I see is what is called “me, too marketing.” This is where a firm owner looks at what everyone else is doing in their market and concludes, “Everyone else is doing that, it must be working for them. I’ll do it, too.”

That’s a big mistake. Take the time to figure out what makes your firm unique and what other firms could not duplicate. Make that your service offering. For example, one of the unique things that separates Blue Fox Properties from other firms in our market is our unequaled expertise. We have the only two Master Property Managers (MPM^®) in all of Southern Arizona. (Have you gotten your designation yet?) We have two of the only three Arizona Department of Real Estate certified instructors from Tucson teaching property management courses.

We are the only firm in Tucson that I am aware of that has three Brokers, in addition to the designated Broker. We are the only firm in the country to house the current NARPM^® National President. You get the idea. How can you uniquely position your firm in your market?

3. Work on your (or your team’s) sales skills.

This is an area where I believe most Property Managers struggle. It’s typically one of the reasons why people end up in property management, because sales weren’t their strong point. I also believe that most of the traits that make someone a great Property Manager, work against them being a great salesperson. But you need to spend some

time going to classes, reading the books, and listening to the audio programs to help yourself. I also recommend that you don’t make the same mistake I made. After failing several times at hiring the right salesperson,

who I hoped would figure it all out, I finally decided to figure out a system myself that I knew would work, so I could hand it off to someone else. I was able to develop such a system and now I’m in the process of making that hand-off. Now, I know exactly what needs to be done and how the results can be replicated.

4. Figure out what is and isn’t working and adjust accordingly.

As you close leads, ask those who chose to work with you why they did so. In addition, try to get feedback from those who chose not to work with you. Use this offering and do more of what works and eliminate that which doesn’t. You can’t be afraid to seek that feedback. It’s the only way to improve your offering, sales process, and selling skills.

Although this entire process is not rocket science, it requires a lot of discipline to execute properly. It will take some time and discipline to engage this system, but I promise you, your efforts will be handsomely rewarded.

Don’t forget to lean on your fellow NARPM^® Members to help you. After all, NARPM^® is Engineered for your Success!

To your success,

Steve Schultz, MPM^® RMP^®

2017 NARPM^® President

Current editions of the award-winning Residential Resources magazine is sent eleven times a year to members. Join NARPM to receive all of the benefits of membership and receive current editions.

Residential Resources: July 2017 Issue: Volume 28, Number 7